First drive: 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo

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By Michael Bettencourt, MSN Autos

First drive: 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo

A supercar that's almost easy to justify

Photo: Michael Bettencourt

Estoril, Portugal - The 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo is an easy car to justify, if you can afford it. Outside of the large wad of six-figure money it would take to own any exotic sports car, the new Turbo has a good counter-argument to pretty much every argument a prospective owner - or cost-conscious significant other - could make against it.

"It's not practical." The 911 Turbo is no minivan, but it has a back seat, and decent-sized trunk.

"You can't use it in the winter." Sure you can. It has standard all-wheel drive, and various traction and stability systems. All it needs are winter tires.

"Doesn't it look just like the last one?" Pretty much, yes - that's just how new 911s are. (Some arguments are better than others, obviously).

Gallery: 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo

Photo: Michael Bettencourt

"Don't you care about the environment?" Of course. The Turbo's combined mileage is better than the current Toyota 4Runner sport utility vehicle, and leagues ahead of its larger-displacement exotic car rivals.

Obviously, the latest 911 Turbo won't be averaging mainstream fuel economy figures if you're unleashing all 500 hp to a redline rush, but Porsche executives insisted that reducing fuel consumption was key in this model. Like the regular 911 unveiled last year, it's not quite a new generation Porsche. Insiders dub it the "997.5" to mark its heavy evolution from the 997 Turbo launched in 2006, which has been the most successful generation in the famed sports car's 35-year run. Both the 911 Turbo coupe and Cabriolet arrive in Canada in January, just in time for winter's worst.

All-new, more fuel efficient and more powerful engine the highlight

Photo: Porsche

However, Porsche selected Estoril, the former Portuguese Formula One race track just north of Lisbon to showcase its latest pinnacle of technology in ideal conditions. It's the same circuit used by Nissan a few years back when introducing the world to the Nissan GT-R, perhaps now the Turbo's fiercest rival. Coincidence? Don't bet on it.

The new Turbo's main highlight is its all-new engine. It's the first all-new engine in a 911 Turbo, say Porsche execs. This turbocharged, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine receives a displacement bump from 3.6 to 3.8 litres, but despite its larger size, fuel consumption is reduced by up to 16 per cent, helped by the new mill's direct fuel injection.

Photo: Porsche

That DFI system also helps increase horsepower to 500 and torque to 480 lb.-ft., while an overboost feature can forcefully glue one's body to the seat with as much as 516 lb.-ft. of thrust, for a maximum of 10 seconds at a time. While Porsche officials concedes that the Turbo's engine internals are not strong enough to maintain that overboost level of power for longer, they insist that it can be used over and over again for an unlimited number of 10-second spurts.

And a 10-second spurt of full power in the latest 911 Turbo will put you past 200 km/h from a dead stop, as we had the chance to find out in a controlled test on Estoril. A fellow journalist with a new VBOX data logger also managed to verify Porsche's 3.4 second 0-100 km/h claims for the Turbo coupe, while the Turbo Cabriolet that we spent most of our road time in proved to be an imperceptible tick behind at 3.5 seconds.