Meet the 911 Dakar. It is my new spirit animal.
Look, you know how I feel about Porsche offroaders with roof racks and things of this nature. Now that, but on a modern 911. Bliss. Meet the Porsche 911 Dakar. Be still my beating heart.
Naturally this car is an homage to the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally car, which was also the birth of all-wheel drive in the Porsche 911 range. So, it’s 50mm higher than it’s tarmac siblings, and can be raised 30mm higher but is limited to 170kph in this Offroad mode. Hey, that’s fair. In standard height, the three-litre biturbo six-cylinder can put its 353kW to great use dispatching 0-100kph in just 3.4 seconds but the all-terrain rubber limits you to 240kph. Select Rallye mode for loose, uneven surfaces as opposed to the bumpier terrain favored by the aforementioned Offroad mode, as it features a more rear-focused all-wheel drive. Fun. Both dirt modes feature the new Rallye Launch Control, enabling blistering acceleration on loose surfaces with 20% wheel slippage because again, fun.
Porsche give you the option of a roof basket which one simply must have. Also a roof tent, and you know how I feel about that. Yours in two-tone paint finish in White/Gentian Blue Metallic paint – the first time that Porsche has done a bi-colour paint with livery on a production car, and with a race number too.
As it is a numbered car, production will be very limited – only 2500 in fact. First cars will arrive second half of next year so do get in line.
It comes with a 3 year Driveplan and the base price is R4 140 000. So that’s nice. Beyond my bloody means for sure, but nice.