ROAD TEST

Porsche 911 Carrera 2

Reproduced from Autocar & Motor - 6 December 1989

Questions. The Porsche Carrera 2 poses more than perhaps any other model in the 911's illustrious 26-year history. Is this, the new staple 911, better than the £6,000 pricier all-drive Carrera 4? Is it a worthy successor to the thrill-raw Carrera 32 it effectively replaces? Is it good enough to take Porsche profitably into the '90s? Is it, indeed, the best 911 yet?

The early indications suggest that it is all of these things. In a recent showdown with its all-drive running mate (Autocar & Motor 1 November), the Carrera 2 won by a short head, providing even greater driver rewards than the fabulous 4 on demanding German roads. Here, in the UK's first full road test, we probe deeper still.

Already the Carrera 2 has a formidable reputation to live up to. It's the one well-heeled 911 purists are clamouring for, cheque books flapping in the rush. With the delivery of the first right-hand-drive models, though, some doubts have even now been expressed - mostly concerning ride quality and harshness. We can confirm that they're well founded, more on which later. Thankfully, the rest of the news is almost exclusively good.

Perhaps best of all is the Carrera 2's price of £41,505. It's faintly ludicrous to talk of bargain material in the rarefied air of supercar pricing structures, but there's no denying that the Porsche is very competitively pitched. Even Lotus's stunningly well-evolved but still plastic and four-cylinder Esprit Turbo SE costs £1,000 more and Ferrari's delectable but less accelerative 348 is a whole BMW 535i more at £64,503.

In essence, the Carrera 2 is a Carrera 4 with two-wheel drive and, like the 4, available in coupe, targa and cabriolet forms. There are no visual differences externally, save for the (delete option) badging and only 'spot-the-difference' clues on the inside. Both are strongly reminiscent of previous 911s, too, though the intended back-to-basic purity of the new smoothed-off design - concealing 85 per cent fresh hardware beneath - hasn't met with universal praise.

Some feel that the wraparound bumpers look a touch heavy-handed and that the self-raising tail spoiler, while purely functional, does little to enhance the Carrera 2/4's styling on the move. Others are adamant that the new car must be counted among the best looking 911s to date. Perhaps the most important thing is the reduction of the drag coefficient from the 0.395 of the old-style 911 to 0.32.

For the 2, the rear wheels are driven by the same tail-slung injected 3.6-litre flat-six engine and via an only slightly modified version of the 4's excellent five-speed manual gearbox. Thanks to new cylinder heads, pistons, conrods and crankshaft - as well as dual ignition using twin plugs per cylinder - the latest edition of the naturally-aspirated boxer unit is also the most powerful, developing its 250bhp at 6l00rpm and 228 lb ft at 4800rpm. A three-way catalytic converter is standard kit, as with the C4.

Also shared with the 4 are power-assisted rack and pinion steering and identical negative offset suspension geometry at the front while at the rear the inner semi-trailing arms provide a toe-in correction to improve stability in cornering. Wheels and tyres are the same, too: elegant seven-spoke alloys shod with 205/55VR 16s at the front and 225/ 50ZR 16s at the rear (Bridgestone RE 71s on our test car).

Performance and Economy

A top speed of 158mph is slightly better than the Carrera 4's 156mph - almost certainly a function of energy lost through the all-drive car's transmission - and all but ties with the Lotus Esprit Turbo SE's 159mph. Nothing else at the price comes close, although, if Ferrari is to be believed, the more expensive 348 will see the far side of 160mph.

The Carrera 2 piles on performance ranking points when it comes to sprinting, though. Not even the super-lusty 3.6-litre boxer engine can twist the fat rear wheels fiercely enough for traction to be broken for more than a few metres, but that's no bad thing. The Carrera 2 judders painfully but effectively off the line to record 0-30mph in just 2.l secs and 60mph in a hair-raising 5.l secs, statistics undoubtedly helped by the now slick and astonishingly quick gearshift.

Only the savagely rapid Esprit Turbo SE has the measure of the Carrera 2 to 60mph with a time of 4.0secs. The Porsche still has its jaws locked firmly on the Esprit's tail at 100 mph, recording a time of 12.7 secs to the Lotus's 12.4 secs. It's the Carrera, however, that covers the standing kilometre - perhaps the single most pertinent benchmark of ground-covering potential - more swiftly with a time of 24.6 secs against the SE's 25.3 secs, sharing a 132mph top speed.

The real beauty of the Porsche's engine is the sheer breadth of the power band and its scintillating kick above about 4000rpm. If it sometimes feels less than enthralling at modest revs, it's only because the final rush of revs to the 7000rpm red line is so devastating. It gives the Carrera 2's performance a delicious duplicity. The car can be driven with a level of laziness that borders on negligence, pulling crisply on a whiff of throttle from absurdly low revs in fourth or fifth.

