Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Review: Iconic ASMR

What we like:

911s are always good!

What we dislike:

Steering assembly creaks a little. Options can cost plenty.

The iconic 911 represents Porsche’s neck for not reinventing the wheel but to rather keep honing the same halo car over a course of a few generations. Their formula successfully earned them legions of fans, from their air-cooled days; and even after they had “controversially” switched over to water-cooling, the 911 easily retained its cult following.

The 911, with its iconic nomenclature spanning close to 60 years, its form unmistakable, as is with the distinctive noise from its flat-six engine, became one of the most desired posters a teenager would proudly display in his bedroom. If you ever thought that ASMR is only a thing these days, just remember... some time... almost 60 years ago, Porsche probably pioneered it for road cars.

The new 911 (992), sees their coupe take on design elements, drawn from the original car. 8th generation 911s have all been widened, regardless if they are RWD or AWD models, with the front-end seeing a 45mm increase in width.

Recesses in the bonnet, apes those found on their air-cooled predecessors, while newly-developed LED headlamps, encased in round housings, completes the 911’s front-end signature styling.

RS Spyder Design wheels are are set in 20” front and 21” rear, delivering an aggressive stance, further adding emphasis on the 911’s rear haunches; which on their own are powerful visual statements.

A new light bar which spans across the rear end, mirrors Porsche’s new design language, already seen on cars like their face-lifted Macan, and Panamera. They have also moved their third brake light onto the intake louvers, with a secondary “third” brake light located under the lip of the now-enlarged signature Carrera variable spoiler; the latter coming into use, when the spoiler is activated from speeds above 90km/h.

Newly designed wing mirrors and near-flush door handles contributes to improved airflow over the bodywork, though I must say that the auto-popping door handles do take a while getting used to.

Porsche has also upped their use of aluminium, in order to reduce weight in the new 911 range. All body panels are now made of the lighter metal. In-fact, the use of steel has been significantly reduced from 63% in the previous car to just 30% in the current one.

Porsche has stayed well away from using a starter button. And while you do not have to stuff the key into the slot now, they have retained a tab resembling a key in the same spot, just so that you can crank it over to start the car.

The redesigned cockpit receives a new 10.9” PCM touchscreen display, which sits atop a ledge, that doubles as a hand rest. Just below this, there are five vehicle function buttons for ease of access, two which are customisable.

Porsche has also reworked the centre console, doing away with the previous one, which simply had too many button blanks (the simpler your 911 got); and have instead opted for a pair of clean panels, similar to the Panamera which flank a new shift-by-wire gearshift lever.

In keeping with tradition, the new five-dialed instrument binnacle still features an analogue central rev-counter, just like the rest of their current range, while the digitised display allows more information, inclusive of SatNav to be fed to the driver.

Their GT sport steering wheel features a redesigned drive mode selector, which is less prone to fingerprints. However, the floating switchgear assemblies, inset within the steering wheel’s left and right spokes, creak a little when they come into contact with your hands.

Together with the interior redesign, Porsche had redesigned their seats. The front units are 5mm lower, and utilise a thinner cushion. However, Porsche says that comfort has been improved upon. Rear seats have also been raised 20mm and also feature a wider cushion, just squeezing in that little more comfort for the occasional +2 passengers.

Thanks to new turbochargers, which provides more shove the moment they spin up, power has increased by 30hp, while torque is up by 30Nm. The re-worked bi-turbocharged 3.0 flat-six delivers 450hp and 520Nm, the latter from between 2,300 to 5,000rpm. Our test car, equipped with the Sport Chrono Package, clocks the benchmark 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds.

A new 8-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung gearbox (PDK), replaces their previous 7-speed unit, featuring a shorter first and an 8th ratio which is longer. Maximum speed can be attained on 6th, while the last two gears are intended for improved fuel efficiency. The Carrera 4S returns 10.4km/l in combined cycle.

Unlike the Turbo, or GT3 models, the Carrera series of 911s are built more suited as daily drivers... A little less hard around the edges. That said, the Carrera 4S is able to take to corners with the kind of razor-sharp precision you would still expect from a 911. There is just heaps of grip, and where permitted, you would be tempted to dab on that throttle a little harder. Its stability is confidence-inspiring, especially since this one does have four driven wheels; and is fitted with their available rear-axle steering, which further contributes to the Carrera’s agility, by being able to steer up to 2 degrees in the same or opposite direction as the front wheels, providing greater high-speed stability when swapping lanes, and improves on maneuverability within tight quarters.

All new 911s are now equipped with ‘Wet Mode’. The system works through a pair of microphones (I kid you not!), located in the front wheel arches, to “listen” out for the front wheels coming into contact with water. While we did not get a chance to play with this feature, Porsche explained to us that once water is detected, power and torque are adequately shaved off, to make delivery of the 911’s drive a little milder… thus helping you to save a little face by not spinning out in the wet

The 911 is proof that there is always room for improvement, no matter how good something gets… and is simply one of those cars which you can keep driving, milking pleasure from it in just about every turn you take.

#porsche #porsche911 #porsche992 #TimelessMachine #Coupe

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