Porsche 911 Carrera 2004 Review

There is nothing that imbues confidence more quickly in a car than uncluttered transfer of information from the wheels to the driver.

In the new Porsche 911 it is not so much communication as a running dialogue.

You can almost have a conversation with this car, so clear and precise are the signals from the wheels and chassis.

Porsche has always understood the value of driver connection through the steering – it's the refinements in the 997 (Porsche's in-house model designation for the new 911 Carrera) that put it in the pantheon.

The weighting is surprisingly light – almost neutral – without a hint of vagueness. Every movement of the wheel is confirmed immediately, yet there is no nervousness off-centre as can be the case with particularly sharp but less refined steering.

While it is the steering that will capture you, there are plenty of other things about the 911 that will induce you to stay.

The cackle of the flat six (3.8-litre in the S and 3.6-litre in the Carrera) sitting behind you is intoxicating. Performance has been lifted slightly for the 3.6 with an additional 4kW lifting the output to 239kW. The all-new 3.8-litre in the Carrera S – the first time a second engine choice has been offered in the 911 Carrera – produces 261kW and 400Nm.

Dynamically the 911 is a magician in its own right. The car is as happy cruising along in city traffic as it is attacking a mountain road.

The ride is compliant and comfortable at low speeds yet stable and flat when pushed in anger. With bags of torque on tap right through the meat of the rev range, the 911 demands to be driven enthusiastically and rewards the driver who does so.

Interior space has been improved for the new 911 without diminishing the feeling of slipping into a high-performance cockpit.

The surrounds are familiar, the seats are supportive and comfortable and the instrument displays remain centred on the traditional Porsche five-dial display. The six-speed manual, tested in the S, is a driver's joy with close gating, short throws and superb ratios. Gone is the body builder-heavy clutch of old and shifting is no real chore. However, it is easy to understand why there is now a weighting in favour of tiptronics in Porsches sold in Australia.

Tested in the 3.6 Carrera, the tiptronic provides a best-of-both-worlds option. Driven in full automatic, the box will happily handle stop-start traffic without fuss and yet is ready at a moment's notice to leap into action.

The more urgent the input on the accelerator the more aggressive the gear changes – it is possible to drop up to three gears in an instant – as the auto finds the meat of the torque curve for maximum urge.

In the sequential manual mode, changes can be made at the shifter or from the wheel-mounted buttons. Use of the buttons will also kick the system into manual, moving back to full auto after a short time if no more actions are taken.

There is a tiny drawback – luggage space. The front bin is reasonable for soft bags and cabin luggage but more will have to go on the back seat. That aside, the 911 remains one of the few cars returned with genuine reluctance.