—Stuttgart, Germany
When a Chevrolet, Honda, or even a Mercedes-Benz has a mid-generation freshen-up, we notice it for a little while, but the significance of it all soon fades. Like it or not, if the Porsche 911 changes so much as a gasket supplier, it seems we are bound by duty to go nuts and analyze the alteration, writing volumes, and unearthing intriguing surprises. It’s not at all that silly this time around. As for the sacred-as-stone exterior, we now have all-LED candlepower, a subtly altered rear light design, larger front intakes, tailpipes that exit through the rear fascia, a black rear apron, new twin-arm side mirrors, and some new wheel options. Inside, the Porsche Communication Management onboard system uses an enlarged 6.5-inch touch screen that’s a cinch. But, no, this chapter in 911 development goes down in history for two even more significant and welcome updates: the dawn of direct fuel injection for the engines and the debut at long last of Porsche’s dual-clutch seven-speed manu-matic gearbox in a passenger car.

Porsche invented the dual-clutch application, first used in 1983 in the 956 Group C racer, then victoriously through the middle 1980s in the 962. It took until now to get it into the 911 street car, because, explain the experts, the hydraulics of the system were not up to par for refined street use. The best possible news in adopting the PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe or Porsche dual-clutch gearbox) is the long-awaited passing of the five-speed Tiptronic manu-matic from the Porsche options list. We have never enjoyed the Tiptronic box, mostly on account of its lousy thumb-shifters on the steering wheel, but also due to its lack of greater flexibility in how it allows us to use the engine’s capabilities. Despite this, nearly 40 percent of 911 buyers worldwide have opted for Tiptronic shifting, and we pity their resale values once this PDK seven-speed hits the market. (Any 996 911 with Tiptronic and those fried-egg headlights is really going to feel the pain.)

Besides the very easily understood central shift lever, there are the two finger toggle switches on the lateral spokes of the three-spoke PDK steering wheel. Both the sequential shifting capability for the console lever (just move it to the left and that’s sequential-manual mode) and finger toggles have downshifts happening toward the driver and upshifts away. This counters the situation on BMW Steptronic and SMG cars which have the console shifts going up with a pull and down with a push as on racing sequential boxes. Frankly? We prefer the Porsche (and VW-Audi) console since the most famous aggressive manual downshift for any sports car is from third towards us into second, and that’s a motion we adore and cherish. So, we get it, just as we appreciate Porsche’s staying with BMW on the push-pull scheme at the wheel.

It’s the steering wheel toggle switches themselves that still need more work, however. First, we need very large hands to be able to effortlessly upshift and downshift without sliding our hands around to reach, especially for downshifts pulled toward us. The other ergonomic gaffe remains how the thumb rests on and shifts up with the toggles. It’s just not anatomically correct, and it is surprising to us that Porsche let this go through. The shifts, instead of being a comfortable press with the thumb, are a less efficient, slightly sideways push using the outer part of the first or second knuckle. This dogged us until we started using the console manual shifter about half of the time, which was a very pleasant switch. Porsche needs to copy how BMW handles the steering wheel toggles, as Munich gets it right as can be with such a solution. (But everyone honestly needs to consult with the recently driven Maserati GranTurismo S to see how sequential paddles—versus compact toggles—that don’t get tangled in the column switchgear ought to be done.)

Regardless of these two interface issues with the steering wheel shifters for PDK, the seven-speed gearbox and its software (both engineered by ZF) are certifiable revelations. We spent most of our time in a Carrera S coupe with PDK, Sport Chrono Plus, and nineteen-inch Sport Design wheels with the standard road-gobbling Michelin Pilot Sport treads. In full automatic, Sport, or Sport Plus mode, the seven speeds shift sweetly and smoothly despite the lack of a torque converter. This is the wonder of the PDK for Porsche lovers: it still bites under pressure (and quicker than any manual shift we could ever do), but it can cruise at low revs in town all day and not try our patience. The 911 engineering product manager Erhard Mössle confesses to us, “Before this new PDK, I was sure that only the manual shifter could please me. Now, I honestly cannot imagine using anything but PDK.”

And there is now a hard-core Launch Control for Carrera or Carrera S models that come fully equipped as our Carrara White tester did. We press the new Sport Plus button at the base of the center console, keep our foot on the brake, hit full throttle to hold at 6500 rpm, and then just drop the brake. The launch at the power band’s 6500-rpm sweet spot is stunning, and the subsequent automatic shifts at 7200 rpm could definitely stun us if we were not firmly braced. In fact, the smack-up shifts into second and third gears feel almost too hard-core versus the same shifts in a BMW M5 or Ferrari 430 Scuderia—and this is just the 385-horsepower Carrera S we’re talking about. It’s tough to take significant issue with it, though, since acceleration to 60 miles per hour with this most extreme Carrera S setup with Sport Chrono Plus takes just 4.1 seconds versus the original 997 911 Carrera S with Tiptronic S and Sport Chrono at 4.8 seconds. Even the starter 911 Carrera with the new 3.6-liter, PDK, and Sport Chrono Plus takes just 4.3 seconds to 60 mph against the old model’s 5.0 seconds. We clearly felt the new urgency while tooling through the hills north of Stuttgart.

