Dilemma

Maybe he's enjoying himself so much, he has yet to return it to the dealership?😂

Meh. Can't see what all the fuss is about...

I have enjoyed driving 911s on the test track but there is no way on God’s earth you can get anywhere near the limits of them on the public highway, whether legally or not. You can say the same about any hyper car and these days the “cooking” versions of most ordinary cars so there needs to be some other factor. If it’s not found in a 911 then keep looking.

I assumed he was being ironic 

Who knows.

I get your point, but he’s not (as far as I know) driven a Boxster/Cayman GTS back to back with a 911, his point of comparison / decision to be made against is a mid size SUV. Yes, it’s a good one, but it can’t be anywhere near either of the other two options.   I’ve not driven a 992 yet, but have driven a Macan (twice) back to back with a Panamera and had a clear favourite…I struggle to think a 911 isn’t a big step up from my car.

Unless comfort and space is the priority of course.  

It’s something of a moot point for the time being, as the one I was interested has now already sold before they even got the photos up on the Approved site. Not surprised as it had a very nice specification and was unusually a 1-owner car.

Yes, of course I liked it a lot and was pulling your collective legs earlier.

As a “cooking” Carrera 4, the performance largely felt on par with my Macan, which is to say very punchy but lacking that last ounce of OMG. In fact, it probably feels more OMG in the Macan than the 911 due to the elevated driving position. But for road use, it’s a very nicely judged level of performance – you don’t need realistically need more than this on a UK road and it enables you to actually occasionally extend the car into the upper rev range without scaring yourself or risking your liberty.

The car I tried had Sports Chrono and the sports tailpipes but no sports exhaust and no PASM. It sounded less muted than that might lead you to expect in normal operation and twisting the dial into Sports/Sports+ clearly does nevertheless open some valve somewhere because it does have noticeably more voice in those settings. It’s a purer and clearer voice than the Macan’s V6 as well – personally I thought it sounded really rather good. I preferred the 8spd PDK gearbox to the 7spd version in my Macan too – felt sharper.

The handling is of course sublime, with pin-sharp turn-in and a lovely sense of flowing with the road. Yes, you sit lower but not as forcibly reclined as some sports cars, so you have generally decent visibility and while it might be historically large for a 911, it’s still not a large car and is easy to place and thread along roads.

On standard 20” wheels and with 14-way seats, the car I drove was probably as comfortable a ride as a 911 gets (I think the PASM cars get a 10mm suspension drop) and it was good in isolation, but the air-suspended Macan (and I went for the no-cost option standard air suspension over the standard GTS version) unsurprisingly felt like an armchair by comparison.

The cabin is generally nice with good ergonomics but if I’m being honest, with the exception of the navigation screen, I prefer the interior of the 991.2 - it’s less severe. The 991.2 (I poked around a mint late example in the showroom) also feels a bit more nicely constructed. I’ve always felt the column stalks on the Macan feel a bit cheap (and they seem to be the same ones as the 991.2) but they feel milled from steel compared to the exceedingly flimsy items in the 992. Also once it has occurred to you that the gearlever in a 992 looks like a small electric shaver, you can never see it as anything else ever again. The glass sunroof is a must – it floods the cabin with light and I think this is one car where a lighter leather colour would work better than black, which does look very dour. The rear seats are really only for at best small adults – at 5”10, I cannot sit behind myself in the front passenger seat with my knees touching the dash, never mind behind me in the driving seat. But better than nothing. You wouldn’t want to travel any distance in them though as the backrests are unforgivingly vertical and there’s precious little head room. The frunk will take two airline cabin-sized trolley bags – I took one along to test this.

If there’s a blocker, it’s probably VFM. This is one thing where the Macan excels – it is very nicely made from nice materials and overall even my wife agrees it does actually feel like £80k’s worth of new car. By contrast, I do not really think the 911 feels like a car whose price point new is 50% higher than that. The perceived quality level is certainly not higher.

Sensibly I would keep the Macan for at least another year and see. But if the right 911 came along at the right price (which is say a price to change of no more than £5k), I could be tempted. The Macan is clearly in demand and holding its value well – I’ve had a number of part-ex offers ranging between £65-68k – and 911 prices are equally clearly negotiable.

Why the 4 ? The 2s drive nicer ,and in the 992 gen they have a wet setting .
I agree that the interior of the 992 doesn’t match up to the 991 quality wise and the 992 definitely feels more gt than the 991 gen cars .

With the rear traction you certainly don't need 4wd. I've driven a load of rear engined Porsches, old ones and newer ones and never have I though I need 4wd. The new ones have so many aides I can't see what 4wd adds on the driving front and just adds weight and complexity. Plus a 911 is supposed to move around a little.

The steering is the more difference between the 4wd and 2wd , much much better in the 2’s.
I’ve had 6 911s of various forms the 997 gen 1 and the 992.1 were the standouts for me but it’s pretty hard to go wrong .

That’s the issue with the newer cars , there are many options which actually affect how they drive and pretty impossible to test all the variations .
Rws,pdcc,manual ,pdk,4wd,rwd