REVIEWS AND ROAD TESTS

Driving a Porsche 911 Turbo is a lot like having sex

In fact, driving a Porsche 911 Turbo is a lot like sex, what with all the excitement and endorphins going on. In fact, a whole bunch of people might say that it’s even better than sex. For one thing, it’s more accessible. You can mat the throttle of a 911 as many times as you want. The average Canadian, on the other hand, only has sex 2.7 times per week. Porsche Turbos never suffer from ‘performance anxiety’. No one has ever called 415 rampaging horses impotent. But there’s much more to the this latest Turbo than just impressing the Joneses and bolstering your sex life. It’s called performance, and this Porsche has it in spades.Inside the no-nonsense interior, the front seats are firm, supportive and totally comfortable. Rear seats are extremely cramped and there ’ s a distinct lack of inside storage space. Those 415 horsepower (at 6,000 rpm) are accompanied by a stump-pulling 413 lb.-ft of torque (at a relatively subterranean 2,700 rpm), the two of which combine for a zero- to-100 km/h time of just 4.2 seconds and a claimed top speed of 305 klicks per hour.

Fed by not one, but two turbochargers through an intercooler, the Turbo’s response to commands from the helm is immediate. Accelerating in the Porsche is like being pulled relentlessly ahead by the world’s largest rubber band; it feels like you’ll never run out of power. In fact, it’s almost certain you’ll run out of bottle before the Turbo calls an end to the festivities. What makes this all even more incredible is that the latest version of this rocketship is a veritable pussycat, especially when compared with the famed Turbos that have gone before.

Old rear-wheel-drive Turbos were indescribable terrors, always challenging their drivers to push to the edge of traction and then biting them right in the tender parts for daring to imagine they were anywhere competent enough to pilot such a ominous beast. Porsche did away with this diabolical treachery by first adding all-wheel-drive to smooth out the power delivery and, more recently, including its electronic Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system to prevent such drastic fishtailing (as well as understeer). The result is Ferrari-type performance needing just Plain Jane Chevy driving skills. Like last year’s Carrera 4, the 2001 Turbo is an amazingly precise car, yet its demands are few.

PROS
Powertrain performance
Steering/handling Driving fun

CONS
Interior room
Price

2006 Germany