Abe Froman

Porsches with turbochargers used to be terrifying. So much so that older 911s were frequently derided—or praised, depending on how you look at it—as “widowmakers.” Now, they are the easiest way to go really fast, something that dawned on me as I drove a 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S with two turbochargers down a twisting California backroad.

The five-letter “turbo” insignia on the back of a Porsche 911 used to do more than distinguish how the engine delivered its power—it used to separate an entirely different class of car and driver. The cars were so powerful, so crazy fast and so unpredictable at the limit, that you had to be insane to really drive one.


A friend of mine owns more than five old air-cooled Porsche 911s and describes the driving dynamics like an old muscle car. “Anemic off-boost,” he said. “Terrifying in the corners.” “Only fun in a straight line.” He wound up swapping the turbocharger in his 993 Turbo for a supercharger in the search for more predictable, linear power.
And this idea of having an insanely fast “turbo” version of a car was fine, because there were naturally-aspirated, “normal” 911s available. But not anymore, as the only naturally-aspirated 911s on sale are the GT3 and GT3RS. Good luck getting either one of those.

So, now that this new Carrera S is actually a “turbo” Porsche, that means it must drive like a turbo Porsche.

It doesn’t.
continues here...http://jalopnik.com/the-2017-porsche...azy-1791131998

dloines

good article, although I believe the Widowmaker name reflected more about the handling of the car vs the turbo engine though the sudden boast didn't help things either. I also like the description "And it’s not a question of whether or not I’d miss the manual (I’ll always miss driving a manual), it’s a question of whether or not the driving experience is negatively affected by not having the manual" I think that's a good "reality" description of the old PDK vs Manual.....

NVRANUF

Early Turbos..... coupling sudden boost with only rear wheel drive = widow-maker!