Abby Normal

I drive them both all of the time and believe you will likely be very happy with the non-S. If you go to the track regularly, then go with the S for extra performance.

utkinpol

3.8l vs 3.4l is a big difference at low rpms, you will notice that torque difference right away.
with 997 is was less of the deal, with 991 i do not think it is worth spending money on a base car.

rnl

test drove them both and I could not tell the difference. ordered the base model with PDK and other goodies. I suppose if I were interested in racing the S may be the choice.

aamersa

You've achieved success at a young age, congrats, I have my 991S at 38. The other color I was considering instead of the guards red I got was the yellow.

You only live once, get the S if you can afford it, or the turbo if that fits your budget.

speed21

If money is not an issue then get the S. The base is claimed as the better drive between the two but i think the main reason for that was the manual transmission in the car tested, which i would recommend over PDK any way (as good as Pdk is). No flame, don't want to turn this into a PDK vs manual debate....

The other reason for the S is this; The base 991 is 3.4 litres, the 991S is 3.8. Remember what happened when 996 came out with the 3.4 and then 996.2 was released with the 3.6 engine? Well i can see that definitely happening again when 991.2 comes out. The base will most likely step up to 3.6 again. The 991.2 S will get a slight bump in power with its 3.8 etc. Then there are the other features in the S that stand as an attractively priced package for the additional $ paid anyway. So in my book while the current S may not drive noticeably better than the base (in the hands of many) it will represent a more attractive package at one point. But my main reason against the 3.4 is the fear knowing a change is likely a couple of years from now in conjunction with knowing there will be other new cars being released that will stand to diminish its performance street cred i.e. M3, Audi R8 etc etc. Its currently 991's glory days as the new girl on the block ...but it won't stay that way forever.

Abby Normal

The only thing that makes me wonder about the 991.2 going to the 3.6 is CAFE standards. With the push for fuel economy, I have to wonder if the 3.4 is here to stay in the base 991. We know hybrid technology is coming too.

speed21

My money is still on an upsize to 3.6. Boxster/Cayman has the 3.4 so as 911 is the flagship it generally keeps some form of distance in cubes. And with newer cars coming through from BMW/Audi Porsche will need to keep stepping up the performance and 3.6 is a logical step in that direction. You can only squeeze so much out of a 3.4 atmo. Also economy between the 3.4 and 3.8 is nothing worthy of mention in a car like this.

Abby Normal

I agree on all counts, I just have to wonder if we will see a different pattern this time because of CAFE..

Le Chef

If you understand the fuel rules it's more likely that 981 will eventually get smaller engines - a turbo 3 liter perhaps - leaving the 3.4 intact in 991. That way Porsche can help lower their and VAG's fuel averages.

Galion

^^^this.
Low pressure turbo for the Base/S

speed21

Maybe.

Porsche could always continue to seek options to make the car lighter if 3.4 was to stay but 3.4 is no lighter than 3.8 as an engine. With hybrid tech, unless using kers the weight of all the batteries will go against the grain of the car. Still cheaper and easier to up spec the engine to 3.6 and fuel savings will still come from other minor improvements. Engine technology is always on the march.

I think the word on that is they'll be using 2.0 litre 4 cyl turbo. 3 litre turbo in 911 would be very powerful/torquey, and with plenty of mod potential, and Porsche may see that as presenting too much of a threat to the other atmo 991's with larger capacity 3.8 and 4.0

The turbo engine has yet to delivery any where near the same sound experience as the atmo engines and the base 911 cars are always about Porsches basic principles...sound being one of them. Plus any turbo engine platform has potential for modding that may put the car easily at GT3 pace....especially a 3 litre 6.

FORENN

Test drove both the base and S many times (with both manny and PDK) and decided on a 991 base (manny) with few options. Could not get into the PDK at all, as impressive as it is for an automatic trans. Chose the base as it's already plenty of car for daily driving and I actually liked the way it handled a little better.

cmb13

Nice!

IndyRob

I have another reason to go with the base model. I took delivery of the first new 991S in my city. It was basically the black launch vehicle. I had the car for 6 weeks, and within that time, I had two flat Pirellis. Both flats took the air pressure to zero in about 3 minutes. Both occured within 1 mile from the dealer, which allowed me to drive it right to the service bay. I have had 3 Porsches total, but only driven about 25000 miles in all. I have never had any problems on tires or wheels till this. Tire Rack is now backordered on all new 911 tires. It looks like the base 911 is going with the new Goodyear F1's. I haven't seen any Michelin Pilots on any cars, although the configurator on the website still shows those in the 3d renderings on the new car, and I'm sure there will be a "NO" new Pilot coming soon. I feel the Pirellis are too soft, the sidewall of the low profile too low, and the car can not be counted on to get you and your significant other to any distance over any less than perfect roadway. Both blowouts occured in a very nice area of town, where the roads are well maintained, and in fact we had such a mild winter there is basically no potholes to be found.
Anyways I have already traded it in, and stepped down to a basic cab, and my two reasons are simply, the base car has higher profile tires, goodyears (which I don't know if will be better yet), and although the wheel is same width, each tire a little thinner which will allow me to fit it better on the local deluxe car wash tire track in a pinch when can't hand wash. The "S" tire is a little wider and it really squealed when I took it through the wash. In fact was amazed the tire made it into the wash track. There have been also other documentated cases of premature tire failure such as the review from Jeremy at Top Gear who had a blow out within 1 week, claiming it was totally unacceptable. I will also mention I gave a written response to Porsche, and didn't hear a peep back about my concerns.

June 18 Build:
2013 Cab, White, Red Leather, Burmester, Stick, SportExhaust

Sold:
2012 991S, Black PDK, (flat tire city)
2009 Targa 4S, Black, PDK (hope they build again)
2009 Boxster S, Aqua, PDK (shouldn't have test drove, started whole addiction)

cmb13

Interesting point. I've thought about this myself. The tires are 30's on rear in the S. I'm sure they're more prone to failure and way more expensive, but I haven't verified this myself.

In my Vette, I got 10k to 12k miles on the original tires (run flats) and they were quite expensive. I switched brands to save about 50%, and actually got twice the tread life.

These cars are pushing the envelop from sports cars to track cars when you get to 20", 30 series tires. I remember looking at a 997 and thinking at that time I'd prefer the base wheel / tire package.