DESERT STORM!

What's the most fun you can have off-road? Porsche purists might scoff, but the 911 Dakar is an absolute riot and sacrifices little or none of its 911-ness

- STEVE SUTCLIFFE

HOW MUCH OF A PURIST do you have to be to be accepted into The Club? And does it even matter if you don't adhere to a set of rules that were most likely defined by a collection of opinionated individuals who you've probably never met, and whose opinion might not matter a whole lot anyway? Thing is, most self-anointed purists will tell you that rules exist merely to be broken, and if that's true then the Dakar heretic as it will no doubt be regarded by some - is surely one of the most intriguing new 911s of the last 30 years.

Think about it. Ever since Dr Ulrich Bez reinvented the 964 and turned it into the 993 almost one third of a century ago, Porsche has crafted the 911 into a sports car with an extraordinary breadth of ability while maintaining its credibility, despite there being a version to suit seemingly anyone with an interest in fast cars. You want a track-focused monster? Buy a GT3. You want a track-focused monster with the aero of a single-seater racing car? Buy a GT3 RS. You want transcontinental cruising civility mated to even more straight-line thunder than you get with a GT3? Buy a Turbo S.

And so it goes on, down past the excellent new Carrera T, all the way south to the basic rear-wheel-drive Carrera, which sits so confidently at the bottom of the top table. The sheer depth of the 911's appeal is pretty breathtaking in 2023. Yet, a stroke, Porsche has broadened its appeal even further still, by introducing the go-anywhere, do-anything 911 Dakar.

What we are talking about here is a 911 that's based heavily on a regular GTS (same engine, gearbox, four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, brakes and fundamental suspension design) but also happens to be able to cross deserts and climb mountains. It's so capable in the dirt, it could even appeal to the sort of punters who might normally only consider a seriously hard-edged 4x4.