Key considerations
- Available for £120,000 (Convertible), £127,000 (Coupe)
- 3.7-litre, twin-turbo flat-six, all-wheel drive
- Monumentally quick and secure
- Far from faultless
- Carrera is a lot cheaper and arguably just as good in the real world
- But it’s a Turbo innit? Gotta have more Turbo!
Porsche 911 Turbo. Three words that will transport those of a certain age straight back into their adolescent bedrooms, and not just to 1975 when the first turbocharged 930 road car came out, but for many years after that.
No wonder. It was a powerful icon. The first four-speed 3.0 Turbo had around 250hp, a piddling amount now but outlandish for the time. Not only was it 90hp up on the regular 911, the delivery of power was laggy enough in the far-from-fully-sorted 911 chassis to give the Turbo a widowmaking reputation. By 1978 the engine had increased to 3.3 litres and the power to 300hp, give or take. The extra capacity took some of the edge off the lag but it didn’t dilute the 911 Turbo’s power to intimidate. That stayed with it.
The rise of safety up the list of car design considerations, the advances in safety tech aimed at meeting those higher expectations and the addition of all-wheel drive to the 911 recipe meant that its life-threatening edginess had been buffed away long before the current gen-eight 992 version of the 911 Turbo came around. Even now though there’s still a real buzz in the Turbo name, not least because the latest iteration has getting on for double the power of the 930 3.3. Just imagine a standard roadgoing 930 911 Turbo with nearly 600hp under its boot lid. Or maybe don’t, as it doesn’t bear thinking about. The 992.1 Turbo was richly provisioned with safety-promoting tech including all-wheel drive, an electronically controlled diff at the back and a hydraulic one in the middle. Two-mode active suspension management and rear-wheel steering were standard.
As per Porsche’s normal new model release strategy, the 580hp/553lb ft 992.1 Turbo came along after the 650hp/590lb ft 992.1 Turbo S, in this case four months after it in July 2020, a little under two years after the first 992.1 cars had been presented at the 2018 LA Auto Show. The new gen-8 911 was slightly larger and stiffer than the gen-7 991, with fat rear arches shrouding 21-inch wheels (20s at the front) and for the first time there was all-aluminium bodywork.
Both the Turbo and the Turbo S featured a 3.7-litre variant of the 992.1’s 3.0-litre flat-six, the S getting its power advantage via larger turbo vanes and different mapping. Despite its near-70hp shortfall however the Turbo was only a tenth of a second slower through the 0-62mph at 2.9 seconds, another demonstration if any was needed of the modern 911’s freakish ability to get off the line like a scalded moggy. You did lose out on top speed though. On a suitable road the longer final drive of the S got it to 205mph whereas the Turbo could only manage a measly 199mph.
The visual differentiators between the standard Turbo and the standard Turbo S were the exhaust tips (four square ones on the Turbo, twin ovals on the S) and red-calipered iron brake discs behind five-bolt wheels instead of the S’s yellow-caliper carbon ceramics behind centrelocks.
Another obvious difference between the two was the number at the bottom of the sales invoice. It’s fairly safe to say that nobody has ever bought a basic 911, but if they did an S in optionless trim was just under £156,000 in 2020. That made the hardly-any-slower Turbo without the not especially necessary ceramic brakes and active anti-roll looking like a bit of a bargain at £134,000.
By early 2024 those prices had increased to a less bargainaceous £180k and £160k respectively, with a limited edition 911 Turbo 50 Years model based on the S announced in the second half of 2024 at an eye-opening £200,600. Forget all that though. Our Matt, who tested both in period, concluded that the non-S Turbo might well have been the most complete and most desirable version of the breed so far. Let’s dip into more detail on the subject of this week’s buyer’s guide, the 992.1 Turbo, with some background 992 stuff thrown in.
SPECIFICATION | PORSCHE 911 TURBO (992.1, 2020-2024)
Engine: 3,745cc flat-six twin-turbo petrol 24v
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 580@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 553@2,250-4,500rpm
0-62mph (secs): 2.9
Top speed (mph): 199
Weight (kg): 1,715
MPG (WLTP combined): 23.5
CO2 (g/km): 254
Wheels (in): 9 x 20 (f), 11.5 x 21 (r)
Tyres: 255/35 (f), 315/30 (r)
On sale: 2020 - 2024
Price new: £134,400
Price now: from £120,000
Note for reference: car weight and power data are hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
As noted above, the S was both quicker and faster than the Turbo, but you’d have a job finding anyone outside the Porsche development team who could definitively prove that. To all intents and purposes the performance offering on the public highway was the same – and that offering was mighty. Our Matt described the Turbo as insatiably, relentlessly, unstoppably rapid.
