The Least-Expensive 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera Costs More Than Ever—Still Worth It?

Yup, it finally happened. As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the newest Porsche 911 is a hybrid. (Read our first drive of that one here.) Lithium-ion batteries; fat orange cables; the urge to understand things like amps, volts, and watts, improved fuel economy—everything so-called true car enthusiasts have been groomed to hate about modern cars is now chomping after the once-sacred 911 experience. Oh, wait, that’s only true of one 911 variant, the GTS, for now. The base car, the Porsche 911 Carrera, presses on without a whiff of electrification—but also without a manual transmission option. It comes only with the PDK dual-clutch automatic. And the car costs more. Quite a bit more. But hey, at least you’re not driving a stupid hybrid, right?

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What Makes the Carrera a Carrera?

The 2025 Porsche 911 is known to Porsche employees and brand sycophants as the 992.2. The new version of the “base” Carrera is essentially a carryover. Starting with the most important part, the engine, it’s the same 3.0-liter twin-turbo, flat-six, though now it’s something of a parts bin special: The intercooler is from the 911 Turbo, and the turbochargers hail from the 992.1-generation Carrera GTS. Horsepower is up by nine ponies to 388 hp, while peak torque stays unchanged at 331 lb-ft. We should point out that the torque figure is the same as it was on 991.2-generation Carrera (when the famed flat-six engine went from natural aspiration to turbocharging). The single-digit bump in horsepower should result in a 0.1-second reduction in the 0–60-mph time, according to Porsche. Perhaps!

The exterior changes are minimal, as well. The easiest way to tell you’re looking at a new Carrera is the lack of foglamps, which have been smartly incorporated into the headlights themselves. The new hybrid 911s employ a bunch of movable aero flaps directly below the headlights on either side of the grille that occupy the space previously used to house the foggies, but the Carrera doesn’t get active aerodynamics, so no flaps here.

Otherwise, the design team did a great job cleaning up the 911’s mouth. The front end of the newest Carrera is quite clean and timeless, with the added benefit of a larger front opening that delivers better cooling. We’d be lying if we said you could notice any differences between 992.1 and 992.2 from the side, though there are seven new wheel designs. The rear is cleaned up (a new, fatter light bar, primarily) and is now more rounded than before. Subtle stuff, for sure.

The biggest changes to the 911 Carrera are on the inside. Chief among them is the jettisoning of the analog tachometer in favor of a full digital screen. Purists will lose sleep over this, but they’re also losing sleep over the addition of a starter button in place of the twist-to-start function from before, so grains of salt in tiny wounds all around. The screen itself is large (12.6 inches across) and quite legible, even in the convertible version (911 Carrera Cabriolet) with full summer sun. Best of all, none of it is blocked by the steering wheel, a big improvement over the previous generation where the outer, digitized gauges were obscured. There are seven display themes to choose from, including a massive map and a “clocked” tachometer, where the tach is rotated so that redline is essentially straight up at noon, racecar-style. Also, the 911 Carrera no longer comes with a standard back seat. Want one? It’s a no-cost option. Let’s be real for a second: You want one, as the ability to (uncomfortably) transport four adults in a pinch has long made the 911 special. Did we mention no manual? Not even as an option.

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What’s a Carrera cost?

Prices are up! Hey, you lived through the global pandemic, yeah? Inflation is hitting hard everywhere, especially, it seems, in Zuffenhausen. Your base, no-options 911 Carrera now costs $122,095. Would you like that convertible? The 911 Carrera Cabriolet begins life at $135,595. Golly. Five minutes on the online Porsche configurator, and well, you know how those things go. Porsche is quick to point out that you do get much more standard equipment on the car now than you did before. Stuff like ambient lighting, folding mirrors, and Matrix Design LED headlights (the American-market cars will get the matrix lights, too, but with the awesome functionality turned off until U.S. law changes). That said, $122,095 for a sub-400-hp sports car in 2024 (on sale this fall) comes off as expensive. But hey, Porsche badge, you know?

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How’s the 911 Carrera Drive?

