Just spent a pleasant couple of days driving the new 992.2 Carrera 'T' courtesy of Porsche Centre Bristol. The 'T' stands for Touring, but this is of course a lightweight version of the Carrera and focussed on simplicity, weight-saving and driver appeal. It is intended to fit between the standard Carrera and the popular Carrera S. It's basically a sporty Carrera S chassis tune, but fitted with a less powerful 3 litre 380bhp Carrera-spec boxer engine.
Prices start at a shade over £100k.
There's the 10mm-lowered PASM Sport adaptively damped suspension and Carrera S 20/21in alloys, an active sports exhaust, a PTV mechanical locking rear differential and Porsche’s Sport Chrono Package (with dynamic engine mounts) as standard. Four-wheel steering is an option, but the PDCC active anti-roll bar system is not available on this model. My car has the PDK dual-clutch automatic although the standard seven-speed manual gearbox is available as an option. So this will now be the only current 911 you can drive with the three-pedal transmission.
Some of the weight reduction comes using part Sport-Tex cloth-upholstered front seats as standard and without back seats unless you ask for them. There's lightweight glass, lightweight battery and most of the sound-deadening has been stripped out. Dry kerb weight is 1470kg.
The cabin is pretty familiar with all the main attributes available, but some of the niceties of higher-end models are left out. The 10.9in PCM touchscreen infotainment system has new software with a simplified layout and can connect with both Apple and Android phones. Mine seemed to have music tracks stored within the system too, so maybe the old Jukebox facility has been revived, but no-one at the Centre was able to confirm this.
Driving the car will be a cinch to anyone familiar with 911's. All the controls are right where you'd expect them to be. The engine may have been taken from an entry-level model, but it is flexible and, in this model, has sufficient grunt to suit most - although you probably need to wring its neck to get the last ounce from the available performance. The cabin is noisy, but the sound is not unpleasant for a 911 - unless you're trying to make a 'phone call on the motorway, that is!
The chassis IMHO comes up a little short. There is noticeable understeer - easily overcome by lifting off - but this does undermine confidence when launching into some bends. This can probably be resolved to some extent by a decent wheel realignment, although the lack of suspension travel over undulating West Country roads hereabouts will be more difficult to tackle. At speed the car tends to leap from one bump to the next with you holding on tightly and it occasionally crashes out over sharper humps. In these circumstances, the car is a challenge but compelling to drive, if not always showing good manners, so you need need to keep your wits about you.
I enjoyed my couple of days with the new Carrera 'T' and would certainly recommend it as a consideration for anyone looking at something above the base 911 with a bit of edge. In the right hands and in the right circumstances, this would be a quite difficult car to challenge. Also, there are unlikely to be that many around so residual values will probably hold up quite well. The model does not yet feature on Porsche's UK configurator so you'll need to contact your Porsche Centre to spec one!
Regards,
Clive
Not much difference between the 2 then. 
