The discreet charm of the new Porsche 911
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This is the 2009 Porsche 911, re-worked for this model year. Doesn’t look too different from the 2008 car, does it? But as is often the way with Porsche, there have been some subtle evolutions.
Hidden from view are more powerful 3.6-liter trademark flat-six engines (3.8-liter for the 911 Carrera S). They now deploy direct fuel injection, a more efficient method that manages to perform the magic trick of improving output and emissions simultaneously.
The 3.6 version in the ‘plain’ Carrera gets a boost of 20 horsepower, bringing its total to a healthy 345. The 3.8 engine in the S is blessed with a further 30 hp and so sports a muscular 385. It can zip to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and hit a maximum speed of 188 mph. Nice.
The 911’s other big technical upgrade goes by the catchy name of Porsche-Doppelkupplung (which, regardless of how it sounds, is not a game commonly given out at Christmas). PDK is an optional seven-speed transmission with a double clutch arrangement. It can work in automatic mode (replacing Porsche’s venerable Tiptronic system), or drivers may flick through the gears in sequential fashion and utilize some of the expertise Porsche has gathered through using similar transmissions in racing, executing changes in mere fractions of a second.
The understated visual tweaks include LED daytime driving lights, with bi-xenon headlights; LED tail and brake lights; and optional Dynamic Cornering Lights (the type that can illuminate around bends). The air intakes in the front bumper are now larger and so are the side mirrors.
Some enthusiast websites also mention a revised rear bumper, uprated brakes and a smarter Porsche Active Stability Management (PASM) traction control system, but those details have not been divulged officially. Not yet, anyway.
Yes, the new car will get all the gizmos du jour: touchscreen navigation, Bluetooth and iPod hook-ups, satellite radio, etc. And yes again, it will cost more. Sources have the MSRP starting at $75,600 (up $2,100) and the new cars reaching American showrooms in September.