I’ve always been a fan of Top Gear / Grand Tour guy James May because like me, he’s old-fashioned and has very specific likes and dislikes about things one encounters in daily life.
So he opens this video with a review of his own 2010 Porsche Carrera, going over his setup and option choices in his usual pedantic way.
Then he tries the new 2025 version of his 911 Carrera T, and gentle mayhem follows.
Take 15 minutes out of your life to enjoy his journey, and its ending.
Here’s the spec sheet for said 2025 911 Carrera T. All I’d get would be the no-cost passenger seats (which would allow for grocery bags and gun cases) and of course, a proper manual transmission because that’s how James and I prefer our cars. Price: just under $140,000 — way too much, needless to say, but for a 911, a “bargain” (excuse me, I appear to be having a small nosebleed).
Anyway, I’m by no means a Porsche 911 fan, but even I might be tempted… after watching that video.
James just doesn’t understand Porsches, or at least he does’t understand Porsches the same way that most of my friends that own Porsches do. He bought a base 911 with essentially no options, actually probably had to delete some. Yes the rear seats will only hold kids in car seats, but everybody else just folds them flat creating a nice parcel shelf behind the seats. James now has neither option. The wood shift knob is an exact duplicate of the one found in a 917, but James didn’t know that. Jeremy certainly would have pointed it out. The PSAM button doesn’t make it worse. It tightens the response for more ‘spirited “ driving, not Captain Slow’s speciality. It’s also known as the “Please Save Me” button.
Yes, all of my previous Porsches have been manuals, but my next one will be a PDK because it truly is a better transmission and I’m getting older and hate driving a manual in heavy traffic.
But because James is basically also cheap, he went then base route. A short visit to the Porsche Configurator will show you just how fast you can easily run up the cost of new non GT version of a 911 way past $200,000. Assuming your dealer has an allocation they will let you go with.
Your last two sentences explain precisely why I would never, ever buy a Porsche.
Even with a winning lottery ticket.
The Porsche is nice, but it’s no Dacia Sandero.