Porsche 911

What is it?

After three decades of seemingly inexplicable end-swapping, the 911 is now an extremely compliant, planted and predictable creature. Combine this with truly sublime steering and you have one of the finest set-ups available.

Driving

Despite being smaller than your average high-end sportscar, the 911 is superbly packaged. It feels far more spacious than you'd give it credit for from the kerbside, and the new '991' rides smoothly and noiselessly at ridiculous speeds, even on rutted tarmac.

On the inside

The base 911 gets a 3.4-litre flat-six with 350bhp that, equipped with Porsche's double-clutch PDK ‘box, sprints from 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds. That's precisely 0.1 seconds quicker than before. The Carrera S gets the ‘familiar' 3.8-litre boxer engine with 400bhp, and mated to the PDK gearbox hits 62mph in 4.3 seconds. Both times drop even more with the optional Sport Chrono Pack: 4.4s for the Carrera, 4.1s for the S.

Owning

In the grand British tradition of thinly veiled envy, anyone seen driving a 911 is treated with utter contempt by all other road users. The 911 is a cool car. We all know that. But we also accept that if you drive one you will be regarded as a tosser.