Porsche 911s, especially the coupes, are pretty great to drive. No exception with the 992.2 Carrera. The best thing we can say about the base 911 is that Porsche had us out to Spain’s Ascari racetrack and let us loose in a lone 911 Carrera running in groups with the 27 percent more powerful 911 GTS and a 911 4 GTS, and the little guy holds its own. Down on power, torque, brakes, and tires, the well-driven Carrera can hang with its meaner, but not leaner, hybrid big brother. Yes, on long straights you’ll be longing for more power and torque, which is the biggest reason the one-level-up Carrera S (coming at some point) has long outsold the base 911. Still, the 2025 911 Carrera is by no means slow; it’s just not as quick as other sports cars. Like, say, a 485-hp Chevrolet Corvette, which is now quite literally more than $50,000 less expensive.Still, the Carrera S should run the quarter mile in about 12 seconds flat, especially if optioned with the Sport Chrono package.

Dynamically, the rear-drive Carrera is balanced, poised, and a touch short on grip. The last part we can blame on the Pirelli P Zeros; it’s a fine summer tire but not nearly as good on the track as the R-compound Goodyears found on the Carrera GTS. Porsche equips the Carrera with 13.8-inch steel rotors at all four corners, bitten by six-piston calipers up front and four-pistons in the rear, the same parts as the 992.1 Carrera S. The braking seems solid right up until “the limit,” though any wiggles experienced under hard stopping are probably more down to the tire. We did get about an hour on the crowded Spanish roads surrounding Circuito Ascari, but they were crowded and slow enough to learn what a nice place to sit the new 911 is.

Back to the track, the engine note is nothing special, but no twin-turbo 911 has ever had a truly nice soundtrack. Even the full-beef Turbo S sounds like stereo hand dryers. The fast-revving engine is sweet, though. While sports cars are to some degree a numbers game, due to the 911’s unique rear-engineness, massive rear-wheel traction makes the most out of the relatively paltry output numbers. The steering is sharp without being loose and has better feel than the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 GTS. It is a bit tricky to get the chassis fully rotated through tight corners. While not being the grippiest meats on the track, the rear tires are still optional 305-width 21-inchers (the standard wheels are 19/20). Plus, unlike in the Carrera GTS, there’s not an overwhelming volume of torque to break the rears free. When the Carrera’s pushed hard, expect a bit of the old understeer in tighter corners. Nothing fatal, but it’s there.

On the slow, crowded Costo del Oro roads, and we find ourselves meandering back to the hotel in a well-spec’d Lugano Blue Carrera. Price? $159,105. Such a pleasant cruiser, and with $15,830 worth of interior options, including Basalt Black over Cognac “club leather,” it had better be. Two things to realize. The first is that some people, perhaps a lot of people, buy Porsche 911s and never push them. A launch control blast here, a quick freeway interchange there, but the cars live at least the first part of their lives as plush daily drivers. Second, people who buy new 911s are rich. These numbers are a couple of years out of date, but last we heard the average Porsche customer earns $600,000 per year, whereas the average 911 owner earns $700,000 per anum. Putting myself into those buttery leather loafers for a moment, nearly $160K for a fun, luxurious car? One that’s probably my third, fourth, or fifth vehicle? Certainly! Why on earth not?

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In Conclusion

The 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera finds itself in an interesting spot. Its performance is adequate, and its handling is quite good, though of course there will be a dozen or more 992.2 911 variants that go faster and handle better. The 911 Carrera therefore is a tough car to review for several reasons, one being that every qualm and quibble is probably addressed by just ponying up for Carrera S. True, Porsche has yet to admit publicly that a 992.2 Carrera S is happening, but as sure as tomorrow’s sun will rise there will be one priced between this here base car and the $166,895 starting price of the Carrera GTS; $145K sounds like a nice, safe guesstimate. Plus, with anti-EV sentiment taking the world by storm, Porsche might just very well snag a few customers who want a 911 but simply hate batteries. Horses for courses, brother. Should you buy a new Porsche 911 Carrera? We can’t think of too many reasons not to, besides cost and other 911s. Oh, and that pesky mid-engine Corvette, too. Such is the plight of the excellent entry-level 911.