The people who buy Turbos from Porsche are different from you and me. A Texas cattle rancher sent hides from five of his prize steers to Stuttgart for the leather interior of his new 911 Turbo. He made sure to include the brand of his ranch on each hide, so no one would ever confuse his Turbo with that of anyone else. The craftsmen at Porsche, frowning upon these imperfections in the submitted leather, carefully excluded the unsightly brand marks from their finished product. When the rancher finally took delivery of his long-awaited Porsche, he as incensed to find that the factory had misunderstood the point of the whole exercise. Thanks to the meticulous care of the Stuttgart upholsterers, his unsightly brand was nowhere to be seen.

Porsche is well aware of the special buyer who will purchase one of the 600 new Turbos sold in the United States in 1991. At $100,000 per copy, this 911 does not compete with other cars so much as it does with second homes, yachts, and artwork for buyer attention. Knowing this, Porsche has crafted the Turbo into an artifact. The car is simply exquisite. The level of fit and finish is of the highest order. The paint is stunningly deep (27 coats). The coral red metallic shade of our test vehicle is seductively brazen for a firm conditioned to offering sixteen shades for sable metallic paint.

If you bought this car for looks alone, you'd be a satisfied customer. Aesthetes need only rent a white walled gallery in Soho to display this work of art. Without even turning a wheel, this Turbo sends your Visual Satisfaction Index right off the scale. As eye food, it's feast. Dilate your pupils first on the curvaceous fender flares. Though the new flares are close to what they've always been in size and shape, it's how they link together with the other panels that sets this Turbo in a class of its own.

Consider the detailing of the side skirts, for example. Kicked out to meet the flares front and rear, the top of the skirt now forms the lower valance for the rear fender. Gone are the ugly black stone guard patches which identified earlier Turbos. The rear bumper panel is a luscious piece of design as well, with rippling, muscular curves mating upper and lower surfaces. Twin tail pipe cut-outs house the healthy oval exhaust outlets from the muffler on one side and the turbo unit on the other. The outrageous, multi-faceted rear wing, carried over from previous Turbos, augments the sinewy hind quarters. Up front, the latest Carrera 2/4 gill slitted snout forms an even broader smile on the Turbo as it stretches to meet the front fender flares.

A neat color demarcation line ties together all the Turbo's lower surfaces. Where the panels begin to tuck into the underbody, a satin black finish accentuates the transition.

The Turbo is great at striking a pose. It's the Mr. Universe of the car lot, always looking like it just left Gold's Gym with its sleeves rolled up. Nothing to hide here, just the simple architecture of an artfully draped taut form.

But if you are beginning to conclude that this car is nothing but a poseur, then think again. Despite the fact that its beauty qualifies it for static museum display, this Turbo also happens to be the best performing production 911 Porsche has ever built.

We're not talking about simple numbers here, now. The skidpad and acceleration figures are startling, to be sure. After all, the factory convervatively reports a zero to sixty time of 4.8 seconds. CAR AND DRIVER recorded 4.2 seconds, and measured lateral stick at .91 g's. But lots of cars post high numbers that don't translate into real world drivability. The ZR-1 comes to mind as king of the stats, but knave of the interstate. The 928 GT posts terrific figures, but seems way too heavy when pushed to its limits. The Dodge Steath hangs great figures on the scoreboard, but lacks road feel and feedback at the limit. The new Turbo, however, is a remarkable achievement for Porsche because its performance numbers match its real world roadability.

You never have to drive this car beyond 8/10ths of its available performance, because you'll already be traveling faster than anything else on the road. Our test week with the Turbo seemed like an endless session at the control panel of Atari's arcade racing game, Pole Position. We were always "preparing to quality" for a race we had never entered. The new 3.3 liter Turbo remorselessly teleports you from one clump of traffic to the next. The landscape is sucked toward you like an escaping vacuum. Impediments flash before your flinching hands and twitching face with dismaying suddenness.

No matter how gradually you start driving this car, you will invaribly end up with the world whizzing by as you enter the hallucinatory state of Extended Play.

