Porsche Developing 911 R Purely For Manual Enthusiasts
There has been much squabbling and squawking over some of the recent decisions Porsche has been making. The loss of naturally aspirated engines as well as the loss of the manual transmission in the 911 lineup has left many pure enthusiasts perturbed with the automaker. Me included. The 911 with turbos I can handle, a 911 without a manual transmission and only turbos, that just doesn’t work. With that said, according to a new rumor from Road & Track, Porsche could be bringing something squarely aimed at performance purists around the world.
Reportedly, Porsche is getting ready to reveal the 911 R, a 911 that’s powered by the new 3.8 liter GT3 engine, and fixed with a manual gearbox smack dab in the center. It’s everything Porsche enthusiasts could ever dream off. The 991 generation is perhaps the best 911 ever built. With this engine, and this transmission, it would be that much better.
Now here’s the bad part. Apparently, Porsche is only going to build a total of 600 of these cars, and they’re possibly already sold out. Supposedly, the car was only offered through the Porsche Preferred Program, which was the same program that helped Porsche choose who received the green light to buy the 918 Spyder.
Hopefully, there are still some out there for sale. We’ll know more soon, as rumor has it that Porsche will debut the car in just a few short weeks.