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My copilot and I each lifted a hand to about head level and felt for air movement. Almost none. A few inches higher, the wind was shrieking at 100 mph. Fast, but not exactly a story lead if we were talking about Porsche's solid-top 911 Turbo Coupe. However, we were whooshing along a German autobahn in the turbomonster's new Cabriolet version-and with the top down. The mesh wind deflector, carefully positioned behind us, was choking the turbulence to an almost leaf-drop standstill.

It turns out that just about everything the 911 Turbo Coupe can do, its 2008 fabric-topped sibling can come close to emulating. Or match. For instance, with the top up, both cars have identical drag coefficients, and above 75 mph-the split rear wing's deployment speed-their tails kiss the asphalt with the same aero-downforce (to do it, though, the Cabrio's foil elements separate to a more noticeable 2.6-inch gap). "Downforce" and "convertible" don't normally share the same sentence, but they'd better when describing a convertible that'll touch 192 mph.


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