By Going off-road with a performance sportscar is not every day and that too is directly built by the manufacturer, which makes it even more special, Porsche 911 Dakar is one such machine. We all know the 911 is one of the best sportscars currently in the market but there are some customers who want to take it where there is no road and the Dakar is the model for them. The 911 Dakar is limited to just 2500 units around the world and most of them are already sold out. India is certainly not one of the lucky markets to get this special limited edition model.
Mr. Sabu Johny MD of Porsche Centre Kochi is the first Malayali to experience the 911 Dakar as he along with other delegates from India we’re given a once in a lifetime opportunity to drive the special limited edition at a track, which is designed to test the limits of the 911 Dakar Edition. Porsche is always known for making the impossible and the 911 Dakar is one such project but the management gave confidence to the engineers to push the boundaries. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer is also working on several special edition models for different purposes.
The 911 Dakar is based on the standard 911 Carerra and the main difference is in the suspension height itself when compared to the regular model, the suspension has been lifted to 2-inches but if that is not enough then there is a special mechanism to increase it by further 1.2 inches so the total lift will be 3.2 inches which will give more ground clearance for the 911 than some of the SUVs currently in the market. To make the 911 Dakar stand out, the company has given a special paint job which is in a two-tone White and Gentian Blue while the interior gets Shark Blue seat belts, Ceramica trim, and black leather seats with perforated Race-Tex centers.
Porsche 911 Dakar is powered by a 3.0 L straight-six turbocharged engine from the 911 GTS with 473 hp and the power is sent to all four wheels via Porsche’s famous PDK gearbox. The special edition model gets two drive modes – Off-Road and Rallye. The off-road is basically for off-roading with ride height adjust automatically set to its top position while the Rallye is for loose gravel surface. Even though the Dakar is for off-roading performance is not bad as 0-100 kph comes up in 3.2 sec and the top speed is 241 kph. The base price of the 911 Dakar is Rs. 1.8 million and if you add more accessories then the price certainly go beyond the price of a base-spec 911.
