MALAGA, Spain – The 2025 Porsche 911 is undergoing one of the most important revolutions in history this year with the addition of the T-Hybrid powertrain to the GTSbut the updates for 2025 and the quasi-next-generation “992.2” 911 don’t end there. The entire car plays host to a wide range of essential changes, and while Porsche will inevitably reveal more versions of the car in the future, with the Carrera and GTS coming out of the blocks first in coupe, convertible and Targa body styles. You can read our 2025 911 GTS review hereand in this review we discuss the basic Carrera version.
Now, for the sake of clarity, we could call this the “base” Carrera, but that description almost seems unfair. There’s nothing base about its performance or drive, and for 2025, it gets even more compelling. The 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged flat-six – still mated to the eight-speed PDK – is largely the same as before, but its turbos are the upgraded units from the pre-refresh GTS. What’s more, it borrows the charge-air cooler from the Big-T Turbo models. These are notable hardware changes, and power increases to 388 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque – up 9 hp from before, but torque figures remain unchanged. That’s not a lot of power in the grand scheme of things, though Porsche does promise small, tangible improvements: the 0-100 km/h time drops by 0.1 seconds to 3.7 seconds, and top speed goes up by 1 km/h to 183. None of that should make you want to trade in your still-new Carrera for the 992.2 version, but there’s more to the car than just the powertrain that might be tempting.
Porsche has tweaked the front end (pictured new in the top row above, pre-refresh in the row below) with new side air intakes in the front bumper. The horizontal bars give the whole thing a less twitchy feel, but that’s belied by the small circular sensors in the center of the air intake that appear when certain driver assistance options are ticked (you could have one or two). Since they’re not effectively miniature cannons, they’re a bit of an eyesore.
The smoothness of the front-end continues with the integration of the LED turn signal strips into the headlight clusters, doing away with the individual light strips that previously lined the leading edge of the car. It makes a big difference when you look at it in person before and after, with the “after” clearly being the cleaner, superior look. A similar level of stripping back is present around the rear of the new 911. You’ll notice small changes such as the license plate being raised to a common height regardless of exhaust choice, a now straight-lined taillight assembly, the elimination of sculpting in the lower plastic mold, and a reduction in slats on the tailgate’s air intake. The original 992 wasn’t exactly “busy,” but there’s no denying it looks even tidier now.
Step inside the new Carrera and you’ll encounter the same “upgrades” that have been applied to the GTS and, soon, all the various 911 versions. The biggest is a new 12.6-inch fully digital instrument cluster that officially says goodbye to the central, analogue rev counter that has stuck around for so long. We mourn the loss of such a lovely aid, but going fully digital has its own personalisation benefits. There are seven different gauge displays, ranging from a full-screen navigation map to an enthusiast-focused performance look that puts that central rev counter in just the right spot – there’s even a display that harks back to Porsche motorsport of yore with the red line dead at 12 o’clock on the rev counter. Going digital also has advantages for visibility. Anyone who’s driven the pre-Refresh 911 knows that the steering wheel partially blocks your view of the two screens on either side, but this new digital unit is positioned so you can see all the information you want without having to peer around the rim.
Another tweak that might give Porsche diehards pause is the replacement of the twist key to the left of the steering wheel with a starter button. Porsche points to its newer racing machines for inspiration, but it’s hard not to be sad that you can no longer twist something to start your 911. On the plus side, this does mean Porsche finally offers remote start, allowing you to cool down or warm up the cabin ahead of time.
A new drive mode system is coming for 2025, making a steering wheel-mounted drive mode button standard equipment whether or not you opt for the Sport Chrono package. That said, you’ll still want to tick that box, as it adds Sport Plus mode, Launch Control and the familiar Sport Response button. Individual mode is gone, but that’s only because Porsche now allows you to customize any drive mode (except Normal) to whatever settings you choose, effectively making all modes “Individual” settings.
Driving the Carrera is, of course, pretty similar to driving the pre-refresh Carrera. It’s more than quick enough to tackle both a twisty mountain road and a race track – specifically, in our case, a few laps around Ascari. You can hear those bigger turbos spinning up behind you with the windows down, though the exhaust is noticeably less aggressive on overrun, largely thanks to the fact that our test cars were Euro-spec 911s with the DPF.
Its chassis, brakes The GTS’s acceleration and power output are clearly outpaced by the T-Series, but don’t let the lower limits put you off. Porsche sent us out to the Ascari in groups of three, with one Carrera and two GTS models, leaving the poor bastard in the base Carrera trying extra hard to keep the others in sight. Chasing Porsche’s more serious performance 911s underscored just how brilliantly the standard model drives. It also underscored what a spectacular engine the 3.0-liter is. The T-Hybrid’s 3.6-liter gets on with its business with less outward-facing frenzy, while the 3.0-liter begs you to keep it close to the red line, forcing the driver to work that little bit harder to build up speed. It creates a marked change in powertrain character in a line-up that previously required you to step up to the Turbo, Turbo S or GT3 models to find.
Then again, the base Carrera drives very much the same as before. Its ride and handling balance keeps you comfortable on rough roads, but there’s no mountain pass it won’t attack with the alacrity you’d expect from a 911. The narrow roads of Europe really do make you notice just how wide the 911 is these days, but that hardly detracts from the fun, especially when the curb weight is still a friendly 3,342 pounds. Just keep in mind that if you want rear seats, you’ll now have to tick an option box, as the 2025 911 will come standard with only two front seats in order to keep that official curb weight lower. It’s an odd choice, but at least the option is $0.
That’s Porsche’s only moment of generosity, though, as the total price is now a shocking $122,095, or $9,345 more than the 2024 model. At least Porsche is giving you a lot more for your extra money, as $3,440 worth of options are now standard equipment, including a few big ones like the LED Matrix headlights and lane-keeping assist. Porsche’s list of available extras has of course never been more extensive, and while the Paint-To-Sample catalogue is seemingly endless, we’d particularly like to mention the Lugano Blue available on the configurator and pictured in this post. Combined with the Carrera Classic Wheels and the $7,000 (!) Basalt Black/Classic Cognac Club Leather interior also pictured, it’s a combination we can’t get enough of.
The one option we’d like to see on the standard Carrera is a transmission control box. This wasn’t available previously – it was available on the Carrera S – but now that the GTS doesn’t get it either, it seems like a bigger omission. At least we’ve heard to expect the seven-speed manual to make a comeback in future “enthusiast-oriented models”, with the Carrera T and GT3 seeming like the obvious choices. If you’re happy with the PDK, don’t underestimate the base Carrera. It’s a step forward in almost every direction, and it’s a car we look forward to seeing in the garage every day.
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