Our first experience with this phenomenon occurred while merging with freeway traffic. Sensing a good opportunity to accelerate hard in the lower gears, we booted the Turbo in first, redlined it in second, snatched third to the accompaniment of an incredulous grin, and were winding to 6800 rpm when a doddering motorist usurped our lane without so much as a glance in the mirror. Given no chance to threshold brake or do anything cute and evasive, I nailed the new twelve inch discs as hard as I could, and hoped for the best. Even with ABS, the fronts locked for an instant, then released, and without further ado, arrested our progress instantaneously. After a friendly wave to the errant motorist, we continued to marvel at any car that could accelerate that fast and stop this short.

Okay, so the new Turbo has terrific punch and gravitational deceleration, but surely it doesn't handle much better than it forerunners. Which is to say, not very well at all. Wrong, completely erroneous slander. This Turbo not only handles better than any previous boosted 911, it is now in the upper echelon of top handling cars from any manufacturer. The short list of comparable includes the Corvette ZR1 and the Acura NSX.

Yes, King Kong is back. Favorite idyl of the rich, the new Porsche Turbo is faster, meaner, safer than ever before.

The Turbo has had a checkered career in the United States. First introduced in 1976, the boosted 911 met rave reviews owing to its prodigious horsepower. But its handling left much to be desired. So much that many deemed the original Turbo a dangerously unstable car in the hands of the novice driver.

Over the intervening years, serveral iterations of the basic model appeared, each successive version improving on the original formulas, with upgraded braking and refined handling. When Porsche discontinued sales of its Turbo 911 two years ago, many doubted that it would ever return to these shores. But the Stuttgart factory worked diligently to adapt the Turbo powerplant to the new generation Carrera 2/4 chassis. Though the latest Turbo may resemble the original car, it is a vastly different creature, with all new underspinnings and bodywork. The improvements make the new Turbo the most enjoyable 911 on the road today.

True, it lacks the low-rev punch of the 3.6 liter Carrera. The Turbo still uses Porsche's older style engine, which now displaces 3.3 liters in boosted form. So don't expect much from this below 3,000 rpm, because the turbo unit has hung the Do Not Disturb sign out. But when the tachometer swings past three grand, watch out, because the 911 becomes a absolute roketship. Even with still pronounced turbo lag, it's acceleration is more pronounced than Corvette's vaunted ZR-1. It feels like a greased pig squirting from your grasp. This Turbo is definitely the "E" series ticket to warp speed.

Though 911 Turbos have always been exceptionaly quick in a straight line, they have been notoriously reluctant to corner well. Not any more. The underpinning borrowed from the Carrera 2/4 transform the Turbo into a model of civility. Do any of the silly things that used to provoke the old Turbo, like backing off the throttle in the middle of a turn, and this 911 pays you no mind. Where the old car would spin off like a top, the latest Turbo simply tightens its line and gets on with the program.

The ride is harsh on the freeway, because Porsche has refused to compromise the handling of its flagship 911 for ride confort. So get ready for a real pounding when traversing expansion joints or potholes. Even on the tightly linked turns of the Oakville Grade, which connects the Sonoma and Napa Valleys of Northern California, the Turbo felt as lithe as a car half its weight. And the brakes, now a full foot in diameter thanks to new 17 inch tall wheels, proved themselves repeatedly when descending from the summit. With no fade, no smoke, no smell, these exceptional binders underlined Porsche's racing heritage.

The interior is no-nonsense German spartan. The seats are not heated. There aren't map lights and air ducts everywhere. Cruise control is not available. And the steering wheel doesn't adjust at all. You won't confuse this beast with a Lexus or an Acura. But the basic comforts are catered to, with climate control, and a multi-function trip computer. Besides, the really important items here are perfectly calibrated for this car's role in life: going fast. The standard sports seats are the best in the business, bar none. The instrumentation is also best in class for clarity and completeness.

