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Full Test: 2000 Porsche 911
Epiphany in a Downpour
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By Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com
Date posted: 01-01-1999
This was a disturbing road test
to perform, and not just for the usual high-dollar
sports car reasons, either. Certainly, anytime
we are fortunate enough to drive a highly capable
machine with a highly elevated MSRP, the stress
factor around here goes up a notch or two. But
beyond that, we are talking 911 here. It's tough
to think of another vehicle with as rich a history
as this much vaunted, oft maligned, and recently
redesigned rear-engine Porsche. It seems everyone
has an opinion about the car, but a consensus
has yet to be found. Is the rear-engine design
a blessing or a curse? Is the overall shape timeless
or terribly out-of-date? Did the recent redesign
give the 911 much-needed refinement and broaden
its appeal, or did it simply dilute the car's
sporting nature, transforming a highly capable
performance machine into a flabby GT?
Whew! Those are some heavy questions to contemplate
for the typical auto hack who just wants to drive
around in a cool car.
The current 911 was last redesigned in 1999 when
the official platform designation changed from
993 to 996. For the record, 911 was the original
designation Porsche used when the car debuted
way back in 1963 at the Frankfurt Auto Show (the
company originally planned to name the car "901"
until complications with that title arose between
Porsche and Peugeot). As an interesting side note,
we should mention that the original 911 was seen
by purists at the time as a "corporate sell out"
because it was so much more luxurious and refined
than Porsche's primary performance car at the
time, the 356. What's that thing about history
repeating itself?
Since 1965, the first year of official production,
the 911 has undergone numerous upgrades in horsepower,
drivetrain technology, suspension design and interior
ergonomics, but a few items have remained key
elements to the 911's mystique. These include
the rear-engine layout, the pronounced front fenders,
and the reputation for being a "purebred performance
car that only true enthusiasts can appreciate."
"Anyone who disparages the 911 simply doesn't
get it" is how the typical Porschephile explains
away the vehicle's detractors.
Whatever. All we wanted to know was whether this
car could justify a $25,000 premium over the "lesser"
Porsche Boxster S. To be fair, you don't actually
have to pay $75,000 for a 911. A base Carrera
Coupe starts at just $66,355; but that vehicle,
like the Boxster, is rear-wheel drive, meaning
its only real advantages over the Boxster S amount
to about 50 horsepower and a top that doesn't
go down (a convertible Carrera puts you back up
around $75,000). Our test model was a Carrera
4 Coupe (or "C4," as it's often called by enthusiasts),
meaning it was equipped with Porsche's advanced
all-wheel-drive system, and the top still didn't
drop.
Transferring energy from the 300-horsepower, 3.4-liter
water-cooled boxer engine to each of the 911's
four wheels was Porsche's six-speed manual transmission,
though a Tiptronic automatic with steering wheel
gear change controls is available. Other options
included a body shell painted in gorgeous $800
Rainforest Green Metallic paint, a hi-fi sound
system, a ridiculously priced three-spoke leather
steering wheel and expensive metal doorsills etched
with "Carrera 4" insignia.
Our impressions of the 911 after a few days of
city driving — before an opportunity finally
arose to experience the car in its element —
were not encouraging: we didn't "get it." The
appeal of the car was lost on us at first. The
clutch pedal, for instance, is one of the stiffest
you will find on a modern production car, and
is coupled to a fussy clutch that requires serious
concentration to achieve smooth takeoffs and upshifts.
Though not unbearable, it easily rivals what you'll
deal with in Dodge's Viper or Chevrolet's Corvette
Z06, which makes slogging through rush hour traffic
a major chore. We began wondering where this "diluted
and tamed old man's sports car," about which so
many of the 996's critics rant, was hiding?
To a lesser extent, these same "high-effort" characteristics
were found in the 911's steering, brakes and ride
quality. Various staff members, who were unfortunate
enough to be caught in the Carrera's driver's
seat during stop-and-go driving, used the words
"stiff" and "heavy" repeatedly in reference to
each of these categories. It wasn't until this
author's third day of commuting in the 911 that
clutch and shifter action became fluid, requiring
no more mental effort to operate than your standard
economy car. Not surprisingly, this is about when
yours truly began to turn the corner on how he
felt about the Carrera 4. With clutch action dialed
in, brake pedal and steering effort recalibrated
(both of which require more muscle than a Boxster
S), and an increased tolerance for the tightly
sprung suspension, the 911 took on an almost "fun"
demeanor, despite continued fears of getting rammed
on Pico Boulevard in the $75,000 Porsche by an
'81 Toyota truck full of gardening equipment.
Suddenly, the idea of using it as a daily driver
for extended periods of time was within my realm
of imagination.
Oh my God! Was I starting to get it?
A growing affection for the 911's driving characteristics
notwithstanding, numerous problems surfaced in
regards to its interior design and build quality.
The seats, for example, offer only a single power
adjustment for seatback angle. Every other adjustment
is manually adjustable, which, for a $75,000 car,
is rather hard to swallow. The seats themselves
are quite austere, appearing to be little more
than supple leather stretched over metal frames.
