992 Cabriolet first drive
It’s the most dynamically optimised 911 Cabriolet yet, so is it a viable alternative to a Coupe?
Possibly the most compelling 911 Cabriolet ever made, as we find out with a drive along Greece’s winding coast
Three in the morning is just antisocial. I’m not unaccustomed to early starts, it something of an occupational hazard. The alarm this morning was to get to Greece to drive the 992 Cabriolet. And yes, I can hear all your tiny violins playing in sympathy. Greece is warm, warm enough for a bald-headed, pale-skinned Scotsman like me to break out the sun cream. That’s my usual issue with Cabriolets, I rather like the protection a roof brings to the top of my head.
If there’s a choice I’ll always grab the keys to a Coupe. I’m not unique in that, but for all us lot who like a fixed roof over our heads there are plenty of you who like the rush of the wind and, let’s face it, the attention a Cabriolet gets when the roof’s down. Apparently as many as one in three Porsche sold globally features a folding roof, and the very first Porsche did, though without metal over the interior. The 911 was a bit late to the party, having only been available as a proper drop-top since 1982.
Like the rest of the 911, the sophistication of the roof is unrecognisable from back then. In the 992 the roof is quieter, its z-fold system gaining improved pumps to quicken its action, the 992 C2S and 4S Cabriolets able to do their open-air transformation in just 12 seconds. Quick enough to be achieved while sitting at the traffic lights, and even if you are caught short its operation works at up to 31mph. If you’re not in the car you can do it via the remote on the key fob
which will gain you attention, though of what sort depends on where you choose to do it.
There’s a broad choice of colours in Greece, some I would have discounted on principle, but seeing the red-with-gold-wheels car parked outside the hotel
I’m reminded that preconceptions on colours should never be made before seen in natural light and on the vehicle in question. I wish I’d pushed for it rather than pushed it away, though the Lizard green car I’m handed the keys to is no poor substitute, especially as it features the Sport Design package, which does wonders to the rear styling of the 992.
As with any press car the options added are lengthy. A quick look at the UK configurator sees the base price of the Carrera 4S Cabriolet increase from £108,063 to £130,944 with options. That Lizard green is a £1,919 pick – and worth every penny – the aforementioned Sport Design adding a notinsignificant £2,853 to the list. Other hefty additions here include LED Matrix lights for £2,054, 18-way adaptive sports seats for £2,315, PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control) at £2,273, its fitment necessitating the addition of rear-axle steering at £1,592. The £1,844 Sports Exhaust in black is also fitted, and a must if you’re going to enjoy the flat six’s sounds with the roof down.
There’s driver assistance in the guise of £747 worth of Lane Keep Assist and £1,203 of Adaptive Cruise Control, both of which I’d do without. Better to spend the money on the cool RS Spyder Design wheels with full-colour crests, for £1,764 together, and heated seats – essential on a drop-top. The rest of the specification makes up the difference with things like the Lizard green seatbelts, interior carbon package and automatically dimming rear view mirrors, helping elevate the price to its heady level.
The most significant cost option with the launch cars is the 10mm drop that signals the fitment of PASM Sports suspension. It’s the first time Porsche has ever offered its ‘Sports chassis’ choice to open-air enthusiasts on the 911. It’s possible, admits outgoing 911 boss August Achleitner, thanks to the new enginemounting concept at the 992’s rear, it bringing far greater stiffness to the open car’s structure.
Clichés exist because they’re based in some part in reality, and driving south leaving Athens along the 91 coastal road the 992 Carrera 4S
Cabriolet is perpetuating the stereotypical drop-top drive. The sea is to the right of me, and the road’s meandering along the coast that the movement of the water has created. It’s no leisurely cruise, the route between built-up areas being challenging and fast, the tarmac undulating and busy, its surface betraying budgets long spent elsewhere. In short, the tarmac is far from perfect.
That would be a tough test for a Coupe, but removing some of the structural integrity by lopping off the roof makes the way the 992 is coping doubly impressive. If the 992’s demonstrated one thing on our previous experiences with it on road and track,
it’s that it’s got agility that belies its size and weight. The Cabriolet inevitably gains some mass over its Coupe relation, it’s EU unladen weight being 1,710kg, compared to 1,640kg for the Coupe. That impacts the quoted performance; should our Carrera 4S Cabriolet ever line up alongside its Coupe relation and a drag-strip Christmas tree it’ll trail it to 62mph by 0.2 seconds for a 3.8-second time, both shaving off 0.2 seconds if Sport Chrono is fitted. The Coupe betters the Cabriolet’s top speed, too, but you’ll do well to find the opportunity to reach its 188mph top speed even in its homeland.
