Ford currently produces eleven Mustang derivatives, and Chevrolet makes eight Corvette variants(both of these figures include the coupe and convertible variations of the same trim separately). That’s a lot of choices from a nation known for customizing and individualization. Where variations on a theme are concerned, the Americans cannot be considered in the same breath as Porsche. There are twenty four 911 derivatives currently on sale, and the range of choices is staggering. Two-wheel drive or four? Hardtop, full convertible, or Targa? Even power output nearly doubles from the least to most powerful model in the lineup. Thankfully, Porsche understands that the full 911 lineup can be confusing, and sums it up neatly in under five minutes.
For buyers, some choices are driven by budget. Not every prospective Porsche buyer can put $293k on the masthead for a GT2 RS, nor should they. As the video shows, not every Porsche model is made for the same purpose. A buyer looking for a usable, everyday sports car should probably stay away from the GT range’s glorious odes to speed at all costs. At the same time, buyers who spend every possible moment at the track will not be as well served by a Carrera S as one of the more focused 911 variants.
Picking a 911
Let’s run through the 991.2 decision making process. For the purpose of this exercise, let’s call our hypothetical buyer Andrew. For the sake of not making up a purely theoretical person with absurd needs that cause them to daily drive a GT3 RS in Saskatchewan, I’m going to base this person on my dad. He has has been considering buying a 911 or a Cayman for some time, and his current daily driver is a Golf GTI Autobahn.
Andrew lives in the Northeast, and has an uncanny ability to find studded snow tires in sizes heretofore unknown to mere mortals. He has also been known to have winter and summer brake setups to work around winter wheel clearance issues. To my knowledge he’s never owned a car or truck with four-wheel drive, despite living deep in the land of ice and snow. He’s not a big fan of convertibles.
He has also been racing motorcycles for more than thirty years, and when he goes to a track, he prefers two wheels to four. His preference is for simplicity and usability. He’s a long time hot-hatch fan because of the high smiles-per-dollar ratio, and (until recently) the segment’s lack of driver aids. Ultimate output is not important, but grip and driver-involvement are.
So, in this case we can pretty safely remove the all-wheel drive variants, bringing the total number of choices from 24 to 12. Given his preference for spending track time on two wheels, the GT models can be ruled out as well, removing another three choices. Of the remaining eleven 911s, five are convertibles and can be eliminated. This leaves the Carrera, Carrera S, Carrera T, and Carrera GTS. Based on his disdain for complexity, and attitude of driver involvement before other concerns, the Carrera T then becomes the most logical choice.