2016 Porsche 911 Carrera S India review, test drive

It’s wet. Seriously wet. And gloomy, and brooding, and dark. And the rain, it just won’t stop. Yeah, I get it, the monsoon is late, and it’s trying to make up for that; but this is just crazy. Someone up there has completely forgotten to turn the taps off. The rain’s been coming down for hour after hour after hour. A convertible Porsche 911? We should have brought a submarine!

Then finally, after coming down manically in waves for six straight hours, the rain slows. Yes, it’s still drizzling, and there’s still plenty of water on the road, but I can finally ‘drive’. And then the traffic thins and we get to the good stuff – wide, smooth roads that climb, dive, bend and twist; pure magic. Still this isn’t hi-ho-silver or tally-ho; I have to drive with plenty of restraint. The road today is as treacherous as a sheet of ice with patches of oil on it, and with varying levels of grip around every other corner, it’s tippy-toes all the way. Yes, 911s have improved a lot in recent years, and these modern ones don’t go around corners with the counterweight (engine) swinging wildly in the back, but this is still a 911 with a big, heavy engine slung out over the rear wheels, and the 420 horses still go to the rear wheels only.

Wheel time

Still, despite the current mismatch between car and road conditions, I quickly realise this new 911 is seriously, seriously accomplished too. To begin with, I’m going way faster than planned. It’s just so effortlessly quick once you get the engine into the mid-range, and the boost from the turbo gives it a nice lusty pull. The steering too is very direct and superbly weighted.

They said turbocharging the 911 wouldn’t be a good thing, but this car is just whacking the ball out of the stadium every single time. And I haven’t even picked up the pace yet. I’m just nudging it from apex to apex and using a dash of extra throttle, every time the rear end feels properly secure. Then finally I get to a straight that’s only mildly damp; time to let it rip – I click down a gear and go progressively flat on the throttle. The rear does a bit of a jig and the tyres take a nanosecond to hook up, but once the boost comes in, the new 911 just goes like a jet accelerating down a runway. 

I’m expecting an even build-up of power, and sure enough there’s no sudden spike, but what really gets me giggling is just how effortlessly the car just pins me back in the seat and just holds me there, the PDK double clutch going flick, flick, flick through the gears. Wow, this mid-range is sheer dynamite. And it feels seriously quick even at higher speeds, with the 911 S getting flung forward on a long and continuous wave of torque. The power’s just 20hp or so up on the earlier car, and that’s unlikely to make this much of an impact, but there’s loads more torque here, and that’s what’s giving it all this pace. Acceleration times quoted by Porsche say this car takes 3.9 seconds to accelerate to 100 from rest, but this car feels even quicker, especially once it gets into its stride. And that ‘boost’ button on the steering is another feature that elevates the driving experience. The new 911 with twin turbos; I’m just loving it.