PORSCHE STILL SPORTS

EXCUSE me, but how can you have a standard option?

That’s what the specification for the Porsche 911 Carrera we’re testing this week says. Under the standard options is “2+2 body with rear engine”.

That’s not an option – all 911s have an engine in the rear. But that’s enough pedantry for today.

Our test car is fitted with options in the proper sense – £8,100 of them.

As we’ve explained many times, car companies like to load up test cars with plenty of goodies in the hope we’ll tell you not to buy without them.

And in the hope you won’t dare leave them out, for fear of owning a car you’ll then have trouble selling.

This recently launched Porsche is the entry-level 911 Carrera. The L in ’70s Cortina terms. Porsche launched the Carrera S version of what is known as the 992 generation 911 well over a year ago.

What’s the difference between them? Well, for starters the Carrera costs £82,793 (without goodies) against the £93,110 Carrera S.

So what goes west with your tengrand saving? Not much, is the answer. The S’s twin-turbo flat-six engine produces 450PS against the bogstandard model’s 385PS. I doubt you would notice the

HARLEY-Davidson is marking the 30th anniversary of its Fat Boy with a special limited edition.

It looks great: Vivid Black paint’s standard 0-62mph time drops from the more powerful car’s 3.5sec to the base model’s 4.2sec. And I very much doubt that even if you trek to Germany’s autobahns you would notice the Carrera does only 182mph to the S’s 191mph.

If you’re reasonably well off you buy a Golf GTI if you want a fast car that’s well-built and no hassle to live with. If you’re flush you buy a 911. It’s always been this way.

The Porsche is the sports car that is easy to live with. You can get the kids in the back, you don’t look too flash in it and you won’t scrape loads of expensive bits from its bottom if your driveway is steep or the local speedbumps are like tank traps.

Our test car is painted in a tasteful Aventurine Green – subtle and not at all flashy. But the look is rather stuffed up by the A911 number plate that Porsche put on it. The black and Island with black Lakester wheels and bronze detailing spread around the bike.

There’s a bronze badge on the tank and a similarly coloured band on the lower rocker covers and timing cover script.

Only 2,500 30th Anniversary Fat Boys will be made and each costs from £20,495.