Stuttgart targets wider audience with cut-price 911 R
A NEW, BACK-TO-BASICS Porsche 911 Carrera T has been conceived to offer a ‘purist’ model that delivers a more visceral driving experience.
The new Carrera T is inspired by early minimalist 911 models and features performance enhancements not previously available on a Carrera.
The 911 Carrera T – which is available to order now, with UK deliveries starting in January – features exterior styling tweaks. These include a front bumper with a more prominent splitter, grey metallic exterior mirror housings, 20in alloy wheels, reworked slats within the engine lid and centrally mounted tailpipes.
Inside, there is a leatherbound GT sports steering wheel, decorative trims on the dashboard, lightweight fourway electronically adjustable seats and, with the standard-fit manual gearbox, a shortened gearlever.
To save weight, the car has door trims with nylon opening loops, lightweight glass for the back and rear side windows, a wholesale reduction in sounddeadening material within the body structure and no rear seats. The result is a claimed kerb weight of 1425kg, some 20kg less than the standard 911 Carrera.
Despite the focus on weight saving, Porsche has provided the 911 Carrera T with a number of features not available on the standard car, such as PASM sports suspension, which lowers the ride height by 20mm, and optional rearwheel steering.
The 911 Carrera T is powered by the same turbocharged 3.0-litre horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engine as the standard 911 Carrera. It develops 365bhp at 6500rpm, giving the new model a power-to-weight ratio of 256bhp per tonne. By comparison, its standard sibling has 253bhp per tonne. Torque swells to a peak of 332lb ft between 1750rpm and 5000rpm.
Drive is channelled via a standard seven-speed manual gearbox with shorter ratios than the one in the 911 Carrera as well as a mechanical locking differential to the rear wheels. A seven-speed dual-clutch
PDK automatic featuring a launch control mode will also be offered from the start of sales.
Porsche claims a 0-62mph time of 4.5sec – 0.1sec faster than the regular 911
Carrera. It also says the 911 Carrera T reaches 124mph in 15.1sec and has a theoretical top speed of 180mph.
The Carrera T will cost £85,576 including VAT.