2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S | PH Review

The Carrera S finally returns as a 992.2 with 480hp. Good, right?

By John Howell / Friday, 25 April 2025 / Loading comments

Who remembers Sesame Street? I do, and I was reminded of the ‘letter of the day’ segment during this review. And today’s letter is the letter ‘S’ because this review is our first opportunity to drive the latest 992.2-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S. So what’s ