Porsche 911 T Carrera: Less really is more!

By Daminda Harsha Perera

Driving the 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T is pure inspiration and a memorable experience. With an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, sitting behind the wheel on the Carrera T is exhilarating. Driving through the streets of Singapore, it is a doubly rewarding experience, with the well laid out roads making the drive a pleasure. 

On our test drive on the Carrera T, we were given a route map covering a distance of one hundred and fifty kilometers (150 km), a drive we completed over a full day. It was a thrilling experience like none we have had before. The sheer smoothness of the drive and the comfort of the vehicle made time fly.

Now for some of the more technical details of the Carrera T. This is an improvement over the previous version of this sports car. With the 911 Carrera T, Porsche is reviving the puristic concept behind the 911 T of 1968: less weight, shorter transmission ratios from the manual gearbox, and rear-wheel drive with mechanical rear differential lock, for an enhanced performance and intense driving pleasure. The new model’s unique appearance is based on the 911 Carrera and its engine delivers 272 kW (370 hp). The 911 Carrera T – at Porsche, “T” stands for Touring – also boasts several other equipment features that are not available for the 911 Carrera, including the PASM sports chassis as standard, lowered by 20 mm, the weight-optimised Sport Chrono Package, a shortened shift lever with red shift pattern and Sport-Tex seat centers. The shortened shift lever with shift pattern in red remains exclusive to the 911 Carrera T. The rear-axle steering, which is not available for the 911 Carrera, is available as an option for the 911 Carrera T. 

The Porsche logo, the “911 Carrera T” model designation in Agate Grey and the sports exhaust system are provided as standard. Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) is also available as an option on the Carrera T, enabling the vehicle to reach 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, and 200 km/h in 14.5 sec-onds. Both transmission variants enable a top speed of over 290 km/h.

The new Porsche 911 Carrera T is made for those with a passion to drive.  Interior soundproofing has been reduced to the bare minimum, but the beat of the six cylinder engine can be heard. The rear window and rear side are made of lightweight glass. Rear seats can be omitted with selection of the Full Bucket Seats. The rear-mounted six cylinder horizontally opposed soundtrack plays clearly through the standard sport exhaust system.

Performance is controllable through the mode switch mounted to the steering wheel, in interaction with the PASM Sports suspension and Porsche Torgue Vectoring (PTV) with a limited-slip differential. These measures combine to make the new 911 Carrera T an unadulterated sports car - one that fully lives up to its Sixties predecessor.

The Porsche 911 has always been inspirational. Over the years, the rear-engine German icon has become the go-to benchmark for would-be sports car contenders, not to mention the motivation for plenty of people to get that bonus or clinch that promotion. Now, with the 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T, the inspiration is to shed that excess weight around your waist.

To keep the T on its toes, Porsche strips out much of the sound absorption material that normally keeps the cabin quiet. The interior door pulls are now fabric loops, and it swaps out the window and rear glass, for thinner versions. Even the heating elements that would normally stripe the rear window are missing.

For all that, the weight loss itself is still fairly minimal. At 3,142 pounds for the manual – or 3,186 pounds for the PDK – we’re talking about a cut of around 44 pounds over the regular Carrera. That’s where the sacrifice comes in.

Best of all, in Porsche terms, it’s affordable, too.