We don’t know if it was deliberate or accidental but the 992 Turbo’s power delivery paid a kind of homage to those early 930 Turbos by remaining docile up to 3,000rpm at which point it climbed onto an acceleration curve that was steep enough to provoke hoots of manic laughter. The compression of ratios made possible by having eight gears in the box instead of four meant you were never out of the thrust zone. Porsche managed to give it a good engine noise too.
Regular 992 Carrera 3.0s could be had with either a 7-speed manual or an 8-speed PDK dual-clutch auto, the PDK S returning a 3.7sec 0-62mph time, but the Turbo was PDK-only using the same ratios as the Carrera. The Turbo S had that longer final drive to give it that 205mph top end.
992 servicing is every two years or 20,000 miles. The two- and six-year services will cost between £750 and £850 at a Porsche dealer, with the larger 4- and 8-year ones costing from £1,400 to £2,000, those extremes depending to some extent on the OPC’s location. Indy specialists with the correct PIWIS 4 diagnostic equipment and lower labour charges should come in at nearer to £500 and £1,100 respectively. There were quite a few instances of turbocharger failure on 991.2 911s but as far as we can see they haven’t reoccurred on the 992.1.
CHASSIS
The previous 991 Turbo had felt a bit lacking in driver engagement and the 992 was heavier than the 991 so there was some buyer anxiety about the newer car, but those worries turned out to be groundless. Basic Carreras are often cited as the best all-rounders in any 911 range, but when Matt tested the 992.1 Turbo at the end of 2020 he found that it felt like more of a driver’s car than the Carrera. The Turbo did have wider tracks relative to the Carrera. It also had the PASM active suspension that was common across the 992.1 range, all-wheel steering and a reworked PTM (Porsche Traction Management) active all-wheel drive system using an electronically variable multiplate clutch to adjust the amount of power going to each wheel.
The Turbo didn’t have the Turbo S’s ceramic brakes or PDCC active anti-roll, but if you wanted them you could add them to your Turbo order. The Normal damper setting was pretty much perfect for most situations. Responses in Sport were more sudden but still OK.
Warnings of a ‘chassis system fault’ have appeared on 992.1s. One PHer reported it happening on their Turbo S that had been bought new in December 2023. That same owner also reported faults with the PADM (active drivetrain mounts) and engine control as part of their attempt to reject the car. Another PHer commenting on that thread warned that getting satisfaction from Porsche could be a costly and difficult process. Another poster on the same thread who had gone through the same rejection process said he/she couldn’t praise their Porsche dealer enough for the way they handled it. We should say that PADM issues have been fairly common on other earlier Porsches.
In March 2021 a recall was issued on 992s in general to sort out suspension locknuts that didn’t allow sufficient tightening of the main fasteners. The centre section of the rear brake light failed on some cars. Just as an aside, in October 2024 owners of 992s with centrelock wheels (not standard on the regular Turbo) were advised not to drive their cars until a remedy was found for a potential issue with the fastening. The factory fix started to feed through in December, and there is talk of compensation payments for owners’ inconvenience.
BODYWORK
Part of the 992 design brief was to remind buyers of early 911s and we reckon they hit that target. Its all-aluminium body was nearly two inches wider than the 991’s but the inclusion of electrically activated popout door handles helped to keep the look clean. One downside of that doorhandle system was that disconnecting the battery with the doors shut would automatically lock the doors and you wouldn’t be able to get in. Porsche advised owners to open the window before disconnecting the battery, which seemed a bit like one step forward and one back. There was a mechanical key in the fob though. so assuming you were aware of its existence you could use it to open the driver’s door.
992 rear spoilers have been known to stick halfway up. That was usually covered under warranty as a motor issue. There were a few moans about bumper panel gaps on non-Turbo 992.1s which as we’ve said went on sale more than a year before the Turbos, so we’re guessing that would have been resolved for the 2020-on Turbo that we’re looking at here. Some 992 Convertible windows didn’t automatically close as they were supposed to when the roof was closed. You couldn’t always get your fingers under the lip of the 992.1 bonnet after plipping it open in cold weather.
Over 8,000 992s were recalled in North America to rectify poorly adhered windscreens that could pop out on deployment of the front airbags. There was a separate recall for the airbags themselves. Some cars have had intermittent issues with the complete rear light package – indicators, side lights and brake lights.
Front axle lifts were an option rather than standard equipment on the 992.1 but not having it wasn’t that much of a hassle unless you had a particularly steep drive to negotiate.
INTERIOR
There have been reports from 992 owners of random interior noises from either the region of the passenger seat (which could often turn out to be the seatback release strap making contact with the seat) or from the back seats, door bins or door handle trim pieces. Unused passenger seatbelts could tap against the door cards.
Those seat release straps could demand a big heave. One suggested technique to make the operation easier was to put some pressure on the backrest with your other hand while pulling the strap. 18-way seats are generally accepted to be a good 911 choice, especially if you are plagued by a bad back. Puckering seat leather has been complained about by some 992 owners but most of these complaints have been dismissed by Porsche as the normal characteristics of a natural material, which seems reasonable.
