Porsche 911 Carrera S Convertible

MSRP: $120,000

Specs: 443 HP / 390 TQ

0-60 2.9 Seconds!

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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi

There are three distinct levels of ‘fast’ in relation to cars.  You have ‘quick’ cars and then you have ‘fast’ cars and lastly you have ‘explosive’.  Most sporty cars are quick, hell a V6 Camry does 0-60 in less than 6 seconds.  Some cars are fast…you can get 5.0 Mustang that does the same in less than 4 seconds!  Very few cars are explosive and of those very few cost less than $200,000.  This 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S, with the droptop, does the 60 jaunt in 2.9 seconds!  Since we live in a world where those extravagant numbers are common place.  But let’s put that number into perspective.  

The McLaren F1 did the same in 3.2 seconds and 11.0 seconds respectively.  So a middle of the road 911 is faster to 60 and within a breath of the 1/4 mile of the mighty, glorious and one of the best cars ever made!  

If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will.  

Oh sure GTRs and Hellcats are faster but they also feel like they were assembled by toddlers with generic lego pieces.  in contrast, the 911 feels like it is milled rather than being assembled.  Everything is taut and has gravitas to it.  From the door handles to the window visors to the switchgear.  The 911 is also more practical, easier to drive and easier to park and lastly more efficient. 

But we are talking about straight line numbers, the really mind blowing part is the cornering speeds.  Again, this is the ‘middle of the road’ 911 and the way she dances through the corners can be best described as a ‘vicious ballet’.  Vicious in the fact that the speed you can carry into and out of corners is ballistic.  At one point I saw 80 mph rocketing out of corner into the next!  It’s also a ballet in the fact that it’s controllable, it’s fluid and it’s downright graceful in the bends.  

The 911 has always been an organic machine in your hands and this generation is no different if not better than the rest.  It’s tactile, direct and alive.  You feel the rear-end grip through the driver’s seat, you feel everything the front end is doing through the steering and you hear the howl of the engine right past your ears.  In an age where automation is taking ‘one-ness’ you feel with an automobile away…this 911 still has that symbiotic feel to it.  You are part of the car and the car is part of you.  

That has always and always will be the hallmark of the 911.  An organic experience between man and machine.  That tradition is alive and well with the 992.  That tradition is alive and well with Porsche as well.