Porsche 911 Carrera T revealed

Pared-back variant comes with performance upgrades and stripped-down interior; goes 0-100kph in 4.5sec.

Published On Oct 25, 2017 08:00:00 AM

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Porsche has unveiled the standard 911 Carrera-based new model, the 911 Carrera T (for Touring), developed by dipping into the parts bin created for the 911 R and more recently unveiled 911 GT3 Touring.

The back-to-basics model revives the purist approach brought to earlier 911 models, including its 1968 namesake the 911 T, with a stripped-down interior and the adoption of a series of performance-enhancing features not usually made available on the 911 Carrera in a bid to ramp up its dynamic properties and provide a more visceral driving experience.

Available to order now, the new 911 Carrera T differentiates itself from its standard sibling by a number of subtle exterior styling changes, including an altered front bumper with a more prominent splitter element, grey metallic exterior mirror housings, 20-inch alloy wheels, reworked slats within the engine lid and centrally mounted tailpipes pained in black.

It is available in nine different exterior colours, including Black, Lava Orange, Guards Red, Racing Yellow, White and Miami Blue, as well as metallic Carrara White, Jet Black and GT Silver.

Inside, there is a leather bound GT sports steering wheel, decorative trims on the dashboard, lightweight four-way electronically adjustable seats with so-called Sport-Tex fabric upholstery and 911 logos on the headrest and a shortened gear lever when specified with the standard manual gearbox.

Weight-saving measures include door trims featuring nylon opening loops, lightweight glass for the rear and rear-side windows, a wholesale reduction in sound-deadening material within the body structure as well as the deletion of the rear seats. There’s also a delete option on the Porsche Communication Management system.

Despite the focus on weight saving, Porsche has provided the 911 Carrera T with a number of features not available for the 911 Carrera, including a standard PASM sports suspension, which lowers its ride height by 20mm. Buyers can also option the new car with rear-wheel steering.

The result is a claimed kerb weight of 1,425kg, some 20kg less than the standard 911 Carrera.

The 911 Carrera T is powered by the same turbocharged 3.0-litre horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engine as the standard 911 Carrera. It develops 370hp at 6,500rpm, and has a power-to-weight ratio of 260hp per tonne. By comparison, its more comprehensively equipped standard sibling boasts 256.1hp per tonne.

Torque, meanwhile, swells to a peak of 450Nm between 1,750 and 5,000rpm.

Continuing the purist theme, drive is channelled through a standard seven-speed manual gearbox imbued with shorter ratios than the unit used by the 911 Carrera as well as a mechanical locking differential to the rear wheels. A seven-speed dual-clutch PDK automatic featuring a launch control mode will also be offered from the start of sales.

Porsche claims a 0-100kph time of 4.5sec, which is 0.1sec inside the time of the 911 Carrera, in standard manual guise. It also says the 911 Carrera T reaches 200kph from standstill in 15.1sec.

When fitted with the optional dual-clutch automatic gearbox, the 0-100kph and 0-200kph times drop to 4.2sec and 14.5sec respectively. Though, Porsche claims both gearboxes provide the 911 Carrera T with a theoretical top speed over 290kph.

The German carmaker has recently launched the even more driver-focused 911 GT3 in India at Rs 2.31 crore (ex-showroom, India)

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