has anyone drive the new 911 and what is your impression of the car.? Thanks Van
yes, the vehicle had a pdk tranny. the manual transmission vehicles are not available yet, according to my dealer. the new vehicle seems to have a louder exhaust note and there is more feedback when shifting gears. this makes the new vehicle much more desirable than the prior model, imho. i would definitely recommend the pdk in the new 911.
i believe the new manual trannys are an adaptation of the pdk. if this is true, shifting gears with the new manual should be perfectly smooth at any rpm. the experience may be less desirable than that of a traditional manual transmission.
I haven't driven the new S but I sat in the back and went for a ride. That thing is very fast and seemed to handle great. The transmission was quick and the sound was actually intoxicating. The brakes are also very good too. I nearly lost my lunch when the driver decoded to test out the brakes a little bit. There are some new features that are very cool too.
Its alright. It's been a while since I've sat in the back of a Porsche so I can't give a good comparison. I'm not that big (5-7ish) so back seats haven't bothered me too much in the past. I couldn't have my knees together and my head would touch the roof if I sat up straight and I got tossed around a bit so I held on the the front seat. I sat behind the passenger seat but I don't know how far his was pushed back. I think he was in a comfortable position though. I can say that it is better than the California. When I managed to wiggle my way out of the back I felt fine. Im never one to complain about space though. Overall: not too bad. I'm not sure if porsche is claiming it's an improvement but if they are, I'm sure it's true.
the back seat was designed to hold grocery bags or a child seat. the only adult who could comfortably sit there is an achondroplastic dwarf!
Ferry Porsche originally put seats in the back to hold golf clubs. He wanted to sell a sports car that people would take to the country club.
FWIW, I sat back there but im not a big person but I wasnt in a normal position though... I can't complain much though since I got to ride in the brand new Carrerra S before most people and it was a ton of fun. Would've been more fun if I got to drive.
nice review in today's wall street journal (sat, 11 feb 2012) Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal The 2012 911 Carrera S is a significant step forward for the breed, but it's not nearly the car it is going to be. Porsche's approach to the 911 is "perfect, rinse, repeat"—which is to say, introduce a new edition of its famous sports car, and over the years of the product cycle squeeze more and more bloody glamouring intoxicants out of it until there's no more to be had, and then start over with a new-generation 911. This strategy is not without its downsides. Consider our test car, a 2012 911 Carrera S, the first year of the code-named 991 generation. How are we to receive this car? As a quantum improvement over the previous generation, the code-named 997? It is roomier, quieter, faster and more summarily athletic, which one would expect. This car is nearly 14 seconds faster around the Nürburgring than the outgoing model, which is seriously more than one would expect. The redesign of the cockpit has scourged the 911 of the stubborn cheapness that affected the previous cars. The new cockpit, with its banked and switch-laden central console like the Panamera, is futuristic, sternly elegant and purposeful, limned in rich alloys of aluminum and wrapped in more taut, tanned hide than a Miss Hawaiian Tropic pageant. Porsche's approach to the 911 is "perfect, rinse, repeat." But as Dan Neil explains on The News Hub, this strategy is not without its downsides, even as the model takes significant step forward. Photo: AP And there are now back seats, of a sort. The 991's wheelbase is 3.9 inches longer, while overall length is up 2.2 inches (track is up, too, marginally). The added Y-axis is largely devoted to making the rear seats more habitable for vertebrate life-forms. So, yes, the new car is a significant step forward for the breed. However, because we've sat through the "Neue" Porsche 911 movie six times since 1963, we also know that the new car is not nearly the car it is going to be. Porsche first presents a new-edition 911 as a sort of baseline—indeed, deliberately un-optimized in terms of performance—with room for improvement pre-engineered in, if you will. If I had 100 grand burning a hole in my sports-car pocket, this might give me pause. We know the folks in Weissach have left themselves development space (literally, as in cubic centimeters around the chassis) to add more power—a 4.0-liter engine, perhaps, a freer-breathing exhaust, certainly, and maybe even the rumored triple-turbo induction (is there a German word for "Boo-yah"?). There will be in due course an all-wheel-drive 4S, Turbo S, GTS, and the lightweight GT2 and GT3 club racer versions, with even more enormous brakes, more wretchedly gluey tires, and ever-angrier computer programming. And we know for sure there will be a full-hybrid 911 coming in this product cycle, perhaps as soon as 2014. Indeed, conjecture has it the 991's additional length and wheelbase is there primarily to accommodate the hybrid hardware, still in development. I put it to you: Are you buying the latest and