2024 Porsche 911 Dakar review

Off-roading in a Porsche hasn’t implied anything remarkable since 2002, when the former sports-car specialist wheeled out its Cayenne SUV.

But in the four decades prior, the company’s signature 911 coupe had been making storied excursions away from the tarmac, dabbling with success in various World Rally Championship rounds, including the Monte Carlo Rally and ultra-tough East African Safari Rally.

Porsche then developed four-wheel-drive 911s – the 953 and 959 – in the mid-1980s and claimed more successes in the Paris-Dakar desert raid. And Wheels famously took a raised 996 Carrera 4 across the Simpson Desert in 1999.

95

Yet none of those multi-terrain competition 911s were available strictly off the shelf, which makes the new 911 Dakar properly unique in the sports car’s seven-decade lineage.

The name pays homage to the first of those Dakar wins in 1984, when the Rothmans-liveried, 953-series Carrera 3.2 4x4 became the first sports car to win the tortuous, 10,000km desert race.

Buyers can take the reverence to the extreme, optioning this Rallye Design Package that mimics the iconic blue-white livery worn by both the 953 and its 1986-winning successor, the 959 – though Porsche smokescreens the original sponsorship branding with ‘Roughroads’ in look-alike lettering.

95

On the 40th anniversary of the 953’s win, our test car fittingly features the same ‘176’ race number carried by René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne.

Buyers can choose any number between 1 and 999. While we like Porsche’s playfulness with all this, we’d choose Shade Green Metallic with black alloys if it were our own half-a-mill on the table.

This full rally-raider spec is also a wallet raider. The $489,900 Dakar is already an extra $116,900 over the Carrera 4 GTS on which it’s based. It’s then $55K for the faux-Rothmans Rallye Design Package of two-tone paint and graphics, white wheels, white spoiler, red tail-lights, and an interior combining leather and Race-Tex (Porsche’s pseudo-suede answer to Alcantara), and Shark Blue stitching and seatbelts.

95

The Bridle Track is a route for which proper 4x4 machines are generally the rule

Another $6400 for the Extended Rallye Design Package will trim the cabin vents, rear-view-mirror panel, fuse-box cover and sill guards in leather and Race-Tex. Perhaps more usefully, the $7350 Rallye Sport Package ups the desert-racing vibe with a rear steel roll cage that’s bolted to the bodyshell, six-point racing harnesses, and a fire extinguisher for the passenger footwell.

We thought about taking up smoking while Porsche’s insurance company was weighing up whether to anoint Wheels with a circa-six-hundred-grand sports car to go paddock-bashing.

The Bridle Track is a popular 4WD camping and fishing spot just north of Bathurst, in New South Wales. While only about 60km from start to finish, it’s a route for which proper 4x4 machines are generally the rule.

95

The 911 Dakar can certainly be specced to look the part, with an optional roof basket that features integrated LED auxiliary lights and can be filled with adventure items such as water canisters, Maxtrax recovery boards, folding spades, and duffle bags.

We instead opt for the Porsche Tequipment roof-top tent accessory to transform our Dakar into the complete overlander sports car. (The $8640 bed-in-a-box is available for other 911 coupes, as well as the Taycan, Macan, Cayenne, and Panamera.)

The plan is to stay overnight on the Bridle Track, then continue south to arrive at Mount Panorama in the midst of preparations for the 2024 Bathurst 12-Hour GT race.

95

Stage 1: Sydney to Glenbrook

Ironically, Porsche’s motorsport pedigree frustrated plans by photographer Thomas and me to take camping chairs, our own pillows and other camping comforts.

Our Dakar’s optioned GT3 roll cage, and the limited-movement buckets, made for awkward access to what is otherwise a useful, carpeted space behind the front seats. Even as standard, the Dakar is a two-seater only.

While we managed to wedge various soft bags between the gaps, we were surprised to find that our largest holdall plus camera bags fitted in the spacious compartment under the bonnet. Meanwhile, the six-point harnesses were pushed back through their slots in favour of the electric-blue lap-sash belts we preferred for long-distance touring.

95

We certainly felt how the wind rushes and howls around the hard-shell rooftop box at 110km/h

Taking to the M4 freeway out of Sydney, northwest-bound for the Blue Mountains, there’s an immediate tell-tale that we’re not in a regular, aero-honed 911. And that’s not counting all the stares and gawps from the motorists around us.

