2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T: The Bare Minimum Has Never Felt so Good

While uncertainty haunts the automotive industry, it seems that Porsche has found a reliable recipe for overcoming the tides. The Stuttgart-based brand assembles profitable SUVs by the boatload to keep its balance sheet healthy and investors happy, while investing in electric technologies to comply with government requirements. Thanks to this, the brand can protect its DNA and keep making sports cars. In fact, the 911 catalogue is more extensive than ever, and still includes good old three-pedal gasoline models available to anyone who wants and can afford them.

The Car Guide traveled to the Atlanta area to drive the Porsche 911 Carrera T, otherwise known at the purist's 911.

• Also: 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S Goes to the Gym, Adds Muscle and Bite
• Also: Your Next Porsche or Audi Might Be Built in the U.S.

What's a T?

The letter T - which stands for Touring - joined the 911 family in 1968, when the Stuttgart-based brand first won the 37th Monte Carlo Rally. The first production T was produced until 1973, and then returned in 2017 and 2022. Its purpose: to offer a 911 Carrera that includes the most essential technologies from Porsche's chassis dynamics arsenal in a car that is lighter, but docile enough for the road, without giving it an ultra-high-performance powertrain in order to keep its price competitive within the range.

This year, the 911 Carrera T is positioned just above the base Carrera model and below the more powerful GTS. And for the first time in its history, it also comes in cabriolet form.

Lighter Than a Base 911 Carrera

As mentioned above, the T draws on the very best of Porsche's parts catalogues in terms of chassis tech. The list of inclusions includes the Sport Chrono package, with its dynamic engine mounts, steering-wheel-mounted drive mode selector and superb stopwatch in the dashboard, among other technologies. Rear-wheel steering, Porsche Active Management System (PASM) suspension, torque vectoring, bigger brakes, locking differential and sport exhaust are also part of the package.

The T crowns this list of complex technologies with a piece of equipment of adorable simplicity: the six-speed manual gearbox! It's the only gearbox offered with the 911 Carrera T. In fact, it’s the only way to get a manual gearbox in the current 911 line-up outside the GT model line-up. This gearbox is inspired by the seven-speed gearbox of the previous model, to which one gear has been removed and the parameters recalibrated. The ratios remain the same.

To move all this hardware, the 911 Carrera T relies on the 991’s base twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six delivering 388 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels.

Piling up equipment adds weight. To counter this physical inevitability, Porsche has put the T on a diet so as not to sully its featherweight reputation. First, its six-speed manual gearbox is lighter than the eight-speed PDK automatic. Next, heavy insulation materials have been cut down to a minimum, and ultra-light glass was chosen for the windows, rear window and windscreen. Finally, owners can opt for optional carbon seating for even more weight savings.

All in all, the 911 Carrera T weighs between 30 kg and 42 kg less than the base 911 Carrera.

Still Very Decently convenient

While it's easy to lose one's shirt in Porsche's exhaustive catalogue of customization options, it's all too easy to forget that its stripped-down interior remains first and foremost a haven for dynamic driving - and it's already very well equipped in that respect. While the T has already been offered with straps as interior door handles in the 991.2 generation, it is now equipped with regular handles. It is also chilly weather-friendly with standard heated, four-position adjustable sports seats and the heated GT Sport steering wheel. In the coupe variant, rear seats are not fitted by default but can be added at no extra cost. The cabriolet model, on the other hand, comes standard with these rear seats, which are symbolic, to say the least, given the limited space they offer.

The ideal front driving position ensures optimum access to the gearshift lever, whose knob is sculpted out of walnut for a lovely retro touch.

Communication is the Basis of Every Relationship

Lightweight and agile, the 911 Carrera T inspires confidence from the get-go. This feeling is further emphasized by the car’s highly communicative steering enhanced by the rear steering capabilities. The manual gearbox is more enjoyable than the outgoing 7-speed gearbox, with surgical precision shifting that adds to the feeling of control behind the wheel. The 911 Carrera T may not be the most powerful of 911s, but its energetic 388 hp cavalry is delivered in military fashion, all enlivened by the sound of the sport exhaust.

Maneuverable, powerful and complicit, the 911 Carrera T manages to create an engaging synergy with its driver as only a well-equipped 911 can. Who needs 500+ horsepower when you have all that ?

Tiny rear seating option, digital instrument cluster that lacks nostalgia, finicky infotainment system that could benefit from a few tweaks and a noisy cabin are basically the only flaws we could find in the 911 T. That, and the fact that the cabriolet model doesn't fully adhere to the T philosophy, weighing in at an extra 90 kg. Yet many of these drawbacks are small compromises that bring big advantages to the table.

And then there's the price. The 2025 Porsche Carrera T starts at $149,200 for the coupe and $165,300 for the cabriolet. With the various fees, luxury tax, etc., it's more like $166,000 and $185,000 respectively before looking at the options. On the other hand, considering the price of Porsche's options in the catalogue, the 911 Carrera T package can be a bargain for those looking for a dynamic sports car without the eye-popping horsepower figures and frills.

And with hybridization scaring off the manual gearbox in the higher variants of the 911 Carrera, the mere fact of acquiring a 911 with a manual gearbox can be a victory in itself...

The 911 Carrera T will arrive in Canada in the summer of 2025.