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The new Porsche 911 Press Launch Valencia

Reinventing a Porsche 911 must be one of the trickiest balancing acts in the automotive world, as the car must embrace progress and move with the times, but without straying too far from the iconic template as it risks alienating its numerous fans.Or, as August Achleitner, vice-president of the 911 and 718 product lines says: tradition must meet state-of-the-art.The latest 911, internally designated the —“992”, metaphorically juggles eight balls while walking a tightrope as it cruises into 2019 as still the benchmark car in its class. The Carrera coupe version — available at launch in rear-wheel drive S and all-wheel drive 4S models — is better than before at melding the divergent concepts of civilised commuter and pulse-racing sports car.It is that perfect everyman’s sports car with a wide set of talents, and those talents have been further extended at both ends of the comfort and sports scale.The eighth generation of this rear-engined icon that originally sprung from the loins of a VW Beetle is almost boring in its ability to be a cultured and smooth-riding car in the hurly-burly of traffic jams, where most driving time is spent. It cruises over unkempt tar with judder-free finesse, as smooth as chilled Amarula, and leaves the bone-shaking to its edgier GT-badged brothers.