Porsche 911 Dakar Is the Most Desirable Variant, According to Chris Harris
It’s a controversial take, but the Top Gear veteran believes the Porsche 911 Dakar is the best 992 yet.
The Porsche 911 Dakar is the type of machine that once only existed in our wildest dreams, and yet, despite the odds, was brought to life recently as the road-legal rally car of our dreams – proof that if we enthusiasts beg hard enough, sometimes, automakers will give us what we want. The lifted, heavily fortified sports car for the dirt is a pretty amazing machine by anyone’s standards, and even Chris Harris of Top Gear fame couldn’t help but give it high praise after spending some time with the Porsche 911 Dakar on the track recently.
Harris admits, right off the bat, that such an idea seems silly at first – after all, who really needs a 911 that goes off road? However, that question is answered right away once Harris heads out to test the car on a set of mixed surfaces at the historic rallycross circuit known as Lydden Hill.
Though it weighs a bit more than the Carrera 4 GTS on which it’s based, the Porsche 911 Dakar is still mighty quick, thanks to its 473 horsepower twin-turbocharged flat-six powerplant, doing 0-60 in around three seconds. However, the real magic lies underneath, where the Dakar gets two-inch lift with 1.2 inches more available on demand, Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus tires, and some exterior tweaks to improve its approach and departure angles.
The result of those updates is a car that’s incredibly fun to drive around a circuit like this, as Harris quickly discovers. Harris calls the car “exciting” as he slides around corners and jumps over a hill, noting that while it isn’t a full-blown rally car, the 911 Dakar is properly thrilling in its own right.
What’s particularly interesting is that Harris enjoys the 911 Dakar so much that he believes it’s not only worth its exorbitant cost of entry, but notes that it’s “the coolest 992 variant I’ve driven,” a list that includes the latest and greatest GT3. He believes that it’s more desirable than even that beloved, track-focused machine, though he admits that this will be a rather controversial take. Regardless of how one feels about that particular topic, it’s hard to argue that the Dakar might just be the most fun 911 you can buy right now, at least.
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