Motor Trend Names the Porsche 911 Carrera S its 2012 Best Driver's Car
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1st Place: Porsche 911 Carrera S It's Unanimous -- Best 911 Yet

Yup, the Porsche. Ferry's ageless squashed Beetle takes top honors in this year's BDC. Don't even bother to stop the presses. Porsche wins another comparison. This time, it's the 991 version of the Carrera S, currently the hottest version of the sixth-generation, rear-engined, "four"-seat luxury sport coupe. It's larger than ever, with the rear engine scooched a bit more toward the middle, and features the electrically assisted power steering system that has kept most of the Porsche-loving world up for months with the cold sweats. Why? Because of the possibility that an ounce of that precious 911 steering feel has been lost. That Porsche won it all.

A much more interesting outcome to this story would have been if one of the hand-built exotics had won. After all, every 12-year-old boy in the world knows a priori that the Aventador must be the winner. Just like how every F1 junkie is positive that the McLaren is the best one here. Or, good-story-wise, what if the little BRZ pulled off an upset? Talk about David cleaning Goliath's clock! Even the AMG would have been a more interesting verdict. But no, the car with the second-least power here, the car that's not even a special performance derivative (like the upcoming Turbo, GT3, GTS, 50th Anniversary Edition 911, etc.) is the 2012 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car.

"That's what I'm talking about! Right there! Holy cow, it makes all these other cars seem stupid! This 911 is so good, it just blows my mind! What a great driving car!" The previous quote is from Pobst the second he pulled into the pits and exited the vehicle. We all agreed with him. Actually, we really agreed with him. The Porsche 911 received seven first-place votes from the seven judges, and an eighth first-place vote from Randy. In fact, the 911 Carrera S was the only car where we unanimously agreed on its finishing order. Nothing but first-place votes means there wasn't even discussion. Just praise.

"The Carrera S just flows down the road like quicksilver," says MacKenzie. "Elastic thrust, seamless shifts, and effortless transitions. This Porsche moves with a grace no 911 has ever had." Adds Markus, "My favorite car here. Does nothing wrong and a whole lot right." Obviously a unanimous first-placer generates a lot of that sort of talk. Let's discuss specifics, starting with the amazing dual-clutch transmission, the second-gen Porsche PDK. "Just brilliant," coos Kiino. "No matter how you want to drive -- relaxed or spirited -- the PDK just seems to know and it functions perfectly."

So true. I blew turn 6 pretty badly one lap and, at the very moment I was starting to think, "I should probably downshift," the PDK did exactly that. It was almost spooky, like having a co-driver working the transmission for me. And, unlike the unit on the GT-R, the Porsche's transmission software is so good that you don't even need to pull the paddles. Of course, you can and, in Sport+, the relatively weak 911 (just 400 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque, yet hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds!) mule-kicks nearly as hard as the Aventador when you flick it into second. "I've just been obsoleted!" exclaimed Pobst. "Years of practice and training to learn how to shift a car have now become completely unnecessary. And, in fact, that, to me, is a little bit sad." Sure, if you still feel the need to row your own, Porsche makes a 911 with a seven-speed manual, but please believe me, PDK is the way to go.

"The chassis is totally composed over bumps," says Evans. To me, the suspension is the unsung hero of the new 911 story. I can't remember ever driving a car so well-damped. Maybe the Ferrari 458 Italia, but that's a big maybe. When Kim Reynolds measured the roll angle, the number he got back was so low (0.4!) that he thought his equipment was broken. It wasn't -- the Porsche's suspension is just that good. Sublime, really. Everything about this car is sublime. From the brakes to the throttle response to the seats, the Porsche 911 Carrera S is everything we look for in a driver's car. I'll let Evans have the penultimate word, as his comment typifies our thinking about the latest and greatest from Porsche: "I just can't think of anything this car does wrong." However, notes Pobst, "I don't like the interior color."

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