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If there is one breed of car enthusiast worth emigrating to avoid it is the Porsche 911 bore. To a 911 bore there are only two types of car: 911s and everything else. Ask a 911 bore what vehicle you should buy, given that you have seven children, live two miles down a dirt track, hate cars in general and German ones in particular, and he (911 bores are always male) will give you a pitying look reserved for idiots, sigh and say: “A 911, of course.”

How do I know this? Because when I’m not being an impartial motoring journalist I am a 911 bore — have been since I could talk and fear I will be until I die.

In fact the only truly useful thing the 911 bore will tell you is the single universal truth that spans the car’s 42 years of production: when it comes to 911s, less is more.

From generation to generation the most basic, frill-free 911 coupés have invariably been the best. The moment they gain targa tops, tiptronic gearboxes, four-wheel drive or turbochargers, they seem to lose that certain something that made them great in the first place.

Which is why the 911 Cabriolet has always been a favourite target of the 911 bore. It’s heavier than the standard 911, which means it’s slower. Chopping the roof off also means its structure is less stiff and it handles less well. That’s not my opinion, just incontrovertible physical law. And the new 911 Cabriolet due on sale in April is no different.

For everyone else, however, it will be greeted with the same squeals of delight that have kept the Cabriolet a staple of the 911 range for a generation. They will not care that it is 187lb heavier than the coupé, nor that this means it takes 0.1sec longer to reach 62mph from rest.

They will think more about how good they’ll look in it rumbling around town or how good they’ll feel in it flying down the open road, with Porsche’s inimitable flat-six motor always ready to supply another fat wad of power at the twitch of a toe. And they’ll probably conclude that it is the car for them.

And when you think about its natural rivals, the comparatively dull BMW 645Ci cabriolet or Maserati’s deeply flawed Spyder, it’s hard even for a carping 911 bore not to agree with them.

Like all 911s it is beautifully engineered — that fabric roof flips up or down in 20 seconds — and by most standards is pretty electrifying to drive. Like the 911 coupé launched last summer, two variants of the engine are available: a 325bhp 3.6 litre motor powering the £65,260 Carrera, and a 355bhp 3.8 litre unit sitting in the back of the £72,230 Carrera S.

Given that the slower car hits 62mph in 5.2sec and a top speed of 177mph you might think the S (which records 4.9sec and 182mph respectively) has little to show for an extra outlay of almost seven grand, but not only does the S engine feel markedly more responsive than these figures suggest, the specification also buys lowered suspension, bigger brakes and electronic dampers.

The latter provides passable ride quality on long straight roads such as motorways and superlative body control when you head for the hills. In short, it’s worth it.

Whether either one of them is worth around £7,000 more than the hard-top 911 upon which they’re based is another matter. You don’t need to be a 911 aficionado to feel that some of the coupé’s precision has been lost, notably on high-speed bends, and even at a gentle cruise I was disappointed by the level of wind noise in the cabin. If you want to talk to your passenger on a long run you’ll only do it comfortably with the roof up.

Then again, if you love driving and the wind in what’s left of your hair, there’s still nothing like it out there. As an everyday proposition I’d rather live with the similarly powerful Mercedes SLK 55, whose virtues (including a folding steel roof and a list price over £22,000 less than the Carrera S) I extolled last week, but as a driving machine the 911 Cabriolet still has no equal in the class.

Unlike its rivals, the 911 feels like a proper sports car should. It doesn’t shake like a Jaguar XKR convertible or Maserati Spyder, nor does it feel born for the boulevard like the BMW 645Ci. To fling one down a twisting road is to be reminded what it’s like to drive rather than operate a car.

Of course there are torrents of power and effortless grip, but beyond these merely mechanical qualities lies a rarer and more prized attribute: it feels alive in your hands, immersing you in the driving experience and making you an active participant rather than an interested observer.

In the end it depends which way you look at it. To the 911 obsessive it is a car about which to be faintly derisive in public and utterly dismissive in private. But to someone looking for a car that mixes supercar performance and sports car handling with convertible charm and total engineering integrity, it is one to aspire to and cherish.

VITAL STATISTICS

Model Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet
Engine type Flat-six, 3824cc
Power 355bhp @ 6600rpm
Torque 295 lb ft @ 4600rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Fuel/CO2 24.4mpg (combined) / 280g/km
Performance 0-62mph: 4.9sec / Top speed: 182mph
Price £72,230
Verdict Not as hard core as the coupe, but compelling nonetheless
Rating 4/5

THE OPPOSITION

Model BMW 645Ci Convertible, £55,900
For A spacious, refined touring car, excellent over long distances
Against Convertible roof does nothing for the looks

Model Maserati Spyder, £61,995.
For Fabulous engine, great image, exclusive
Against Flawed ride and handling spoil a potentially great drive

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