The Porsche 911 has been the go-to entry into the sports and exotic car world for almost 60 years. Anyone, even if they’re not into cars, will know what a 911 is and why this coupe is a special car. With its long-standing reputation as the sports car to beat, any 911 makes a fine option to lease. It’s the backbone of Porsche’s reputation as the maker of some of the best cars you can lease.
A classic sports car, but utterly modern.
A high-quality cabin backs up the premium image.
Prodigious performance defies belief.
It’s the bar by which all other sports and supercars are measured. If you want the best and you want others to know you’ve leased the best, you won’t stray far from a Porsche 911. The design is modern and sophisticated, yet recognisable and classic in shape. It’s also one of the most practical sports cars of its type, at least one of the most efficient and one of the safest. Owing to that decades-long reputation as class leaders, 911s hold their money nicely as well, leading to lower lease rates. To find out more about how contract hire works, take a look at our easy-to-understand guide to car leasing.
Where some rivals won’t even offer a 2nd pair of seats, the 911 can offer fun for all the family. The back seats are full-sized, though subjecting adults to long journeys in them would be a bit mean, and getting in or out of them requires some experience in escapology. An important point to note is that if you opt for the hardcore GT3 or GT3 RS variants, you lose those back seats.
With the engine in the rear, you lift the bonnet at the front to reveal the 911’s boot. There’s a good amount of space, though some front-engined rivals do offer more. A total of 135 litres offers room enough for a few weekend soft bags but not a pair of full-sized suitcases, limiting the car to a weekend away rather than proper holiday transport. That boot drops a little to 125 litres if you opt to lease a 4-wheel-drive version of the 911, in order to accommodate front driveshafts.
Porsche’s official fuel economy figures range from 21mpg for the juiciest GT3 model to 30mpg for the most efficient Carrera trim. Cabriolet, 4-wheel-drive and more aggressive Carrera versions use more fuel from there, through to the full-fat Turbos at around 25mpg.
In our experience, a carefully driven rear-drive Carrera of any kind should return an indicated 30mpg on a motorway run. Small petrol family cars were doing that in the early 2000s, so that’s quite impressive given the performance that’s on offer.
As for running them? Well, the name Porsche comes with associated steep servicing costs, though the extensive dealer network will be able to offer a variety of service plans.
The Coupe is a 2-door model, with 2- or 4-seat (2+2) options.
Targa models add an elaborate removable roof panel for semi-open top motoring.
Cabriolet models have a full folding fabric roof, which makes them more ‘open’ than the Targa.
Given the monthly lease rates, referring to the 911 Carrera as ‘entry-level’ seems a little harsh. Thankfully, it comes well-equipped. As with every Porsche, the options list goes on forever, but you’ll find an impressive 8-speaker sound system, navigation, a DAB radio, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, cruise control, dual-zone climate control, parking sensors all around, LED headlights and a couple of USB-C sockets all included as standard.
Trim Levels Available: Carrera / Cabriolet, Carrera S / Cabriolet, Carrera 4 / Cabriolet, Carrera 4S / Cabriolet, Targa 4, Targa 4S, Turbo / Cabriolet, Turbo S / Cabriolet, GT3
The 911 faces stiff competition from the Aston Martin Vantage, Jaguar F-Type and Mercedes-AMG GT. None beat it as a sports car and none have 4 seats like the 911. Each has larger, more powerful and less efficient engines than the Carreras and Targas, which might be good or bad depending on your mood, and, arguably, the rivals are a little more stylish.
The high-performance 911 Turbo can be compared to the McLaren 570S, Ferrari Roma and Audi R8. Again, all have larger and less efficient engines, and each is less practical than the Porsche and, for the most part, are slower. The trade-off is they are arguably more exotic, rarer models.
The GT3 is a track-focused machine, with a huge spoiler and a racier engine. It doesn’t have any direct rivals at the moment, though a higher-end Lotus Exige model could fit the bill.
Depending on which version and how you define supercar, yes and no. The Turbo S is faster than many supercars and has all the technology you would expect, but doesn’t boast the bravado and exotic style you might expect.
Yes. The only Turbo-based 911s to be rear-wheel drive are the limited-edition GT2 models, and there’s no GT2 version of the current 911… yet.
The 911’s reputation has been built on its dependability, so you’d expect reliability. However, WhatCar? Magazines most recent reliability study placed the 911 third from the bottom of the sportscar list – ahead only of the Porsche Panamera and Cayman.
No, not yet. Though as the 2030 ban on the sale of pure petrol and diesel cars looms, we can at least expect it to go hybrid by then, and fully electric by 2035.
Leasing a 911 with Vanarama is the smartest way to upgrade what you drive. Not only will you get the best price, guaranteed with our Price Promise*, there’s also no hidden fees, extra protection should the worst happen and access to expert advice when you need it! What are you waiting for? Find your New Lease Of Life today!
First time leasing? Find out how easy it is to return your vehicles and upgrade to a brand new one at the end of your contract
Confusion over excess mileage charges? Everything you need to know is in our easy to understand guide...