In terms of comfort and support, they perform
better than one would expect at first glance,
but a deficiency in power adjustment options (for
instance, no adjustable lumbar support) combined
with a lack of steering wheel tilt made it difficult
to find a comfortable driving position.
Now the die-hard Porschephiles are already thinking,
"What's wrong with you, man? This is a performance
car and you're whining about power lumbar support?"
It could even be argued by some enthusiasts that
"real sports cars" don't have unnecessary fat-cat
items like power seats or heated seats or parking
assist systems, but because Porsche offers all
of these luxury items, along with a navigation
system, headlight washers, a rear window wiper,
etc., it seems the real message is that even a
$75,000 Porsche doesn't include some very basic
luxury items and if you want them, you simply
gotta pay. How much that disturbs a potential
buyer likely depends on the success of his recent
IPO and the level of value he puts on luxury versus
performance in his brand-new Porsche.
Additional interior quibbles focused on the design
of the center stack. Littered with tiny, shiny
high-gloss buttons, the impression is neither
modern nor upscale but, instead, dated and low
budget. Some fiddling and/or a quick glance through
the owner's manual will have you up to speed in
minutes as far as the automatic climate controls
are concerned, but the audio system is a morass
of buttons and foreign symbols that even our resident
audio expert found confusing (see stereo evaluation
for more on this). Window switches (one-touch
up and down, by the way) in the center console,
the turn signal stalk coming off the steering
column, and the headlight switch on the left side
of the dash all come from the same "high-gloss,
tiny markings" school of design that dominates
the interior. Similar complaints were leveled
against the two Boxsters we've driven in recent
months, and we find ourselves wondering why a
company that can design world-class suspension
and steering systems can't seem to get the interior
switchgear right.
Other than the "plasticky" switchgear, interior
materials were generally rated as high, with the
supple, suede-like headliner and preponderance
of soft-touch leather on the seats, roof pillars
and door panels garnering particular attention.
And, of course, because it's a Porsche, the variety
of options, from exterior color-matched leather
to maple burr wood to carbon fiber, is too numerous
to go into here. From a personalization point
of view, only Ferrari comes close to Porsche's
level, and at prices that make a loaded 911 appear
frugal.
We also commend the gauge layout, with the large,
trademark Porsche tachometer garnering center
stage, as it should in a serious performance car.
The speedometer is rather small and gives you
only one number for every 25 mph, but a digital
velocity readout in the bottom of the tach essentially
makes the size of this gauge a non-issue. But
don't look for a glove compartment in the 911,
there isn't one. The owner's manual hides out
in the forward storage compartment, which itself
holds 4.6 cubic feet of cargo.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the 911
Coupe's interior (and the convertible as well)
is the existence, at least technically, of rear
seats. Now we're not for a moment suggesting that
anyone over the age of 5 sit back there, but that's
exactly our point. Just for the sake of attempting
the impossible, this editor tried cramming his
entire family into the C4. That's a 6-foot, 200-pound
male, a 5-foot, 4-inch female (weight withheld
for reasons of my personal safety), and two children
riding in car seats — a 2-year-old boy (who
can properly pronounce the word "Porsche" and
does so every time he sees one) and a one-month-old
infant girl. With both front seats moved forward
to the absolute limit of comfort and safety in
terms of legroom, each child seat was properly
secured (child seat attachments became standard
in the 911 for 2000). A short spin was subsequently
undertaken with only a lack of headroom, due to
the upright position of the driver's seatback,
as the only real comfort issue. Suggestions of
the C4 serving as a potential family car were
dismissed by my better half, but the fact remains
that when compared to a Viper, Corvette, NSX,
360 Modena, or Diablo, the 911's ability to haul
a family of four is unmatched.
But Porsches aren't supposed to be family cars
— at least not until the company's Cayenne
SUV arrives — and they don't claim to be
world beaters in terms of high quality, clearly
marked switchgear. The 911's raison d'être
is to provide the operator with a driving experience
unlike that which he can get from anything else
riding on four wheels. This has been the promise
of 911 lore and literature for the last three
decades. Using Southern California's Mulholland
Highway near the Pacific Coast, we intended to
see if it was a promise kept.
The first thing you realize when driving a 911,
even before making a serious canyon run, is that
the aforementioned heavy steering is accompanied
by a level of information transfer not found in
any other vehicle costing less than six figures.
The BMW M5, Honda's S2000, and, of course, Porsche's
own Boxster S, come close, but the 911 has them
all beat in this regard, plain and simple. This
detailed appraisal of the road surface can get
a bit cumbersome when navigating city streets,
but as expected, it pays dividends once the traffic
thins out and the corners come fast and furious.
In concert with the stiff (but undeniably powerful
and confident) brake pedal, along with a suspension
system that manages to inform the driver while
never upsetting the chassis, the result is a car
that feels as capable as any street legal machine
has a right to. Mid-corner bumps are dealt with
in a decidedly dismissive fashion, and the speed-sensitive
steering ratio allows the C4 to be flung into
long sweepers, as well as quick transitions, with
what always feels like the perfect amount of steering
wheel input.
