High Quality, High Performer
by Ross Finlay (24 Jun 02)

I didn't get involved in the discussion at the barber's, but the temptation was there. Talking about Porsches, one bloke said he quite liked the Boxster, only to be brusquely over-ruled by a 911 fancier. Neither of them owned anything remotely as exotic as a Porsche, but having sampled both models I was a foot-in-both-camps eavesdropper.

For the kind of motoring in which we often indulge in the CARkeys neck of the woods - winding roads, long climbs, abrupt descents and so on, with very little round-the-bypass stuff - I prefer the poise of the Boxster. I think of the 911 as having its engine absent-mindedly in entirely the wrong place, and I don't care tuppence what the customers who insist on keeping it that way think. The Luddite tendency was eventually talked out of its perverse attachment to air-cooled engines, and there's always the possibility that it will come to accept that the place for the power unit of a high performance car isn't behind the line of the rear axle.

And when Porsche added four-wheel drive in an attempt to keep those high power outputs under control - well, that may have been a case of over-egging the pudding. Very complicated transmission, and so on.

Yet, settling into the test rear-wheel drive Carrera 2, I thought how strongly Porsche has advanced in recent years, not only in business terms but also in the quality it builds into all its cars. Years ago, engineering ruled the roost, while interior trim and layout didn't seem to be given much attention. You needed a degree in eccentric control location to find the switches and buttons scattered around as if fired randomly into the car from a blunderbuss.

Thoroughly Improved Design

Now, there's a feeling of real quality, with a properly planned fascia, well designed front seats and top-class leatherwork. Rear seats - still extremely occasional. Luggage space - well, most 911 owners have a saloon or estate car as well.

Power and performance keep romping upwards. The latest VarioCamPlus 3.6-litre flat six engine has been boosted to give more than 310bhp at 6800rpm, and the torque peak is now 273lb/ft at 4250rpm. When you give a Carrera 2 its head, although it's by no means the top performer in the range, you appreciate just what squat-down acceleration away from a standing start is all about. Mid-range acceleration too, come to that. And what a lovely sound that engine makes, as the rev counter needle swings well round the dial.

As a hillclimber this model is very, very impressive, but I never felt like giving it absolutely full throttle on some of my favourite hill roads, except in short bursts. There was always the thought - not the feeling - that some sudden change of direction, or emergency braking, might start the pendulum swinging.

Driven quickly, though, without any kind of throwing caution to the winds, the Carrera 2 is an exhilarating machine. There's a sense of having great reserves of acceleration and dependable braking power. In any case, I'm sure that people who talk about driving cars like this near the limit are motoring in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Nobody does, not for sustained periods on the open road.

Track days, though - now there's an entirely different matter. Wouldn't a Carrera 2 be great fun in that situation?

The test car was fitted with the beautifully designed and built Tiptronic transmission which comes as a £1961 extra-cost option, and is included in the price shown below.

I've spent a fair amount of time recently not wanting one of those paddle-operated though automatically-worked manual transmissions, in which the gremlins look after boring things like declutching, moving into another gear and letting the clutch in again. The thing is, I can't help feeling that, if you want automatic assistance in changing gear, go the whole hog.

There's nothing in the least unsporting about the Tiptronic S transmission, which is one of the finest examples of control via steering wheel push buttons. While acceleration times are a little slower than in the manual version, it offers rip-through ratio changes, up or down, with none of the mid-change hesitation of the halfway-house types.

I still think the engine is in the wrong place, but the Carrera 2 Tiptronic is one of those cars about which the ranks of Tuscany can scarce forbear to cheer.

Price: £61,611
Capacity: 3596cc
Power: 315bhp
0-62mph: 5.5 seconds
Maximum speed: 175mph
Economy: 34.8mpg extra urban, 24.9mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 274g/km
Insurance: Group 20
Porsche figures.

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