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| Road Test: Porsche Carrera GT (2004-) |
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| Exotic Sports |
by: Paul Horrell |
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| COMFORT AND EQUIPMENT RATING: |
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The ultra-lightweight seats hold you well, but you can't shift around. Adjustment is fore-aft - not even recline. This isn't a car for lounging, not even like a Ferrari 575 or Aston Vanquish. What's truly impressive given the race-track handling is the ride. Sure it's firm, but it knocks off all the harsh edges of a bad road, and the car doesn't rattle or crash so there's the impression of surprising restfulness by comparison with other semi-track cars. The pushrod suspension helps here, by allowing engineers to give a long-travel damper stroke, reducing the effects of 'stiction'. Besides, you sit low between the wheels, so there's little pitch or rock. Wind buffet is going to be an issue in a 200mph open-topped car, but with the hard roof in place wind sealing is excellent. This is not a temporary roof but a serious year-round proposition. Developed by 6ft rally star Walter Rohrl, this car can easily accommodate two tall occupants. Luggage is more problematic. The roof splits in two but then entirely occupies the front boot. Otherwise you can squeeze a supplied soft leather bag in there. A matching suit carrier wriggles behind the passenger seat. There's the odd cubby hole dotted around the cockpit, too. In a tiny Becker combined unit, Porsche fits a phone, stereo and sat-nav. It sounds good, using the huge sills as bass resonance chambers. But the navigation system is fiddly and has just a simple arrow display. You can save weight by deleting the whole system as it's a no-cost option.
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Introduction The headline figures don't say it all, not by a long chalk. But they ... |
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