Anyone can handle the new Porsche

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

One story has it that a Scotsman and an American were drinking in a New York bar in the 1880s when the Scotsman spied a bottle of whisky labelled MacKay's on the top shelf.

He ordered a wee dram and declared it "real MacKay." To the American's ears, the accented praise sounded like the "real McCoy."

The other story is about a champion 1920s American boxer, Kid McCoy. A drunk in a bar picked on the fighter, who did all he could to avoid a scrap.

The drunk's friends kept telling him the name of the man he was picking on but still the niggling continued. Finally, McCoy punched him on the chin, knocking him out.

The drunk came to and admitted to his friends, "You're right, it is the real McCoy."

We mention the reported origins of the expression only because a fellow admiring the latest Porsche 911 Turbo the other day said to no one in particular, "So, this is the real McCoy."

Indeed it is, all $300,000 of it. It has the history, heady smell and intoxicating warmth of a good Scotch whisky and the punch and balance of a barful of Kid McCoys. Comparisons with a belligerent drunk aren't appropriate.

About 90 New Zealanders will buy Porsche cars this year. Forty will settle for the Boxster, 30 for the 911 Carerra and 20 for the four-wheel-drive 911 Turbo.

There are two Turbo models - one with a six-speed manual gearbox, the other using a manual/automatic five-speed Tiptronic. The manual model costs $295,000, the Tiptronic $303,000.

The trend so far this year points to sales favouring a 55/45 Tiptronic split.

"That is a much higher proportion towards Tiptronic than I thought," said Porsche New Zealand sales manager Grant Smith.

"But the car is such that with Tiptronic, granny could jump in and go to the shops for milk. That's something she couldn't do in a Ferrari 355, for example.

"The Tiptronic 911 Turbo is so easy to drive while retaining the genuine performance of a supercar."

That, broadly speaking, is what the car is all about, although the manual model is quicker off the line and through the gears, and has a higher top speed.

The 911 Turbo is powered by a water-cooled (first time for a 911 Turbo), twin-turbocharged, 3.6-litre six-cylinder boxer engine, producing 309kW at 6000 rpm and 560Nm of pulling power between 2700 and 4600 rpm.

Both models will sprint to 100 km/h in under five seconds and on to a top speed of around 300 km/h.

It borrows and updates components from the parts bin of the Carerra 4 - things like the four-wheel-drive system, the rack and pinion steering, the struts and coil springs in the front suspension and the multi-link axle at the back.

Most high-performance four-wheel-drive vehicles lack the steering feel of a well-sorted rear-drive car. But Porsche has reworked the suspension to help improve response to steering inputs. It is brilliant - accurate, precise, exciting. So are the brakes.

The four-wheel system uses a front-mounted viscous coupling to distribute drive. On a leisurely trip, 95 per cent of torque goes to the back wheels.

But when the car is pushed, up to 40 per cent goes to the front. This is apparent during hard cornering, when a blip on the throttle pulls the front around and sends the car slingshot-like out of the corner.

The 911 Turbo is like a modern golf club, so forgiving and easy to handle that it makes demanding driving fun.

Its twin-turbocharged engine is far more flexible, offering rocket-like response, and is not hampered by turbo lag like the previous boosted model.

Its wizardry is electronically sophisticated and subtle. It can lure a driver to the point where things get blurred and then remind him not to let his heart rule his head.

The standout aspect of the 911 Turbo is this: there is a point where a car - any car - at speed can enter no-man's land. That split-second between control and oops, when we are about to go backwards through a hedge.

It's nearly always, say the statistics, caused by carelessness on the part of the driver.

But the 911 Turbo has a high-speed tolerance so removed from normality that it would be impossible to test its limits. Explore it, by all means, but don't test it. Not unless you are Walter Rohrl.