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By Jonathan Crouch

Porsche's 911 Carrera T could be your perfect entry-level 911. Jonathan Crouch takes a look at the improved version.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 73

You might wonder whether the sprawling Porsche 911 range really needs yet another derivative, but this improved 911 Carrera T turns out to offer everything you need from this model line and nothing you don't. Its lightweight approach is more focused, there's the novelty of manual-only transmission and you can now also have it in Cabriolet form. You don't even necessarily need a big lottery win to own one. What's not to like?

Backgroundword count: 158

Porsche hopes it's developed a 911 for almost every kind of customer, but it seems like there's always room for one more. And nice to see that in the case of the 911 Carrera T we look at here, it's been inserted into the slightly more affordable end of the range. It is, we're promised, a 911 for the purists. 'T' stands for 'Touring', which doesn't properly clue you into the more focused variant this is, with lightweight engineering, a manual gearbox and some key dynamic features you can't have on the entry-level 911 Carrera model this car is based on. It draws on a bit of 911 history too, though the original 911T sold from 1968-1973 wasn't reprised until 2017 when Porsche introduced a Carrera T version of this current model's 991-series predecessor. This 992-series model eventually arrived in early 2023, then was updated in Autumn 2024 to create the car we're going to look at here.

Driving Experienceword count: 417

The changes over the original version of this 992-series 911T model that we tried back in 2023 are quickly covered. It has the slightly uprated 394PS version of Porsche's flat six 3.0-litre rear-mounted engine fitted to the latest 992.2-era 911 Carrera. And gains a quicker steering rack, while four-wheel steering (previously optional) is now standard. You can't now have a PDK auto gearbox on a 911T, but you can now have a Cabriolet roof. And there's now even more of a weight saving over that usual auto-only Carrera model - a small but significant 40kgs (previously 35kgs) - which comes courtesy of thinner glass, a lighter battery and the deletion of the rear seats. With seven ratios from the manual stick shift, you might expect the gear spacing to be short; actually the reverse is true. Second gear runs to over 75mph and third will take you comfortably into three figures. If you're interested, 62mph from rest occupies just 4.5s - the same as before (though top speed has risen fractionally to 183mph). Another extra area of driver interaction over an ordinary Carrera is noise: the thinner glass, reduced soundproofing, less cluttered cabin and the standard sports exhaust simply mean you hear more of it. Which would normally be bad, but for an enthusiast, with a sonorous turbo flat six slung out back, can only be good. It doesn't get too tiresome on the commute (and nor does the stick shift), but even if it did, you'd forgive much for the way the car attacks each corner like a shark turning towards a meal. That light 1,478kg kerb weight helps here, as does the industry-leading level of immersive steering feel and the torque vectoring system. Obviously, the all-wheel steering system helps too and as you'd want, Porsche also includes its PASM adaptive sports suspension, lowered here by 10mm. As usual in a 911, there are 'Normal', 'Sport', 'Sport+' and 'Individual' drive modes accessible via a button on the steering wheel, plus a 'Wet' setting that primes the car for slippery surfaces. You'll probably be in 'Sport' most the time, which will see the sports suspension stay in its normal setting. You can stiffen it up either by using a dashboard button or by switching to the more focused 'Sport+' mode. But you don't have to in order to really enjoy what this 911 has to offer. It's an inherently complete sports car. And arguably, in the 911 Carrera T, that experience is as complete as it gets.

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