Road Test - S - 911 Carrera 2012

You want a gutsy concert? How about in Network, where Peter Finch’s character, a cynical disillusioned newsman, beaten down by the system, rallies his viewers to get up, go to the window and scream, I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any longer Powerful, Oscar-winning stuff eyes bulging, booming voice quavering with rage, and a 9.0 on the Richter scale of gut-wrenching pathos.

And then there’s the Porsche 911. An equally gutsy actor in the automotive realm, the 911 came into the world as an anti-establishment punk of a sports car whose torsion-bar deferment, six horizontally opposed cylinders, rear engine location and tapered tail were far from the mainstream paradigm of high performance. Yet since its debut in September of 1964, the 911 has steadily, defiantly gotten better through each iteration, just when you thought that all room for improvement had been exhausted. You could say this Porsche has made its competitors mad as hell. Yet overhangs are trimmed, and most important, the rear axle moves aft roughly 3 in. relative to the engine resulting in a significant tweaking of the proportions, and a slightly less rear-heavy weight allotment.