I wanted to drive the 911 Carrera S with 400 hp but it had just been sold and they only had the base model with 350 hp available. This was the very first time I drove a sport car with the engine behind your head and I was loving it to no end. The sales guy let me take corners and curves like I was on a roller coaster. I had plenty of leg room and head room. Tight with shoulder room but definitely liveable. My sales guy didn't really take me through the tech features. I kept trying to ask him if the car could do this or that. He seemed preoccupied. Maybe it was because I told him I wouldn't be ready to buy for a few months. Still no excuse for poor salesmanship though.
Biggest disappoint was the lack of power. I floored the car on the interstate and was surprised at the lack of pull. My GS pulls stronger than that. The sales guy tried to tell me to come back next week to try the S model. He feels sure I will be happy with its power but it's only 50 more hp. I've read Porsche has a model that produces 430 hp. Maybe that's the one to get.
I did like the car though and could definitely see myself in one.....one with more power.

 

You mean Lexus GS? Well, i haven't test driven base but S is a fine automobile...too bad I'm waiting for 4S otherwise I would've gone forward with it...it's an addiction!

 

you just need to rev it higher than other cars as there is lack of torque in the lower band. from 3-4k rpm and higher you'll see more what it's capable of.

 

I've driven all variations of the 991 so far. I take it you were driving the base with PDK and had sports chrono off or the car didn't have it. You have to boost the RPM to the 4K range before the torque kicks in and the car really pulls. If you get the PDK, sports chrono plus is a mandatory option, otherwise you must paddle shift. Porsche has a focus on fuel economy now, so the power is muted in normal mode so you can get 30mpg.

 

Get the 7MT! I drove a 991cs with PDK and then with 7MT and bought the 991cs MT. PDK, dual clutch tans are fine for luxury cars, suvs and race cars, but, IMHO, for a street legal sports cars, a 3 pedal manual is a must for daily enjoyment. You will get bored with PDK in a few weeks after the novelty wanes. I lived with a dual-clutch DD for 2 1/2 years before getting my 991cs and was tired of it in a few weeks.

 

Too bad the saleman didn't explain any of this.
Not sure I like having to rev a car up to get the power I want.
I might have to wait on the turbo....or get a 997 turbo and trade it in when the 991 turbo comes out. That's a thought.

Before coming to that decision, I'll drive the S model and get another salesman to drive with me who either knows more about the car or who is more interested in being a good salesman. He was actually gonna let me drive it alone but I didn't want that. It was my first time in a Porsche.

 

I dropped of 997tt yesterday for service and drove an S with Pdk no sports chrono. Interior is nice steering is really intersti g at slow speeds but I agree with the OP it feels underpowered. Again I'm comparing it to my car which has a tune. I did enjoy the revmatching on downshifts but I would definitely go with a third pedal.

 

Certainly coming from a 997TT most any other car will feel underpowered. And the other posters are right that these engines are meant to be run in the mid and upper revs for performance.

But, R&T took the 991S from 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and did the quarter mile in 11.8. Those are very quick figures by any standard.

 

Not sure about sport chrono but the salesman did choose a sport plus that required using the paddle shifter. I asked him to turn that off since I am not interested in doing any shifting. Is that why the power felt anemic? I hope not. I loved shifting when I was a kid but now I just want to stomp the pedal and go.

 

Well, the base carrera is 2 seconds faster 0 to 60 than the Lexus GS350, the S is 3 seconds faster, so something must have been up. I'm thinking it's Sports chrono plus, since my car isn't nearly as fast until I press the button.

 

Frankly I don't understand this thread. I have a base with PDK, it's broken in and with sport on it is a monster and with sport off it has manners.

 

It's simple and I agree with you that if the car felt underpowered just look for a more powerful car or variant. I don't see the logic behind reving it higher to see what it can do, a sports car should feel powerful at all rpms. This is not a honda civic. Sure sport + mode is devilish on the S variant, but really you need the car to have endless reserves of power at all times and you can't use sport + on the street all the time.

If you are a first time porsche buyer and you can afford the turbo, by all means get it. You will have no complaints about power then.

 

I'm not denying any 911 is faster 0-60 than a GS but from 40-90, the GS pulls amazingly hard. As I said to the salesman in the car with me....something must be wrong, my GS scares me from 40-90....this is weak. He didn't tell me anything about settings being the problem. He thought the S would amke me happy.
The base has 350 hp and is lighter than a GS. It should have thrilled me.

I can't explain or give reasons. I know very little about driving a Porsche. I'm here to learn. But this doesn't make sense. I floored the pedal. It should go.

 

The Corvette C6 has all the torque in the world. If you want a car with torque, look at that and save some money. Personally, I didn't like the high torque at low RPM and the engine isn't anywhere near as smooth.

ChuckJ

 

Don't quite understand this reasoning as it's a simple fact that the power in a 911 lies higher up in the rev range compared to many cars. If low end torque is what you are looking for buy a Vette, Viper, etc. Working a sweet engine to wring out power is very exhilarating to most. Driven a V8 Ferrari lately? Some may say it's pretty anemic below 5k., half the fun is zinging it up to redline.

I've driven both base and S in PDK and stick,...all are potent enough to scare the bejesus out of you when pressed as they should be during sporting driving. No, they won't generate 400 ft. lbs. of torque at 2k rpm, but pull a few shifts at redline and they all move quite well.

I would take the S our for a spin after doing a bit of research on what sport button does, what sport chrono is and what the sport + button brings with it. Then see what you think.

On thing I would mention is that there has not been one Porsche I have owned that didn't really start feeling its oats until about 5k miles or even more. My present C4S didn't even feel that fast before 5k, once you start putting some miles on it all starts to loosen up a bit and gel. Now it is almost magical and almost nothing gets by it.