Supercar Showdown

Porsche Vs. Ferrari Vs. Lambo

The following article is abridged from an article originally appeaing in the August 9 issue of Autocar magazine. –Ed.

We went to Wales, to one of our all-time favorite roads, no less, to find the answer to one very simple question. Is the new 911 Turbo – all 473hp, and 193mph worth of it – really as good as they say it is? If so, it should have few problems taking care of its opposition here, which comes in the form of the fabulous Ferrari F430 and the revised-for-2006 Lamborghini Gallardo.

If not, well, Porsche’s decision to charge so much money for its beloved flagship might well hit a brick wall – because at $184,000 (UK price) the 911 Turbo can no longer be considered a bargain beside its rivals. Especially not when that price jumps to a whopping $202 grand in the case of the test car, which was fitted with no more than most of the options most 911 Turbo owners will specify anyway (such as PCCB brakes, an electric sunroof and the Sports Chrono pack, which provides an extra 50lb ft of torque).

If somehow you’ve missed what the new 911 Turbo is all about, here’s a recap. As per the last two incarnations it’s four-wheel drive, but this time it uses a whole range of active electronic systems to keep it glued to the road and out of the undergrowth, many of which were pioneered by Porsche when developing the Cayenne.

It also has a variable geometry twin-turbo version of Weissach’s venerable 3.6-liter flat six and, in this instance, that means more power (473hp at 6000rpm), more torque (457lb ft between 1950 and 5000rpm, rising to 502lb ft for 10sec bursts if you specify the Sports Chrono pack) and more performance than ever before.

How much more? Try 0-60mph in 3.6sec, 0-100mph in 8.0sec dead, 0-150mph in 19.6sec and a decidedly pessimistic official top speed of 193mph. In reality, 198mph is more like it once tire expansion is taken into consideration.

Yet the new faster-than-ever 911 Turbo is, according to Porsche, also the most civilized so far. Gone is the rock-hard ride and the will-it-won’t-it personality of yesteryear. Nowadays the Turbo is a refined all-’rounder designed for (very fast) everyday use – a car that’s as refined on the highway as it is incisive carving its way across a deserted back road. A car, indeed, to make the rest of the world look second rate.

Not that this is quite how Lamborghini or Ferrari see the situation. The F430 is about as cutting edge as it gets at this sort of price ($224,500 with a manual gearbox or $236,000 with the paddle-shift F1 gearbox as tested). Fast, too, which means no one in their right mind would bet against it competing against a rival as traditional as the 911 Turbo without putting up a monumental performance.