Porsche likes to remind us that its 911 is not just another toy in the high-end car market. Thanks to its rear seat, front trunk space, and available all-wheel drive, it could be one of the greatest daily-drivers of all time.
This type of praise makes a fair bit of sense when it comes to the Carrera S and 4S, but is the 911 Turbo deserving of the same? I hopped behind the wheel of the 520-horsepower beast for a week of the daily grind to see if that extra power would impact its daily drivability.
As with the numerous past generations of turbocharged 911 variants, this latest version takes the stunning new bodywork from sleek to impossible-to-resist. The body has been stretched to accommodate wider rubber, and an oversized spoiler has been added out back to help keep the car planted at greater-than-sensible speeds. Compared to the old whale-tail days, the rear wing is conservative, extending automatically at high speeds or, should you so desire, any time at a press of the aero button in the centre console.
This is just as much of a teenage bedroom poster car as the original 911 Turbo of the 70s and 80s. Those legendary curves may have grown over the years, but this remains the kind of car dreams are made of.
Start your engines
Wedging into the cockpit, there is a sense of familiarity all around. Having recently spent a brief period turning wrenches for a local independent Porsche facility in town, I had the good fortune to get behind the wheel of every version of the 911 from the original car right through to the current Carrera S. Porsche is one of those brands that spends a great deal of time paying attention to its heritage. As much as they grow and innovate, they aren’t ones to start from scratch with every redesign. The ignition switch still lives to the left of the steering wheel, and although the cockpit now has a very aircraft-inspired vibe to it, it still feels just right.
The moment this 3.8 litre flat-six roars to life, it is clear this is nothing like the scores of other vehicles clawing their way through the morning rush hour. Even at idle the 911 Turbo emits an aggressive rumble that distinguishes it from its naturally-aspirated counterparts. As tempting as it is to stay parked and enjoy the soundtrack, the thunderous racket once the throttle is opened up is miles more entertaining.
Red light rocket
In seconds you launch out onto the open road, rattle through a few gears, and then you're back at the next traffic light. The combination of 520 horsepower, 524 lb-ft of torque (in overboost), and a performance-biased all-wheel drive system means the 911 Turbo is capable of sprinting from zero to 100 km/h in as little as 3.2 seconds. This also means it can haul from zero to the urban speed limit and back to zero about a dozen times in the same amount of time as it takes to read this sentence. After all, there’s nothing to dictate how quickly you get up to 60 km/h… is there?
These little bursts of speed are hugely entertaining, but more importantly, they eventually lead to a valuable realization about this beast. Once the novelty of the stop-and-go shenanigans wears off, the 911 Turbo is incredibly civilized when driven with restraint. When set to Sport mode with light to moderate throttle application, the 911’s twin-clutch PDK gearbox shifts well into the midrange, and yet it keeps these gear changes incredibly smooth. The throttle response also remains sharp without the car ever feeling jerky or unsettled.
So much more than the specs
Pushing the 911 Turbo through its paces both in urban settings and along my favourite stretches of winding roads, I came to a realization. There is so much more to a 911 Turbo than just its performance specs. Performance geeks love to tout horsepower, power-to-weight ratios, and of course acceleration and braking times. When you boil it down, I couldn’t care less if there was an equally-priced option out there with 20 more horsepower that could run a quarter mile three tenths of a second quicker.
The soul of this car is what draws you to the 911 above all else. It is just barely practical, and an absolute joy to drive even when you need to take things slow. It inspires a reasonable amount of confidence as you push yourself outside your comfort zone, all while making you intensely aware that it has the ability to completely ruin you if you do anything stupid.
I used to always think that a BMW M3 was my dream daily driver, but after meeting the 911 Turbo, I would drive this all day, every day, until they take my license away.
