Even the new Porsche 911 Cabriolet, with its elegant soft top, doesn’t succeed in invalidating the age-old belief that sports cars with closed roofs simply look better. On the other hand, you don’t buy a Porsche just to look good, but rather to feel good. And what could inject more happy hormones than a spirited drive with the crisp fresh air circulating your head and the boxer engine crackling away behind you? 

Thanks to a new hydraulic system, the soft top raises and lowers in just 12 seconds and should be more stable at high speeds thanks to the use of magnesium elements. You’ll be able to order your 911 Cabriolet in two guises: Carrera S with rear-wheel drive or Carrera 4S with, as its name suggests, four-wheel drive. Both rely on the three-litre turbocharged six-cylinder from the coupé, which develops 450HP, though the sprint from 0–60mph is a hair slower at 3.8sec (PDK) – if only spring would arrive so quickly.

Photos: Porsche