A Journey to Porsche’s Homeland, Germany

It’s been about five years since my husband and I rented a Porsche and drove on the Autobahn and the Romantic Road during our trip to Germany. Even after all this time, my husband often mutters,

Ah, I want to drive a Porsche on the Autobahn again. I’d even consider living in Stuttgart. I really want to go back to Germany soon.

It’s true that it’s hard to fully unleash a Porsche’s performance on Japan’s regular roads and highways.

Five years ago, we rented a 911 in Frankfurt and drove long distances on the Autobahn and Romantic Road, heading to Stuttgart and Munich. That was before we had a Porsche of our own, so it was my husband’s first experience behind the wheel of one. He seems to think, “If it were now, I’d be able to handle the Porsche better and enjoy it even more.”

Then, a few months ago, I received this message on the blog:

Hello Mina, I’ve been living in Germany for almost five years now, and it’s been nearly three years since I moved to Stuttgart. I hadn’t been very interested in Porsche until recently, but since I see so many Porsches every day where I live, I started looking into what makes them so appealing and found this blog. Before I return to Japan, I really want to try the Porsche Drive at the Porsche Museum and drive a 911 at least once.

When I told my husband about this message,

Wow, how lucky! That’s amazing! Unlimited driving on the Autobahn and Romantic Road!!

he got really excited. I replied to the message saying, “If you ever get to drive a Porsche in Germany, please share your impressions and thoughts with us.”

Driving a Porsche on the Autobahn

Recently, I received another message from this person:

Finally, I had my first experience driving a Porsche at the Porsche Museum. Including riding along, this was my first time in a sports car, so my impressions might be very amateurish, but I’d like to share them with you.

Wow — amazing! (ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!!!

I never expected to actually receive impressions from someone who drove a Porsche (how rude of me…), so I was very happy. After reading their detailed impressions, I found them fascinating and got permission to share them here on the blog.

By the way, here’s the Porsche they rented:

・Model rented: Porsche 911 (992) 4S Cabriolet (Transmission: PDK)
・Manufacture date: February 2019
・Mileage: 6,300 km
・Cost: Rental fee 399 euros plus fuel

And it was the brand-new 991 (992) model! That’s Germany for you!!

So, here are their impressions after renting this new 911 for a full day and driving about 650 km on the Autobahn and through German towns.

Image source: porsche.com

German Forest and Country Roads

In a word, my impression was that driving is fun. Until now, I had only thought of cars as a means of transportation, so this was a very fresh experience. Most of the forest roads (national roads) between towns in Germany have a speed limit of 100 km/h. On this day, there was almost no traffic, and despite many curves and hills, I was able to drive comfortably and enjoyably, listening to the engine’s sound without any stress.

It was also my first time enjoying the sound of a car engine. Maybe because the car I usually drive rarely lets me hear the engine inside the cabin.

The Autobahn

On the Autobahn, I was too scared to push the speed beyond 230 km/h (and I was sweating quite a bit), but a colleague briefly hit 300 km/h. (There are sections of the Autobahn with no speed limits.)

Once you go over about 220 km/h, the Sport Plus mode really helps stabilize the car. I was able to drive for about 30 minutes at an average speed of 180 km/h without feeling scared, and the car remained very stable. It was a lot of fun to drive.

In the car I usually drive, I start feeling uneasy because of body shake at around 150 km/h, so this level of confidence was unique to Porsche.

In Town

Next, driving in Stuttgart’s often congested city center was somewhat stressful, perhaps because I had just been driving on forest roads and the Autobahn. But this might be true for any car, not just a Porsche, haha. Also, when I put the top down, driving in town felt very pleasant and liberating. On the other hand, on the forest roads, there were many cows and horses, so with the top down I often caught the smell of manure, haha.

Overall Impression

As I said at the start, this was the perfect car to make me feel that driving is truly enjoyable. Would I want to drive it every day? Maybe not… but I’d definitely like to rent and try other models like the Cayman about once a year.

Driving a Porsche Abroad

Being able to drive a 911 in Germany is truly enviable. For me living in Japan, it’s an unfamiliar world, so hearing about it like this is very interesting and expands my dreams of traveling to Germany.

Actually, some readers of this blog are Porsche owners living in the U.S., so thinking about it, this blog is quite global (laughs). I think it would be fun to share reports like “Impressions of Driving a Porsche on Roads Abroad.”

S-san, thank you very much for sharing your experience!