Porsche 911

Now in its fifth decade of continual evolutionary development, the 911 is more honed and polished than ever. It may be a well aired fact that mounting an engine in the rear makes a car unstable, but Porsche was able to ignore this fact thanks to the legions of buyers who bought into the charisma of the icon. So now after years of gradual improvement, we get to a point where we have a car that although technically wrong, feels completely right and no longer presents the challenge to drivers that it once did. That's not to say it's no longer fun, but the thrill now comes from sheer ability. There's still a unique feel to the 911 - the light nose conveying all the information a driver needs through the steering wheel and the weighty, planted rear end giving exceptional traction - but now you won't crash it unless you fall asleep, and that's unlikely.

GT3, TURBO, S

The Carrera has a good level of basic equipment covering all the essentials. It includes leather interior, electric windows and mirrors, climate control, on-board computer, high-quality stereo and stability control (which was previously optional on the old Carrera 2). The Carrera S model has got in addition to more power, bi-xenon lights and a more comprehensive stability control system. Numerous options are available but the dynamically important ones are the carbon ceramic brakes, sports suspension and a 'sport chronos' pack that adds a stopwatch and lap timer and selectable electronic control remaps to enhance system reaction times.

3.8 TURBO