We’re not sure how much the hard-shell rooftop box adds to a co-efficient of drag that, at 0.35, is already much higher than the GTS’s 0.31, but we certainly felt how much wind rushes and howls around it at 110km/h.

Road noise is also elevated by the chunkily treaded all-terrain rubber, while the absence of padded rear seats means there’s less filtering of the twin-turbo flat six mounted at the very rear. The latter isn’t necessarily a negative. Likewise for the extra-supple ride borne serendipitously out of the Dakar’s longer suspension travel and spring rates that are 50 percent lower than the GTS’s.

There’s a firmness at lower speeds, but the ground clearance means you’ll never feel more relaxed in a 911 when rolling into angled driveways or travelling over speed humps.

95

Stage 2: Glenbrook to Sofala (to Bathurst)

After a late-morning coffee/breakfast pit-stop at Glenbrook – the eastern gateway to the Blue Mountains – Team Wheels Roughroads Porsche is on its way again.

Not long after Lithgow, Thomas barks one of his “Turn around!” photography requests, this aviation nerd having spotted a twin-engined Cessna slowly decaying in a field.

Left at Ilford, we then cross the Crossley Bridge into the historic gold-mining town of Sofala. Our plan is to start the Bridle Track from the ‘opposite’ end, at Hill End, after action shots on the curving climb of Sofala Road.

95

Around the hairpins with intent, the Dakar’s standard Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus tyres are predictably noisier and squirmier under load than a set of P Zeroes, though not to the degree expected.

Braking performance, too, feels slightly inferior to that of a GTS, without greatly limiting driver confidence.

Despite the rooftop box raising the centre of gravity, the Dakar still corners more like a 911 than a Macan, and there’s certainly not the kind of body lean exhibited by those 911-on-stilts desert-runners of yesteryear. No doubt, they’d have appreciated this Porsche’s active, load-adjusting anti-roll bars.

95

It feels like I’m on a two-way special stage as we do multiple passes for photography, but it drains the fuel tank at the fastest rate yet.

When we turn back towards Sofala, the range-to-empty is reading 207km. It would be closer to 150km by the time we reached Hill End and finding the recommended diet of 98RON in this historic hamlet of about 100 people would be as likely as another gold rush.

Metge and Lemoyne’s victorious 953 had been sensibly equipped with dual fuel tanks – 120 litres up front in the luggage compartment, with another 170-litre tank behind the driver’s seat. The 3.2-litre flat-six was also calibrated with a lower compression ratio to allow for poor fuel quality. Forty years later, 911-Dakar-the-car retains the mere 67-litre tank of the 911 GTS.

With plenty of off-road photography and filming to come, we play the caution card and U-turn to Bathurst, deciding we’ll instead tackle the Bridle Track from its official starting point, travelling south to north.

95

Stage 3: Bridle Track Part 1

Any car could handle the first third of the 60km Bridle Track; it’s bitumen, before we arrive at a T-junction offering a rocky track in either direction.

Taking a left for the Bridle Track, we soon reach the first large warning sign. Or rather 11 warnings, including ‘4WD only’, ‘Steep edges’, ‘Steep inclines’, ‘Falling rocks’, ‘Creek crossings’, ‘Floodways’, ‘Narrow winding road’. And ‘No trailers or caravans’.

An apt time to consider how Porsche has turned a Carrera 4 GTS from tarmac-tamer to bush-basher.

95

It starts underneath with standard flat panelling and an impact-resistant plastic stone guard for the double-wishbone rear axle. The front and rear aprons, as well as the side skirts, also incorporate stainless-steel body armour.

The body’s side panels feature stone-chip-protecting foil; the air filter is nabbed from the 911 Turbo to cope with higher dust intake; the filter and front-side air intakes are guarded by stainless-steel protection to repel flying stones; and reinforced engine mounts are borrowed from the GT3.

The wheelarches are covered in wider black plastic, and to accommodate the chunkier, chubbier multi-terrain tyres, the wheels had to be downsized from the GTS’s 20/21-inchers to 19s front and 20s rear. Tyres can make or break off-road expeditions.

95

The Pirelli Scorpions provide a good degree of confidence, with their 9mm-deep tread, taller, reinforced sidewalls, and double-ply carcass construction designed to make the rubber impenetrable to the sharpest of rocks.

