Norsk

Maybe an Enzo, but a good read:
http://www.superstreetonline.com/fea...991-2-carrera/

fuddman

Thanks for bringing that in.
Surprising number of reviewers prefer the .2 base engine over the .2 S engine.
In trying to explain the performance difference, though, those reviewers seem to struggle to find the right words. Which makes me wonder if maybe there is no real performance difference. Just a big price difference.

rkwfxd

Hmmm. I've been working towards a new C2S when my lease is up but maybe a C2 is the way to go.

If I could get SPASM and PDCC on a base it would be a no brainer for me.

n2cars

Top Gear prefers the base too.
http://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/p...dr/first-drive

Ski Porsche

Nice articles, I drove the base car and it is quick. I bought the S because I wanted SPASM and RWS. It's quicker and I don't have a problem smoothly modulating the throttle. For me it's more responsive and exciting to drive than my .1 C2S.

Michael_s

3.9 second 0-60 on a "base" car.. very impressive. Kinda makes you question if the "S" envy is worth it.

dflowerz

The biggest thrill for me with my 911.2 C2s is the handling, but "sport" also means fast, so I got the most power I could afford. Glad I got the S, but never drove a base so have nothing to compare it to.

planet

The thing about articles like this is that I can never tell if the distinctions being drawn are blatant night-and-day toggles which anyone with a license would notice, or if they are differences in emphasis which a driving enthusiast could notice and appreciate, or finally if they are rarefied subtleties which only professional drivers, and their prophets, would notice.

This lesson applies to lots of hobbies -- often with high price tags. Consider home audio or home theater.

mb1

Totally agree. I have a lightly optioned 991.2 C4 with 7MT. With the exception of the sports exhaust, I'm not sure if I could differentiate between having sport mode or sport suspension on or off during my routine daily driving. Maybe I could notice if I were on a track (which I have done only a couple of times and not in my car). I'm sure that many of the aficionados and track rats would notice the difference, but I think that a lot of the hype is gamesmanship for a large percentage of buyers.

NoGaBiker

I was at the track this month with a group of 13 Porsche friends. I enjoyed running my GTS (PDK) at the front of the Advanced group with a 991S (PDK) and a GT4; the three of us were pretty close to interchangeable on lap times -- nobody got away from anyone else, no matter who led. Of particular interest wrt this discussion was the 2nd gear pulls from tight corners. There was no discernible difference between my GTS and the S. Could a stopwatch tell? Maybe. And if they were lined up side-by-side maybe a little bit of a win for the GTS, but it wasn't readily apparent coming out of corners taking the same line. I know that's hardly scientific (maybe the S driver was better than me, maybe his tires were grippier, etc.) but the point is, in the real world whatever differences there are were effectively imperceptible. If I had paid $17k for the X51 powerkit as a standalone option I'd be smarting a bit.

I also did a couple laps of following a good driver in a 991 3.4 PDK. Here the difference was quite discernible as we pulled out of the tight turns. I had to lay off the throttle when I was behind him, and as soon as I got around he was out of sight pretty quickly.

All of these cars were 991.1s, for the record.

chuckbdc

Since there is litle dif in torque between the 991.1S or GTS with or without a Powerkit, I would have been very surprised if you felt any different coming out of a tight corner. The Powerkit has a horsepower advantage at very high revs, so might have been noticibly faster at the end of a longer straight- assuming equal exit speed from the tight corner. By the way my S (no Powerkit) is definitely quicker than a bud's 4S Cab with Powerkit- according to him. Weight takes the edge off.

I drove 991.2 base and S back to back at a Porsche event at the track. The base felt as fast as my 991S overall, and the S was definitely faster than the base and my 991.1. Both were "smooter" feeling through fast turns.

Sport PASM (which I have and one of the 991.2 S had) makes a substantial difference through the corners compared to cars without it. Stiffer roll bars, shorter springs and a little lower make a dif. The 991.2 S had rear wheel steering and it was so tranparent i really could not feel it working. It also had Sport PASM and was the silkiest and best handling 991 I have ever experienced.

NoGaBiker

Fixed that for ya. They're both 324.5, iirc. And I agree that at the low RPM speeds I wouldn't expect anything. But we were running them all the way up to just under 120 out of the last turn and it didn't seem to matter anywhere in the rev range. (Atlanta Motorsports Park is a pretty short track without a long straight like Road Atlanta).

As I said, the variables are too great to declare the GTS doesn't have any more spank in it than the S; you'd need a straight 1/4 mile for that. But in the practical sense of multiple laps around a race course with pretty well-matched drivers, there was no visible advantage. That said, my OEM P-Zeros were at 8000 miles and I was just using them up before replacing this week and the S driver's were MPSS in pretty good shape. So corner exit speeds may have suffered just enough from that to offset the 30 extra hp.

subshooter

+1 (especially on the last sentence). I would also add in RWS and PDCC. I would not notice them the way I drive on the streets.

MagicRat

I confess that, for me, part of it is knowing I have the thing. I like knowing I'm driving the most powerful NA convertible 911 there is - that I'm not maybe missing out on a better experience, however little I might actually be able to blind-distinguish my GTS from an S. This probably means I have unmet mental health needs, but hey it's my money

LnC993

For Me its the SPASM and the Rear Axle Steering on the base and that will make one heck of entry level 911.