Forty grand turismo

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Cabrio test: 911 Turbo S vs California T unappealing syrupiness up top, there are anodyne noises from the engine, and the lumpen ride quality feels more tectonic than Teutonic. Why, when the Turbo has adaptive suspension, can’t Comfort ofer more of it? The Ferrari is a very diferent proposition. The seats are surprisingly fat, frm and lacking in support, ofer less generous adjustment, and even delicate piano-player fngers will chafe between seat controls and door casings. Where you’re ensconced in the Porsche, the Ferrari’s waistline dips down, inviting you to spill an elbow over the side and bask in sunshine; it subtly changes your mindset as you thumb the starter. Fit and fnish generally feels of high quality, and there’s cruise control, sat-nav, parking sensors, automatic lights and wipers, and electric seats all thrown in, but the fllets of silver trim look easily damaged and too Tin Man for comfort. A manettino dial on the small, button-festooned steering wheel is limited to just three settings, not fve – Comfort, Sport, ESC-Of – a little hint that this Prancing Horse is tamer than siblings. Yet while this is clearly a softer Ferrari, equipment isn’t as generous as the Porsche – no heated seats here – and if you’d just swapped from a Merc SL63 you’d think George Osborne had whipped through the cabin on some mad austerity bender. Thankfully, a brief urban drive proves more convincing. The California’s 10% swifter, super-light steering imbues spritely immediacy, and road-surface texture transitions from tyres to hands, a reminder that Ferrari retains electro-hydraulic steering where Porsche’s electro-mechanical racks only approach tactility in the GT3. The California also rides with a supple pliancy, and the V8 engine – turbocharged, remember, the killer The small matter of fuel economy OBVIOUSLY, ANYONE who’s petrol-station-averse will run a mile, but… Porsche claims 28.5mpg on the combined cycle, Ferrari 24.1mpg – a 15% improvement over the old 4.3. We calculated the fuel figures over 113 miles in the Porsche, 114 in the Ferrari, which took in low-speed urban routes with frequent stops for photography, then ‘more enthusiastic’ driving on empty B-roads. We spent £41.14 on 37.10 litres of fuel for the Porsche, of sound – makes some promising growls at part-throttle. Initial photography complete, we depart for more challenging terrain in the Brecon Beacons. I jump in the Porsche, and plump grey clouds that just whipped us with hail dart to sea, leaving a bright blue sky overhead. Press a button and the Turbo S Convertible’s fabric roof drops in around 15 seconds at up to 34mph, which sounds modest but feels like dropping the window on a 747. With windows raised, you’re at the eye of the storm, protected from the bluster. The advantages of the Porsche’s stow-on-the-go system are clear: you can simply slow to operate the roof, rather than attempting to at the trafc lights, failing and then driving of in what appears to be a sporting scissor-lift. The 911’s roof doesn’t eat into luggage space when open, which is a moot point given that the Porsche is rear-engined. Instead you’ve got a 115-litre frunk (easily trumped by the Fezza’s 240 litres) and rear seats to store things when you’re not carrying (very) small passengers. £51.70 on 46.62 litres of fuel for the Ferrari. The result? The 911 Turbo S Convertible averaged 13.9mpg, the California T 11.1mpg. We’d expect both figures to substantially improve during more typical use. Honest! 96 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | June 2015
A lightweight magnesium roof frame contributes to a weight penalty of just 70kg compared with the coupe, and helps to retain the 911’s iconic lines. Torsional rigidity is doubtless compromised, but this feels a very together car on some pretty ragged surfaces. CJ Hubbard’s following in the California, but his roof stays firmly closed. This says nothing of CJ’s tolerance for cold, and everything about Ferrari’s retractable hardtop. Opening the roof obscures the numberplate, presumably explaining why you must park to operate it. It also eats into luggage space, and requires a luggage cover to be in place before it opens; there are more caveats and compromises to this high-speed tan. We timed it at around 20sec to stow. At first, negative early impressions of the 911 are bolstered by rowdy tyre roar from the huge rear 305-section tyres. But as we head off the major routes and follow a road that unfurls over the Brecon Beacons, the 911 Turbo S comes alive. A wallflower at low revs, the flat-six begins to howl charismatically, propelling the Turbo forwards on a tsunami of roaring boost with rolls of thunder when you back off. There’s small if detectable lag, Porsche goes from lid closed to full sun in 15sec at up to 34mph. Ferrari takes 20sec, once you’ve stopped, fitted the luggage cover and (it feels like) filled out a form in triplicate so there’s incredible flexibility and sharp response, and when you dip in and out of the throttle through twisty corners, there are none of the nasty shunts you might expect when the boost suddenly shuts off; there’s a surging, non-linear intensity to this delivery, but it’s also very precise. Combined with super-quick dual -clutch changes and seven closely stacked gears, there’s always a decent slug of performance on hand. The 911’s ride also smoothes at speed, and somehow you forget the sticky steering, which starts to feel well-weighted, precise and usefully speedy. Soon you’re stitching together corners with instinctive fluidity, rolling onto the carbon brakes with their excellent feel and stopping power, dropping multiple cogs on the paddleshifters, then leaning on the front end and squeezing the power early to fast-forward down the next straight. Rear-wheel steering subtly adds to the agility, and the allwheel-drive system is surreally sticky, but also satisfyingly rear-biased. If you work the chassis very hard in tighter corners and turn off all electronics, you’d best anticipate the spike of boost that’ll spit you quickly sideways on corner exit. Up here, on these roads, the Porsche is a point-to-point monster: braking, steering, body control, power, gear shifts, they all just gel to propel you cross-country so quickly even the crows must puzzle that they’d missed a more direct route. Only when you go back to doing what most owners will do, dropping the roof, winding back the pace, do the flaws re-appear. That’s pretty unfortunate, but the high-speed rush leaves you inclined to cut some slack. I swap into the Ferrari, picking up the pace slowly. Those earlier urban impressions are reinforced, particularly its more tactile steering, composed ride – on £3k optional magneride suspension! – and more characterful engine. If you spend more time wafting than hooning – most owners will – the Ferrari is the choice. If you spend more time wafting than hooning, the Ferrari is the choice June 2015 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 97
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Forty grand turismo

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