Porsche Tames the 911 for a No-Frills Carrera T

A no extras, fill-your-driving-itch vehicle meant for the true enthusiast makes its signature return in the Porsche 911 Carrera T

Not every sports car has to go over the top. One look at the sector will reveal tons of vehicles putting themselves out there. Giant kidney grilles and carbon fiber wheels just to jab at a couple of examples. Porsche doesn’t like to believe in all that mumbo jumbo. The product? The 911 Carrera T. An enthusiast’s car. All of what you need, and not much of what you don’t.

Easy On Your Wallet

Like the previous generation’s T, the Carrera T remains the cheapest way to get yourself behind the wheel of a true performance 911. Starting at $118,050 the T won’t break the bank on your way to hit the track and is a bargain with the options it comes standard with.

Standard with Active Suspension Management, the Sport Chrono package, and a 7-speed manual transmission. Porsche has also been able to keep the T true to the delight of Porsche purists by shaving over 100 lbs off the standard Carrera. In order to keep the T competitive on the track Porsche has coupled the 911 with Porsche’s Torque Vectoring system with a mechanical lock to the rear differential. Forget about all the bells and whistles ’cause this 911 doesn’t have much of them. You won’t find leather seats, a heads up display, or a plethora of sound-deadening. In fact, the T uses thinner glass in order to tone itself down so have fun with all that wind noise on the highway.

Don’t Fix What ‘Aint Broke

That centuries old adage keeps its truth here, with the T keeping its base flat-6 making 379 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque from 3 liters of displacement. Porsche didn’t want to slap a huge engine in this, keeping the weight down and only allocating what the T needs. Porsche points out that a lot of its standard features on the T wouldn’t be available on the base Carrera giving the T an exclusive offering of certain options.

Speaking of options, the T is the first T to be available with Porsche’s Paint-to-Sample program giving access to over 100 colors in addition to 8 standard colors. The exterior is just plain 911, no fancy splitter or side skirts, a rear wing is omitted giving way to a blank back, no sport exhaust, nothing that would detract from what the T is meant to be. Barebones and fun.

Porsche’s Carrera T represents a valiant effort to give enthusiasts exactly what they want. No gimmicks or tricks, just pure automobile. The Carrera T hits dealers this upcoming spring, and the release didn’t exactly come out of left field. We knew the T was coming, it was just a matter of when, and we’re glad to see Porsche just be Porsche.