So here I am in Hershey PA after an intense day of training on the new Porsche 911. I got a nice hour of seat time in a 2009 C2S with a PDK transmission ripping it up on the back roads.

Visually, you have to be a Porschephile to be able to see the change in design but lets face it this is a car that has evolved for over 40 years and hasn't dramatically changed in appearance. You want evidence?

Here is the oldest 911 in existence (sorry for the crappy camera phone pics, I didn't know this would be here).....


Notice how it says "TYP 901" on the license plate. This is from it's prototype phase. Porsche initially intended to call the car the 901. As it turns out this would have been copyright infringement as Peugot had a copyright on 3 digit names with a "0" in the middle. Porsche said fine, we'll call it the 911. This is truly one of the prototype cars (it really is the oldest 911). Heres a shot of the door handle, Porschephiles may recognize this exact part is from a 356.


So thats the oldest 911 in the world, heres the newest...


Now I'm a die hard manual transmission guy, but PDK could get me into an automatic....




It shifts so fast, it's like driving a CVT except you hear the shifts happen. I dropped down into 1st gear many times at speeds in the high 20's to dive into some of the incredibly tight turns on these back roads and it just blips the throttle makes the shift and your in and out of the corner before you can say "Porsche Doppelkuppelung"

Can you say launch control? Push the sport plus button, left foot on the brake, right foot on the gas and push it to the floor, launch control icon shows up on the dash and you pop your foot off the brake and hold on. Due to the extreme heat this builds in the tranny, you can only do it once every 2.5 kilometers. It is truly an exhilarating experience.

Like any 911 handling is certainly not an issue. The car stays planted unless you turn off the traction control, however, it does allow you to rotate the car to a point in turns and gives you even more leeway in sport plus mode. The traction control and stability control in these cars actually allow you to push the limits, it's only right before you get in too deep that it kicks in and pulls you back in line. My co-driver was much more mild mannered with his seat time, I pushed it pretty hard through the corners and did bring the back end out a few times. That freaked him out little, but he'll get over it.

New Bose stereo with 5.1 surround. You can put a DVD in an it will play the audio track or you can play DVD-A to get the 5.1. Not to berate Porsche, but it sounds pretty much like the RL system with more speakers and more power. We also have the "universal audio interface" to plug in an iPod or USB device and control it through the cars PCM system or plug in a non iPod MP3 player through the aux input and control it through the device itself.

Porsche finally has a touch screen nav , we finally have bluetooth , we have XM with nav traffic and we are the only OEM manufacturer that utilizes the "favorites" function where you tell the radion the artists yo like and it alerts you when one of their songs is playing.

So heres the rest of the pics, we did turn a few heads when we went trough town on the way out and back. How often do you see 20 Green or White 911's running in procession?





Alternating colors the whole way, green car, white car, green car, white car.

 

You are the man. Thanks a lot for the review, you'll make a lot want to pull the trigger(me included). The new Bose system sounds pretty capable with the Bluetooth, Nav with traffic etc. Another thing is that it's great to hear from you that the new PDK is very good, God knows how long Porschephiles have been waiting for it. The face-lifted version looks better in my opinion especially the rear lights with the LEDs. If I can, I'll get a Meteor Gray one day and make a little prayer out to Mr. Ferdinand before I launch it.

 

911's just don't look right to me without the wing in the back....

 

I love the new taillight designs!

 

totally digging the rims on the green ones

 

How did you get this opportunity?

 

Nice! Did you get a chance to drive the regular Carrera or just the Carrera S? With the new model the base Carrera is only 10(?) hp shy of the 08 Carrera S, factor in better fuel economy, more user friendly gadgets and PDK it is clearly a "better" car. I always felt the base Carrera was too close in terms of performance to the 987's, now they have made the gap more noticeable, wise move.

 

Now don't go getting any ideas!

 

Thanks for the review and pics! I noticed the difference between the models but unfortunately I have yet to ever drive a 911 of any year. I really wanna know what it is about them driving-wise that entices so many people.

And come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any dark green color Porsche on the street, ever! at least nothing that comes to mind.

 

Wow. Amazing. I would love to do that. How did you score this chance?

