Do you really need more Porsche 911 than the basic Carrera?

Alex has been a road tester and motoring writer for more than 10 years, and has written on new, used and classic cars for What Car?, Autocar, The Daily Telegraph and PistonHeads, among many others.

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As the stream of cars that should have been revealed at Geneva has flowed past these last few weeks, you’ll doubtless have spotted that the new Porsche 992 911 Turbo S has been unveiled.

This is exciting stuff, of course, but there’s a school of thought that says the Turbo over-eggs the 911 pudding somewhat; that the entry-level Carrera is, in fact, all the 911 you need. And as that’s all the 911 many of us can hope to afford, we’ve borrowed one to find out whether there’s any truth to that adage.

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Slathered in subtle Aventurine Green and shod with classy silver alloys, our test car certainly looks the part. And inside, there’s no sense that you’re in the cheapest 911; the interior’s replete with smart materials and classy switchgear. The central screen looks good too, and works a treat.

One of the 911’s trump cards is, of course, that added degree of practicality you get from having kiddie-sized rear seats. Both come with Isofix mountings, or can be folded down to create an extra-large load shelf additional to the deep froot.

All well and good, but what you really want to know is whether this most basic – if you can call it that – 911 is as good to drive as you’d hope.

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Of course, this is the first Carrera to be turbocharged, but the engine still sounds and reacts much like one that’s naturally aspirated. There’s instant, electric throttle response and a blissful cacophony of wonderful snorts and gargles when you’re just mooching around.

Press harder, and the engine note rises to an urgent wail that fills the cockpit; what really takes you by surprise, though, is the second burst of thrust higher up the rev range that takes over just as you’ve recovered from the initial kick in the back.

Far from being a low-end torque monster, then, this new engine is one that loves to be revved. So rev it you do, thunking out each gear change with the lovely, weighty paddle shifters mounted behind the wheel. You can’t have your Carrera with a manual gearbox any more; happily, that doesn’t feel too much of a hardship.

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While the Carrera is fast, however, it doesn’t blow you away with its pace. That has its advantages, of course; it feels usable and manageable on most British roads where a more potent 911 might feel like overkill. For track work, however, you might consider upgrading to a more potent model.

Mind you, the Carrera feels every bit a 911 in corners; precise, deft and beautifully balanced, the nose responding to each little twitch of the wheel exactly as you’d hope. The new, wider track means it feels almost comically stable and composed, and there is a copious amount of grip on offer, so you really have to be trying hard to get into trouble.

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And yet, for all that, when you want to dial it back and take things a little easier, it’ll do so. Granted, the ride isn’t quite as cushy as you’d find in a big grand tourer, but you now get adaptive suspension as standard, which makes this a pretty comfortable way to travel from one end of the country to the other.

What this is then is the perfect all-round 911; ideal if you want one car, and one car only, in which you can bimble around every day without hassle, yet still have an immense time on your favourite back road when the mood takes you. In some circumstances, it won’t quite be all the 911 you ever need. But if it’s all the 911 you can afford, you certainly won’t feel disappointed.

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