this is a 2020 Porsche 911 speedster and
it is the very best version of the
nine-nine one generation 911 then again
it had better be because it costs
$300,000 yes that's right this is a 911
not a Ferrari supercar or a special
edition Lamborghini a 911 for $300,000
and today I'm going to review it I've
borrowed this 911 speedster from Porsche
San Diego which is my local Porsche
dealership here in San Diego that has
all of the new Porsche models from the
718 Boxster and came in to the SUV's to
the 911 Porsche San Diego also has this
911 speedster which is an exceptionally
rare vehicle just how rare will Porsches
only building 1948 of these for the
entire world that number commemorates
the original Porsche 356 which came out
in 1948 and served as the basis for the
first speedster now speedster in the
Porsche world means a convertible model
whose top has been slightly restyled
with a sleeker and more exciting look
sometimes they're given more power to
and Porsche has built several
generations of speedsters over the years
but this is the very best one while
previous speedster models were typically
just a 911 with a different roof design
and some other minor upgrades this is
essentially a gt3 convertible it has a
510 horsepower naturally aspirated
flat-six and it comes with a six-speed
manual transmission and a gt3 chassis
and gt3 suspension this is really a
speed stir and yes prices are around
$300,000 it starts around $275,000 but
options go from there truly bringing it
into the realm of Ferrari and
Lamborghini and today we're gonna find
out if it's worth it
first I'm going to take you on a tour of
this speedster and show you all of the
quirks and features of the swan song of
the 991 generation 911 then I'm gonna
get it out on the road and drive it and
then I'm going to give it a dug score
and for more of my thoughts on the
speedster click the link below to visit
autotrader.com slash oversteer
alright I'm gonna start the quicksand
features of the speedster in the obvious
place and that would be the roof which
is very different from the roof in all
of the other nine eleven Cabriolet
models first a little history lesson
when the speedster was originally
conceived in the 1950s it was designed
for Southern California Sun the theory
was you would pretty much always keep
the roof down or off and so the car was
designed to look its most beautiful with
the roof off and that tradition
continues today there's a few ways
Porsche has done that on the latest
speedster one is the windshield this
windshield is actually raped at a
steeper angle than the standard 911
Cabriolet windshield which is supposed
to contribute to like a sleeker and more
aerodynamic look when the roof is down
you also have these humps in the back
behind the seats on the rear decklid
that just look really cool and those two
items are supposed to contribute to
giving this car a different more
beautiful look than the regular 911
cabriole leg now the main result of the
fact that this car was pretty much
always intended to be used with the roof
down is that the roof is kind of an
afterthought and that means that putting
it up or down is quite a bit more
complicated than it is in regular 911
models let me show you what I mean all
right so let's say you're in your 911
speedster and you want to put the roof
down now to start the process you have
the same switch in the center console as
every other 911 Cabriolet it basically
shows a 911 with the roof off you pull
that switch and then some interesting
things start to happen as you can see
the back part of the top just popped up
and the rear decklid popped open from
there the entire rest of the process is
manual no electronics involved you walk
to the back of your car and then you
open up the rear deck later yourself
until it's in this position then you
come around to the front the top had
already unlatched earlier when I pulled
the button and you push the top back and
it folds in
this area back here then you go back to
the back of the car and you close the
rear deck lid and that's how you put the
top down in a new 911 speedster you may
think this is a crazy procedure for a
car that costs this much money but again
the top was never really intended to be
on unless you need it in an emergency
you got caught in a slight rainstorm
while you were driving down the Southern
California coast you know next up there
are some other top related quirks and
features I want to show you but first I
want to show you the process of putting
the top back up which is actually even
more complicated than putting it down
all right to start it you go back to the
center console there's a switch with a
911 with the top up you pull on that
switch and then that happens that's it
that's the only automated part of this
process until the very end the deck lid
has popped itself up and then you come
around to the back and you open up the
deck lid the rest of the way again then
from there you pull on the roof and kind
of get it back into place near the top
of the windshield then you go back to
the deck lid you close it back into
place and latch it down then once you've
closed the deck lid you have to manually
come up to the back of the top to these
little parts that are stuck up and push
them back down so they latch into place
then once you finished with that you can
go back into the car pull on the top
button again and it will manually latch
the top down and only now is it fully
