2025 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet Review: Look At the Stars

Over the years of this job, I’ve been fortunate enough to drive multiple Porsche 911s. But never a cabriolet.

I’d be lying if I told you that had bothered me. Growing up reading car magazines, every one of ‘em shunned the soft-top 911, declaring it too compromised dynamically as well as stylistically. When the latest Targa arrived, I determined its dramatic mechanical ballet offered enough open-air feel to render the Cab obsolete.

Dear readers, I was wrong. Sure, the base-engine Porsche 911 Cabriolet is the least-sporty choice in the 992.2 lineup, but it offers an enticing blend of pedigree and panache to justify its continued existence.

The 992 generation that debuted at the start of this decade has come in for its mid-cycle facelift. There are beyond-subtle styling changes, the manual transmission is now relegated to only the lightweight 911 T and the GT3 variants, and there’s a hybrid ( but not the sort you probably think). The release resets the model launch cadence; expect new 911 Turbos and any other variants over the next year or two.

The “base” 911 Carrera sees some of the smallest changes. Still using the 3.0-liter flat-six but augmented with the turbos of last year’s potent GTS, it gains an extra 9 horsepower for a total of 388 hp. Torque creeps up a single unit, to 332 pound-feet. Sticking with the base Carrera means no all-wheel drive as well.

The 911 is (in)famous for subtle styling changes, with the most dramatic one now almost 30 years ago (mmmm, fried eggs). The 992.2 changes are about as expected, then: a slightly cleaner lower bumper design, tweaked LED headlight signature, and a uniform-height rear light bar treatment. Even the wheel design is the same as the Targa I drove almost four years ago.

Over the course of the week, I went from disliking Cartagena Yellow to having a begrudging appreciation for it. The desaturated hue is an odd one, with more green in the mix than most yellows on the road. It feels suitably out-there for a loud, low sports car, mind you.

Porsche’s 3.0-liter is a sweetheart. Responsive and torquey while still rewarding those who let it rev all the way to its 7,500-rpm redline, it’s the sort of turbocharged setup that just feels like a whole lot more displacement. There’s a natural way the flat-six builds power. Sure, at this price point 388 horsepower is only reasonably quick, but with the Sport Chrono pack the Cabriolet will still click off the run to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.1 seconds, according to Porsche. And we all know the Germans tend to be conservative on that front.

Turbocharging has done little to muffle the flat-six’s signature howl, either. Prod the exhaust button and a muscular bassline layers in, but the 911 never gets too rowdy; this is a Carrera Cabriolet, after all.

I could mourn the loss of the seven-speed manual, but Porsche says take rates at this end of the lineup were low. The eight-speed PDK is one of the best of the breed anyway: it swaps gears with a quickness my dull appendages could never match. At low speeds it has manual-like manners too, needing deliberate throttle application. If only the paddle shifters didn’t feel like glorified buttons.

The dual-clutch is a boon for daily drives as well, ruthlessly upshifting on the highway. Porsche quotes a combined 21 mpg for both hardtop and droptop Carreras; in Canada, the heftier Cab incurs a very slight penalty, with a combined 11.4 L/100 km. That falls in line with what I observed over the week.

Does the roofectomy dilute the 911’s handling prowess? Not really. Yes, this isn’t exactly a tiny (178 inches / 4,542 millimeters long, 72.9 in / 1,852 mm wide) or light (3,525 lb / 1,599 kg unladen) sports car anymore. Yet the Carrera Cab retains the Porsche magic, with a remarkably composed yet fluid demeanor. As ever, it’s the steering that makes the 911 special: weighty and unerringly accurate, the perfectly-sized rim provides a genuine two-way conversation when so many helms are mute these days. It allows the driver to instinctively trust the car, safe in the knowledge it will do what is asked of it—and almost more importantly, let the driver know when its limits are exceeded.

Not that they are out here on public roads. Even with the big 20-inch front and 21-inch rear alloys rolling on low-profile winters, the 911 easily devours apexes. No wonder Porsche ditched the base Carrera 4; there’s so much mechanical grip here that I never miss a driven front axle. Porsche has also done a masterful job of letting its driver aids stay in the background unless they’re really needed. The unexpected advantage of a comparatively low power figure? Perhaps.

