Review / Bill Gates and Jennifer Lopez love the classic Porsche 911 – how does the 8th generation 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S compare?
The Porsche 911 is a true icon of the road which is why it attracts celebrity fans like David Beckham, LeBron James, Tom Cruise and Wiz Khalifa but – turbocharged, packing electronically assisted steering and with loaded with more digital gadgets than Apollo 11 – will the new 8th generation model appeal to purists?
If you find yourself making a list of great, engaging sports cars, a Porsche 911 will invariably appear on it. That is for good reason: the 911 has, for decades, been an enthusiast's choice for prime driver feedback and a pure driving experience. It has always been the one to beat, which is why celebrity owners like LeBron James and David Beckham are firm fans.
It’s difficult to believe but the 911 is now in its eighth generation, but it has certainly evolved with the times. The famous, sloped fastback design is still here, but what's underneath is more technical and modern than ever. It's big, it's heavy and it relies more on digitised systems than analogue.
So that begs the question: Does that mean the 911 still offers a pure driving experience, despite all its on-board aids and computers? In a word? Yes.
Buying a 911 is an easy choice. You want a nice, sporty car? Buy a 911. Want something with a manual? Buy a 911. Want a nice, sporty, manual car with decent practicality and that's objectively good? Buy a 911
The 2020 Porsche Carrera S: turbocharged tradition
The Porsche 911 has been around since 1963. Its basic but iconic formula hasn't changed: two doors, four seats, a flat-six engine mounted behind the rear axle. Sometimes the cars are all-wheel drive, sometimes they have automatic transmissions and sometimes they're turbocharged.
But those first three pillars stay consistent because you know what they say about fixing what isn't broken.
Debuting in 2018, the 992-generation 911 marks the car's eighth generation. It's 55kg (121 pounds) heavier than the outgoing Carrera S, 4.3cm (1.7 inches) wider, 2.8cm (1.1 inches) longer, and has the same size wheelbase. The 911 that Porsche loaned me was the Carrera S, meaning that it's the more powerful version of the base Carrera.
The 911 didn't start out turbocharged. Over the years, you'd get a turbocharged variant here and there, but the base Carrera and Carrera S were never turbocharged. Halfway through the 991 generation, or the generation before this current 992, that changed. The 991.2 Carrera went twin-turbo – and with it went the possibility of buying a new, naturally aspirated Carrera. Subsequent 992 Carreras followed suit.
Details and safety ratings: save the manuals
True rear-engine layouts in 2020 – with an engine all the way in the back of the car, not just merely behind the driver like in the new mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette – aren't exactly popular. If you Google it you will find lists of rear-engine cars that include the 911 and a bunch of others from the mid-20th century; certainly not ones from the 21st.