closed you can see the windows going up
to complete the process it's quite an
interesting experience putting the top
up or down in the speedster and next up
let's talk about a couple of other
interesting quirks and features that
result from this unusual top design one
of them is undoubtedly this incredibly
tiny rear window I've been in a lot of
cars a lot of small rear windows this is
one of the very smallest I have ever
seen it is certainly not intended to be
functional and reinforces the idea
that this copy is only to be used when
absolutely necessary and next up another
interesting thing that happens with this
whole top and rear decklid design let's
say you want to access the engine
well you can't now in a lot of modern
Porsche GT cars you can't access the
engine at all because it's covered but
in this they take it a step further when
the roof is in place you can't get back
here at all because those cloth pieces
in the back part of the roof are latched
in place so you can't open this rear
decklid
if you go over to the driver's door sill
there's a switch in there that you can
pull to open up the rear decklid in
normal circumstances but when the roof
is in place that switch is disabled
nothing happens you can't open it now
when the roof is down and those things
are no longer keeping it latched in
place you can pull that switch in the
driver's door cell and the deck lid will
pop open once again just like it does
when you're putting the top up or down
and from there you have access to the
engine but not really this is all you
get obviously very little a couple of
fans and it says 4.0 and that's the
extent of your engine seeing in your
speedster you're not allowed to see it
yourself Porsche wants to leave that to
the trained professionals with that said
you can see a couple of caps over on the
left so you can add oil or coolant if
necessary but that's pretty much all you
can do the rest of the engine is just
tucked in there out of view and next up
another interesting item you can see
with the rear decklid open is the roll
bars these items back here that don't
look particularly nice are in fact
functional when this car detects that
it's about to roll over those things
have explosive charges in them they
shoot up through the bodywork in order
to make sure that the car does it like
squish your head when it rolls over
they're designed to support the weight
of the entire vehicle and with the rear
deck lid closed you can see these little
panels in the back of the deck lid
that's where those roll bars are
designed to shoot out out so they don't
damage the entire deck lid instead they
just kind of go through those things and
you just replace those after your
rollover accident these pieces are
usually hidden in most convertibles but
in this one they're in plain sight
whenever you have the rear deck lid
but but anyway next I want to move on to
some other speedster perks and features
beyond just the unusual roof situation
and I want to start with the seats
ultimately this car is a gt3 at its core
and so it has gt3 style seats these are
heavily bolstered sport seats designed
to keep you in place on the track you
don't have like 26 ways of adjustability
with these seats instead they are pretty
much stuck in place you can move them
forward or backward up and down and
that's about it you better hope you fit
and next up speaking of the seats
another interesting item in this car it
does not have back seats 911 Cabriolet
is typically have back seats but this
one does not which is more typical of
the gt3 now instead it has large storage
compartments behind the front seats you
can reach your hand in here and it just
goes on and on I don't know how deep it
goes though because these sport seats
prevent you from actually reaching in
there and using these cargo compartments
to their fullest extent but they're back
there if you need to use them in a pinch
just good luck actually getting in there
in case something goes very far inside
and next up speaking of this seats
another interesting item between the
seats there's a plaque that says Porsche
70 on it I guess for the 70th
anniversary of Porsche and below that
you have the serial number of your
particular speedster this one is number
zero eight five eight of 1948 so these
are numbered cars you know they built
exactly 1948 of them and you know
exactly where your car stands and next
up many of the rest of the notable
speedster related items in this car are
badging related and there are quite a
few speedster reminders you have of
course a badge in the back that says
speedster to tell you what you have
there's also a badge on the decklid on
the sides by your hump behind the seats
that says speedster on it when you open
the door speedster is on the door sill
and it lights up to remind you what car
you're in and you have speedster on the
headrest for the seats stitched in there
both seats says speedster same deal on
the gauge cluster there's another
speedster badge right in the middle
reminding you what you have but my very
favorite speedster badging is electronic
if you leave a door open
your speedster the little screen in the
gauge cluster shows the door open with
an actual speedster instead of just a
regular 911 Cabriolet although it's
worth noting they kind of had to do that
because in the speedster you can open
the rear decklid that's a part that
other 911s don't have and when you do