High-performing but fragile carbon-ceramic brakes are off the options table, and the Dakar also uses smaller rotors than the GTS – 350mm front and rear versus 408/380mm, and with grooved discs for disintegrating or ejecting small stones.

With an extra 46mm of ground clearance that can be lifted a further 30mm, the Dakar obviously brings superior rampover, approach and departure angles to the GTS, and nears those of the Macan and Cayenne, when the SUVs are in certain settings. Maintaining perspective, though, the 911 Dakar’s maximum 191mm ride height is still well below the obstacle clearance of your average dual-purpose Subaru.

95

For all the Dakar’s extra bush-bashing hardware and gubbins (and discounting the 56kg tent-box), Porsche says there’s only an extra 10kg (1605kg) over the GTS, achieved through various weight-saving measures.

A carbonfibre-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) bonnet is another steal from the GT3, the GTS’s auto-deployable rear spoiler gives way to a fixed CFRP spoiler, and lightweight, noise-insulated glass (a $2800 option on the GTS) is standard. A lightweight carbon roof is also available.

One last thing to do before we begin our Bridle Track adventure in earnest: switch the driving mode to Off-Road.

Exclusive to the Dakar in the 911 range, Off-Road mode raises the suspension to its maximum height, distributes torque more evenly between the front and rear axles, and locks the rear diff to enhance traction on the loose stuff.

95

“Stay on the road and keep off the moors,” I jest to Thomas, quoting from 1981’s classic comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London as we drive off, unperturbed by the cluster of warning signs.

The track is already sufficiently abrasive that any other 911, shod with standard summer tyres, would be wise to turn back.

Early paranoia directs my eyes regularly towards the digital tyre-pressure gauge, half expecting a sharp rock to burst both a Pirelli and our 4x4 party bubble.

There’s zero reception out here and, unlike the Dakar Rally efforts, no support trucks brimmed with back-up supplies. Our only fix for wounded rubber is tyre sealant and an electric compressor. A warning does soon flash up on the same dial – for an apparent failure of the rear parking sensors. Hardly an expedition-ending problem, and owed to the rear of our 911 being caked in a thick layer of dust.

95

The Dakar to Bathurst plan was initially stymied. Not by the terrain, but by, of all things, range anxiety

After passing the first of a dozen camping reserves that dot the Bridle Track, we reach Monaghans Bluff.

Passage through this area had been blocked for 13 years after a giant boulder crashed down during a 2010 rockslide. In early 2023, a $2million, 12-month NSW Government project was finally completed – opening the full track with a 2km gravel bypass with steep switchbacks. Local government investment contributed various upgrades along the entire track, including toilet facilities.

The 911 Dakar ascends the gradient and its loose, rocky surface without the merest hint of wheel slip. In first gear, and repeatedly for the camera. Ascending one of the steepest sections with extra speed, we experience a true Climbdance moment as we emerge from the shade and the setting sun temporarily blinds us.

95

The track is quiet this evening, but the few people already encamped in the reserves all wave enthusiastically as we drive by. One young couple can’t resist leaving their tent site to follow us in their P-plated Mazda B-series ute.

Ed and Vic have travelled from Oberon, just 46km south-east of Bathurst, for a Valentine’s Day overnight picnic. But it’s clear they’re also smitten with the 911 Dakar.

“It’s fucking awesome,” says Ed. “You don’t see Porsches out here, not even Cayennes.” He also has an eye for off-roading detail. “Those tyres look good.”

Thomas enlists the young romantics to help with some photography tracking on the Bluff bypass.

95

As dust and dusk start to merge, it’s time to find our camping spot, rolling down into the Randwick Hole Reserve to pitch up beside the Macquarie River.

My fresh-air-bnb is unquestionably the easiest tent I’ve ever erected. No pegs, no guy lines, no hammers. Simply unlock the two latches on the rooftop box, push the lid up with the aid of gas-pressured dampers, extend the floor outwards, and the integrated cotton-blend walls form a wedge-like shape said to be inspired by the ‘flyline’ sloping roof of a 911.

The fold-out/down integrated telescopic ladder provides both the convenient tent access and essential support for the extended floor. It’s here I discover that some small metal poles required for propping up the tent entry were in a Porsche bag that we’d left at the dealership, thinking it contained only a
car cover.

95

Channelling my inner Bear Grylls, I devise a fix using some branches. The next trick is to throw my sleeping bag and other items into the tent without the millions of flies joining them.