But outstanding tractability soon becomes a solid shove in the back. Take a look at the fifth gear 30-50mph time of 7.5 secs (11.2 secs for the Esprit). Plant the accelerator in the carpet and the response is instant and relentless. The fourth gear 50-70mph time of 5.5 secs is impressive by any standards but the 70-90 and 80-100mph times of 5.0 and 5.l secs respectively show how much the Porsche still has in hand. Enhancing what must be close to the ultimate in user-friendly performance is the 911's inimitable and addictive chain-saw-in-cotton-wool engine note - that benign growl with a hint of distant menace. It doesn't sizzle and crackle in quite the same way as it used to but neither is it quite so loud, especially at speed. The aural enjoyment lasts all the longer as a result.

Not only is the gearchange as swift as the driver cares to make it but it's also beautifully well defined. The across-gate 2/3 action is a dream, the 4/5 movement less slick but still good. The clutch action, too, has been improved out of all recognition; it requires a meaty push but the tricky over-centre action has gone and take-up is very progressive. Only the gear ratios remain a bit odd - both long and widely spaced, though the engine does a marvellous job of filling the holes (something that was quite beyond the Turbo) and the 98mph third is a perfect overtaking gear.

Whether Porsche customers view economy as a prime consideration these days is open to interpretation, but they have usually done rather better than owners of rival supercars. The Carrera 2 continues the trend, our hard-driven test car returning 20.4 mpg overall - remarkable in view of the performance. A projected touring consumption of 24.6 mpg is also conspicuously good by class standards and permits a practical range of around 416 miles on a 16.9 gallon tankful of unleaded.

Handling and Ride

The 26-year-old amelioration of the 911's handling deficiencies reached its apogee with the Carrera 4 which, through sheer weight of technology, rushed tail slides precipitated merely by lifting off the throttle mid-bend out of existence.

That the Carrera 2 displays a similar disinclination to let go at the back is even more impressive, especially since it is paired with a sense of agility and adjustability seldom apparent in the C4. Seat of the pants inputs count for mare in this car, but no longer are they the driver's only shot. Unlike previous 911s, the Carrera 2 is a fundamentally well balanced and stable machine.

Power assistance certainly hasn't harmed the 911's helm responses. It may have removed some of the more gratuitous feedback effects - the exaggerated writhing and kick-back - but what remains is more useful and married to perfect weighting and gearing. Given the massive grip of the Bridgestone RE71 tyres, the tight dimensions of the C2's body, fine visibility and the facility to administer big reserves of power with great accuracy and there can be no disputing this Porsche's immense stature as a superfast ground coverer.

That said, the driver who puts his wits on the back burner is still likely to singe his fingers with this car. It may be an easier 911 to drive quickly but it's still one in which you need to read the road accurately, especially if its wet. The point at which the driver squeezes the throttle on the exit of a wet bend is critical. Too much too soon and the nose runs wide; administer the gas late and the tail twitches disconcertingly before digging in and putting the fabulous traction to best use. Feeding in the power gradually is still the best way round,

On dry roads, however, the Carrera 2 is remarkably forgiving, not only resisting liftoff oversteer but also allowing the brakes to be applied deep into a bend to tuck the nose in towards the apex. Hard on the power again and the C2 catapults from the exit with the ferocity of a steam sled.

It's harder to be positive about this Porsche's ride. Put plainly, it's extremely firm and while suspension control is beyond criticism, its absorption properties are poor. The Porsche copes badly with humps and sudden camber changes and feels unpleasantly harsh over small irregularities. Worse still is its reaction to sharp ruts and cat's eyes. The suspension thumps over these so fiercely the result sounds like grapeshot fire. Road roar on coarse surfaces is just as poorly suppressed.

On the road, stopping power is unimpeachable, allied to a firm and meaty pedal feel.

At the Wheel

As recognisably '911' as the Carrera 2's external appearance, the cabin continues to mix good ideas with bad execution. Thus, the array of instruments is impressively comprehensive but only the centrally-sited revcounter is genuinely easy to read. Twelve new warning lights are a welcome addition nonetheless. As before, much of the minor switchgear comprises fiddly micro-switches located either on or underneath the facia. This isn't merely anti-ergonomic, it's a mess. The driving position isn't good, either. Despite the contribution of well-shaped seats that adjust for reach, rake, height and tilt to the whirring of electric motors, the fixed steering wheel and pedals that are heavily offset to the left impose compromises.

Comfort and Space

The Carrera 2 just about cuts it as a 2+2 in an emergency but is best treated as a two-seater - in which case both leg and headroom are fine and the backrests of the rear seats fold flat to provide a flat and stable luggage platform. It's just as well because you can't get much in the front boot, despite the minimal space occupied by the space-saver spare wheel.

The new heating and ventilation arrangements with their simple and easily understood controls are a huge improvement on the antiquated system of the old 911.

Finish and Equipment

Our test car came with the standard cloth- faced seats which looked rather ordinary in beige, though at least they harmonised well with the hues and materials employed throughout the rest of the cabin. This isn't always the case with Porsches. Build quality and detail finish were up to Porsche's usual impeccable standards.

Standard equipment includes ABS braking, a 10-speaker Blaupunkt stereo system and an ultrasonic alarm system that is automatically armed when the central locking is activated. 

Verdict

One tester was moved to call the Carrera 2 inspired. Another opined that, despite its storming performance, less treacherous handling and unmistakable charisma, he couldn't live with one. The driving position, suspension harshness and road roar constituted problems he wasn't prepared to overlook.