Instrumented Test
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A tanning booth that can hit 60 in 4.3 seconds.
The salient thing about the 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera S cabriolet is that you can comfortably carry on a phone conversation at 70 miles per hour with the top down. Seriously, the automated wind deflector is that good.
So, too, is the rest of the car. In our testing, we found the 400-hp Carrera S cabriolet to be roughly equivalent to the 350-hp Carrera coupe, sprinting from 0 to 60 mph just a tenth faster, in 4.3 seconds. The quarter-mile times of the base coupe and S cabrio were separated by an additional tenth, with the slightly quicker S droptop crossing the line in 12.7 seconds at 114 mph. The convertible stopped from 70 mph in 149 feet and on the skidpad it pulled 1.03 g. These are not trifling numbers.
Carrying an as-tested price of $144,400, the S cab impressed us just as much away from the track. While we’d like to tell you that the Monroney was inflated with a lot of unnecessary frippery, after driving the car in the real world, the $30,000-plus in options felt mostly justified. Porsche’s Dynamic Engine Mounts (included in the $1850 Sport Chrono Package) and Dynamic Chassis Control ($3160) help the car ride and handle like the world’s most-agile hovercraft. The new electric power steering always plays smooth music, even if you start in with the jazz hands. And the car has high tolerance for shenanigans, sticking to the pavement like Manti Te’o to a story.
The Cabriolet’s magnesium-panel-laced soft top looks good, is quick to deploy, and does a fine job insulating wind noise, although the howling of the tires is fairly constant. Countering that annoyance are both the Burmester audio unit ($5010) and the Sport Exhaust System ($2950) that really makes the 3.8-liter flat-six sing. Porsche’s Adaptive Sport Seats Plus ($3465) with 18-way adjustment start out comfortable and supportive, but become less so after a few hours behind the wheel.
As we’ve written before, the new Type 991 version of Porsche’s 50-years-old-this-fall sports car is longer, wider, and easier to drive. The convertible version is also all of those things, just with more Vitamin D. But the $11,900 more you’ll pay for a cabriolet over a coupe buys a lot of supplements. Even the $97,150 Carrera cabriolet—sans S—is just a leather interior away from six figures.
If you want to make a case against the 911 cab, that’s it right there–no need to trot out mostly specious arguments about compromised chassis rigidity or reduced performance. Besides, the 911’s true Achilles heels are still the Boxster S and Cayman S, the former more so in this open-air context. Just as Porsche’s “lesser” sports cars are every bit the performance equivalents of the Carrera coupe, the Boxster S comes within a tenth or two of matching the Carrera S cabriolet in acceleration and even out-brakes its sunshine sorority sister. Yet the base price differential between the two is almost $50,000. Yes, that’s enough to buy a regular Boxster, but such is the perversion of Porsche pricing.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2+2-passenger, 2-door convertible
PRICE AS TESTED: $144,400 (base price: $111,750)
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve flat-6, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 232 cu in, 3800 cc
Power: 400 hp @ 7400 rpm
Torque: 325 lb-ft @ 5600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 7-speed manual
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 96.5 in
Length: 176.8 in
Width: 72.9 in Height: 51.0 in
Curb weight: 3427 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.3 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 9.8 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 16.6 sec
Rolling start, 560 mph: 5.4 sec
Top gear, 3050 mph: 7.9 sec
Top gear, 5070 mph: 7.7 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.7 sec @ 114 mph
Top speed (drag limited, mfr claim): 188 mph
Braking, 700 mph: 149 ft
Roadholding, 200-ft-dia skidpad: 1.03 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 19/27 mpg
C/D observed: 16 mpg
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