Rarely - make that never - have I been confronted with a sexy new sports car and thought, ‘hold up, I need to check out the gear-lever'. But then how often have you seen a car with a seven-speed manual gearbox? Top gear emphatically isn't what it used to be.

You think that sounds nuts? Apparently, Mercedes is hard at work on a nine-speed auto 'box, this ratio frenzy, of course, all in the cause of improving efficiency. The new 911's seventh gear is an über-overdrive, and Porsche is quick to point out that the other six close-ratio ones are as exciting as ever. We'll see, but 194g/km and 34mpg overall sound pretty convincing.

At a slick unveiling in the company's magnificent Stuttgart museum -complete with a giant Minority Report-style screen - this seventh-generation 911 made its world debut ahead of the imminent Frankfurt show. First impressions? Well, you don't expect any fresh iteration of 911 - not even one that's apparently 90 per cent new - to blow your socks off or slacken your jaw. As new(ish) CEO Matthias Müller told us, ‘the 911 represents Porsche like no other car. It has been the backbone of the company for 50 years...' That's a long time for a baby to stay in the bath-water, and no-one's planning an ejection any time soon.