Rag-top 911 Turbo loses little of the coupe's integrity, pace or dynamism; gains a great deal of drama too

What is it?

Another entirely predictable 911 variant: the 997 Turbo’s brutally effective driveline getting combined with the cabrio’s soft-top bodyshell.

With an official 193 mph top speed, this is one of the quickest ragtops in the world, while the £106,180 price tag, representing an £8340 supplement over the existing Turbo coupe, looks like pretty good value against competitors in this rarefied part of the market.

What’s it like?

Massively fast. The Turbo coupe isn’t exactly short of go, and Porsche’s refusal to make the engineering sacrifices that come with a retractable hard-top mean the cabrio weighs only 70kg more.

Add the rush of wind with the roof stowed and direct exposure to one of the most extreme engine soundtracks there is – vast induction roar making it sound like a jet engine being fed on gravel – and the Turbo cab actually feels a fair bit quicker than it’s tin-top sister.

The rest of the package is pretty impressive, too. Rough road surfaces produce occasional evidence of less-than-absolute rigidity, usually manifested as steering column vibration, but otherwise it drives with the same taut assurance of the coupe. The standard pop-up wind deflector also does a very good job of reducing buffeting at speed.

Oh, and despite the official 310 km/h (193 mph) top speed, we actually saw an indicated 320 km/h on the Autobahn. That’s 199 mph, with more still to come.

Should I buy one?

Many people out there probably still have doubts about the manliness of choosing an open-topped 911, but there’s no doubting that the Turbo cab’s combination of speed and usability mean that it should feature highly on the list for anyone looking for an open-topped supercar.

It’s certainly good enough to give anyone considering a Ferrari F430 Spider serious pause for thought. And don’t forget that it’s faster, and nearly £25k cheaper too.

Mike Duff

Add a comment…