 

Here is your answer iTimmy.:wink:

BL is fortunate enough to work for Porsche.

 

Great stuff !! I'm totally jesalous...

What's the deal with Hershey PA ?? I know that they have a HUGE porsche swap meet down there every year, but is there some sort of porsche usa connection ??

 

I've seen some Adverturine 993's but they are pretty rare...

I usually don't like green or white cars, but I'd take either one if they were giving them away for free

 

Always loved the 911 (although not so much when they mucked up the headlights for a few years). Maybe one day

 

A dealership or Porsche itself? (Keep in mind, I'm not sure if Porsche owns their dealerships)

 

Looking at the pictures most of those appear to be base Carrera's with only a few Carrera S's mixed in - at least based on the wheels on the cars. Most of the cars have the Carrera IV wheels and a few have the Carrera S II wheels; as I understand it you can get the Carrera S II wheels on a base Carrera but cannot get the Carrera IV wheels on the Carrera S.

I don't know why I am so curious, I am admittedly more of a fan of the 987, I could see me owning one, as where I probably wouldn't cough up the dough for a 997

 

It pops up at 55mph and drops back in at about 35 or you could get the aerokit and have a fake GT3.

They are cooler in person, the white section goes red under braking. Didn't you make some agreement to keep the NSX for at least a year to get your old name back? I know your a mod now but I would assume that or could force a "super crazy multiple sellout" name on you

I am Porsche Certified Sales Consultant (work for a dealership in NH). I know it just sounds like a name they give you, but it actually takes a lot of study and constant testing to maintain that status. Believe it or not Porsche takes themselves pretty f'n seriously
I know it sounds like marketing :B.S.:, but there really is no substitute. There are faster cars, there are cars that handle better, but there is absolutely no car that does everything soo well and can be driven everyday in every environment. Ever try to drive a Gallardo at 20MPH? A 911 could do it all day long with out batting an eyelid.

This green is a new one "Porsche Racing Green". It's nice, but I'm a bit of a purist in this sense, Green is a Brit color.
but they had some absolutely kick ass back roads and that type 901 actually lives near there.
Didn't want to blow you off on this question, but I answered TommySalami's similar question with your query in mind.

 

Here's the trick for knowing you 911's.
Black brakes=base
Red brakes=S
Red brakes with air intakes on the rear quarter=turbo

In this case the white cars are Carreras, the green ones were Carrera S.

You can pretty much order any 911 with any wheels unless you want PCCB's, then you need to get wheels that will fit them.

987>all

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Damn....that's cool. I would love to have a job like that.

 

x2

 

Unfortunately about 6 hours after I started this thread I became a retard with a broken Femur and a steel rod holding it all together. I'm out of the Porsches for 3-6 months And won't be available to take my clients on hell rides on the launch event in 2 weeks but I did win a poster autographed by the Penske RS Spyder team for my presentation at the event.

Now I need even more Azine to deal with my auto addiction.

"Acurazine, it's like methadone for car junkies"

 

You're curious because the 911 is a legend and has been for more than 40 years

 

the mrs and i have been looking at the cayman's and 911's. She likes the look of the cayman, i love the 911. But since i will be driving it more, i think the 911 will sit in the garage one day. as long as we don't have any kids.

I didn't realize that there were porsche events so close

 

i thought i saw 14 clutch plates in there

 

Was the 901 at the Antique Auto Museum in Hershey?

There must be something about this area because I see soo many porsche's around that I don't even give them a second look any more.

 

Sorry to hear that about your broken femur. Get well soon!

 

It was but only temporarily, it was basically on loan to PCNA for the training event.

 

Thank you my friend.

 

7 speed double clutch.

 

I swear I have a point to make, but I'm saving it for monday when I'm not drunk and can articulate it with tact and eloquence hopefully. :subscribed:

 

Hope the leg has a speedy recovery!

 

That sucks... It's tough to be laid up that long... Hopefully it'll heal up quick Get well soon !!

 

Thanks Greenie.

I live alone and my nearest family member lives roughly 2000 miles away. A good buddy of mine has taken me in and he has wifi (he actually took a day off from work to drive from the North Shore of MA to Heshey PA to pick me up).

Azine will get me through it.

I miss driving my CL though