2023 Porsche 911 Carrera T Review: The One To Have
- One of the least-expensive 911s
- Unmatched handling prowess
- A really good-looking package
- Adding options quickly raises the price
- Manual transmission lacks mechanical feel
- Cabin is kind of loud
It's been about 10 months since I first drove the 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera T. In that time, I've sampled plenty of other compelling sports cars – some from within Porsche's own stable – but getting back into the Carrera T feels like meeting up with an old friend. It's not the quickest, fastest, most luxurious, or most affordable two-door sports car out there, but man, it's still the one for me.
What the 911 Carrera T lacks in outright power or impressive 0-to-60-mph acceleration times, it more than makes up for with superb balance. I'm not just talking about balanced handling characteristics, either — I mean it can wonderfully split the difference between slinky sports car and comfortable daily driver. It's a reminder of how great the 911 is at its core.
911 Carrera T: The details
The Carrera T builds off the base Porsche 911, meaning its got a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-6 engine mounted above the rear axle, making 379 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque. The 911 T is only offered with rear-wheel drive — saying "Carrera 4T" would just be weird — and while you can spec one with Porsche's lovely seven-speed PDK dual-clutch gearbox, make mine a manual.
Porsche's seven-speed DIY gearbox isn't perfect; it lacks the supremely mechanical feeling of the six-speed stick used in the 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster models. But given the Carrera T's mission as a back-to-basics driver's car, it feels like the most appropriate setup. Downshifts are improved thanks to automatic rev-matching, which you can turn off if you want, but I like the way this technology makes it easier and smoother to drop a gear in traffic, letting you kick the engine's revs up a bit while slowing down toward a stoplight.
With the manual transmission, Porsche says the 911 Carrera T can hit 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, which is slower than a V6-powered Lotus Emira, and pales in comparison to the 3.8-second time you'll get with the PDK automatic. Does that matter in the real world? Not really. Still, Porschephiles love to brag.
What a looker
Done up in $3,270 Shark Blue, the Carrera T looks absolutely ace. I'd probably swap out the standard gray-painted 20-inch front and 21-inch wheels for the optional $2,630 Exclusive Design five-spoke wheels (this is theoretical money, after all), but then it wouldn't match the side sill decal, which you can remove, but I'll admit I actually kind of like.
Gray mirror caps are also part of the Carrera T treatment, as is Porsche's dual-outlet sport exhaust. Of course, this is a 911, so you can go wild and add things like aero kits and SportDesign side skirts, neither of which are particularly attractive to my eyes, but hey, you do you.
No back seats? No problem
On the inside, the Carrera T removes the 911's otherwise useless rear seats, giving you tons of newfound cargo space behind the front buckets. You can have the back seats reinstalled for free, but ditching them does save a bit of weight, as does thinner glass and reduced sound deadening material. Compared to a base 911, the Carrera T is 100 pounds lighter.
The front seats are trimmed in leather but have RaceTex fabric inserts, and while single-piece carbon buckets are available, they seem unnecessary in a more relaxed 911 like the Carrera T. (Save that option for your dream-spec GTS.) In fact, the thing I like best about the Carrera T is that it's relatively sparsely optioned as far as comfort and convenience features are concerned. I'd definitely have to have the $1,430 surround-view camera system and $2,770 GPS-activated front-axle lift kit. Oh, and let's throw in either the $1,600 Bose surround-sound stereo or fancy-shmancy $5,560 Burmester setup. The 911's base audio package sucks.
Porsche's updated Communication Management 6.0 software is standard, as is a 10.9-inch central touchscreen. Small improvements to the menu structure and icon setup make PCM easier to use than before, but the best update is that PCM now includes support for Android Auto, in addition to Apple CarPlay.
This coupe's a hoot
You'll have to forgive me, though: I'm clearly burying the lede. The best thing about the 911 Carrera T isn't the way it looks or how it's equipped, it's how wonderful this car is to drive. I'm not just talking about its penchant for whipping up and down canyon roads, either. The 911 T is a Carrera you can legitimately drive every day, whether running errands or just commuting to work. This coupe is as amicable to city slickin' as it is to spirited weekend blasts. It's the sort of car that'll make you come up with excuses just to get out and drive.
You might poo-poo the T's use of the base engine, but this car proves the 911's standard 3.0-liter flat-6 is a peach. You can wind it out to enjoy the full attack of its 379 horsepower, or dig into the throttle at lower rpms to have the turbos spool up and deliver plenty of torque thrust. Even better, working the 911 Carrera T with its standard seven-speed manual transmission puts you right in the heart of the experience, able to rip off quick shifts whenever you desire.
Porsche equips the Carrera T with its adaptive sport suspension and torque-vectoring rear axle — two things you can't usually get on a base 911. There's a rear-axle steering option, too, which helps push the coupe's back end around allowing it to rotate better through turns. But having driven 911 Carrera T test cars with and without this option, the difference isn't noticeable enough that I'd recommend ticking this relatively expensive ($2,090) option box.
Carrera T vs. the world
Starting at $126,550, including a $1,450 destination charge, the T is third up in the 911 hierarchy, positioned above the base Carrera and all-wheel-drive Carrera 4. The next rung up is the Carrera S, at $132,750, and while you do get more power with this model — 443 hp and 390 lb-ft, to be exact — it lacks some of the T's standard performance options, and come on, do you really need that extra shove? I love high-power sports cars as much as the next person, but after driving the Carrera T, I'm never like, damn, I wish this thing was quicker.
Looking outside of the Porsche stable, there are plenty of worthwhile rivals, everything from the Chevrolet Corvette to the Lotus Emira, or perhaps the Jaguar F-Type or upcoming Mercedes-AMG GT. Still, I've found that people who want a 911 want a 911, and that this car isn't a question of compromise or affordability. It's not, "Do I want a 911?" It's, "Which 911 do I want?"
2023 Porsche 911 Carrera T verdict
The more 911 variants I drive, the more I continue to be impressed by the flexibility of Porsche's 992-generation sports car chassis. But I've long said that any high-end sports car is only as good as its base version, and when you drive a 911 Carrera T, you can feel the link to faster, more powerful models like the 911 Turbo, 911 GT3 or 911 GT3 RS.
That makes the 911 T a real sweet spot in the range. It's a 911 for people who want a great driving experience and an all-around usable sports car but don't feel the need to shell out for a top model. Sure, bragging rights are fun. But for those of you with less-inflated egos, you'll never grow tired of the T.