Is there a better experience for a Porsche sports car than to take the unrestricted Autobahn to the Nürburgring, and then take the unrestricted Autobahn back home again when you’re done? That’s exactly what Everyday Driver European Correspondent Tom used this gorgeous 991.2 Carrera 4S to accomplish. Where I live, in Nevada, we have 85 mile per hour speed limits, and that’s as high as you can get in this country that we ostensibly call ‘free’. In Germany, they trust their drivers and cars to negotiate highway fast lanes at unrestricted speeds. We don’t even trust our drivers to wear their safety belt or to drive without texting or checking Instagram.
Using the Autobahn in Germany for an unlimited speed run is perhaps analogous to having a 356 Speedster in Michigan. You know that you can only use the Porsche about 6-months of the year due to weather, and you really only take it out for weekend cruises to the nearest cars and coffee event. You might drive it to the office once a month, if there is no rain in the forecast. It’s a frivolity that doesn’t make sense to many people, and sometimes you might even question it yourself, but those few times a year when you actually get to make use of it, it’s definitely worth having.
Most German drivers don’t understand the point of buying a 420 horsepower all-wheel-drive sports coupe capable of high speeds, foregoing the expense in favor of an Opel hatchback or a diesel wagon. As Tom mentions in the video, Germans are sensible about driving and tend to not see the point in big power if there is no place to use that power to go fast legally. Many German towns are built in a compact fashion with narrow streets and serious traffic. Even the Autobahn tends to be congested most days, and only about half of that country-wide system is unrestricted these days. Not to mention that much of Germany’s climate is too cold for fast driving during the winter months. So, big power isn’t something you can exploit on a frequent basis, but when you do have the opportunity to let loose all 420 of those ponies, it’s definitely worth it.