Porsche 911 C2 S Cabriolet 2007 Review

Road Test

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.0/5.0
X-factor: 4.5/5.0

I thought I was over it... Had moved on... Now I'm considering which of my three children might benefit from a period in fiscally-rewarding forced labour. Fiscally-rewarding for yours truly that is...

911s are like that. When you haven't driven one for a while you start to question what all the fuss is about. After all, the automotive world's moved on. There are hot hatches with 100hp-plus per litre outputs and perfect weight distribution these days -- what can a jumped-up Beetle actually contribute to 'This Auto Life' circa 2007.

Plenty it seems, as the old magic is still there. Still oozing desirability... Or perhaps we should say the old magic is back... Back via the 997 series Porsche after a period in the wilderness, in the shape of the at times antiseptic 996.

The 911 we sampled was a C2 S -- the Cabriolet rather than yours truly's first love, the plain, simple coupe. And while this (mainly) taut and terrific soft-top may have all the modcons, as much as ever, the experience is still all about the drive.

The latest 911's watercooled boxer six is rich and soulful and has an almost perfect mix of happiness to rev and torquey flexibility. It's cammier than we remember, especially just off idle (the glitch accompanied with a real flattening of the exhaust note) but with just a few revs in hand it chimes in and gets serious.

Happy around town at 60km/h in sixth gear, real performance is only a snap downchange and tweak of the ankle away.

And when you do sink the slipper... Oh my gawd -- what a sound.

Open up the taps on the soft-top and all hell breaks loose. The 911's distinctive and glorious flat six timbre first deepens and then ascends to a hard metallic infectious shriek. It's this aural stimulation that's perhaps the most addictive aspect to the 911's character. Just be careful exercising that addiction though -- even a quick trip into the zone will produce licence-wilting speed. For the record, Porsche claims a 0-100km/h time of 4.93sec. The cabrio's top speed is better than 290km/h!

The C2 S's six-speed manual gearbox has a satisfying technical feel to its rather stiff action. The cold alloy of the gear lever itself some how adds to the visceral nature.

Pedal placement and weighting are uniquely Porsche. How so? It's hard to describe, but the control feel is different to other cars and the pedals, while well placed are not perfect. In re-familiarizing yourself to them, you're somehow reminded of previous Porsche drives. (Now I am sounding like a tosser!)

As always the steering feel is communicative. It's beautifully weighted and 'talks' to the driver -- even when you're pointed straight ahead. This is a car that you feel you can do anything in...

Our car had an optional ($1490) three-spoke wheel that was not too thick of rim. Pleasing too the fact Porsche resisted the temptation to fit a gimmicky flat-bottomed wheel.

There's no shortage of gimmicks on the dash though. Indeed, the centre console on the 911 is still an ergonomic nightmare. It seems like's there's buttons everywhere -- too many to get used to in a week's acquaintanceship at least.

Thank goodness Porsche hasn't messed unduly with the main gauges though. Paraded across the dash under a French Curve of a brow, the tacho takes pride of place. There's a hint of old school 911 remaining, but just a hint. If you're like us you'll find yourself taking more notice of the digital speed display than the confusingly graduated analog speedo.

In the case of the Cabriolet electric roof operation is one-touch and relatively quick. Operation doesn't require you to come to a complete standstill and the only hiccup is the need to separately raise the small rear windows (which helps to minimize buffeting).

'Our' C2 S's windblocker never made its way out of the 911's front boot. Instead we tried valiantly to get volunteers to sit in the 911's rear seats -- if only briefly. They weren't thick on the ground.

Owners will probably fit the windblocker, forget the rear seats and make the most of what room is available in the front boot and on top of the folded pews for luggage. This is a 2+2 in name only.

At more than $255K in the form we tested it, our C2 S is only for the super rich. Such is the allure of the car, however, you find yourself plotting ways of somehow scraping together the money. Ne'er a day has passed since we handed the tester back that I haven't logged onto Carsales and checked out the prices on used 911s.

Though there's no doubt I could happily own and drive one on a daily basis, my poison would remain the coupe. The Cabrio is up with the very stiffest available but there are still times when purity of the 911 experience is corrupted by compromised body structure of the soft-top.

There's the odd shimmy here or creak there, and to a point the soft-top's noise leakage -- for instance in town you often hear the auxiliary cooling fan. This is a never an issue on the near $15K-cheaper coupe.

Despite the lack of a useable rear seat, the 911 has long been held up as the practical supercar. Near 100 per cent reliability and iron-clad resale values add to the reputation -- the fact you can even get decent mileage (certainly better than local V8 consumption) is arguably icing on the cake.