Thomas, meanwhile, has found some more sticks and branches to get a fire going. He patiently cooks a couple of kranskies over the flames, while I choose to stave off hunger faster with some hastily-made ham and cheese rolls.

I’ve known Thomas for more than 20 years, but he’s brought his own compact tent. We’d need to have a different kind of relationship to share the roof tent’s 2.1 x 1.3m floor dimensions that are otherwise perfect for one.

The rooftop tent floor is not only a perfectly flat surface but covered almost entirely by two highly comfortable polyfoam mattresses. Above, there’s even a ‘moon roof’ clear plastic window (which can be zip-covered) for stargazing and some natural light. Most appreciated are the side vents that, once unzipped, make the most of a welcome breeze pushing aside the twilight humidity.

95

Stage 4: Bridle Track Part 2

We have a choice of two exits from the reserve. The easy path is going back out the way we came in; the trickier path is a steep, uneven, double-trough short-cut.

It’s a no-brainer. Or potentially brainless.

Straddling the ruts, the Dakar twice crawls up the incline and over the trickiest part, the crest. On the third run, I turn into the ‘apex’ at the crest too early, snagging the driver-side sill on a grassy mound, the front-left wheel spinning momentarily a foot off the ground. No damage, just another opportunity for this 911 to showcase its traction talents.

95

I reverse the Dakar down the hill on three wheels, then go forward on the same wheels before the front-left touches down again. Thomas is keen to capture some dust-trail drone shots, so we back-track a few kays to Monaghans Bluff.

Despite caffeine deprivation, the Dakar’s capabilities – and especially its tyres – give me the confidence to switch to its other unique driving mode.

Rallye switches to a dominant rear-drive bias (a 70:30 split, the digital AWD gauge suggests) and allows for greater wheelspin, turning the Dakar into a hugely entertaining drifter on the rocky gravel.

The 911’s relative lightness and nimbleness compared with an SUV or 4WD is also a bonus off road, and standard rear-wheel steering aids both U-turns and rock-avoiding manoeuvres. The excellent brakes don’t discourage higher speeds into the hairpins, and two very sudden wildlife encounters – a pair of goats, followed later by a pair of roos – reveal a hugely impressive ABS calibration for loose surfaces. We also make a note to look out for a large wooden boat.

95

After several glances at the tyre-pressure display confirm all is well with the Dakar’s deeply treaded boots, we continue our advance towards Hill End, again in Off-Road mode.

The Bridle Track is one-vehicle narrow in most places, living up to its name. This first road built between Bathurst and Hill End during the early 19th-century was so tight in places that travellers had to jump off their horses and guide them by
the bridle.

We’re certainly not expecting the Off-Road mode’s reduced top speed of 170km/h to be a factor today.

95

We encounter our fellow Randwick Hole campers taking a stroll and stop for a chat. Ron and Gloria are a couple from Bathurst who love the Bridle Track so much they have been coming here for about 40 years.

They, too, say it’s extremely rare to see a Porsche out here. Ron kindly offers some tips on what we can expect for the 15km remaining to Hill End. His key advice is to probably give the Root Hog Road river crossing a miss. “It’s likely too deep right now for this car.”

The 911 Dakar features red tow hooks front and rear – again, just like the 1980s 953, if not then made from forged aluminium – although with no snorkel, phone reception, or other 4WDs in sight as we approach it, we take the route marked ‘sensible’.

95

After passing through a cutting, we soon find ourselves at the Turon River crossing

First, we pause at the edge of a cliff that provides a stunningly picturesque valley view, at the point where the Bridle Track splits from running parallel with the Macquarie River to chase the Turon River.

The Dakar’s eight-speed PDK continues to focus on first and second gears mostly, keeping revs above the 2300rpm start point for the engine’s 570Nm maximum torque (which doesn’t end until 5000rpm).

After passing through a rock cutting, we’re soon at the Turon River crossing with its concrete causeway. The Dakar dutifully makes more than one splash for Thomas’s camera.

95

We move aside for a couple of 4WDs passing through, with grins and thumbs-up from the guys in a red, canopied Mercedes X-Class, then a ‘Fucking cool!’ from the front passenger in a Nissan Patrol.

A local angler wades out of the river, much happier to see the Porsche than pesky carp.

The ascent away from the river brings the longest twisty section of the Bridle Track as the 911 Dakar continues to prove it’s no fish out of water in this environment.

