Luxury cars with manual transmissions have been a dying breed for decades now. In the modern luxury car landscape, rowing your own gears is considered unrefined, and the fact of the matter is that a modern automatic is more convenient 99 percent of the time. Most luxury consumers would rather have a “smooth” experience than a “responsive” one. Knowing this, you’d have to be crazy as a luxury automaker to offer an exclusively manual-only model.
That one crazy automaker offering this exact package is Porsche with the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T, the last remaining manual-only luxury sports car. That’s right, having a manual gearbox in a Porsche 911 model is a premium privilege now, for which you must pay an additional $11,400 over the base price. So is the new Porsche Carrera T worth its eye-watering $143,700 MSRP, or should you concede to an automatic like the other 99.9 percent of luxury car owners? Let’s break it down.
- Base Trim Engine
-
3.0L Twin-Turbo 6-Cylinder Boxer
- Base Trim Transmission
-
8-Speed Dual-Clutch PDK Automatic
- Base Trim Drivetrain
-
Rear-Wheel Drive
- Base Trim Horsepower
-
388 hp
- Base Trim Torque
-
331 lb-ft
- Make
-
Porsche
- Model
-
911 Carrera
- Segment
-
Sports Car
The Only Manual-Only Porsche Model Left
With a brand like Porsche that has a near-endless motorsport pedigree, you might assume that race-derived units like the 2026 Porsche 911 GT3 are the most hardcore experience the brand has to offer. Yet, it is the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T that is the only model in the entire Porsche line-up that only offers a standard manual transmission with no automatic option.
Hardcore models like the Porsche 911 GT3 used to be manual-only, as they were more focused on driving engagement than all-out lap time records. However, the last manual-only Porsche 911 GT3 was the 997 generation, which ended production in 2011. Since then, the last Porsche GT car that was manual-only was the Porsche 981 Cayman GT4.
The Remaining Porsche Models Offering A Manual
As we mentioned, a manual transmission is not something you will find in a base model Porsche 911 Carrera nowadays, but rather, it is a premium option found on the more premium Carrera T model (or the slightly pricier Cabriolet variant). If you want a manual gearbox in a new Porsche 911, otherwise, you will have to spend GT model money. So if you thought that it was a lot of cash for the Carrera T, the price point on the more exclusive GT3 should be just enough to make you cry a river.
|
Model |
Transmission |
Base MSRP |
|
2026 Porsche 911 Carrera T |
6-speed manual |
$143,700 |
|
2026 Porsche 911 GT3 |
6-speed manual or 7-speed PDK |
$230,500 |
|
2026 Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package |
6-speed manual or 7-speed PDK |
$230,500 |
|
2025 Porsche 718 Cayman |
6-speed manual or 7-speed PDK |
$75,400 |
|
2025 Porsche 718 Cayman S |
6-speed manual or 7-speed PDK |
$87,900 |
|
2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 |
6-speed manual or 7-speed PDK |
$103,300 |
As you can see, because the Porsche 911 Carrera T is priced in the same spectrum as a supercar (which it is), it really is an outlier as far as being a manual-only model. However, Porsche’s entry-level sports car, the 718 Cayman, still offers the 6-speed manual at no additional cost on the base Cayman model. Unfortunately, to have a pure Porsche experience on the 718 Cayman, you will have to spend at least $100,000 for the 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0, which is the only 718 Cayman remaining with a flat-six engine and a manual transmission.
The Details About The 2025 911 Carrera T
So what exactly are you getting for your almost $150,000 investment in a 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T? Well, first off, this classy Porsche 911 is available either as a Coupe or Cabriolet for the first time in 2025 (for a little more money). The Porsche 911 Carrera T is also the lightest 911 Carrera available, coming in at 3,316 pounds (for comparison, a 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe weighs 3,472 pounds).
Premium performance features like rear-axle steering are standard with PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) dampers that are specifically tuned for the Carrera T model. The cherry on top is the open-pored walnut shift knob that embodies Porsche’s motorsport lineage. Despite its many performance upgrades, the 911 Carrera T still shares the same 388-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine found in the Carrera model.
