Not if you ask Evo’s Henry Catchpole. He likes the new, all-turbo Porsche 911 Carrera S a lot.
Now, it could be argued that of course he does, because here he is driving a beautiful, powerful new car all around some stunning European backroad, and who wouldn’t be a happy camper in that situation?
But his short test reveals several things: first, it’s still got some decent noise to it, “a proper crescendo” that builds like an NA engine, he says. Second, the new 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat six, now rated at 414 horsepower, has a ton of midrange torque. Of course it does.
Third, the Carrera S—by no means at the top of the Porsche food chain—will do zero to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds with a manual, as quick as the old GT2. Fourth, with the 991.2 update here, the electric steering is much better than it used to be.
Is the 911 ruined now that it’s turbocharged across the whole range? Objectively, that is a hard argument to make. The new car’s faster, more efficient and probably superior in every performance metric that counts.
But as the die-hards missed air-cooling, so they will miss natural aspiration. And they may take a lot more convincing than just good 0-60 times.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.