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It seems amazing that I could have a ten-year career as an automotive journalist without ever having reviewed a Porsche 911. Until you get to know me, that is, and realize it's amazing that I can leave the house with two matching socks and my underwear on the right way. And so it was that I found myself, a decade after writing my first car review (of a Daewoo Lanos; talk about humble beginnings), at the wheel of my first Porsche, a 2008 911 Carrera. So is the 911 all it's cracked up to be? Read on. $74,365 base, $85,765 as tested, EPA fuel economy 18 MPG city, 24-26 highway.
First Glance: Me and German cars, we got a bad thing goin' on
I have a special place in my heart for German car enthusiasts. It is not a particularly good place. You can blame BMW owners for that. Not all of them, mind you, just the really arrogant ones -- in other words, roughly all of them. Because I've been focusing my vitriol on the Bimmeristi, I've pretty much ignored Porsches and Porsche fans, though I will admit to a secret dark spot in my soul that enjoys saying "Porsche" as a one-syllable word. (The true believers will correct you -- "It's Porsh-uh." I like to see how many times I can leave off the "uh" before they realize I'm putting them on. Many never do.)
That the 911 has retained its legendary status for the last four decades running is a pretty remarkable achievement when you consider that a rear-engine sports car is, at its heart, kind of a bad idea. With most of the heavy bits hung out behind the rear axle, rear-engine cars tend to act like pendulums when they break traction, and it takes a lot of engineering time and effort to break that bad habit. Even Porsche themselves went to a mid-engine layout for the Boxster and the Cayman. And yet the 911 soldiers on, with scores of people who swear it's man's finest creation this side of microwaveable bacon.
So when a metallic-brown 2008 911 Carrera -- the base model of Porsche-uh's legendary sports car -- arrived at my house, I realized I had to answer a fundamental question. Not "Do I look sexy in this car?" -- as you can see by my picture, the answer is pretty much an automatic "no" -- but "Is the 911 worthy of the hype that surrounds it?"
In the Driver's Seat: Cozy but impractical
The 911's cabin is what the automakers like to call "intimate" or "cozy" (and what they don't like to call "cramped"). It's not uncomfortable; there's plenty of leg and headroom, even for tall drivers. But I was surprised to see that if I bent my right leg even slightly, I found it hard against the center stack (link goes to photo). (I'm 5'6", so it's not a very long leg.) The pedals are jammed close together, particularly the brake and clutch. And while I'm complaining, I thought the seats were a bit hard and thinly padded.
All that said, there are a lot of upsides -- the 911's low dash provides great visibility, and the bulging fenders and big mirrors make it easy to judge all four of the 911's rounded corners. Most sports cars aren't well suited to short people -- I always feel like I'm sitting in a hole in the ground -- but the 911 fit me like a custom-tailored suit.
Is it practical? No. Nononononooo. The 911's tiny back seat is bisected by a huge tunnel that houses the transmission. Andrew, my nine-year-old son, loved the back seat; he found it comfy and warm. But I could barely climb back there, let alone sit in the seat. Same story with the trunk; my nine-year-old fit inside, but I didn't. (Kidding! Kidding!) Since the engine is in back, the trunk is up front, and it's a deep but tiny well that stores a mere 4.4 cubic feet, about two grocery bags' worth. (It also gets very warm -- the radiators are also in the 911's nose -- so it's not a good place for those grocery bags.) Luckily, the rear seatbacks fold down to form a shelf for more stuff.
On the Road: Are you ready for romance?
The base-model Carrera gets a 3.6 liter six-cylinder engine that thumps out 325 horsepower, enough to push the 911 to 60 in well under 5 seconds. The sounds coming out of the back are just phenomenal, a mix of super-car whine and boxer-engine chug that made its way into my dreams at night. And my fuel economy was nearly identical to the EPA figures: 18.6 in town, 25 even on a road trip.
It was drizzling on the day I took the 911 out to thrash it on the About.com Cars Top Secret Curvy Test Road. In 911s of yore, such an exercise could be classified as a form of assisted suicide, as they were famous for getting into unrecoverable spins thanks to the butt-heavy rear-engine layout. But 45 years of chassis refinement have tamed the 911 -- it's now an exceptionally well-balanced car, plus it comes with standard electronic stability control as a safety net.
Not that any of that matters, because as I quickly discovered, one doesn't have to drive the 911 fast to have a good time. The famous British auto writer L.J.K. Setright once said that it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow. I used to subscribe to that philosophy, but now I'm not so sure. With the engine singing in my ear and my feet dancing on the pedals like Fred Astaire, the 911 just made it all come together into a fantastic drive, even at my moderate, cautious pace. Some of my favorite driving experiences have been frantic tumbles with cars like the Corvette ZR1 and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, but my slow dance with the 911 was every bit as enjoyable. I fell very deeply in love.
Journey's End: Does the 911 live up to the legend?
The 911 is not the perfect car. It's impractical, the ride is hard (my neighbor loved his 911, but sold it because he was tired of his intimate familiarity with every bump, pothole and pavement patch in the San Fernando Valley), and it lacks some amenities you'd expect at this price, like an in-dash CD changer, Bluetooth, and an iPod adapter (though those are coming next year).
It's also very, very expensive: $74.5k for starters, and that's with manually-adjustable seats and no navigation system. The 911 offers about a bazillion options; even metallic paint costs extra ($690, though for $4,315 they'll paint it any color you specify). Tick enough boxes and you can easily -- easily -- spend well over $100,000 for your 911 Carrera. And that's just the base model! If you have more cash to burn, Porsche offers more power (Carrera S), all-wheel-drive (Carrera 4 and 4S), open roof (Targa 4 and 4S), and convertible versions. And I haven't even gotten into the six-figure GT2, GT3 and Turbo models. Thank goodness the "cheap" 911 Carrera delivers as much fun as it does.
But is it worth it?
You can find cars that will go faster for less money. You can find cars that grip the road better for less money. You can find cars that offer just as much excitement for less money. But nothing -- nothing I've ever driven, at least -- offers quite the same experience as a Porsche 911.
So is the 911 worthy of the hype?
Yes. Yes, it most certainly is.
I will never say "Porsche" without the "uh" ever again. -- Aaron Gold
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