Although that may not seem like much for what we call a “supercar“, get behind the wheel and put your foot flat to the ground, and you’ll think otherwise. The 4.3-second 60 MPH time is respectable, but it feels much faster than that in the cabin. Sport Chrono also comes standard as part of the Carrera T, meaning you have the convenience of on-the-fly drive mode changes via the rotary dial located on the steering wheel.
Other Carrera T-Specific Features
The 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T sits 10 millimeters lower than the 911 Carrera, and the PASM dampers are specifically tuned for the Carrera T model. The massive 350-millimeter front and rear discs are matched with six-piston front calipers for upgraded braking performance compared to the previous generation.
The standard rear-axle steering is one of the most impactful performance features of the 911 Carrera T, which enables a quicker steering ratio than the standard Carrera. The front and rear roll bars have also been adjusted to match the character of the Carrera T model, along with some aerodynamic enhancements, such as the front lip from the Carrera GTS.
The Sport Exhaust is also standard, normally a $3,060 option for the standard 911 Carrera model. As opposed to the 911 Carrera that comes standard with the Leather Package in Black, the Carrera T offers Sport-Tex material seats with black plaid-patterned inserts and upgraded bolstering. The only letdown about these cool and functional seats is that they are not ventilated. If this is a requirement for you, expect to pay an additional $4,010 for the privilege, as you will have to select the $3,140 Adaptive Sport Seats Plus (leather seat centers) with the additional $870 Ventilated option.
The Perfect Carrera T Spec
If you are shopping for a brand-new 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T, it is safe to assume that money is not the limiting factor. So, if we were to build a “perfect” Carrera T, how exactly would you spec it? First off, understand we are here to spend money, and by that, we mean a lot of it. No option is out of reach, and anything is possible.
First, let’s start with the amazing paint colors and exterior. Annoyingly, Porsche makes this harder than it needs to be by putting the Exterior Packages later in the configurator. Obviously, a standard white or black paint for a $150,000+ Porsche 911 is not going to cut it. It is close, but we’d start with the “Legends” tier, Oak Green Metallic Neo ($3,090), with the “Shades” tier, Vanadium Grey Metallic ($860), in close second.
You better believe we are going for the ultimate lightweight build, so the $4,040 Carbon Fiber roof is no question. The optional SportDesign exterior packages aren’t that cool, but the HD-Matrix Design LED headlights are a must. Next up are the wheels. We think the standard Carrera S wheels look amazing with the Vanadium Grey finish, and we’d keep them as is (a secondary aftermarket bronze-color set is a must).
After that are the interior colors, materials, and seats, and this is where we really start to get a little bit wild. First off, we’d opt for the Leather/Sport-Tex Interior Package with the Gentian Blue accents ($7,830) along with the Heated GT Sport Steering Wheel in Race-Tex with Trim in Matte Carbon Fiber.
Then, we’d opt for the $6,120 Full Bucket Seats along with the additional 3D-Printed Bodyform Driver’s Seat in Soft configuration with the Deep Sea Blue inserts (an extra $3,040). You may think that’s a lot of cash for a seat, but this seat is really as cool (and light) as it gets and saves eight percent over the standard material, and we care about every milligram.
Last but not least, we’d finish off the performance options with Power Steering Plus ($320), the Front Axle Lift System ($3,090) to protect our investment, and the 22.1-gallon Extended Range Fuel Tank ($230). The $5,820 Burmester sound system is a must, and we haven’t been to Zuffenhausen in a while, so the $6,000 Sonderwunsch Delivery Experience sounds like a lot of fun as well.
With that, you have what we’d call the “perfect” spec 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T, which comes out to $188,390 total MSRP. This includes $42,340 worth of premium options and the $2,350 delivery fee. With a zero-dollar down payment, 5,000 miles of annual mileage, and a 48-month term with perfect credit, we’d be looking at $2,814.15 a month for a 48-month lease or $4,445.10 per month for a 48-month financing term. Sounds like a lot? The average sale price of a new Porsche in 2025 is over $120,000. We aren’t even scraping the tip of the iceberg here, folks.