For many auto companies, the big bad wolf is at the door. Porsche is that wolf, having slowly devoured Volkswagen stock to the point that Porsche now controls VW. Such a move underscores the company's immense profitability, not to mention its supreme confidence as an automaker.
The 2009 Porsche 911 Cabriolet is further proof of this.
First, consider the base price, a rarefied $86,200.
Certainly, this is a car meant for those lucky enough to have — or have the nerve — to spend that kind of money on a sports car. But what do you get for all those Washingtons?
One of the world's great sports cars.
The car is the direct descendant of the 901, which first wowed crowds at the Geneva Auto Show in 1964. But the link between the 911 and the 901 is theoretical at best. Yes, both have their engines in the rear, wear the Porsche badge and possess the same sloping profile.
But the 911 has the kind of technology that Ferry Porsche, son of founder Ferdinand, could only imagine in his wildest dreams. Porsche long ago abandoned the air-cooled engines that fueled the imaginations of Porsche-philes. And as the company embraces SUVs and will soon field the Panamera, a — gulp! — four-door sedan, should it be any surprise that the company's latest development is an automated manual dual clutch transmission?
Dubbed the Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (try saying that once, let alone three times fast), Porsche mercifully calls it the PDK. Although the PDK's name doesn't roll off the tongue the way Tiptronic — the 911's previous automatic transmission — did, the PDK works a lot better.
Like the Tiptronic, the PDK can be left to its own devices to shift automatically. But this is a Porsche, so unless you're stuck in, say, Washington, D.C., traffic at 5:30 p.m., you'll probably want to row through the gears yourself, despite the absence of a clutch pedal.
And that's where the PDK shines.
Quite simply, the gearbox actuates the gears so quickly and so smoothly that you'd be hard-pressed to outperform it. That is why many F1 race cars have similar technology.
To Porsche's credit, the system is better than similar systems from other automakers. For proof, try hitting the sport button or, if you're feeling brave, the sport-plus button, and you'll feel this car's velocity turn up to 11.
Pressed back in your seat with incredible force, it's as though all of your vital organs were suddenly on intimate terms with your backbone.
One caveat: Working the steering-wheel-mounted buttons — forward to upshift, rearward to downshift — feels clumsy. Shifting the transmission lever is much more natural.
Still, it's remarkable that so much thrust comes from a mere six cylinders. The 385 horsepower, fed through the rear wheels, sings a siren song that will have you imagining you're on the Autobahn, until the boys in blue start raining on your parade and tapping your wallet.
Once you slow to an idle, you can feel the 911's evil heart throb, sending vibrations through your fingertips. Yes, the car is awake and ready to rumble.
An all-wheel-drive model is offered. Grip is ever-present, expected in a car whose top speed flirts with the 200-mph mark. Yet a mixed driving loop of suburban and highway driving — no, I won't say how fast I drove — returned 21 mpg.
The rest of the car is relatively unchanged.
It still possesses a raw beauty that is unique — one part track star, the other part luxury ride.