Speaking of quick transitions, the 911 is a rear-engine
sports car with 60 percent of its weight sitting
over the rear wheels. Previous hair-raising experiences
in a 911 convertible (non C4) have left certain
staffers a bit gun shy when it comes to exercising
the car's full potential. Spinning a vehicle is
never fun, but the 911 has a reputation that precedes
it in this area, and despite claims that this
characteristic has been all but neutralized in
the current generation, tail wagging in said 1999
ragtop left us skeptical. It took only a few miles
on Mulholland to realize that the C4 stays incredibly
planted at up to 7/10th driving pace (as hard
as we're willing to go on public roads).
Porsche first offered the all-wheel-drive C4 in
1989. As in previous models, the system uses a
viscous multi-plate clutch, but unlike any previous
C4, the viscous unit now sits directly behind
the front differential, moving weight forward
to help balance the car and simplifying assembly
and maintenance. However, the advantage to front/rear
weight distribution isn't significant, because
the entire system adds a mere 120 pounds to the
Carrera 4's curb weight. The system directs between
five and 40 percent of engine torque to the front
wheels, depending upon available traction and
power application.
In addition to the all-wheel-drive system, every
911 C4 comes standard with Porsche's Stability
Management system (PSM). Using data from multiple
sensors, PSM can detect a loss of grip at any
wheel and apply braking and/or reduce engine power
to reduce instability. The system is designed
to keep the car moving in the same direction that
the driver steers on slippery surfaces, while
lending a "helping hand" during enthusiastic driving
on dry surfaces. We never experienced either situation
on Mulholland, both because it wasn't raining
and because we don't try to find a sports car's
limits on public roads. However, we did confirm
that, even with all four wheels receiving power,
the 911's tail could be rotated just enough to
give the car a rear-wheel drive feel. This delighted
those of us who appreciate the security of all-wheel
drive, but love the thought of gently rotating
the car through a corner apex. Not many carmakers
can offer both traits in a single vehicle...but
Porsche can. Even more exciting was that this
slight amount of mischief was allowed even
with PSM turned on, giving you at once the
thrill of oversteer and the peace-of-mind of stability
control. When it comes to dialing in the this
hi-tech nanny, Porsche got it right!
The grin plastered on my face all the way down
Mulholland had me convinced: I was starting
to get it.
Still, it was hard to believe that all these viscous
plates and multiple sensors and computer-controlled
braking components would allow the 911 to be any
fun if it was truly driven at the car's limit.
It took a trip to our local test facility, with
a controlled environment, cloudy skies, and high-tech
test equipment, to see if this "purebred" was
a real enthusiast's car or a corporate shill.
A zero-to-60 time of 5.1 seconds left everyone
surprised; the car didn't feel that fast. Hmm,
is that a comment on how refined it is, or how
much it deadens the sensation of speed? Braking
from 60 mph took 113 feet; another stellar number
that, again, seemed even better than the stiff
pedal and eye-popping stopping forces would have
led us to believe. The .91 g's on the skid pad
seemed about right for an all-wheel-drive car
with 17-inch, ZR-rated tires, but the slalom proved
the most interesting.
At 63 mph, the car was doing about as well as
a Viper, 'Vette, or NSX. Cars like the Honda S2000
or Boxster S are lighter and have the advantage
here, as is often reflected by their slalom times.
And certain high-dollar exotics, like the Diablo
and 360 Modena, will pull better times as well,
likely because of their mid engine layout and
highly capable chassis.
Then, it rained.
It was as if God himself wanted to lend a hand
with the development of our appreciation of the
Carrera 4. Official testing was done for the day
and we were already packing things up, but the
slalom cones were still in place and it seemed
only fitting to give the C4 a few more passes
in the wet. This is when we came to a complete
understanding of the C4. Actually, it took about
four runs through the slalom at increasing speeds
with increasing amounts of rain. By the final
trip through the cones we were approaching the
speeds we'd achieved before the rain fell, with
only an occasional, and subtle, intervention by
PSM. The car was basically unaffected by
wet pavement, giving verified persuasiveness to
the Porsche commercial where a C4 slogs along
a wet canyon road while the song "Stormy Monday"
plays in the background.
When the 911 Carrera 4 went away at the end of
the week, the staff consensus was that there was
no staff consensus. Just as it was 35 years ago,
the 911 remains a controversial car. More than
one staffer questioned its price, especially with
the highly capable Boxster S available at two-thirds
the cost. Others were convinced the high-effort
clutch, stiff brake pedal and jarring ride neutralized
whatever performance pedigree the car offered.
And nobody wanted to defend the interior switchgear.
But just as a Boxster S can't be logically
justified when a Honda S2000 is available for
20 grand less, a 911 will never survive rational
reasoning. If you think about it, how many sports
cars will? We do know one thing — a final
call can't be made until you experience for yourself
what a Porsche 911 C4 has to offer.
And, if at all possible, schedule your test drive
during a downpour.
See all the Ratings: 2000 Porsche 911 2 Dr Carrera 4 AWD Coupe Road Test Scoreboard
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