Porsche really wants you to know that the new 992.2 facelift of the 911 Carrera T comes only with a manual transmission. Big stickers on the side windows show the shift pattern, as do the puddle lights. The 917-inspired shift knob is made of wood and impossible to miss when you glance inside; if you do miss it, there’s a badge that says MT at the base of it, as well as the shift pattern etched into the passenger side of the dashboard. If that wasn’t enough, you can get plenty of contrasting-color stickers that tell the world you’ve got a Carrera T, not some lowly base model Carrera.
Corny as that all might seem, the Carrera T is targeted at a customer that really cares about driver engagement, specifically when it comes to having a manual transmission. Porsche says that take rates for its manuals are steadily going up in the U.S., and 70 percent of pre-facelifted 992.1 Carrera T buyers went for the manual transmission — thus why the automatic option was dropped for the new one. According to Porsche, 69 percent of Carrera T owners participate in driving events, higher than the 911’s average, and more than 50 percent watch racing in person. Over 25 percent of owners use their Carrera Ts as their daily drivers, and not only are they five years younger than the brand’s average, but the proportion of Carrera T customers that are new to the brand is 35 percent higher than the 911’s average. While niche, yes, the Carrera T is an important model for building Porsche’s enthusiast base, and luckily for those customers, it’s really fantastic.
Full disclosure: Porsche flew me to Atlanta and put me up in a fancy hotel that looked like a French chateau so I could drive the 2025 911 Carrera T and 2025 Taycan GTS in the mountains of north Georgia.
As with the other 992.2 Carreras, the new Carrera T uses the same twin-turbo 3.0-liter flat-six as earlier 992s, but with a few upgrades and more power. It now makes 388 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque, up from 379 hp in last year’s model thanks to bigger turbos and a new intercooler. Its 0-to-60-mph time remains the same at 4.3 seconds for the coupe, with the cabrio taking two extra tenths. Sure, that’s almost half a second slower than a PDK-equipped base Carrera, but it’s still plenty quick, and outright speed isn’t the point of the Carrera T anyway.
Driver engagement is the point, and the Carrera T delivers it in spades. I’m not usually a “save the manuals” type of guy, but when a manual is as good as this one, I’m radicalized. Instead of using the seven-speed transmission that the 992.1 Carrera T shared with its other Carrera brethren, the 992.2 Carrera T has a six-speed unit that has tightened ratios. The shifter itself is shorter in height and has a shorter throw, and it feels simply fantastic. It has real heft to it and wonderfully notchy action, and that wood finish makes the shifter nice and grippy, too. Porsche has the best automatic rev-matching system I’ve experienced, a boon both in performance driving and everyday situations — and don’t worry, you can easily turn it off if you want.
The roads twisting through Georgia’s Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest are full of steep elevation changes and bankings, off-camber moments and suddenly tight apex, and the Carrera T is perfectly suited for all of it. Rear-axle steering is now standard on the Carrera T, partially because 39 percent of 992.1 buyers opted for it, and it’s a big part of making this 911 one of the sharpest sports cars you can buy. The 911 truly does have some of the best steering on the market, both in terms of feedback and precision, and the rear steer further tightens up its responsiveness, helped by the mechanical rear differential lock that’s part of the Porsche Torque Vectoring system.
Little changes to my steering and throttle inputs make a big difference without the car feeling twitchy or reactive; it’s all just linear and natural without the car being too competent and boring. Porsche’s Active Suspension Management is also standard and 0.4-inch lower than in a Carrera, and despite the large wheels and wide tires, the ride is supple and does a great job of absorbing road imperfections while still telling you what’s going on underneath you. Brake pedal feel is excellent as well, and the Carrera T has larger discs than before for better stopping power.
Part of the Carrera T’s appeal is its approach to lightweighting. Despite the added weight from its new standard features, in its lightest form the Carrera T coupe weighs 59 pounds less than a base Carrera. Chalk that up to the slight weight savings from the manual, plus lightweight glass and less sound deadening than in other 911s. At the launch I spend my time in a Carrera T cabriolet — the 992.2 marks the first time the T has been offered in droptop form, as more than a third of 911 buyers in the U.S. go for a droptop — so I can’t speak to how the coupe sounds with the lightweight glass, but the standard Sport Exhaust system certainly sounds great even with the roof and windows up. That lowest weight figure is with the optional $3,900 carbon-fiber roof, but Porsche still offers a standard steel roof, a $1,550 steel sunroof and a $2,000 glass sunroof as well. Porsche says 42 percent of 992.1 Carrera T customers took the standard roof while 10 percent went for the carbon option, 9 percent for the steel sunroof and 39 percent for the glass sunroof, with the steel and carbon roofs having much higher take rates than other Carreras.
I do have to spend a bit of time talking about the Carrera T’s styling, which could be a bit controversial for people who are boring. In its standard guise the only differences are the front lip from the Carrera GTS, 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels from the Carrera S, and a Vanadium Grey side strip that says Carrera T. For $2,310 you can select a Carrera T Exterior Package that turns that stripe Gentian Blue, also adding a Gentian Blue stripe down the hood and roof and putting Gentian Blue paint on the wheels and rear vent slats. It definitely won’t be for everyone, but I think it looks fun, and I like that it’s not restricted to specific exterior colors. You can delete all the decals and badging for no cost if you want, too.
There’s some fun stuff happening on the inside as well. As standard you get Sport-Tex upholstery with a nice plaid pattern, but go for the Carrera T interior package ($3,030 for the normal one or $7,560 for leather) and it adds a host of Gentian Blue accents, including to the plaid pattern and stitching. I like the blue trim pieces on the dash and center console, though I’d have to custom order my Carrera T with more wood trim to better match the shifter. Rear seats are a no-cost option, and you can still get the Carrera T with bucket seats, though they aren’t available with the rear seats. Yeah, you no longer have an analog tachometer, with every 992.2 instead getting a curved digital gauge cluster, but I don’t care about that. The screen looks extremely nice, and the Carrera T gets useful shift lights surrounding the tach — and if you have that Carrera T package, the digital dial is blue.
Porsche is asking $135,995 (including $1,995 destination) for the Carrera T coupe and $149,295 for the Carrera T cabrio, which are $13,900 more than their base Carrera equivalents. Factor in all of the T’s standard items, and it’s only a couple grand more than a similarly equipped Carrera would be. As with Porsche’s other T models the value proposition is inarguable, but with the 2025 911 Carrera T’s unique manual transmission and other tweaks, it’s an even easier choice for enthusiasts to make. Whether or not you want the world to know just how much of an automotive nerd you are, the new 911 Carrera T is probably exactly the sports car you’re looking for.
