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It’s late.
Actually, it’s very late.
I had promised the good people at Porsche that I’d get their new 911 Carrera S Cabriolet back to them by 6pm. Unfortunately, it turns out trying to squeeze a 40-minute journey into 20 is a little on the ambitious side.
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Which is why, at 5.45pm, I find myself behind the wheel of the aforementioned Cabriolet en-route to Porsche’s Dubai GHQ putting the throttle, electro-mechanical steering and seven-speed doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) transmission through their respective paces. Even though I preoccupied with my, ahem, energetic driving (at a perfectly legal 119kph), I can’t help but notice that the Carrera S is garnering some attention from my fellow motorists.
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It’s certainly a handsome beast, the contemporary facelift applied to the 911 DNA on the new 991 model – including elongated headlights, new 20” Carrera alloys and the subtly positioned indicators on the sleek body contours – in no way offset by the roof being chopped off. Resplendent in its Agate Grey finish (and those cheeky red calipers have gone down quite nicely too), we’re struggling to decide at crankandpiston whether the Carrera S Cabriolet looks better with the roof down or up. There’s a good few weeks of arguing still to run on that subject too.
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My eyes are firmly rooted on the speedometer and the clock as the hands tick across to 5.50pm, but fortunately a couple of days spent with the Cabriolet have given me time to gauge the interior. I’ll confess that the red finish is a touch too vibrant for my tastes, though I do seem to be in the minority there. Like the coupe model, the leather upholstery and silver metallic trim are beautifully put together in the convertible, even if some may consider the mass of buttons and switches on the dash a bit counter-intuitive. Still, up front I’ve got plenty of head and legroom, and the Sports seats whilst firm are no less comfortable.
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Our choice of ambience (if you forget the high-quality surround sound) comes down to two buttons stationed next to the PDK gearbox. Pull up on the sunroof button to have acres of blue sky above your head in just 13s. Tap the button adorned with dual exhaust pipes though and this activates the Sports exhausts system: depress the go faster pedal and you’ll be met with a melodic roar as the revs hurtle steadfastly to the redline; lift off again to hear a melodic burble on the overrun. Just FYI, you may want to consider gluing that button down…