Seatbelt warnings have come on even when there’s been nobody in the seat and the belt was already closed. This message and other ones like ‘drive system is active, switch off ignition’ or ‘reduced engine power, driving permitted, visit workshop’ would usually be cleared by a diagnostic tool, but in an ideal world they wouldn’t have come up in the first place. PCMs have been slow to boot up and the SOS system could sometimes dial up the emergency services for no reason.
Rattles and creaks could emanate from behind the dash. These were variously attributed to a crash protection bar held in place by single-use bolts made from Russian steel (and which were no longer available due to sanctions) or to an issue with welding on the petrol tank, but we haven’t been able to dig up a definitive answer on that. It might all sound a bit first-world and insignificant to owners of ‘ordinary’ cars, but noises like these could seem disproportionately annoying in something of such high quality and cost.
Like Volkswagen in the Mk8 Golf, Porsche went down the route of button-reduction in their 992’s cabin, though thankfully not quite as comprehensively as VW. They left five physical buttons below the rather lovely 10.9-inch info screen for fast access to damper settings and suchlike. Elsewhere, there have been problems with Porsche’s InnoDrive adaptive cruise control. This was designed to adapt the 911’s speed to national speed limits and road signs and to control the speed of the 911 in conjunction with the speed of the car in front, right down to a complete halt using the stop-and-go function. The problems owners have had with these haven’t always been cured by dealerships.
Park Assist has been known to come on randomly and some cars’ sat navs have slipped into German script. The two dials on the left of the tachometer have sometimes turned blue, with faded graphics. One owner with this issue noted an improvement after a control unit reset but not a complete fix. Three days later it had sorted itself out.
PH VERDICT
In the overview you might have received the impression that the S was an unnecessary extra step over the Turbo. In reality, you’re talking about degrees of excellence as they’re both incredible cars. The fact that the S is the ‘ultimate’ option in that choice of two gives it extra buying appeal for many, but if you’re a fan of the underdog, or you’re not bothered about badges, or you’re simply short of the extra few bob needed for an S, there’s no way that you’ll ever feel let down by the Turbo. It’s a win-win either way, and the 992.1 was a tangible step up from the 991 in terms of driving pleasure.
The other choice of course is to look at the 992.2 range that was announced in May ’24. The non-specialist selection of .2s at the time of writing consisted of the ‘basic’ 394hp Carrera 3.0 (0-62mph in 3.9 seconds, 181mph) starting at £99,800, the 480hp, 3.3-seconds-0-62mph, 191mph Carrera S starting at £119,800 for the coupe, and the tiny-batteried and apparently smashingly quick (despite carrying some extra weight) 541hp Carrera GTS ‘T-Hybrid’ with its electric exhaust turbocharger. That .2 has a 0-62mph time of 3.0 seconds, a top speed of 194mph and an asking price of £132,600.
Back in used 992.1 land, it’s important to be aware that, despite the huge advances made in automotive build quality, it would be foolish to expect perfection even from a company with such a strong reputation as Porsche. Electronics have become both a blessing and a curse for car manufacturers, premium marques in particular seemingly struggling with the demands being placed onto batteries by their products’ complex and numerous electrical networks. This is only a feeling we’re getting from the process of putting these buying guides together, and not a provable fact, but it does seem that anything other than optimum battery condition is a potential door-opener for faults, some maybe real, some maybe imagined by dodgy sensors.
The situation is made worse by the fact that cars like these are often only occasionally driven. 992.1s with lithium-ion batteries, which isn’t all of them, can suffer from pancaking if the car isn’t driven for a few weeks (Porsche says around six weeks) and/or if it’s not put on a trickle charger in that time. Batteries can also be flattened on 992.1s if (say) bad weather trips the alarm while you’re away, which can happen. If your 992.1 battery does flatten you’ll have to hope that it has enough power left in it to unlock the doors. Then you need to go through quite an involved process to recover the battery. Repeated drains will eventually kill it.
The most affordable 992.1 Turbos we found for sale in the UK in January 2025 were a couple of Convertibles, one from 2020 and the other 2021. Both had accumulated around 19,000 miles and both were priced at a few pounds short of £120k. The cheapest coupe we found was a 2021 car with 12,500 miles at a little over £127k. By way of an interesting comparison, you could get a used Turbo S for the same money in early 2025, reflecting a nasty zone of depreciation that this model had gone into a year earlier.
The big question for a lot of us ordinary mortals of limited means would be, is the Turbo worth the extra money over a ‘straight’ 380hp 992.1 Carrera which as of early 2025 could be had for less than £80,000? A 450hp Carrera S will obviously be more than that, but it will still be considerably less than the cheapest Turbo. What a nice quandary to be in.
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