they have to show you that that rear
decklid is open and so they kind of
needed a specific graphic for the
speedster to do it and so they have one
but there are many speedster reminders
inside this car and next up one more
speedster badge in this car comes on the
dashboard and specifically on your
cupholders there's this little carbon
fiber strip and it says speedster on it
and it leads you to what are in my
opinion the finest designed cupholders
in the car industry
all right you open up this little carbon
fiber strip and then you can push out
the cupholders that's not particularly
interesting but the cool part is you can
then push the carbon fiber strip back
into place and that way you don't have
to look at the ugly inside cup holder
mechanism when the cup holders are out
because this strip has little cuts in it
that allows it to be closed even when
the cup holders are open I find this to
be brilliant most Porsche owners hate
this cup holder design Porsche has been
using it for years they're finally going
away from it but I think that's a shame
because it's a real triumph of cup
holder engineering in my opinion next up
another interesting item in this
speedster you go to the door panel and
you can see instead of traditional door
handles this car has fabric loops now if
you ask Porsche that's to save weight
which I find to be absolutely ridiculous
because they're literally next to the
power windows which add tremendous
weight if you really wanted to save
weight you'd put in manual windows but
Porsche knows its customers won't stand
for that so instead they kind of pay lip
service to weight savings with these
ridiculous fabric door poles I think
it's a total gimmick but it's kind of a
cool one now next up we move into the
middle of the car as you can see this
thing has a manual transmission which
makes it even more special in my opinion
all of the 911 feed store models have a
manual true manual with three pedals and
here's the cool thing right below the
shift lever there's a button marked
auto blip you can press that button then
when you want to downshift
it will automatically blip the throttle
for you you know your car is cool when
you have a button that says Auto blip
and speaking of buttons in that area a
couple worth noting one is the fact that
there's a button in that center console
that you can push and it will raise the
rear spoiler you press the button the
spoiler goes up press it again
the spoiler goes down this allows you to
drive around with the spoiler up just in
case you want everybody to look at you
and in case there aren't enough people
looking at you another button in the
center console turns on the exhaust you
can see it looks like an exhaust you
push it and the sport exhaust in this
car turns on and it's quite nice take a
listen
and finally before I get out of the
speedster I want to move on to the
window sticker now the 2020 911
speedster has a base price of two
hundred and seventy five thousand
dollars but this car costs about three
hundred thousand dollars so where are
those twenty five thousand in options
while I perused the option list and I'm
happy to report there are some
impressive deals for example you see
this fire extinguisher in the passenger
seat footwell just sitting in there in
case you need it
well that's only a hundred and forty
dollars that seems like a pretty good
bargain for a factory installed by your
extinguisher another bargain this car
has an extended range fuel tank and it
costs only a hundred and forty dollars
that's a deal I don't know how big the
regular fuel tank is but if you could
extend the range by even only fifty or
eighty miles with the extended fuel tank
for a hundred and forty bucks I would go
with that now also on that window
sticker I've identified the option that
is the worst deal and that would be the
headlight system cleaning cover in
exterior color this tiny little thing is
normally black but if you pay 300 bucks
they'll paint it red for this tiny
little thing to be painted it costs $300
a ridiculous waste of money but when
you're spending $300,000 I guess 300
bucks for a little painted cover kind of
makes some sense and next time moving on
to the outside of the 911 speedster one
cool item I like is inside the fuel door
that would be the fuel cap which looks
really cool this isn't your standard
ugly plastic fuel cap instead it's much
more fitting of a three hundred thousand
dollar car and next up another
interesting item on the outside of the
speedster you have these wide flared
rear fenders like a gt3 and on them you
have this black wrap which looks pretty
cool this is reminiscent of 1980s 911
specifically the 80s 911 speedsters that
all had this black panel wrapped as well
it's a very nice kind of carry over into
the modern era for the new car and also
since I'm in this vicinity
worth mentioning the wheels this car
doesn't just have typical 911 wheels
instead like a gt3 that has center lock
wheels like you would find on a race car
that really committed to the gt3 thing
for the speedster it basically is a gt3
convertible with a really weird top and
finally we move on to the front of the
911 speedster in the cargo area but
before I get in there I want to talk
about the Porsche emblem as you can see
it is a decal
now on most Porsche models there is a
metal emblem in front but on this
speedster unlike the gt3 in similar cars
Porsche puts on a decal in order to save
weight this car has an infotainment
