A 911 for grown-ups

published 22 June 2011

The Porsche 911 is a car reviewer's nightmare, says Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times. "It's like asking a restaurant critic to write about a McDonald's burger that has exactly the same ingredients as all the others, but in a slightly different arrangement." Porsche currently has "9.6 trillion mildly different permutations of what is basically the same bloody car". There is, however, one thing that sets this new GTS model apart: the price. It's just £78,370. Equip a Carrera S to the same level and it would cost you £95,000.

But would you want one? "I've always quietly respected Porsche's attempts to marry thrill-a-minute driving with everyday usability," says Clarkson, "but I've always thought it was chasing an impossible dream But now I'm past 50, I don't really want flames coming out of the exhaust any more and a ride that cripples my back." So buying a Porsche doesn't mean you're having a mid-life crisis: it just means you're "grown-up". Driving it, however, is still "a beautiful experience": you don't drive a GTS, you "dance with it". At last, here's a 911 you'll actually want to drive.

This new GTS has the wider body of the four-wheel-drive 911s combined with rear-wheel drive and a more powerful, 402bhp version of the 3.8-litre flat six engine and it's "quite possibly the best of the Carreras" on offer, says Vicky Parrott in Autocar. In fact, this car comes "perilously close to being the only 911 you should buy".