Heart Over Head: Porsche 911 Carrera T First Drive Review

Drove a "T" recently in very similar spec, right down to the colour, four-wheel steer and PCCBs. Enjoyed it, in the way I enjoy all 911s, and it's a great car, like all 911s, but it's in limbo for me in terms of being actually worthwhile. A basic, no-options Carrera is every bit as enjoyable (and you really don't miss the moderate extra speed), while a fully-specced T as most press cars tend to be, creeps to within a small extra monthly payment's worth of a GT3. And... well, GT3.
 
Drove a "T" recently in very similar spec, right down to the colour, four-wheel steer and PCCBs. Enjoyed it, in the way I enjoy all 911s, and it's a great car, like all 911s, but it's in limbo for me in terms of being actually worthwhile. A basic, no-options Carrera is every bit as enjoyable (and you really don't miss the moderate extra speed), while a fully-specced T as most press cars tend to be, creeps to within a small extra monthly payment's worth of a GT3. And... well, GT3.

This had me playing around with the configurator quite a lot. On one hand, it makes me realize that even with our seemingly higher prices, on pure exchange rate, the entire Porsche range is a relative steal here!

On the other, the jump from T to GT3 over there is a smaller one (~130% list price versus 140%). Some options on the T would shrink that gap — especially if you're sticking with the GT3 Touring, since there's not a lot of options there — but those carbon seats and PCCBs are available on both, negating most of the difference.

I could see the argument for someone preferring the more laid-back nature of the T from an everyday driver standpoint, but still wanting a bit more of edge to the base Carrera. It's a niche-filler, I'll admit. But I definitely prefer this sort of plug-the-gap exercise to something like an X4. :D

Now, I wonder what sort of price it'll carry in a few years' time on the used market...
 
This is such a beautiful car.

You can say whatever you want but a Porsche 911 is the most beautiful flat beetle in excistence. A perfect retro styled sportscar.


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Having spent far, far too much time on the Porsche configurator, I can say that my ideally specced Carrera T is cheaper than my ideal C2S, which makes it more intriguing to me than the notion of it as a cut price GT3. I share @SlipZtrEm's interest in their secondhand pricing over the coming years.
 
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