Every time a new 911 hits the market, it manages to divide the auto fraternity into two, one who cannot be bothered and the other that spends the night after the launch trying to study by how much Porsche has tweaked the gear ratio and what effect that could possibly have on the oil temperatures while running. The common term for latter is fanatics, the kind that no one but other fanatics understand, and I, unfortunately, count myself as one of those. So when the Type 992 Porsche 911 came out, it was only natural that I try and put it side by side with the outgoing Type 991 Porsche 911 and as it turns out, I happened to know one such person who shares the exact same fanaticism for the 911 if not one-ups it. Enter Ashwin Mahendran, the person who has largely been responsible for feeding that 911 bug in me and also happens to drive a stunning Guards Red Type 991 Porsche 911 Carrera S. Porsche Centre Bengaluru threw us the keys to their Type 992 Porsche 911 Carrera S and it was only logical to put the car alongside Ashwin’s 991 911. Both Guards Red, both Carrera S variants and both the Mark I of their generations. With Sidram98 behind the lens, it was gonna be one hell of a Friday morning.

The day began at the petrolhead’s hour, at 6 am, bolting down the town to the Porsche showroom to pick up the 992 before reaching the meeting point. The plan was simple, to take the two cars through the leafy lanes in the city for a few images before the traffic breaks out, all while playing spot the differences. First step into the 992 and it feels new yet so familiar. The layout is the same with a large dose of modernity. The screen has grown, the physical buttons have made way for tactile touch screen while retaining the existing layout and the centre console now comes with a Braun shaver for some reason. The good ol’ analogue five dial layout has made its way for a modern digital screen arranged in the same layout as the analogue dials. While the touchscreen is super easy and intuitive, I miss the buttons which felt so much more natural. The over-engineered cup holders that gracefully swing out of the dash in the 991 deserve a mention here, which have been replaced with a boring pit in the centre console on the 992. But with the car world evolving so quickly, it only makes sense for Porsche to keep up. The 992 has grown a fair bit in terms of size too. As Porsche mentioned during its launch, the car now comes only in the ‘wide’ body format as against the 991’s three different sizes. More on that later. While it has grown in size, the interior remains as roomy as it always was and is comfortable enough to be daily driven without a flinch. The ride in comfort mode is, well, comfortable and that growl is a joy to hear even in the least sporty setting. The torque from the forced induction motor makes it an entertaining car from the get-go without having to cane the engine for a good time.

Cut to the meeting point, a few quick snaps and I jumped into the 991. Right off the first wheel turn, the 991 already feels much more pared back. The 991 itself was considered plush as against the 997 which it replaced, and with the 992, Porsche is only trying to cast a wider net. Now it has been a trend in the supercar sector lately to make cars as versatile and ‘do it all’ as possible and the 992 wasn’t spared. In the 991, you can feel the vibrations from the engine and the gearbox crawl through the chassis and slap you on your bum, and this is the most ‘basic’ car in the lineup being so visceral. In comparison, the 992 feels more like a luxe sedan, cocooning the occupants from everything, making it a much better car to munch miles in. A little stretch on the open roads and one realises how much turbochargers have messed with the engine noises. While the 992 sounds bassy, the 991 simply sings! There is absolutely no substitute for that sonorous NA flat six that powered the 991. Last of its kind, this particular example is kept fanatically stock by its owner. The car was specified with the optional Porsche Sports Exhaust and even in the most meek setting, it sounds phenomenal.

A little blast through the morning rays, we pulled over to park the cars. When a two Porsche fanatics get together, it is inevitable that they’d spend hours around the car going through each detail with an imaginary fine-toothed comb and it was no different here. The 992 pays homage to the older 911s by incorporating some iconic design cues from the yesteryear legends. Upfront, one can see shades of the 959 in the way the headlamps sit on the body work and the bonnet which harks back to the 930 turbo. These details are what we live for! Off the cuff, the 992 already looks much larger than the 991 and in a bid to make the car more usable, Porsche seems to have raised the nose of the car, which is only a boon on our clobbered roads. However, looking at the numbers, the 992 appears to be much larger than it actually is. 28mm on the length and 45mm on its width, the car manages to look much larger thanks to the big bulbous curves on it. The most glaring change on the 992 comes on the rear, the car is wider than the 991 and as it was stated at the launch, the car grew horizontally as Porsche did away with the varied body sizes that came on the 991. All to accommodate the new mechanicals and also make the car hybrid tech ready. The word hybrid and 911 don’t go well together, much like putting Kanye and Taylor in the same room, for the 911 has been ‘the’ driver’s car since the beginning of time. But the depressing part for later, for now, the 911 remains strictly ICE, thankfully.

Keeping aside facts and figures, the 992 nails its design brief. Want a car to drive to work, finish a track session and buy the groceries for the missus on the way back? Step this way! It’s been fettled and massaged to appeal to an even wider demographic with even more tech to prevent you from becoming a part of the landscape. And rightly so. The Carrera S gets 530 Nm of torque, remember you buy horsepower but you drive torque. The last time you wanted to be in this zip code of twist you had to buy something with ’t u r b o’ stuck on its back. For a Carrera to have this much muscle is unprecedented.

The 992 today stands with its immediate predecessor, the 991. The last of the… well, you already know. The 991 is a car that is decidedly docile even below 4000 rpm as there are no snails doing some spells to push you back into your seat. It’s comparable to any dual-clutch commuter, so docile is its demeanour you wonder what on earth have these Porsche knobs been on about. You hit an open stretch and squeeze past 4000rpm to its redline and you soon understand what multiple personality disorder means. This unpretentious commuter assaults the horizon with gusto you wouldn’t have realised and a when you don’t let off the throttle in a straight line you’re eventually aware that no matter what neutering every gen goes through, the physics of it is, the mass is in the ass. So your nose gets lighter and the adrenaline is flooding. A corner shows up, blip down the PDK and you appreciate googling trail braking before getting in. That's quite a bit of driving high from this trumped-up Beetle! Wider track up front keeping it sure-footed despite the light nose. The PDK isn’t as quick as the 992, but with Sports Plus it gives you the kick of a single clutch for fun, which is a nice emotive connect when you need it. Turn it off for a laser-precise G-force free tone change in its normal & sport modes. The ideal combo for pace? Sport setting for engine and gearbox, the suspension on firm. Clearly quite a bit of Jekyll & Hyde going on. Cliche done, moving on. The cabin is Porsche business as usual. Safe, not trendy but fashionable in a way that it ages gracefully. The leap up from the 997 is palpable even to non-car folk in terms of haptic quality and durability. The Panamera-ish ski slope of buttons has divided opinion but once you’re used to it everything falls to hand naturally.