It’s also the closest the track gets to Hawkins Hill, where in 1872 the Holtermann Nugget was discovered at the Star of Hope goldmine. The 93.2kg of gold extracted from the very un-nuggety 285kg block would be valued at about $5.2 million in today’s money. Still, that would only buy about 10 911 Dakars.

95

Regular man-made drainage mounds are waiting to give the Dakar a bloody nose if it arrives at ambitious speed

We catch and pass the X-Class as the Dakar’s gearbox finally gets some rare opportunities to climb into third gear. Rocks are still sprinkled heavily across the dirt track, but the robust tyres have by now earned our utmost trust. Scanning ahead is still vital, however. Regular man-made drainage mounds are waiting to give the Dakar a bloodied nose if it arrives at ambitious speed.

No such problems for the motocross rider we let past as he hops and zips happily along.

There’s no chequered flag as the Bridle Track ends – only a nondescript blending of rough dirt into smooth bitumen as dense woodland makes way for the open land of Hill End with its smattering of buildings.

95

Switching to Normal drive mode as we follow directions to the village centre, what’s noticeable is everything that’s not noticeable.

There are no creaks or rattles, no squealing or grating sounds from the brakes. There’s nothing wrong with the 911’s dust-sealing, either; the light dirt on the carpet mats and Race-Tex sills is only from our footwear and clothing.

We roll into a parking spot in front of the Royal Hotel, squeezing into a gang of 4WDs, whose loitering owners perform instant double-takes when they spot the 911.

95

The motocross rider is also at the pub, and we learn the young lad helped on the construction of the Monaghan’s Bluff bypass.

He’s also impressed that our sports car navigated the Bridle Track without drama, even if you’re highly unlikely to find it on a list of Australia’s toughest 4WD challenges.

Thomas and I make our excuses, as we’ve eyed the Baker & Grocer store across the road where Gloria earlier told us we could find a good coffee. She wasn’t wrong.

95

Stage 5: Hill End to Mount Panorama

We have a rendezvous with more familiar 911 footing, on a mountain called Panorama.

The Hill End Road, especially the scribbly-line section between Crudine and Sofala, is a road built for all 911s.

Adopting an ‘on-road mode’, we engage Sport via the small, conveniently placed Driving Mode dial on the steering wheel and lower the now-stiffer suspension via the dedicated dash button. The extra touch is to select ‘M’ on the centre console to give us full manual control of the paddleshift levers.

The 353kW 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat six howls and roars as the tacho needle moves from the middle to upper ranges, the throttle pedal and engine response perfectly in sync with the squeezes and lifts of my right foot.

95

I’m not the least bothered by the all-terrain tyres shrinking the Dakar’s top speed to 240km/h, well down on the GTS’s intimidating 309km/h.

The Dakar’s mountain rubber and elevated ride height may slightly blunt this 911’s dynamics, yet the handling is still sharp, the steering still joyously precise and communicative.

Our least preferred driving mode turns out to be Normal, where the engine sounds less inspiring, boomy at times, and the PDK becomes indecisive among its highest gears.

Thomas and I are both agreed on how we’d order a Dakar: no-cost leather electric pews instead of the rally-style buckets, and no roll cage. We’d also stick with the more versatile all-terrain rubber over no-cost regular tyres.

95

An interior with more rally-raider character beyond a token ‘911 Dakar’ dash badge and some Race-Tex trim would have been worthwhile for greater differentiation to other 911s, and adaptive cruise control was missed on the boring freeway stages.

Not that anyone can still order a Dakar now, with all 2500 global units apparently accounted for, including 15 for Oz. A Dakar reprisal is, however, a possibility for the new 992.2 due for a reveal later this year.

When we arrive at the Mount Panorama circuit, it’s been closed a day earlier than we expected, with first practice for the B12 not due until tomorrow. The security guard won’t be swayed by our ‘competition spec’ sports car, so there are no photos to be done on the actual track.

95

However, we skirt the premises and find an unlocked gate, leading to a view that more than lives up to the mountain’s name.

As we contemplate how cool it would be to go flat-out in the 911 Dakar around The Mountain, we ponder something else: in creating a car that could appeal to both 4WD enthusiasts and performance-car lovers alike, has Porsche inadvertently created the ultimate Aussie sports vehicle – a performance car that has the ability to eke the very best out of this wide brown land?

It’s not such a remarkable thought.