Just spent a most amusing hour or so blatting round the back roads of East Lothian (on my own) in one of the new revised 997's (thanks Edinburgh OPC).

It was a Carrera 2 S with the new PDK gearbox, and it sure is one helluva car. Effortlessly fast, which is both good an bad I suppose, so easy to go way quicker than you intended, I can see this being a handful in the hands of the inexperienced. Still very much a 911, with the pattery front end and all. The new flat 6 engine is utterly stunning, makes a lovely noise and feels incredibly free revving. Gearbox works best left in auto, but on sport setting, the changes are seamless and the change up points superbly judged (a bit lethargic in regular setting, but OK for cruising). The facelift is very subtle, but the interior changes are good, the new touchscreen PCM is fantastic, light years on from the present offering, and one of the few things I'd really like in my own Cayman.

I came away very impressed, but not perhaps enamoured. Somehow the ability to go so very very fast, with such little input from the driver seems rather to miss the point, at least in a country like ours with such a mania for speed limits. That apart, it is one of the most impressive things I've driven in some time.