if there’s one car that is underrepresented on this blog, it’s no doubt the 911. And the reason is not that I’m part of the strange crowd who have something fundamental against the legend from Zuffenhausen – quite the contrary. I do however have enormous respect for on one hand everything that has already been written about the most legendary of sports cars, and on the other for all the people who no doubt have far more knowledge on the 911 topic than I do.
I therefore welcome every opportunity there is to learn more about the 911, and having had the opportunity to drive quite a few 997’s over the years, until recently I had actually never driven a 991. The opportunity to do so came about as my favourite garage in the Zurich region traded in a 991.1 Turbo S in perfect condition with about 85.000 km on the clock and a price below CHF/EUR 100.000, (which as I noticed is where the market for these currently is). It felt like an opportunity not to be missed. After all, as great as my BMW 540i Touring is, I don’t really plan to drive a station wagon for the rest of my life, and few things beat a top of the range 911 as possible replacement!
If I were to replace the 540i though, what I would be looking for is a stylish and fun to drive coupe with enough room for two people but ideally not too big, to take my wife and I the 600 km down to the south of France a few times per year. The BMW does an absolutely fine job here, but it’s unnecessarily big and as said, as stylish as it may be, I no longer need all the space. For what follows, it’s however important to remember that what I would be looking for is more of a GT-car than a track weapon. And from all that I’ve read, it felt like the 991 Turbo S would be close to the perfect proposition here.
This first series of the Porsche 991 was built between 2011 and 2015, with the Turbo S being produced between 2013 and 2015 (production years, that is). It featured the 3.8 litre flat six with twin turbos, putting out 560 hp through all four wheels and a seven-speed PDK box. For a 911 it was rather well-equipped from the factory, with (in most markets) rear-wheel steering and center-lock wheels as standard. Ceramic brakes were a frequent option and the car I drove had them, along with a plethora of other things.
The first thing you notice when you stand in front of a 991 is how much larger it looks than a 997. It is indeed bigger, about 4 cm both in length and width, but the impression is of an even bigger difference. Stepping inside, the difference is even more striking, greatly helped by the 10 cm longer wheelbase as compared to the 997. Two people with reasonable but perhaps not excessive luggage will have enough space for a good vacation, and the whole car feels more mature and more GT-like than the more intimate 997. No doubt that the 991 is the more grown-up car, although I still feel the 997 looks better.
As the pictures show, the car I drove was white and as you’ll see below, had a read leather interior. And whereas I’m certainly not part of those who follow the Henry Ford motto that you can have any color as long as it’s black, a red interior is perhaps a bit over the top. That said, in the case of this car it was really a combination of red and black that made it rather decent, and I quickly stopped thinking about it. There are cars who are fully red on the inside, including the dashboard, and that to me is then really a bit too much. As for the exterior, white is a color I personally feel suits the 911 quite well.
I familiarized myself with the car as I drove off and let the engine warm up, which really didn’t take long. The logic is the same as in the 997, but the 991’s array of empty buttons on the center console that glare you in the face to remind you of all the options you didn’t spec aren’t particularly nice. Could it be that the quality of materials was just slightly better in the 997? Anyway at low speeds, at least on smooth, Swiss roads, the car is very compliant and not unnecessarily hard. Sports-car like rather than track car.
Such reflections soon gave way to real driving, now that we’d reached a decent temperature and the road opened up. It will be no surprise that the first, second and last impression is that of the flat six, which is simply magnificent. Power is never-ending, the sound is great but to my ears, could be even louder than what the sports exhaust produces, and the engine harmonizes perfectly with the excellent PDK. That said, the turbo lag is more obvious than I was expecting, with a small but still very noticeable hesitation before all the 560 horses wake up.
A lot has been said about the 991’s electronic steering as compared to the mechanical 997, which no doubt was one of the best 911’s of all in this regard. For the driving I did in a combination of B-roads and motorway, I can only say that the 991 is great as well, and that you need to be a 911 aficionado or drive the two cars back to back to notice any real difference. And compared to basically any other car, the 991 is miles ahead in terms of precision and road feel. Needless to say that very much goes for the chassis as well, with no real possibility to test it fully on the roads I was driving.
Where it isn’t ahead of the competition however is road noise. This was a surprise given how much more mature the car feels compared to the more rustic 997, but noise-wise theyr’re not far apart, with especially noise from the wheels being very present in the 991, at normal motorway speeds. You would need to raise your voice to communicate with your passenger (or, as in my case, increase the volume of the excellent, optional Burmester sound system), which doesn’t feel very GT-like. Except for that, it’s an excellent motorway cruiser as well, and the ceramic brakes were easy to modulate much like normal discs.
When I handed back the keys to the white beauty, it was therefore with mixed feelings. The Turbo S is a fabulous car, and the 991 feels more modern and more mature, albeit not as good-looking, as the 997. It’s however still far more sports car than GT, meaning it’s not the right car for the use I would make of it. But even if I were, I wouldn’t go for the Turbo S. The 991 was also the last 911 that could be had with a naturally aspirated engine, and for normal road use, I would gladly sacrifice 150 hp in favor of a 991 S or GTS, with an even better sound and without turbo lag.
If the Turbo S sounds like your thing, you should be aware of the higher maintenance costs compared to a standard 911 that one of my 911-savvy friends made me aware of. The turbo engine contributes here, as do the center-lock wheels, however only if you’re set on changing wheels yourself, which I doubt (and given how good the center-lock ones look, I’d be happy to take the extra cost!). Also, many cars will be equipped with ceramic brakes, said to be good for a lifetime but costing a fortune to replace, should anything still happen to them.
The 991 is a great car and a far more mature proposition than the 997. It’s however not the perfect GT, and I can’t help feeling that the Turbo S misses the mark. As a daily driver or a back-road companion, a 997 will be even better, as will a 991 S. For track use, you should rather go for a a GT-version. And as a Grand Tourer car for long distances, I think there’s better options out there. We’ll see if I’m right!
The Thrill of Driving 