system with a touchscreen and navigation
and LED headlights and like $6,000 worth
of interior stitching or all the leather
pieces and yet they're saved point for
ounces in the front by turning the
Porsche emblem into a decal one of the
great questionable maneuvers of modern
automobiles but anyway moving into the
cargo area to get in here you go into
the driver's door sill there's a little
switch you can pull and that puts the
front trunk in this position then you go
under here and you unlatch it and you
open it right up you can see the front
trunk is reasonably sized fairly big for
a car like this good enough for a couple
of weekend bags my very favorite thing
about this front trunk is this like bag
on the back side of it what is this
thing it turns out you open it up and
there is a wind deflector in it the
world's smallest wind deflector
I guess this matches the shape of that
world's smallest rear window for when
the roof is down you can stick this in
place and deflect the wind it's
ridiculous looking and I imagine no one
will ever use it and so those are the
quirks and features of the new 911
speedster now it's time to get it out on
the road and see how it drives all right
driving the 99 1 speedster the swan song
of the 991
model rain first thing you notice about
this car the transmission is so sweet I
know dual clutches faster I get it but
this is how a convertible powerful
Porsche should be operated it feels so
natural I Drive a lot of manual cars
there are some good ones there are some
bad ones but Porsche makes the best ones
there's absolutely no question about it
by far the best manuals the shifter
action feels so good so perfect so right
the clutch pedal feels so good I'm not a
huge Porsche guy I'm not like all these
other people that's ditching and just
make teen 84 model is old me made for
one model year and it's perfect I don't
get into that stuff it's not me
but I do like a car that drives well and
this car drives well
and it feels so good to drive
oh man the thing I love about this car
which is also the thing I loved about
the 911 are it's not excessively fast a
lot of modern cars modern performance
cars are too fast and they're fun you
floor but it's like oh my god but this
is just the perfect amount of fast
controllable use the whole car enjoyable
this is how I would want to perform it's
car which is fast enough to get into
trouble but not so fast that you get
into trouble without realizing it you
have to decide to get into trouble in a
car like this the shifter action is just
so good it feels so fantastic just
absolutely perfect and the clutch is so
good and that's the thing about Porsche
I'm making manual cards you want them to
keep doing it because they do it so well
and it steers and handles so well
the steering precision is not on the
level of some exotics there's no doubt
about that
Huracan for a date those cars are better
they drive a little bit better they
steer a little better they feel a little
quicker to turn and more precise but
there's just something about a good
well-balanced 911 convertible that makes
the car feel so desirable it's just such
a complete package and so that's the
2020 Porsche 911 speedster
I love convertibles so for me this car
is perfect you get the driving
experience from at 911 gt3 but you get
the open-air feel of a 911 Cabriolet and
a manual transmission and they aren't
making that many of them production
numbers are fairly low so values will
probably stay pretty high what's not to
like well I guess the price tag it's
pretty expensive but good things tend to
be anyway now it's time to give the new
911 speedster a dug score starting with
the weekend categories and styling the
speedster looks good but it's also very
familiar it looks a lot like other 911s
and it gets a 7 out of 10
acceleration does 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds
and it gets an 8 out of 10 handling a
sharp
not modern mid-engine exotic sharp and
it gets an 8 out of 10 fun factor is the
best this car is a gt3 and a convertible
and an amazing driving experience all
rolled into one and it gets a 10 out of
10 finally cool factor in this car is
reasonably cool but not hugely so this
won't turn heads like a Ferrari or
Lamborghini or McLaren and it gets a 7
out of 10 for a total weekend score of
40 out of 50 next up are the daily
categories and features this car is
reasonably well equipped but being the
last version of an outgoing model it's
missing some important new tech and it
gets a 6 out of 10
Comfort is a bit harsh for a 911
Cabriolet due to the gt3 nests of this
car and it gets a 4 out of 10 quality is
excellent like most Porsche models and
it gets a 9 out of 10 practicality is
low however due to the roof situation
and no back seats and it gets a 2 out of
10 finally value and this is a tough one
this is an expensive car but it's also a
limited car and probably the best 991
model 911 still there making a lot of
them relatively speaking and I wouldn't
be surprised if prices drop more than
usual for a limited Porsche it gets a 6
out of 10 for a total daily score of 27
out of 50 add it up and the Doug score
is 67 out of 100 and here's where it
stands against some other expensive
modern sports cars and especially
convertibles it's no match for Ferrari
or McLaren or even Porsches own gt2 RS
but the speedster is a very cool car
that will have significant appeal to
many Porsche fans
[Music]