What’s clear is that 70kg of additional weight doesn’t have a hugely noticeable effect on the Cabriolet’s performance. Thank the 3.0-litre twinturbo’s 450hp for that or, more correctly, the 530Nm of torque it produces from just 2,300rpm. The speed of the 992 still has the ability to shock, the 992’s performance now more super than sports car league, the ease by which the engine shifts it being very convincing indeed. Any concerns that particulate filters might mute the 992’s flat six are unfounded, too, at least with that Sports Exhaust option fitted, the 3.0-litre unit being sonorous of voice when tearing around to its redline and crackling with intensity on the overrun.
Dropping the roof only intensifies that, particularly as Porsche has done such a fine job of managing the airflow around the car with the roof stowed. There’s a pop-up wind deflector that’s as neat as any we’ve ever encountered, it raising at the push of a button and bringing even more comfort inside, though denying you use of the rear seats for anything other than stowage. With the roof up you could be convinced that you’re in the Coupe, such is the noise suppression of the thick hood, only the reduced rear visibility giving the game away.
Typical Cabriolet compromises aren’t quite so obvious with the 992, and that’s no more apparent than when driving it on Greece’s less-than-perfect road surfaces. Given the staggered 20- and 21-inch wheels with that -10mm PASM Sports chassis, you might anticipate some evidence of movement through the 992’s structure. There is so little that it’s all but eradicated. There’s no tell-tale shimmer in the body or visible in the rear-view mirror in normal driving, the 992’s body feeling stiff and resolute. It will eventually betray its open status with a light frequency of tremor through its structure, but it’ll only do so over particularly savage surfaces travelling at the sort of speeds where the suspension is already extremely busy. No, the reality for all but the most committed drivers is that the 992 Cabriolet is no poor relation to its closed cousin, which is little short of spectacular.
That is underlined by the clarity and response of its steering, which like the 4S Coupe is nicely weighted and delivers something close to what might be described as feel. The chassis remains remarkably broad in its ability, the suspension able to do townspeed supple, admittedly here with a bit of edge, yet deliver the sort of poise, agility and surefootedness that’s become a modern 911 signature. Throw in the playfulness that allows you to exploit the 911’s
“The reality for all but the most committed drivers is that the 992 Cabriolet is no poor relation to its closed cousin, which is little short of spectacular.”
unique layout and bring the mass into the equation and the 992 proves to be an incredibly engaging, capable and rounded car. Just, in fact, like its Coupe relation, only open. All of which takes me a little bit by surprise.
After a few hours enjoying the coastal roads, heading via the Temple of Poseidon at the bottom of the Mani Peninsula, itself having lost its roof a long time ago, there are two possibilities: head back inland, take the afternoon off and try and recoup some of that lost sleep… or, as some locals suggest, head north of Athens and into the mountains where there’ll be a sterner test of the 992, open or closed. With roads that are described on the map like how your headphone cable comes out of your pocket, it’s impossible to resist the urge to run to the hills.
There are some motorways to get there, though turning off heading through the rather sorry-looking Olympic accommodation around the foothills, the 992 Cabriolet climbs above the foundations of Western civilisation. The road is narrow, testing and, on occasion, covered with melt water. Wet Mode will be doing its thing here, though if it is it’s doing so unobtrusively, the 992 feeling entirely at home here. The engine’s low-rev response, the urgency and muscle on offer and the unflinching traction, mighty brakes and faithful response of the steering is what characterises the 992. If there’s any ‘but’ here it’s the gear count, eight a ratio or two too many in the hills. The transmission you can drive around, ignoring anything north of fourth as you climb, the engine’s breadth such that anything more is unnecessary. The 992’s chassis systems – in particular that rear-wheel steering – help shrink it behind the wheel, but there’s no denying its actual physical size when you’re faced with oncoming traffic on these narrow roads. The 992 is a big machine.
Thankfully the traffic is thin, allowing the
Carrera 4S Cabriolet to demonstrate here too that the stiffness and agility it exhibited on the wider expanses of the coastal roads isn’t diminished when the corners are tighter and the roads narrower. The views up here really are breathtaking too, the roof down allowing access to more of it. It’s enough that even I could be convinced that a Cabriolet could well be the way to go, such is the expansive reach of its ability and lack of compromises it brings.
If you’re making that decision then it’s now not so clear-cut. It used to be that you bought the Coupe if driving was your key objective, the Cabriolet more of a cruiser in comparison. With the 991 things got closer. With this 992 it’s so close that it’s impossible to say that you’d not buy a Cabriolet due to any inherent weaknesses in its dynamic and driving make-up. Indeed, it’s got the broader remit, and when it does eventually reveal its traditional compromises they’re at such a level so as to be inconsequential. It really is that good, the Cabriolet coming of age with the 992, a car you no longer have to make any excuses for.