New Porsche 911 Turbo S arrives with 711hp
14 seconds quicker round the 'ring than the old car and just 6 shy of the 918. The everyday supercar is back
Porsche marked 50 years of the 911 Turbo last year in relatively subdued fashion. Naturally, such an occasion warranted a special edition, which came in the form of the sticker-clad Turbo 50 Years, and small (by Porsche standards) celebrations were held at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and various other events. Otherwise, it was business as usual. But in the background, Stuttgart’s finest were working on a faster, even more ferocious Turbo for the 992.2 generation refresh. Now the covers have finally come off and we can see what exactly Porsche had up its sleeve all along.
We’ll cut straight to the chase, because there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Firstly, it’s now a hybrid, though not in the way you’d expect. Like the electrified GTS T-Hybrid that ushered in the 992.2 generation, you won’t find a charging port or any sort of silent running in the new Turbo S. Instead, the focus is squarely on dialling up the already devastating performance, with a 400V battery housed in the front axle spinning up the turbines, which have grown by 10mm over the non-electrified turbos in the old model, and ramping up boost pressure. The resulting 711hp, a frankly staggering 61hp more than the outgoing car, is seriously impressive, yet it's the claimed flat delivery of the full 590lb ft of torque between around 2,250rpm and 6,000rpm that really puts your eyes on stalks - more on that in a bit.
It’s not just some clever new turbos, either. Porsche’s gone and built a new 3.6-litre, flat-six for the 992.2 Turbo S, complete with an all-new cylinder head, revised valve train and two throttle valves. It’s not unlike Porsche to drop a new engine into a mid-gen refresh, switching from 3.8-litres to 4.0 for the 991.2 GT3 while slapping on turbos for the Carrera models at the same time, and it’s partly been done to meet noise and emission rules. So you can expect a drop in CO2 by 9g and better fuel economy, but the new motor should also lift the ceiling of Porsche twin-turbo flat-six - perhaps for the frequently-papped 992 GT2 RS.
Paired up with the new motor is an update to the electro-hydraulic chassis control (ehPDCC in Porsche speak), which has not only been tweaked to better manage the extra grunt but is also faster to react than before. It’s got more weight to keep in check, too. The 992.2 Turbo S is some 85kg heavier than its predecessor, most of which can be attributed to the hybrid system and 10kg worth of chassis strengthening for the power hike, not to mention the 420mm front and 400mm rear carbon ceramic brakes - the largest fitted to a 911 yet. That’s one of the reasons why a plug-in system was off the table, the firm says, as it would have added another 200-300kg.
There may be more of it to lug around, but the 992.2 Turbo S is still devastatingly fast. The time it takes to get from 0 to 62mph has been lowered to 2.5 seconds, 0.2 seconds quicker than the outgoing model, while a 0-124mph dash takes all of 8.4 seconds, which is half a second quicker than before. But perhaps the most impressive number of all is the time Porsche GT legend Jörg Bergmeister set around the Nurburgring. A 7-minute 3.92-second lap (you can watch the video here), a good 14 seconds quicker than the 992.1 and just six seconds shy of the mighty 918 Spyder run. Pretty rapid, then.
To demonstrate just how fast the new Turbo S is, Porsche put me alongside Mr Bergmeister for a handful of laps around its Weissach test circuit. The previous Turbo S never felt as though it was short on power, and away from the line it’s difficult to tell the difference between the two, especially from the passenger seat. But the relentlessness of the power and torque delivery is awe-inspiring, as is the way Jörg flicks between the twisty, undulating corners at the back of the circuit as if he were driving a 1,700kg, twin-turbo go-kart. “You don't feel the weight gain. On the contrary, the car is much more agile, has more grip and is significantly faster than its predecessor in all relevant sections of the track”, he noted.
Elsewhere, the aero package has been tweaked in accordance with the 992.2 update, meaning you get the same vertical vents in the front bumper that can open and close to manage cooling and air flow on the fly. You also get the same underbody slats as the 911 GTS, channeling air towards the redesigned rear bumper. The diffuser is purely for aesthetics, though there are smaller vents either side of the bumper to extract air from the rear brakes, which doubtlessly get fairly hot after a few Bergmeister-style laps at the ‘ring.
Then there’s the options list, which is extensive. The Sport Design Package, which adds small flics at the end of the skirts, and nose lift all come extra, as do all the carbon bits like the roof and wiper blades (which save a whopping 600g). However, the new titanium sports exhaust, PCCB and PDCC all come as standard, with most options being cosmetic. As for pricing, you’re looking at £199,100 for the Coupe and £209,100 for the Cabrio, or around £20k more than the old model. As ever, you’re getting a huge amount of performance for your buck, but if you can make do with a 60hp deficit there’s this 2023 example for a £40k discount…
My mind boggles slightly at the power jump to 991 and 992 versions. And the 100% price increase
My mind boggles slightly at the power jump to 991 and 992 versions. And the 100% price increase
The 997 Turbo S launched in 2010 with a meagre 530bhp, it was £123,000. Which is £191,000 today adjusted for inflation.
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