Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXIII

The new-style interior is a welcoming environment, with dual-zone climate air-con, electric sports seats that offer both heating and cooling, a full length sunroof, and a media system that features integrated sat-nav in the instrument cluster as well as a new flatscreen centre console display. Our test car included the optional brushed aluminium interior package for good measure. Add to this that it has a better steering lock than virtually any car on the road regardless of price or category, and it seems that the new 911 Turbo is almost too good to be true, ticking every practical convenience box as well as being the ultimate eye-catcher in traffic. But to the crux of what this car’s all about: performance. Youwould think that after so many years and models of the 911 Turbo, it would be hard to top the impact of previous versions, but somehow they do it each time. And this new 3.8-litre, twin-turbo is mind-blowingly good. Three seconds flat to 100 km/h, 10.4 seconds to 200 km/h, from zero to 200 and back to zero in 17 seconds, and a top speed of 320 km/h is mixing it with the best of the best. But if you want more, you can always opt for the Turbo S which gets you to 100 in 2.9 seconds, 200 in 9.9 and maxes out at 330 km/h. But I’m very happy with the regular turbo, thanks. Oddly though, for a car that’s easier to drive around town than its rivals from Ferrari, McLaren or Lamborghini, testing it at speed over the same roads I took the other three on left me slightly perplexed. On paper it has the figures and the acceleration times you cannot question, but it’s so tightly sprung in Sports Plus mode that it couldn’t match the pace of the others over the same road. It was bouncing over the ripples and dips in the road as opposed to soaking them up as the others did, which I found surprising. I’ve driven over the same stretch in competitors including the Ferrari 488 GTB, Lamborghini Huracan, McLaren 570S and 675LT, and even though they were also in their most hardcore sports mode, they covered the distance in less time as they were more compliant to the not-so-perfect surface conditions. But whichever way you cut the cake, all of them are mightily quick and it’s perhaps nitpicking at best to say the 911 Turbo lacks pace on the open road. Because it doesn’t. However, at DHS584,300 for the base price or even our test car which came heavily loaded with options that brought it to DHS641,760, it’s still favourably priced to any of its competitors mentioned above. Selecting Sport Plus mode also alters the aero kit deploying a front spoiler by 75mmwhich would drop at 140 km/h anyway in normal mode, and also extends the rear wing by 25mm which then protrudes further to 75mm with a seven-degree pitch to collectively give the car 132kg of downforce at 300 km/h. With 540bhp on tap and 710Nm of torque, the 3.8-litre benefits from larger compressors for its two turbochargers and Porsche remains the only manufacturer to use two turbos with variable turbine geometry in a petrol engine. This gives it its never-ending power curve and torque flexibility. The new 911 Turbo continues to set the standard for everyday supercars for those who really need, or want, to use their performance rocket 365 days a year. It’s easy to drive fast, it’s comfortable and practical, and it has an options list as long as its power curve – not to mention that given its everyday practicality, its raw speed is phenomenal. If I had the means to own a collection of cars that would suit my every whim, that collection could not be complete without a Porsche 911 Turbo in the stable. But if I had just enough to only afford one, selfishly-decent, decadent sports coupé that ticked just about every box, from inner-city transport to race track with the occasional school run in between, it would have to be the 911 Turbo. So either way it wins – and given its 41-year history, I’d expect nothing less.