The new Porsche 911 Carrera S is a dead ringer for its predecessors, but there is a slight shift in the proportions, with a longer wheelbase and a rather more pronounced, almost cartoonish, relationship between wheels and headlights

There really are few contemporary sports cars with such a huge breadth of talent. Until you get to the very high-end models like the Turbo and GT3, the Porsche 911 is a car you can use every day. Even lighter and more efficient than before, it is equipped with stop-start engine technology and other fuel-saving tricks

The straight six engine doesn't have the bass-y rumble of a V8 or V12, meaning you can drive quietly and unselfconsciously around town without inviting unwanted stares

There are four seats, a fairly helpful chunk of luggage space and a brilliantly put together entertainment system - Porsche are getting ever closer to Audi levels of quality with their recent interiors. The view out over the front bonnet, past the raised humps of the wheel arches, is distinctly evocative, reminiscent of more curvaceous cars from a bygone era

Find an empty stretch of road and there are 'Sport' and 'Sport S' buttons at your disposal to speed things up a bit. The latter is almost only suitable for the track, such is the sudden ferocity of the engine and the gearbox's desire to change only at the edge of the redline

The steering is perfectly weighted (even though the new car has switched over to a controversial electro-mechanical system for the first time) and controls fall easily to hand. It also feels compact, with excellent visibility

Although Porsche is very much wedded to the 911 look - a family style that is carried over to all its models, the company's vast legions of engineers are more than content to see how much more efficient, dynamic and swift they can make the car within this formal framework

keywords:Porsche 911, Carrera, 991 Series

关键词：保时捷911，Carrera，991系列