2012 Porsche Carrera S (911)

By Zack Spencer     March 15, 2012

The Scoop

There are a handful of iconic designs that the general public, young and old alike, can identify. The VW Beetle, Mini Cooper, Jeep Wrangler and of course the Porsche 911 are all designs that have imprinted on the automotive landscape, to a point that they defy designers to make radical changes. Each of these brands has stumbled at one time or another in terms of staying true to their roots, Porsche included, when they introduced the much-maligned 1999 Carrera. Seeing the error is their ways, they corrected the situation and have enjoyed huge sales success. So the introduction of this all-new 911 has brought about a sigh of relief in terms of design but with any new advancement there are always critics and the loudest are the ones that say this new Carrera is too big and has lost its true sports car feel. I say maybe...

The Skin

When you here people say that ''size doesn't matter'', the reality in the car business is that changes are measured in millimetres and the culmination of all these little tweaks can have a big impact. The most significant change to the new 911 is the wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels) that has been stretched by 100mm or 10cm, which is a huge departure. Add in 20-inch wheels and a slightly longer body overall (56mm), plus a lower roofline and the design has a stretched, lower look that is accentuated by the steeply raked front windshield. The headlights retain their oval shape but the back has a more sculpted design with thinner taillights that some might say look Aston Martin inspired. Overall, there is no question this is a 911 but I would have preferred a slightly curvier design, this looks a bit too flat along the sides.

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