The basic Porsche silhouette features in almost every design museum in the world and has become an icon in its own right. With the LED strips adorning the front of the latest model like cosmetic jewelry, there's an argument that the Carrera is the more elegant car, but the Turbo wins the battle on pure impact.

Wide hips allow those big intakes to feed the engine and the subtle rear spoiler stays out of things until the car is going fast enough to need the bi-plane downforce. At the rear, the famous italic letters and gaping exhausts, together with more vents, mark this car apart from the rest of the breed.

Porsche has distilled this same basic shape for four decades, and with a careful blend of jewelry and mental programming, we all recognize the flagship on sight. The soft-top version now carries none of the negative connotations of years gone by except for the purist driver who would not go for the more mature Turbo in any case, and the only problem it faces is one of its own making.

The price of the Cabriolet is not far shy of a Lamborghini Gallardo or Ferrari F430 and both have that exclusivity that Porsche simply cannot match. However, the Italian alternatives also have catastrophic depreciation and nowhere near the Porsche's record for reliability, so you pay your money and take your choice.

Despite the ever increasing demand on safety, comfort and technology that add weight, this generation is actually 5kg lighter than the 996 at 1,655kg thanks to aluminum doors, a lighter roof structure and other subtle weight-saving measures.

So Porsche is committed to providing the best driving experience a chop-top can offer, and they've managed to convert at least one hardened cynic.

The Cabriolet weighs just 70kg more than the hard-top and much of that is due to compensating bracing in the chassis, side sills and tubular steel in the screen, together with rollover hoops that will leap into action should the worst happen.

Technically, this has to hamper the soft-top, but the base Coupe has such an irrepressible surfeit of performance for the public road that it is nearly impossible to feel the shortcomings. Only the most skilled driver will feel robbed of chassis feel and to do that they'd need a track, so there is no longer a price to pay for a tan in the car.