Porsche 911 Speedster 2019 Review

Many years ago, there were a special few that roamed the Earth -- supercars with power-crazed engines attached to manual gearboxes.

Machines designed to challenge the bravery, or the wisdom, of wealthy enthusiasts, fitted with clutches that left these lucky few with one leg larger than the other.

Today they have largely gone the way of large-capacity V12 engines and hairy-chested Australian muscle cars, but Porsche has just released what may be one of the last, and certainly the very best, of the breed; the new Porsche 911 Speedster.

This manual gearbox -- without doubt the most delicious transmission this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of using -- is far from the only thing that makes this limited-edition Porsche special.

It’s merely my favourite thing about it, because it speaks of the purity of purpose that defines the design of this truly wonderful machine. And it’s just so much damn fun to shift gears yourself in something this powerful, and high-revving. Third gear alone can go on for days.

That focus on purity by the GT car team that drove this project is further reflected in the fact that the Speedster very nearly didn’t come with a roof at all. “If you’re getting wet, you’re not driving it fast enough,” was the philosophy of this car’s driven project leader, Andreas Preuninger, the man in charge of Porsche’s GT car division.

In the end it did get a roof, a manual fabric one, hidden under a super-light carbon lid that you have to get out of the car to attach yourself, but it is shipped without other modern luxuries, like a screen, stereo, sat-nav and door-handles (you can put some of these back in as no-cost options, if you’re not as puritan as the Porsche engineers).

In Australia, a very hefty $604,800 will get you a couple of inclusions that are extra-cost options overseas, like cruise control, a hydraulic nose lifter and tint for the top of your windshield.

Yes, it still sounds like a lot of money, but, as this car’s hugely passionate creator, Herr Preuninger would say, what price perfection?

It seems an absurd idea, perfection in a car, but I can tell you that a colleague and I spent a whole day giggling like idiots while driving the Speedster in Sardinia, and desperately trying to find a single flaw with it.

Is the Speedster perfect? Well, anything that costs this much would want to be close, and you could argue that a price tag that big is a solid argument against perfection for a start.

For a half-million-plus Porsche, it’s also -- arguably -- a bit slow, if you’re a numbers fetishist, because it “only” gets to 100km/h in four seconds flat. The top speed of 310km/h is, however, impressive, and entirely achievable. (It’s probably worth mentioning that it can also hit 200km/h in just 12.2 seconds).

It would be faster, of course, with a PDK transmission, but it’s a driver’s car, a purist Porsche. “We want you to work in the car,” as Preuninger puts it, and that meant it had to be manual only (the PDK weighs 18kg more, for a start).

What is not in question is that this is the perfect manual gearbox. I simply cannot imagine a transmission more perfectly weighted, or a more delightful balance between effortless ease, shortness of throw and just enough mechanical feel and weight to let you know you’re doing something important.

Then there’s the pedal box, which is also just perfect for heel and toe shifts, which makes you feel even more involved in the driving experience.

But here’s a shameful admission for you. After initially poo-poohing the new Auto Blip function, and declaring I’d never touch the damn button, I felt compelled to try it, out of professional curiosity, and it is absolutely brilliant.

Sure, on the one hand it makes you sound like you know how to heel/toe, but it also just takes one task off your to-do list when driving flat out through a series of bends, which, in a car as overwhelmingly quick as this, requires a full-on effort of co-ordination.

Because make no mistake, this is a furiously fast Porsche, straight out of the GT2 RS school of madness.

As Preuninger says, “it’s 100 per cent a motor racing department project”; he also describes the Speedster as “an open RS for the road, with super style”.

You get the sense that he would have put a roll cage on it if they’d let him.

The engine here is the naturally aspirated, gloriously high-revving 4.0-litre engine from the incredible 911 GT3, but it’s been made even more wild, with various tweaks raising power to an impressive 375kW of power at 8400rpm and 470Nm of torque at 6250rpm.

What’s also been added are individual throttle bodies, a bit of racing technology that we're told has never been tried on a road car, by anyone, before. Because it’s just too difficult, and expensive.

Clearly, no expense was spared here, and Preuninger also revealed that getting the line of the windscreen right cost “millions”, as it required retooling and time off the production line, but they did it anyway “because it couldn’t just look like a cabriolet -- it’s NOT a cabriolet”.

The throttle response is as incredible as it is addictive, the slightest flex of your foot calling up instantaneous and glorious power. The noise floods into the cabin with you, a towering, crystalline crescendo of beautiful screams.

Everything about the car feels perfectly balanced, but what’s really impressive is the ride and handling, which are close to perfection.

Truly, a ride in this car would make suspension engineers from other car companies weep. How, honestly, how can something feel so connected to the road and yet soak up broken, coarse-chip surfaces, and even potholes, so effortlessly?

It’s effectively a GT3 RS, for goodness sake -- it should be tipping beyond firm into hard, but it’s just not.

There’s no Sport button in the Speedster -- your default position is sport, from the word go -- but there is a button to firm up the suspension, and even that doesn’t rattle your teeth.

In its pursuit of lightness -- an effort that delivers a 1350kg dry weight -- this ultimate 911 variant (or at least the ultimate variant of the 991 generation, which has already been replaced by the 992, so consider this going out on a high note) also gets ridiculously thin-looking carbon-fibre sports seats.

They look like they’ll be about as comfortable as a super model’s lap (not to be confused with a super model ON your lap), but they’re actually incredibly comfortable and supportive. They are wide, however, which makes getting in and out of the car a bit annoying. Finally, an actual flaw.

There’s also a slight problem with the fuel economy, of course, not that anyone would care. Porsche claims a figure of 13.8L/100km, but our fuel-warning light came on after 220km of driving, which from a 64-litre tank adds up to a rather higher number.

Those of us with long memories can recall, or think we do, that Porsches used to have even better steering than this, but the way the Speedster corners makes you feel like an artist, or a calligraphist, drawing luscious lines on the road.

The front-end simply goes where you want it, while the rear refuses to misbehave, and its passive rear steering just wants to make your life easier. Cornering this thing, particularly at high speeds, feels… perfect. It just makes you smile, again and again.

And there’s that word again -- perfect.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, because a Porsche without a roof can never be as good as the more complete coupe, in theory, but this Speedster just might be the most perfect Porsche I’ve ever driven.

A large part of that is the combination of those super-advanced throttle bodies with the old-school wondrousness of naturally-aspirated internal combustion.

Yes, there are, on paper, faster cars out there, with flappy-paddle gearboxes, but frankly, you can keep them.

And yes, there’s a new Porsche Taycan on the way, and the future looks mysterious, but certainly short, for cars like this. So it’s fair to say that this Speedster might truly be the ultimate collectible.

You just need to find someone who’ll sell you theirs.

How much does the 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster cost?

Price: $604,800 plus on-road costs
On sale: Now, but they’re all sold
Engine: 4.0-litre flat six boxer
Output: 375kW/470Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 13.8L/100km
CO2: 317g/km
Safety: TBC