If you want to concentrate on the art of driving fast, there is no better car in the world than the new 911 Turbo. Pity that it costs so dearly, though. But the price of perfection is high these days. Start with the list price of $95,000. Add $891 for a Limited Slip Differential without which the Turbo is not available. Tack on a Gas Guzzler Tax of $2100. Then, because your government penalizes you for selecting the best that there is, inflate the bottom line by another $6,869.10 for the new 10% luxury tax assessed on the portion of the Turbo's price which exceeds $30,000. Don't forget your local sales tax of %6 or so. The taxes alone on the Turbo cost more than a brand new VW GTI ($14,890.56 for the taxes, $12,900 base for the GTI). Drive your Turbo home and it will set you back a cool $111,481.56. And that's for the "stripper," too. Start throwing in a few of a those little special touches like a leather roofliner ($1030), leather dash fresh air vents ($646), leather instrument housing ($1353), or leather control knobs on the dash ($648), and you can really start running up the tag. God forbid you should send your own branded pelts to the factory for custom installation.

So okay, the Turbo isn't a Porsche for pikers. The bottom line is whether the product is worth the price. If you've got the money, the answer is definitely yes. The new Turbo is clearly more fun to drive than any other Porsche for sale today. It doesn't have the tedious understeer of the Carrera 4. Even though it lacks the bottom end torque of the 3.6 liter C-2/4 engine, the Turbo is a bunch faster than either Carrera past 3,000 rpm. Though only half a second quicker than the normally aspirated Carreras from zero to sixty, it is significantly quicker than either of them once underway. The zero to one hundred mph run tells it all for the Turbo. After only 10.7 seconds, you've cracked the ton, as the Brits used to say. The Carrera 2/4 takes 15.2 seconds for the same sprint. Now 4.5 seconds difference is nothing to sneeze at when you're looking for the hottest ticket in motoring. And we don't mean the one the CHP gives you.

The 928 GT, admittely a very strong runner, takes 15 seconds to "do the ton." The Acura NSX makes the run in 14 seconds. The Turbo's only real competition in the marketplace comes from the Corvette ZR-1, but even Chevy's plastic pachyderm takes 11.2 seconds to make the 100 mph sprint. And you're lucky if the 'Vette's tacky mirrow don't fall off, or the valet ignition key doesn't vibrate off.

What we have here, folks, is quite simply the fastest car you can buy short of something costing twice or three times the price. The Vector or the F40 Ferrari might get you to 100 mph a tad quicker, but they'll set you back more than a quarter of a million bucks. And you can't carry more than a tooth brush in either one. The best part of the Turbo is its utter practicality. We sprinted up to Reno from the Bay Area for a little photo shoot in Virginia City, Nevada. The Turbo happily accepted a load of Nikon gear, and overnight bags for two. Included in the gear were a couple of tennis racquets, and an Igloo ice chest. No problem. The front trunk, despite the inroads made in the latest 911 by ABS circuitry, still accepts a surprising amount of soft luggage. The other items can be stored behind the front seats, in the area that continues to masquerade as "+2" seating in the 911. Just store your goodies back there and forget about carrying any living victims.

The Turbo returned about 15.3 miles per gallon for the duration of the 500 mile trip. Not at all bad, considering the number of "boost opportunities." Like punching the Turbo hard on some of the steepest inclines in the Sierra. While the usual brigade of trucks, camper, motor homes and other tiddlers poked along in the slow lanes ascending Donne Summit (elevation 8,017 feet), the Turbo was in a world of its own. Just when normally aspirated engines suffer from altitude induced apnea, the Turbo sheds its earthly limitations spinning as freely to redline at Donner Summit as it had in San Francisco. The indefatigable surge of power meant a record ascent on Donner for the Colman Party. A real zero gravity machine, free from the bonds constricting lesser machinery on this climb to the clouds.