Special mention to the brakes as well. Indefatiguable on public roads is a given, but it’s the excellent feel and progression that makes the left pedal so good.

Without some of the fancier features found higher up in the lineup—or elsewhere in the rarified air of this segment—the Carrera Cab doesn’t offer as broad a range of ride quality as you might hope. Put simply, it’s stiff: stiff in the city, stiff in the country, stiff on the highway between them. I don’t mean too stiff, because anybody buying Porsche instead of one of the larger grand tourers the 911 competes with should expect a more focused ride. The irony being that higher-performance trims can actually offer more balance. If it were my money, I’d absolutely be speccing the nose lift that is absent here, mind you. Porsche’s system uses GPS to auto-engage if desired, which is a great trick.

Beyond the stiffness, the 911 is plenty comfortable. The low seat placement provides plenty of head- and legroom, and comfort access is now standard, helpfully sliding the seat and wheel to make ingress and egress better. The fabric roof is so well-insulated that there’s barely more noise than the tin-top. Drop the roof—which is possible at up to 30 mph (50 km/h)—and wind noise is well regulated. Even at highway speeds, the Bose sound system doesn’t need ungodly volume levels, and conversation still uses inside voices. Putting the wind deflector up helps even more, though it renders the rear seats useless. Not that anybody besides small children will find themselves comfortable back there…

Porsche has brought a little of the high-tech feel of the rest of its cars into the icon this year. A digital instrument cluster might seem sacrilegious here, though to be honest it was just sole middle dial as an analog holdout before. I’m more miffed at the push-button starter instead of the twist. Is nothing sacred?!

Beyond that the architecture is familiar, that big cowl leading into an upright dashboard. The 911’s wide center console houses plenty of buttons—huzzah!—but is also coated in piano black. Color-matched inserts along the dashboard, console, and doors lift what is otherwise a conservative cabin.

There are still sacrifices one must make to live the 911 life. Cabin storage? Pfft. There’s little room in the door pockets or center console for anything bigger than a cell phone, and the central cupholder is similarly small. I’m consistently impressed at the depth of the frunk however: 4.8 cubic feet (135 liters) doesn’t sound like much, but it will swallow a week’s grocery shop without issue.

Everything is imbued with a sense of solidity that suggests the Carrera Cab will be in top form decades from now.

The aforementioned instrument cluster is sharp and clear, with plenty of customization to tailor the experience to the driver’s liking. Same goes for Porsche’s infotainment in general: it lacks the flashiness of other German setups, but is quick and easy to learn. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless, and I find the former super simple to set up, with more in-depth integration now as well. Drive mode selection still happens right from the steering wheel, which is the correct approach.

The weather was all over the place during our week together, so the 911’s heated seats got a chance to shine. As is the case in the Macan EV, I found the heated steering wheel only middling, however. When Mother Nature decided to give her traditional 48-hour taste of summer, I was happy for the effective ventilated seats; I only wish they were standard.

Porsche’s a la carte approach means buyers don’t have to move to higher trims if they want more goodies like the high-end Burmester sound system (this tester has the Bose setup) or even night vision cameras. Yes, lots of them are spendy, and the standard safety assist lineup misses out on stuff you’ll find in a bog-standard Corolla. Porsche gonna Porsche.

This tester has a fair amount of add-ons. From the base $143,150 ($152,950 CAD) post-destination starting price, it has around $30,000 in options in either market. There’s no one culprit here, just a handful of pricier picks like the Premium Package with remote park assist ($5,690 / $6,450 CAD), those Carrera Classic wheels ($2,440 / $2,790 CAD, RS Spyder wheels were equipped for winters), the upgraded leather interior ($3,110 / $5,170 CAD), and more. Final tally? $172,720 or $189,060 CAD.

Yes, that amount of coin will get you a whole lot of car elsewhere, undoubtedly with more performance; even a lightly-specced 911 Carrera S will undercut it, packing nearly 100 more ponies.

As ever with the 911 though, this is about more than on-paper specs. Porsche’s halo model has walked its own path for well over half a century, and there’s nothing else quite like it on the market these days. With the subtle improvements to the 2025 911 Carrera Cabriolet’s refinement, driving capability, and yes, technology, the droptop 911 still feels special and worthy of the investment.

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