Ich Sah, Ich Fuhr, Ich Schreib

By Greg Raven
VW&Porsche magazine
March 1987, page 48

This [911 Carrera] is not my favorite car in the world. I would much prefer a 944 Turbo or a 928 both ergonomically and because I feel more at home with the feedback the new cars give me.

I also want to go on record as being one of those who prefers the old-style 911SC clutch arrangement. The old arrangement required less pedal pressure once the clutch was fully depressed. The new arrangement is so linear that in the industrial strength traffic here in Los Angeles your left leg gets a real work-out.

With that out of the way, I must now tell you that I love this car. The combination of rocket-sled acceleration, stop-on-a-dime-and-give-you-change brakes, and nearly prescient steering create in me the overwhelming urge to go brutalize the speed limit on some twisty section of road.

I don’t even care that it is a convertible. The top is so solid and so easy to deploy that if the temperature should dip below 75 on one of our harsh Southern California winter days (as is rumored to have happened once back in 1908), up comes the top and out stays the cold.

Remember the story we did on the ignition lock shield back in December? In looking at the ignition switch on the new Carrera, it appears that the housing has been redesigned to incorporate a steel ring to retain the lock cylinder against aggravated removal. We tried to confirm this one way or the other but no one at Porsche seemed to know. Time will tell.

If after reading all this you have decided you can’t live without a Carrera but you can’t quite afford one, you can save a couple of bucks by foregoing the radio. Given the choice between music and the glorious noise the Carrera engine makes, you probably won’t use the radio much anyway.