The Porsche 911 Carrera S Makes Every Day An Event

Countless cars claim to be sporty and enthusiast-focused while also being practical enough for everyday use, but none of them ride the line quite as well as the 992.2 Porsche 911 Carrera S. Most other cars go either too far in one direction or the other. They're too luxurious, so they lose all sense of speed and thrill, or they're too hard-edged, so they're not comfortable enough to really be used every day. Not the 992.2 C2S, though. Somehow, this car finds the exact middle point between the realities of sporty and luxury cars and then heightens it to something truly magical.

It's hard to articulate exactly what's happening here, so I'll put it like this: say a car like the Mercedes-AMG GT63 is 50% sporty and 50% practical, the C2S is 100% sporty and 100% practical. No, I don't know how that's possible, either, but I'll do my best to try to explain it. Fair warning, though, if you're sick of stories where journalists glaze Porsche (and the 911 specifically), you can stop reading here. It's not our fault. Tell those Germans to make worse cars if you've got a problem.

Full Disclosure: Porsche lent me a fully fueled-up 911 Carrera S to do with as I pleased for a week.

The heart of the Carrera S, like all 911s, is in its ass. The twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-6 now pumps out an incredibly healthy 473 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque, nearly the same amount of power as a 997 Turbo. Don't worry, this isn't just a retune of the base 911 Carrera's engine, either. To help it gain 85 hp and 59 lb-ft of torque over the standard car, it makes use of the turbos and intercoolers from the 992.1 Carrera GTS.

When adding in the brilliant 8-speed dual-clutch PDK transmission, launch control, the Sport Chrono package and a foot of Pirelli rubber out back, the rear-wheel-drive 992.2 Carrera S can lay down a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.3 seconds according to Porsche — and in Car and Driver's testing, it hit 60 mph in a hardly believable 2.7 seconds. It crossed the quarter-mile marker in 10.8 seconds at 128 mph in C/D's test, on the way to its Porsche-claimed 191-mph top speed. It goes without saying that this machine can really move, far quicker than anyone would expect from a car that's just a notch above base. The thing is, though, it can do this all day. The Carrera S shook off 5,000-rpm clutch dumps as if I was gently pulling away from a stop sign.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

While the Carrera S was undoubtedly wonderful in a straight line, it was even better on the twisty roads of Bear Mountain in the Hudson Valley on an early morning drive. Like all Porsches, its steering is as direct, weighted just right (if you don't mind a bit of heft) and flickable as anything on the road, aided by the PASM sport suspension option that lowers the coupe by 0.4 inches. Even in Sport mode, it didn't ride terribly roughly, though. Porsches never really do. Instead, it was wonderfully compliant over the rough pavement I found on my 500-something-mile test through New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

It's a car that allows its driver to push for hours, simply because it's so easy to do so. Every input is proportional to every output, which means the Carrera S is incredibly predictable to drive. There's just so much mechanical grip from the Pirelli P-Zero tires. Of course, getting into trouble is always possible — especially at the speeds the C2S is capable of — but the way the rear end lets go isn't reminiscent of the "widowmaker" 911s of old. This is really hard driving on easy mode.

Since the 911 Carrera S makes sporty driving so easy, daily driving and road trips are even more of a cinch. It's truly the super sports car that could be driven every day, just because of how easy it is to use. All the creature comforts anyone could ever want in a daily are here and accounted for, thanks mostly to the Premium package my tester was equipped with, which included a Bose sound system, ventilated front seats, adaptive cruise control, and a 360-degree camera. It's also available with other daily-friendly features like rear-axle steering for maneuvering in tight spaces, a front-axle lift and the wonderfully comfortable 18-way adjustable Adaptive Sports Seats Plus that makes even the longest drives feel relaxing. Aiding in those long drives was the extended range fuel tank option, which let me throw a massive 22.1 gallons of gas in the 911. That's pretty sick, but it costs about the same amount as the car's MSRP to fill it.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Outside of the comfort features, the 992.2's cabin was just a nice place to be... for the front two passengers, at least. In the rear, well, good luck. Those are for my cats and luggage, which served as a great overflow zone once I filled up the car's 4.8-cubic-foot frunk. Still, as I was one of the two people in the front, I was able to enjoy my tester's Bordeaux Red leather interior. It was very '80s in the best way possible.

The car also has all of the normal tech features anyone could want from a daily driver without overwhelming the senses. The 10.9-inch center screen was clear and easy to use, and it doesn't take up much real estate on the dashboard, plus there are still plenty of buttons for the less tech-inclined. Those folks will probably be pretty bummed about the 12.65-inch curved gauge cluster, but times are changing, and the cluster can change with it.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

All of this adds up to a car that can be driven every single day with almost no compromises. Sure, the engine is maybe a touch louder than the most comfort-oriented people would want from their daily, but that's a small price to pay. It's smooth as hell on the highway, the PDK transmission shifts up and down its eight gears with ease to return some pretty decent fuel economy, the fast-acting front-lift system means the expensive front bumper won't get the crap scratched out of it, and there's even plenty of storage space. It's hard to argue with this amount of brilliance.

There is but one downfall for this car: its price. The 911 Carrera S is not a cheap car. You knew that, but I don't think you really realize how expensive it has gotten — and it's only getting more expensive. Technically, the car I drove was a 2025 model with a starting price of $153,695, including destination. With options, it came out to $178,825. 

Now though, we've got 2027 pricing, and it's gone up considerably. The car now starts at $158,500, but since this is Porsche, there are going to be a hell of a lot of options added on that you're going to need. For example, you're going to want to shell out $3,680 (2027 pricing) for the 18-way seats. They're that good. Then, add in that $5,590 Premium package. We also can't forget about the chassis needs like rear-axle steering ($2,220), PASM ($1,280) and the front axle lift system ($3,160). Are you going to buy a Porsche without the Sport Chrono pack or the bigger fuel tank? I didn't think so. Hand over $2,540 and then another $240, please.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

There were other odds and ends my car was fitted with, but honestly, I'd say it was pretty lightly optioned in Porsche-land. Still, the Ice Grey Metallic paint was $880, the 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels were $2,790, and that gorgeous red interior was $3,300. All in all, my tester came out to a fairly high $184,230, including destination. I suppose if you want one of the best cars on sale today, you're going to have to pay for it.

There's an argument to be made that the Porsche 911 Carrera S is both the best daily driver and the best weekend car on sale today. I understand that doesn't make much sense on the face of it, and you're probably asking yourself how it could be both. I'm here to tell you that it technically can't, but it is. It's paradoxical, and yet it works. If you don't trust me, trust J. Robert Oppenheimer.

There's just nothing else on the road today that combines the fun-to-drive attitude of a sports car with the true daily driveability of a luxury car — then turning it up even further. Yes, there are other 911s that do roughly the same sorts of things, but they all start to either lean too far in one direction or the other. The rear-wheel-drive Carrera S is the sweet spot, and that's why you've got to pay up for the privilege of driving it.

Getting in this car makes every single drive special, turning the mundane into the magical. It's not a car that meets the occasion. It makes the occasion, because that's what a truly special car can do.