Porsche 911 Turbo Cabrio (September 2007)

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Launched: Porsche 911 Turbo Cabrio

Wheels Magazine
August, 2007

If terms like 'intensely pragmatic', and 'grim realist' were thrown about at your last psych evaluation, it may be time to turn the page right now. This is almost certainly not your kind of car. (Actually, if 'sociopathic tendencies towards the extremely affluent' popped up, you lot should also leave the room.)

See, convertible 911s have never exactly been bathed in the cool glow of serious street cred. A certain Wheels staffer who we'll refer to only as 'John' (er, because that's his name) once declared that ragtop 911s had been invented simply to make it easy for the rest of us to identify the 'try-hards' (my term, not his) of the world.

Harsh? Yes, but the sentiment does have worrying resonance. Potentially peaking here, with the new flagship, in price terms, at least, of the Porsche range.

What sort of person, you could ask, needs a 353kW convertible capable of tripling the Australian open-road limit? (To which any Porsche engineer would surely answer: "Well, anyone with $357K burning a hole in their pocket and looking to top up their suntan at 310km/h, dummkopf...")

If you can shelve your preconceptions long enough to evaluate the 997 Turbo Cabrio - and drive it on roads that allow it to express its considerable abilities - you'll find a rigid, beautifully engineered sports car that could, maybe, deliver a more rounded and enjoyable ownership experience for many customers than its coupe counterpart. You could even order it with the five-speed Tiptronic transmission and I wouldn't snigger (much).

See, the 911 Turbo coupe is huge on distance demolition, yet slightly lacking in true emotional connection. If you want searing intimacy of the mechanical kind, buy a GT3. In Cabrio form, the 911 Turbo is a fun, flamboyant plaything, equally happy catching rays or crushing continents. Simultaneously, if you choose.

We gave both a red-hot crack at the car's world launch not far from Frankfurt, Germany. Sounds like a plum gig, but don't ever let anyone tell you that 480 horses, a retracted roof and a derestricted autobahn are a healthy mix for the follicley vulnerable. The standard-fit wind blocker allows (breezy) conversation to around 220km/h, but at a sustained 250km/h, what remains of my hair felt like it was being vaporised and scattered like dandelion seeds across rural Germany.

So, back to 50km/h, at which point the three-layer soft top can be raised, and clog it again. Wind noise at 270km/h is reduced to an insistent thrum, the engine deep in its sweet spot at a bit above 5000rpm.Perhaps more relevant to Australian buyers will be how cohesive this car is at virtually all velocities below that.

The claimed extra weight of the Cabrio (70kg) knocks a couple of tenths off the 0-100km/h figure, but you're unlikely to feel short-changed (unless you're the sort of person who moans when you discover, say, you're about to skydive from 3930m instead 4000). More significant is that most of the extra weight is carried low in the structure, minimising its impact on the centre of gravity.

And this really is an engine that scoffs at a few extra kegs on board. It's a compact, highly pressurised unit of considerable fury, and delivers its big output in a way that's quite distinct from an atmo mill of similar strength. A big V8 - take the 6.2-litre job from AMG, for example - delivers its power in a prodigious, progressive gush, like winding open the valve of a fire hydrant.

Cracking open the 911 Turbo's engine, by comparison, is like rupturing a gas line with an axe. Working it hard with the roof down only connects you more closely with its frenzied, big-shove nature. So, job done then. Not the purist's Porsche, but one with a towering skill set only a tosser would argue with.

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