The way that rocket-propelled rear end digs into the road, the flat-six soundtrack, the shape, the sensations, all are pure 911. But only now, if you have the stopwatch-equipped car, can you electronically enhance the bombasticity, for the pressing of the Sport button also makes the throttles open and shut more quickly.All that said, the regular Carrera (with 3.6 litres and 325bhp) is also a mighty fine and quick machine, and a little quieter too. Do not feel short-changed if the budget stretches to this one only.There is also a five-speed Tiptronic auto/sequential transmission option. It ruins the interactive driving experience, taking away a large part of the micro-fine control. If you want the Tiptronic, clearly you do not really want a 911.THE RIVALSAston Martin DB9: £103,000Beautiful new Aston Martin has a V12 engine and is delightful to drive. Automatic/manual-sequential transmission is much smoother and more responsive than Porsche Tiptronic.

Smaller, cheaper V8 is coming soon.Maserati Coup?T: £56,650The handsome Maserati has a magnificently musical V8 engine and potent pace. It has taken a while to get the steering feel right, though, and we have yet to try the latest version. Transmissions could be better too.Noble M14: £65,000 approxYou cannot buy this until early next year but it should be worth the wait. Nobles to date have been joyous to drive with fabulous handling and a rip-snorting twin-turbo V6, and the M14 adds style, quality and civility to the mix.. There are no high-powered motorbikes, so none of the aggression they encourage. Everyone glides about on mopeds, two, three, even four up, along the boulevards the French laid out in the first half of the last century.

There is none of the twitchy boorishness of Mumbai, where car drivers beep their way past lesser brethren, nor the might-is-right attitude of the new car owners of Beijing.True, the traffic is hugely disorganised but it is also the best-mannered of any place I have been to. But there is none of the cacophony of similar cities, the air full of horns and buzzing two-strokes. A week in Cambodia - following time in China and India - has persuaded me that if the citizens of developing countries can be persuaded to stick to mopeds, there are big benefits to their societies. Phnom Penh's population is pushing two million, median age is 18 and wealth per head such that cars are an impossibility even for the middle class So everyone rides on push-bikes or mopeds. Two wheels good, four wheels bad? That would seem at least to be the judgement to make about the mobility choices of developing countries.

This won't be achieved by preaching, or by warnings of dire consequences.Young drivers are more likely to be persuaded by immediate benefits: they want to keep their licence, afford a better car and even (since three-quarters of women are scared by their boyfriends' driving) become more attractive to the opposite sex.Young drivers should be offered courses to positively influence their driving habits. That is why we at the IAM have launched Max Driver, a joint venture with Max Power magazine It might seem an odd combination. But we both believe that this move could herald a fresh approach to casualty reduction among a very vulnerable group.If any scheme can put a more mature head on to young shoulders, Max Driver can.Details are available at or by calling 0208 996 9686 The writer is chief executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. For many years, people referred to these tragedies as accidents. But that's a bit of a euphemism: we at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) now use a harsher term - crash - as a reminder that they are avoidable and caused by driver error.We are less likely to die on the road in the UK than in France or Spain. Often in life, there is a stark contrast between perception and reality. Nowhere is this gap more acute, or dangerous, than when it relates to our nation's driving habits.