Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet (2007) Review

By: Michael Browning

Date: 13.09.2012

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet. High-speed touring has never been this easy.

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

[Oct 2007] Cabriolet is a serious misnomer for this amazing car. Despite its street cred and the home-away-from-home comforts like its push-button, fully-lined folding roof, this is one of the world's greatest sportscars in the true sense of the term.

For the boulevardier, or serial city commuter, it makes perfect sense. Much easier to ingress and egress than more extreme open Italian supercars, the 911 Turbo Cabriolet is arguably the world's easiest supercar to drive, particularly if you tick the box for the optional five-speed Tiptronic S transmission.

However, even in six-speed manual guise, it's no more challenging to take shopping than a Toyota Corolla, if you discount the care you must take to avoid scraping its 19inch rims on gutters, or snotting its deceptively long nose on high kerbs.

Once inside it's best to turn the ignition key quickly, as the interior ambiance is somewhat underwhelming. Economies of scale dictate a certain sameness about all current Porsche interiors and really only the small boost gauge gives away that you're sitting in one of the greatest road-going Porsches rather than one of its more humble cousins.

Cruising in this cabriolet is so easy; it makes anyone look like a successful pimp. Third gear copes with virtually all urban traffic demands above crawling speed if you feel lazy, but the light and supple gearchange is no chore.

Drop the roof at the touch of a single button at speeds up to 50km/h and the three-layer soft top disappears from sight in just 20secs. Fit the fiddly, separate wind deflector and you can enjoy unruffled travel at up to twice Australian speed limits before road roar makes conversation difficult.

Some may be disappointed that Porsche has not donned a full metal folding helmet like the Mercedes-Benz SL but there's good reason. Apart from the problem of packaging the roof between the rear-mounted engine and the cabriolet's very occasional rear seats, the fabric roof keeps the Porsche's centre of gravity low for optimum handling.

Going fabric has also helped Porsche keep the Turbo Cabrio's weight within 70kg of the mechanically-identical Turbo coupe, despite additional reinforcement and the incorporation of a rollover protection system to supplement the strengthened windscreen frame and six airbags.

Equally impressive is Porsche's claims that the folding roof has no effect on the aerodynamic Cd of 0.31 achieved by the coupe, claiming an identical 310km/h top speed for both vehicles.

SPECIFICATIONS

2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

BODY: two-door cabriolet

WEIGHTS: 1730kg (manual)

ENGINE:  3.6-litre twin-turbo six-cylinder

TRANSMISSION: six-speed manual; five-speed Tiptronic

POWER/TORQUE:  353kW/620Nm

PERFORMANCE: 0-100km/h - 4.0secs. Top speed - 310km/h

PRICE: $357,500 (base)

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here