Air-to-fuel compression ratio for either the 385-horsepower 3.8-liter or 345-horsepower 3.6-liter flat-six “9A1” engine with direct injection goes from 11.3:1 (3.6-liter) and 11.8:1 (3.8-liter) to 12.5:1 for both. This lower fuel use is one clear benefit of direct injection’s more complete homogenous combustion of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders. It is also due to this move from old-style port injection to a more explosive and clean burn that power and torque are up on both engines. More precisely, the 3.6-liter of the Carrera registers 341 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 287 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm (up from 325 horsepower at 6800 rpm and 273 pound-feet at 4250 rpm), while the 3.8-liter in the Carrera S gives the aforementioned 380 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 310 pound-feet at 4400 rpm (from 350 horsepower at 6600 rpm and 295 pound-feet at 4600 rpm). That means power on the 3.6-liter is up by 6.2 percent and torque up by 5.1 percent, the 3.8-liter bumping power by 8.6 percent and torque also by 5.1 percent. Meantime, the wider bores and shorter strokes of both engines allow a new 7500-rpm redline versus the current cars’ 7300 rpm.

At the same time, fuel consumption and CO2 output drop nicely. With the Carrera cabriolet and its 3.6-liter fitted with the optional PDK transmission, for instance, fuel economy increases by as much as 13.2 percent, while CO2 in the exhaust is down by 14.7 percent. With the 3.8 Carrera S coupe using PDK, mileage is up by 12.8 percent and CO2 down by 17.9 percent. Not only is the outgoing Tiptronic old stuff compared to the PDK setup, but it consumes more fuel than the six-speed manual, while PDK helps the engine use less fuel and run cleaner than it does with the manual. A good bit of this improvement, besides the marked efficiency gains through overall friction reductions between all moving parts, is due to a long and lanky seventh gear overdrive with a 0.62:1 ratio that had us cruising silently at 70 mph at just 2000 rpm.

A nice touch on the new 911 is that we can now press the Sport button without having to automatically engage the stiffer mode of Porsche Active Suspension Management. This emulates the “Michael Schumacher button” on the Ferrari 430 Scuderia that maintains a supple ride while in competition mode over rough sections of road, and it is just as welcome here on our top-of-the-line Carrera S. Porsche seems to have jettisoned its passive sport suspension option for lowering and stiffening the car, so now one must opt for the new PASM sport suspension, which gets us everything we really need and lowers the car eight-tenths of an inch when engaged.

As a capper to our 911 testing day, we had an extreme three-lap session at the Weissach test track with a Porsche Nürburgring test driver at the wheel. In brief, it was fabulous to feel the limits we’re normally too timid to explore. Through quick high-load elevation switches and changing-radius curves, the Carrera S simply ate the tortuous circuit alive, our driver literally flinging the machine everywhere with just the right touch at all times. He had deactivated Porsche Stability Management, as it was a warm and clear day, and much of the handling remained famously neutral: there was only a little bit of well-managed understeer in hard curves, while the subtle drifts out of those curves were poetry in motion. We’ll also reveal that the car was equipped with race-worthy Michelin Cup tires.
By the way, this “best setup” Carrera S without Cup tires now reels off Nürburgring laps in just seven minutes and fifty seconds. The outgoing Carrera S managed seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds in the expert hands of Walter Röhrl.

With a nod to the hard-working beginner’s 911, Porsche now includes as standard kit on the 3.6 Carrera the same 13.0-inch standard brake discs as on the Carrera S and a rear wheel that is half an inch wider, now at 18.0x10.5 inches, though the tires remain the same dimensions.
How can Porsche forever hold on to an exhaust note that hardly anyone truly enjoys? Because it’s Porsche, and because if they took the standard route of opening everything at 4000 rpm to put on a good show, they would be just like everyone else. All the same, buyers should opt for the Porsche sport exhaust wherever they are allowed to do so. In another note, the new direct-injection mills have a new “poppier” exhaust idle at 650 rpm. This is typical of DI, and we still are not in love with it, though it is a minor threat to our love of the brand and the car. And the payoff in this new 911 is worth whatever it takes.

North America starts getting its new Carrera and Carrera S models in September after European deliveries begin in early July. Base pricing for the 2009 Carrera coupe is $75,600 (up $2100), and the Carrera S coupe will command $86,200 (up $2400). A Carrera cabriolet will now be priced starting at $86,200 (up $2400) and a Carrera S with soft top at $96,800 (up $2700). Modern times and U.S. dollar exchange rates have certainly shut us up for good on referring to a base 911 as any sort of bargain.
Does Porsche want to go Nissan GT-R hunting on the Nürburgring with the next 911 Turbo carrying this new 3.8-liter DI engine? (Yes, the 3.8 assembly will fit and is planned.) As engineer Mössle tells it, smiling broadly, “Oh, we will see, hmm?”

 

I really like the rear end. The front looks squashed together, i dislike it.

Great review, i want an ipod adapter for my car

 

You can get one! I read on a forum either here or 6speed that someone has them for the 997 mk1's, it looks identical.....maybe the same?