2019 Porsche 911 Speedster Debuts
2019 Porsche 911 Speedster Debuts
The Porsche 911 Speedster Concept from last year has made production, and the finalised car has made its debut in New York. Made to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Porsche building sports cars, the 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster is a very desirable car, even if you鈥檙e not a 911 diehard, and especially so if you are. Based on the previous generation 鈥?91.2鈥?and not the latest 992, this future collectible is powered by a naturally-aspirated 4.0 litre flat-six with 502 hp and 470 Nm of torque, as found in the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS. The motor revs till 9,000 rpm, and in this application, it has been enhanced with individual throttle bodies that make the throttle response even sharper, 鈥渏ust like in the 911 GT3 R race car,鈥?Porsche says. Mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission, 0-96 km/h (0-60 mph) happens in just 3.8 seconds and top speed is 309 km/h. Developed by the Porsche Motorsport department, the 911 Speedster is characterised by its low-cut front windshield and side windows, as well as the manually operated lightweight fabric top.
The two streamliners atop the rear decklid made from carbon fibre is another design highlight rooted in the model鈥檚 history. The interior focuses on the essentials of driving. Lightweight door panels with storage nets and door pulls emphasise weight reduction. The standard black leather interior can be supplemented with red stitching for the dashboard and 鈥淪peedster鈥?logos on the headrests. With this option, the door pulls are also red, and the GT Sport steering wheel is decorated with a red centre marker. Carbon can be found on the trim, shift knob and door sill guards. Those interior bits aren鈥檛 merely token measures. The car鈥檚 front luggage compartment lid, front fenders and rear decklid are all made from carbon fibre composite material, while the front and rear fasciae consist of polyurethane. Standard ceramic brakes (PCCB) and the manual fabric top (no automated operation, save for the electrically-operated latch to lock/unlock it) further shave weight. Air con is omitted, but can be refitted as a no-cost option.
There鈥檚 more. The six-speed manual gearbox saves about four kg (nine pounds) compared to the seven-speed manual transmission in the 911 Carrera, and almost 18 kg compared to a PDK dual-clutch automatic unit. All in, the 911 Speedster weighs just 1,465 kg. The Speedster uses a chassis derived from the 911 GT3 models with a specifically-calibrated rear axle steering system and dynamic engine mounts. The wheels are 20-inch centre lock items. As if this limited edition car isn鈥檛 special enough by itself, it comes with a unique Porsche Design 911 Speedster Chronograph watch. The high-performance flyback-chronograph with the in-house Werk 01.200 movement features Speedster specific design elements such as a carbon fibre dial and a rotor modelled after the Speedster centre lock wheel. Genuine Porsche interior leather and thread are also used for the perforated black leather. The history of the Speedster began in the US in the 1950s. The forefather of Porsche Speedster models, the 356 1500 America Roadster, had an aluminium body manufactured entirely by hand. It weighed about 60 kg less than the 356 Coupe and its top track speed of 175 km/h with its 70 hp flat-four engine was impressive at the time. Featuring slot-in curtain windows for the doors, a folding top and lightweight bucket seats, just 16 units of this US market special was built. By 2010, eight different production and special models bearing the Speedster name had been created.
And that rather set the tone for the interior which looked reasonably upmarket and stylish and had reasonably decent leathery touchpoints, but overall felt dated and some areas were pretty plasticky on closer inspection. In particular, the pixelated red display between the dials looked very familiar from my 2005 GTA, and that didn鈥檛 look particularly dernier cri back then either. But it did, surprisingly, have a perfectly supportive seat and overall (for me at any rate) remarkably comfortable driving position. I did over 1,500kms in it in 10 days, including a 6hr 500km schlepp from St Tropez back to Malpensa yesterday afternoon, and felt absolutely no discomfort whatsoever. In this respect, it was streets better than the new-shape A1 we had at Easter in which I simply could not find a position in which I didn鈥檛 get an aching left leg or backside after about half an hour. There鈥檚 of course more NVH than is desirable (I鈥檇 say that a 6-spd box would improve matters) but overall it made a much, much better motorway companion than I would ever have credited.
Importantly, it also drove surprisingly well on the twistier bits despite somewhat lifeless steering and a rather long clutch action. And, despite that sort of caning, as with the Cooper D I had last summer, it was another lesson in just how economical these small turbodiesels can be. In addition, it wasn鈥檛 even particularly agricultural in sound when whipped, although nevertheless always unmistakably a drinker from the dark pump. Another plus point is that it remains rather a cute-looking car. Some of the proportions aren鈥檛 perfect by any means but it grew on me, and winningly, it didn鈥檛 especially look like or feel like a just another boring rental car. Friends we visited all commented positively. I liked the frameless doors - those are a neat touch of style on a small hatchback which it shares with the MINI. We spent five days staying with friends in St Tropez, which is nothing if not a flashy sort of place full of flashy people driving flashy cars and lounging on even flashier boats. Not so much the 鈥渉aves and have nots鈥?but rather the 鈥渉aves and have yachts鈥? And yet even on foreign plates and in white (actually a godsend in hot weather), the Mito didn鈥檛 make me feel horribly poor relation. It shares with the MINI and the Fiat 500 that sense of being the sort of small car you might have bought because you simply wanted a small car, and not merely because you couldn鈥檛 afford a bigger one. So, to summarise, this is, unsurprisingly, not a car that one could ever recommend as a new purchase. It is simply too long in the tooth design-wise, unforgivably so on the tech front inside, and the ride will be too stiff for some. But as a second-hand run-around for a great deal less than Alfa wants new, it鈥檚 actually not without appeal.
