New Porsche 911: All the details

We’re on the cusp of a new Porsche 911, which has been spotted several times in testing and is due on sale in Australia in mid-2019.

Indeed the official countdown to the reveal of the new 992-series 911 started in February  and key details have been announced since then in the lead-up to its world debut at the Los Angeles motor show in November.

That’s a few weeks away yet, so Porsche invited us along to ride alongside its development team as it signs off the vital new model in readiness for production.

We’re strictly relegated to the passenger seat here, but when the people driving us include 911 boss August Achleitner (whose official job title is Vice President Product Lines 911/718), his engine man Matthias Hofstetter and Team Leader of Testing, Alex Ernst, then we’re happy to ride shotgun.

We’re in San Francisco, because it’s useful for testing thanks to the heat, height and traffic. You’d think that Porsche would avoid big cities, but the Bay area traffic is perfect for testing engine, gearbox and brake response.

And, really, even wearing partial disguise, nobody’s not going to know these are 911s -- specifically Carrera S models, as Porsche will introduce the 992 with the S, which will be joined by the standard Carrera in 2019.

The latter’s arrival will also introduce the seven-speed manual to the model mix, since the Carrera S will be shown in LA in PDK coupe form only.

The reasoning behind that is simply that the PDK gearbox is a significant part of the 992 story. It’s an eight-speed automatic and the extra ratio is useful, but it’s the space that’s left inside the transmission that’s the real tell.

The 992’s transmission has been adopted from the Panamera, and there’s room for an electric motor.

“The rear of the gearbox is empty, in preparation for hybridisation,” admits Achleitner, though he’s quick to add that the space for the motor will remain just a space for the time being.

As Hofstetter rather poetically says: “The car is ready for hybrid, we can’t change the wind, but we can set our sails in the right direction.”

There’s a double skinned area in the body, where batteries will eventually reside, but they won’t, yet. As Achleitner says, the performance of current battery technology isn’t good enough for the 911.

Likewise, Porsche shelved ideas for a 48-volt electrical system, citing the weight it adds as too excessive for its sports car.

There’ll inevitably be a weight penalty for a hybrid too, since the gearbox alone adds 20kg over the old seven-speed PDK unit, so Porsche has done a lot to reduce weight overall.

There’s more extensive use of aluminium in its structure to compensate, so the 992 is expected to weigh much the same as the car it replaces.

All new 911s will be wide-body, making the 992 the first Carrera to be offered with the same body as a 911 Turbo, whether rear- or four-wheel drive.

It’ll be as wide as the outgoing GTS/GT3 at the rear, while the front track has been increased by 40mm, the height up by 5mm and about 20mm added to its length -- the latter purely for styling reasons.

Regardless, it looks like a 911, only the recessed, sculpted rear lights being a significant change over the familiar design.

The 992 might not be a radical shift stylistically then, but no 911 ever is. What is more relevant is what’s under the familiar lines.

There’s bigger, staggered wheels, the Carrera S having a 20-inch front wheel and a 21-inch rear wearing 245/35 ZR20 and 305/30 ZR21 tyres.

The engine is mounted differently in the 992, being fixed more rigidly to the structure between the engine’s heads. Achleitner stated that brings considerable benefits when it comes to overall stiffness, which is useful in the coupe but even more so for the open-topped versions.

The convertible will join the coupe quickly, while the cascade of models both in the Carrera range and higher performance versions in Turbo, Turbo S and more track-focussed GT3 and GT3 RS models will follow apace.

The 911 Turbo S is anticipated to have in excess of 485kW when it arrives, but the biggest unknown remains whether the GT department’s cars will succumb to forced induction instead of the glorious 4.0-litre naturally-aspirated unit they currently use.

No doubt every enthusiast hopes, like that hybrid tech, that turbocharged GT models are a work in progress, rather than a near reality.

The Carrera has a broader remit, and the engineers have had to adapt it to the challenges of the latest emissions and consumption regulations.

To allow that Hofstetter and his team have extensively reworked the engine. There’s a new intake system, revised turbos, a new intercooler with a more direct path on top of the engine, piezo injection and a new exhaust system.

The capacity remains the same 3.0 litres, but the output has increased, the Carrera S delivering 335kW and 530Nm. That’s enough for the Carrera S to reach 100km/h in under four seconds and onto a 310km/h-plus top speed.

Hofstetter admits they’ve worked tirelessly on response as well as the cooling, the lower intake temperatures allowing a slight change in the compression ratio.

The efficiencies for cooler running help not just with the performance but emissions, the goal to deliver an engine that’s as similar in its behaviour as a naturally aspirated unit, with the added bonus of lower-rev urgency.

Certainly, the considerable shove when there’s just a few thousand rpm on the large analogue rev-counter is clear, so to is the enthusiasm for the engine to run up towards its 7400rpm redline.

The chassis is an adept companion in exploiting the Carrera S’s performance -- both the standard or optional Sport Chassis.

Cornering forces are huge, the nose seemingly turning in with real authority, the brakes never anything less than prodigious in their stopping power.

As standard they’ll be steel items, with Porsche Surface Coated Brakes (PSCB) denoted by white callipers and the PCCB carbon ceramic discs with their signature yellow callipers offered as options.

Once again, the Sport Chassis choice brings a 10mm drop in the standard PASM suspension, the Carrera being offered with the option of rear-wheel steering, a sports exhaust as well as the familiar Sport Chrono Pack among the lengthy options list.

Sport Chrono will add active engine mounts and some configurability to the drive settings, the 992 gaining a further diving mode, with Wet joining the current Normal, Sport, Sport+ and Individual choices.

The Wet mode, is, says Achleitner worthwhile on a car that’s light and on such wide tyres. There’s the opportunity to set it yourself, but the car will automatically adjust to a wet mode itself if acoustic sensors in the front wheel wells detect water on the road.

Doing so sees the angle of the rear spoiler increase for improved downforce, while the stability, traction and gearbox control systems are all adjusted accordingly to better suit the wet conditions.

That’s not the only new driver aid in the 992’s mix. The inevitable creep of autonomy under the guise of convenience has reached the 911.

In addition to adaptive cruise control, the 992 will be offered with Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Departure Warning as well as the option of Night Vision.

Achleitner is quick to point out that: “I think the 911 will be one of the last cars which will be offered with an autonomous system,” though suggests there’s customer demand for such systems in the drudgery of modern traffic.

Achleitner adds: “The 911 is still a driver’s car, and we want to keep this character in the future for as long as possible, as long as it’s possible to switch it off then it’s fine.”

When its unveiled in November, and when we drive it early next year, we’ll see how faithful the new 992 sticks to the 911 ethos.

But on first impressions, sat alongside the people who created it, the next Porsche 911 looks to be in good hands – at least for now, because it’s preparing for a less certain future…