Porsche 911 Carrera 2025 review: Sensible sports car still sparkles

For 40 years, the entry-level Porsche 911 has been called ‘Carrera’. Back in 1984, a 911 3.2 Carrera developed 231hp, accelerated to 62mph in 5.6 seconds and cost £31,950. For comparison, the new 911 Carrera driven here serves up 394hp, blasts to 62mph in 3.9 seconds and has a list price of £99,800. 

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, the basic 911 has actually become cheaper: £31,950 in 1984 equates to £101,712 in 2024. It’s also anything but ‘basic’. Standard equipment includes Matrix LED headlights, PASM adaptive suspension, two-zone climate control, heated front seats, Apple CarPlay and a rear-view camera. Forty years ago, you had to pay extra for a passenger door mirror.

The latest Carrera – the ‘992.2’ in Porsche-speak – is a mid-life update for the current generation of 911. When we drove the 992.1 in 2020, we declared it ‘the only sports car you need’. Is that still the case today?

Batteries not included

Grabbing the headlines at the 992.2 launch last summer was the 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid. The first electrified Porsche 911 (but certainly not the last), its flat-six engine is bolstered by a 1.9kWh battery and 54hp electric motor, producing a combined total of 541hp.

With no hybrid hardware, the standard 992 Carrera arrived with less of a fanfare. Like most 911s through the decades, it’s a gradual evolution rather than a radical rethink. Bolting on turbochargers from the outgoing GTS and intercoolers from the 911 Turbo adds a token 9hp, while torque is an identical 332lb ft – albeit developed 50rpm lower in the rev range.

Equally, while the GTS T-Hybrid offers a choice of rear- or four-wheel drive, the Carrera isn’t available with front driveshafts. Or a manual gearbox. If you want a stick shift, be prepared to spend upwards of £111,300 on the lighter, sharper 911 Carrera T. 

Additional updates for the 992.2 include new front and rear bumpers, retuned dampers, larger brake discs, a fully digital dashboard and a conventional start button (replacing the twist toggle of old). Such changes hardly sound transformative, but maybe if it ain’t broke…

Take it as red

While you can, theoretically, buy a new 911 Carrera for less than six figures, Porsche GB’s press car, pictured here, weighs in at £124,058. The pricier options include a sports exhaust (£2,249), 18-way electric seats (£2,825), lightweight window glass (£1,151) and a Burmester surround-sound audio system (£3,974).

Still, it looks fabulous in the classic combination of GT Silver paintwork with Bordeaux red leather. If I was using the 911 configurator for real – rather than whiling away time when I should be writing this review – this is near-as-dammit the spec I’d choose.  

One more point of note: this car has rear seats, which are now a no-cost option. While claustrophobic for adults, they’re a real boon for anyone with small children, making the 911 usable when other, less versatile sports cars would have to stay at home.

Driving the Porsche 911 Carrera

Settle into the low-slung seat (still the same ‘tombstone’ shape as inside a classic 3.2 Carrera) and the 911 feels snug and tactile. Quality is several notches above a Boxster or Cayman, with glossy plastics, knurled aluminium switches and several cows worth of soft hide.

My view ahead is framed by those famous front wings, while the 911’s fulsome haunches loom large in the door mirrors. I expected to lament the loss of an analogue rev counter, but the new 12.6-inch curved display looks equally crisp and clear, with a digital tacho still front-and-centre. You can even configure it like a racing car, with the redline at 12 o’clock.

Prod the new start button (yep, it definitely works) and the 3.0-litre twin-turbo engine sounds breathy and insistent, amplified by the twin-tailpipe sports exhaust. With the PDK lever in automatic mode and maximum torque available from just 2,000rpm, the Carrera immediately puts you at ease. Unlike its more highly-strung GT3 siblings, it’s happy to go with the flow.

On the right kind of roads

Still, nobody buys a 911 to potter around at 30mph. Or at least they shouldn’t do. So I leave Porsche HQ in Reading and head west on the M4, setting a course via Lambourn and Wantage to the country lanes of the Cotswolds.

Like most modern 911s, the 992.2 Carrera gets rather raucous at motorway speeds (perhaps the lightweight glass doesn’t help) and its ride can feel quite abrupt. However, such concerns are swiftly forgotten once you reach twistier tarmac. In time-honoured tradition, this is where the 911 raises its game. 

Porsche has refined electric power steering to a level of feedback that, subjectively, feels close to the best hydraulic systems – and the Carrera showcases it to great effect. Turn-in feels alert and carefully calibrated, backed up by a progressive throttle and firm, powerful brakes. 

With the engine behind the back axle, you sense the car’s rearward weight bias, enjoying its malleability and slingshot traction out of corners without worrying about the 911 ‘pendulum effect’ of old. I found Sport Plus mode overzealous for British B-roads, but Sport offers a good compromise between comfort and control. 

A rotary drive mode switch on the steering wheel is now standard, even if you don’t spend £1,797 on the Sport Chrono package (which adds launch control, the Porsche Track Precision lap timing app and a tyre temperature display). You can also tweak the settings individually – to combine Normal damping with the engine and gearbox in Sport Plus, for example.

Let’s talk about six

I won’t pretend that I detected those nine extra horses, but while 394hp looks a bit ‘meh’ in a world of 400hp+ hot hatchbacks and 1,000hp EVs, the Carrera never once left me yearning for more power. Lest we forget, just two decades and three 911 generations ago, even the flagship Turbo had scarcely more shove.

If anything, the base 911’s relatively modest output simply means you can rev out the zingy flat-six more often. And that’s unequivocally A Good Thing. Seize it by the scruff and the Carrera comes to life with a hard-edged ‘boxer’ snarl. A kerb weight of 1,520kg also looks trim by 2024 standards, making the most of its performance. 

True, I’d probably prefer a manual gearbox, but the eight-speed Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK for short) is so sharp, so intuitive, it almost seems churlish to complain. Whether you’re dawdling in stop-start traffic or taking part in a track day, it always seems to have the right answers.

Porsche 911 Carrera: Verdict

Many potential alternatives have fallen by the wayside since the 992 was introduced, including the Jaguar F-Type, BMW i8, Audi R8, Nissan GT-R and Lexus LC. 

Today, its most obvious rival is the new Mercedes-AMG GT, but otherwise the 911 Carrera finds itself sandwiched between cheaper options (the Lotus Emira, Alpine A110 and Porsche’s own Boxster/Cayman) and twice-the-price supercars. If you have £100,000 to splash on something sporty, it remains the default choice. 

Does ‘default’ also mean ‘dull’? Absolutely not. Writing for the sadly now-defunct Total 911 magazine, I’ve been lucky enough to test many exotic 911s, from classic RS models to a tuned Turbo. I always enjoyed the experience, but after a few hours I usually felt ready to return the keys. That isn’t the case here. 

Indeed, I could have happily carried on driving the Carrera, taken it home and lived out my days with it. The only sports car you need? Yes, something like that. 

Porsche 911 Carrera

PRICE: £99,800

POWER: 394hp

0-62MPH: 3.9sec

TOP SPEED: 183mph

FUEL ECONOMY: 27.7mpg

CO2 EMISSIONS: 232g/km

• Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research