greatest when you buy this car, or are you buying a dialed-back, choked-down version of the glorious car that the 991-series Porsche will become in the fullness of time? When do you pull the money trigger? As a corollary, is it ultimately better to buy the last year of a previous-series 911—see my review of the outgoing and fully optimized GTS from a few weeks ago—or the new car? Such questions vex the gods. Get behind the driver's seat in the new Porsche 911 Carrera S as WSJ's "Rumble Seat" columnist Dan Neil takes you on a test drive. The verdict: a spectacular car with superb performance. And the weirdest part for me is that this 911 is actually going to get better, when it is already such a ripping, scalping, torque-wrenching, swivel-hipped snake of a car. Start with the fact that it is 88 pounds lighter (figure 3,250 pounds) than the smaller, outgoing model, and substantially stiffer, thanks to Porsche's profligate use of high-strength steel and aluminum. Tito Puente never knew a drumhead so tight. Dynamically, the biggest single improvement with the 991 comes with the optional active antiroll feature, which uses hydraulic actuators at each corner to correct for changes in camber. This system, which is undetectable to the driver, helps keep the big 20-inch Pirellis fully planted in corners, adding another dimension to the 911's asphalt-fanging, corner-carving agility. Theoretically, a longer wheelbase should have made the 991 less responsive. So much for theory. 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S Base price: $100,480 Price as tested: $132,360 Powertrain: Naturally aspirated direct-injection 3.8-liter DOHC flat-six engine with variable valve timing and lift, variable exhaust and dry-sump lubrication; seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission; rear-wheel drive with torque vectoring rear differential Horsepower/torque: 394 hp at 7,400 rpm/325 pound-feet at 5,600 rpm Length/weight: 176.8 inches/3,250 pounds Wheelbase: 96.5 inches 0-60 mph: 4 seconds EPA fuel economy: 20/27/23 mpg, city/highway/combined Cargo capacity: 4.7 cubic feet You like to go fast, do you, missy? Here's an off-the-rack sports car with lateral adhesion in the range of 1 g, a car that hits 60 mph in 4 seconds (the 394-horsepower Carrera S with the dual-clutch PDK gearbox), a car that trips the trap lights in about 12 seconds and decelerates from 60 mph to 0 in about 100 feet. These numbers reflect the enormous electromechanical leverage the computers hold over the road—particularly the active antiroll hydraulics—but the experience behind the wheel is decidedly untechnical, a kind of sinister and primal euphoria. I get out of this car very much inclined to bite the head off a pigeon or something. This is important. A lot of fast street cars feel slightly damp from all the dynamics software onboard. The Nissan GT-R, for instance, is a hellacious piece of machinery and, by the numbers, quite a bit faster than even the new 911. But the GT-R doesn't make you oath and curse like a Viking as the 911 does. If anything, Porsche has managed to dial up the immediacy of the 911, with quicker reflexes—the electrical steering is first-rate—a more emotional exhaust note and, at full throttle, the capacity for real, edgy violence. You need only drop the Porsche into second gear and nail the throttle. The car will swat you like you have "Titleist" on your backside. Above 4,000 rpm the max torque (325 pound-feet) comes on and stays on until 5,600 rpm, supplying big whoops with each dab of throttle. Lovely. Today on Off Duty: WSJ's Dan Neil sends a video report from inside (and outside) of the new Porsche 911. Also, American rock band The Fray performs in the WSJ studio and sits for an exclusive interview with Lee Hawkins. Plus, fashion editor Alexa Brazilian shares a few of Off Duty's favorite 'Selfish' Valentine's Day gifts. All this torque barks through one of two transmissions: the first, a seven-speed double-clutch automated manual, the PDK, now with proper paddle shifters available as an alternative to the Tiptronic-style two-way buttons on the steering wheel, which I loathe. The second, for those who really have it bad, is Porsche's new, weirdly retro seven-speed manual, with the seventh-gear gate to the far right, somewhere near the glovebox. The manual is much slower than the double-clutch gearbox but it's a nice, irrational touch for irrational people. The car's performance envelope opens from the bottom, too. With the active exhaust system turned off (muting the mighty tailpipes) and the car's fuel-saving stop-start system engaged, the Carrera S is notably servile around town. The naturally aspirated, direct-injection 3.8-liter flat six mutters quietly, awaiting its chance. The suspension compliance is velvety, the throttle response relaxed. Porsche's product planners would like the new 911 to appeal to more women. Just call me Nancy. This car is a work in progress? More like an unfinished masterpiece.
What happen to the egine ... you pop the hood and it is tiny and under that, all you see is a plastic piece with two small fan... that killed me. The 997 was not all that but you still have ouside access to the engine.
Since the spoiler is no longer a part of the engine lid, the lid had to be smaller in order to accommodate the spoiler behind it. That's not a fact I've read from Porsche but rather an observation.