We visited Virginia City, not to play the vintage slots, nor to ride the Virginia and Truckee steam railroad, though both endeavors proved worthwhile. No, we returned to Virginia City to climb the Occidental Grade is also known as the Virginia City Hillclimb, as sinuous a stretch of five mile long macadam as you're likely to find anywhere. The only difference is that this one rises 2,000 feet from start to finish, with so many turns in the mix that you might think you're running the Targa Florio. Though the Ferrari Club was about to hold their annual summit sprint the next weekend, we made a few leisurely passes up the grade for old time sake, without ever waiting for the Ferraris to show. Back in '74 and '75, I had run the hill competitively in my 914-6 equipped with race tires. Though I got nowhere near Chris Cord's time in a 512 Spyder, I did shame enough papparazzi Fazazz owners that they refused to give me my official time. I read about it months later in the club bulletin. Though it had been a long time between runs, I still had a pretty good idea of what to expect. What I didn't anticipate was the incompararble prowess of the Turbo. Despite taking it very easy, I am sure I came within seconds of my best run time on race tires in the 914-6 those year ago. You don't need to corner very fast with the Turbo because of its prodigious point to point speed. So feel free to pussyfoot around the bends, and squirt like crazy up the straights. We did redline third gear on a couple of occasions, and felt utterly exhilarated at the performance envelope of Porsche's fastest production car. Most remarkable was the effortlessness of the drive. No noise, no screaming tires, no constant gear changes, just a stroll up the hill. Absolutely awesome.

The tires on this Turbo bear partial responsibility for the car's outstanding performance. The seven and nine inch wide front and rear seventeen inch 959 style alloys bore Yokohama's "P" designation 008 tire in 205/50ZR-17 front and 255/40ZR-17 rear. The "P" designation stands for "Porsche". The 008P is the first Yokohama tire offered as original equipment by Porsche. It is designed expressly for the Turbo, though a range of sizes for other Porsches is available. We never heard a squeal of protest from this rubber. Just fine predictability and excellent stick, though at the expense of considerable noise and harshness. In fact, the Turbo offers a really jarring ride, with lots of tire whine, expansion strip hop, and bladder-emptying jiggle. But the trade-off is definitely worth the price for any serious Porschephile. For once, the factory has loaded the ride/handling equation strongly in favor of the high performance driver. The Turbo, despite its weight of 3,274 pounds, refuses to bottom over the same dips that snare the underpan of more softly sprung Carreras and 928's

The factory touts all the suspension work that has made the new Turbo such an accomplished performer. A revamped from axle assembly now boats "triangulated wishbone control arms and coil springs" to upgrade handling response. In the back, improved rear control arms, progressive rate springs and automatic toe correction similar to the 928's Weissach axle, all work to keep the rear end where it belongs - which is to say, behind you. This is the first production 911 we have ever driven which did not require an immedidate trip to the Suspension Rehab Clinic. No, you don't have to change the springs, the shocks or the sway bars to get this Turbo handling well. For once, the factory has done its homework, and this 911 is ready to boogie as delivered. If the ride is too harsh for you, then buy a Dodge Stealth. Or two. Or three.

The last time we drove a Turbo was back in '88, when we got a chance to do a few laps of the Streets of Willow Springs course in a white '88 production car. We weren't at all impressed. The last version of the Turbo was a real handful around the autocross-like "streets" course that the Willow Springs management had laid out to allow teams to test Long Beach and the like. The Turbo seemed lethargic until it snapped onto the boost, a rough transition which invariably came too late to be useful on the short straights of the street course. It would be chariable to describe the handling of that car as acceptable. It never felt happy when pointed into a corner, it understeered ferociously while in the turn, and oversteered treacherously upon exit. And the power output was nothing to rave about either.

To Porsche's determined credit, they have addressed all the shortcomings of previous Turbo 911's, save the lag problem. They've increased the horsepower from 282 to 315, the torque from 288 to 332, added a fifth gear to the manual tranmission, and upgraded all suspension componentry and brake system hardware. As a result, the Turbo is simply transformed from its former incarnation to its present one. If you've had past experience with any previous 930, and think you know what to expect from the '91 offering, then think again. This new Turbo so far surpasses anything Porsche has sold in the past that you really owe yourself a test drive in the latest version. Now if Porsche would only consider twin turbocharging as a means of offsetting low end boost lag, they would overcome the present Turbo's only significant flaw. Why is it that the company which perfected twin turbo power in a succession of 935's, can't bring that technology into play on the street? But then, if the newest version of the Turbo were a perfect creation, we'd have nothing left to look forward to next year.