2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S review

A little background on me. I have a 2011 Camaro SS, and have driven a few modern sports type cars. A 2017 Mustang GT. 2010 Lexus IS250, Focus ST, Fiesta ST. Also a lot of older performance cars. Obviously I don't have experience in a lot of newer stuff, but I thought that might make this interesting. I'm no fan boy. I'm a car guy and I like cars. It doesn't matter the brand. Domestic or foreign, big engine or small. My friend and I traded cars for a 3 day weekend, and I took it on a road trip, and put about a 1000 miles on the P-car.

Car: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S with Sport Chrono and PDK. 50K miles

The Good: This 911 is everything you would expect. Its fast. the motor sounds glorious and revs fast. It corners like its on rails. I'm not sure I've ever experienced turn in like this. The PDK is nice. This is the first dual clutch transmission that I have driven. I didn't think it was really much different than an auto tranny. In auto mode I thought it was kinda sluggish. In manual mode it was better, and shifts were fast. When the car was in SPORT or SPORT PLUS the shifting improved. It was nice to have in heavy traffic. On the freeway when you went to pass slower cars the motor instantly revs, the tranny drops two gears and you are off like a shot. I would really like to drive this exact same car with a 6 speed to compare. The interior was laid out nice, fairly simple, which I like. The seats were comfortable and supportive.

The Bad: I know this is a sports car and as such it can't be everything to everybody. It is definately is not a GT car. Its rough riding. Yes I know its a sports car. It is loud inside. Road noise is deafening. I know there is a trade off between light weight and sound deadening. Even so I was blown away by how much noise you can hear inside the car. I was disappointed in the quality of the interior. Between the rattles and creaks, and the paint or dye coming off on the dash, or the cheap plastic materials I expected better. I always read about how much better the interior is on German cars. I was not impressed. My FJ Cruiser that is two years older with 187K miles has less interior rattles. 

The Verdict: A P-car has always been on my short list. Either a 911 or Cayman. I have to say that my want for one has diminished. The premium for the Porsche name means nothing to me, so it comes down to how good the car is for the money. It is a good car, but is it worth a premium? I would say no. Add in the price of replacement parts and it has gone from short list to long list for me.

Thanks for the review. Glad to see a GRM member insight instead of the You Tube ones. The 911 has always been my dream car since a kid.( GT3 now that I'm an adult) The depreciation of 997s is nearing and I find myself searching for a Carrera S 6 spd which seems to be a lotta car for the money. I have never driven a modern 911 and the question comes up,  will I really like it, or do I really need it? I love the Iconic looks but wonder if it will fall short. 997.1 vs 997.2? Need to test drive one soon!

Road noise was most likely due to the tires.  Replace them and it'll be far more quiet.  Rattles and creaks are car dependent, my 996 Turbo has none for instance...

These cars are highly ala carte ordered, the basic interior is....lacking, at best.  Once you've added the leather packages, then it's a much nicer place to be.

In reply to docwyte :

You might be right about the tires and the noise. I don't know what was on it for tires or how worn they were.

I don't know what different interior packages are available, or which package this one had. In a car that was over $100K new I guess I just expected something a lot better. Plastic bits and pieces that seemed out of place in a car that cost this much.

In reply to D2W :

I agree, Porsche should've spent far more time making the interior much nicer for the price.  However they see that as a way to make more money, as the options lists on these are ridiculous in both size and cost

I think that the Cayman is the sweet spot for Porker sports cars as the 911s have headed for the stratosphere and 2-3 year old Cayman S cars can be found reasonably.

Bit surprised about the noise issue - the Porsches I've sampled always seemed pretty tight and quiet.

If you ever get a chance to test drive a BMW Z4M, take it. That's what I ended up buying over the Cayman.

Any kind of sidewall on the car? Up sized wheels?

I'm sure they are stock size tires & wheels. I know the past and present owners, and I don't see them changing out for different sizes.

How much of your driving was done in 'Sport' mode?

In reply to Driven5 :

Very little on the freeway, a lot otherwise.

The 'S' cars have PASM, which automatically stiffens the dampers quite a bit in Sport mode, unless you manually deactivate it. It's the button with a damper on it, and not to be confused with the PSM button. 

Did you find it 'rough riding' in standard mode on the freeway too, or did you mostly just notice it when in Sport mode the rest of the time?...Or is your ride quality observation also after having set the suspension back to soft while in Sport mode?

I've driven a number of modern Porsches over the last few years. As far as interior quality, the 991 and 987 era cars seem to have stepped up the interior quality quite a bit. I found the materials in both to be quite nice. The PDK is the best in the business, while the manual shifters I've found to be a little too isolated for my taste (typical German 4-layers-of-rubber feel). A Cayman or Boxster has always been on my short list of cars to have.

Standard mode on the freeway was where I thought it was rough riding. Short wheelbase sports car, not a GT car. I get it. When in Sport mode or Sport Plus is was exactly like I thought it should be. I never tried it in those modes with the dampers deactivated.

I love 911s,  and own several,  but I’d take my cl600 hands down for a road trip.