The great survivor of the sports car world – the Porsche 911 – has evolved again. Porsche today unveils the latest in a long line of 911s and the new one heralds the arrival of Porsche’s new twin-clutch transmission (dubbed PDK) and direct-injection. Amazingly, it makes the coupe nearly as fuel efficient as a family car, nudging 30mpg.

Porsche 911: the 2009 model year

There’s no new model designation this time: it remains a 997 at heart and Porsche calls the latest 911 a ‘second-generation 997’, despite a raft of technical changes under the same-again skin. It’s the same pattern as with the 996, which was revised after four years in production.

Two models are available at UK launch on 5 July 2008, both in coupe and cabriolet guise:

• Carrera: 3.6-litre flat six, 345bhp (up 20bhp), 0-62mph 4.7sec
• Carrera S: 3.8-litre flat six, 385bhp (up 30bhp), 0-62mph 4.5sec, 188mph

The Carrera will cost £63,070 for the coupe (£70,360 for the cabriolet), while the Carrera S starts at £70,360 (£77,650 for sun worshippers).

That's the condensed version of the new 911 story. Read on for the full, detailed breakdown of the most significant changes since the 911 ditched air-cooling.

Click ‘Next’ to read about the engineering changes and discover how Porsche has made the 911 more acceptable in the eco age

Click here to read the updated 911 drive review

Click here to see the first drive video of the Porsche 911

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