Carrera SIf you find yourself making a list of great, engaging sports cars, a Porsche 911 will invariably appear on it. That's for good reason: The 911 has, for decades, been an enthusiast's choice for prime driver feedback and a pure driving experience. It has always been the benchmark. The one to beat.But as the 911 Carrera S is now in its eighth generation, it's evolved with the times. The famous, sloped fastback design is still here. But what's underneath is more technical and modern than ever. It's big. It's heavy. It relies more on digitized systems than analog ones.So that begs the question: Does that mean the 911 still offers a pure driving experience, despite all its onboard aids and computers and such? In a word? Yes.The Porsche 911 has been around since 1963. Its basic but iconic formula hasn't changed: two doors, four seats, a flat-six engine mounted behind the rear axle. Sometimes the cars are all-wheel drive. Sometimes they have automatic transmissions. Sometimes they're turbocharged.But those first three pillars stay consistent, because you know what they say about fixing what isn't broken.
Debuting in 2018, the 992-generation 911 marks the car's eighth generation. It's 121 pounds heavier than the outgoing Carrera S, 1.7 inches wider, 1.1 inches longer, and has the same-sized wheelbase. The 911 that Porsche loaned me was the Carrera S, meaning that it's the more powerful version of the base Carrera. The 911 didn't start out turbocharged. Over the years, you'd get a turbocharged variant here and there, but the base Carrera and Carrera S were never turbocharged. Halfway through the 991 generation, or the generation before this current 992, that changed. The 991.2 Carrera went twin-turbo — and with it went the possibility of buying a new, naturally aspirated Carrera. Subsequent 992 Carreras followed suit. A rear-engine setup grants you a few significant advantages through its weight distribution. When the engine is sitting over the rear axle, it means there's more weight pushing down on the car's rear tires and results in better traction when you accelerate. It's the same idea as adding a spoiler or a rear wing. Porsche 911 enthusiasts are a tricky group. They're what you'd call "purists" — fans, drivers, and owners committed to adhering to things like tradition and the purity of the driving experience (that is, one that doesn't include interference from pesky things like automatic transmissions and forced induction).
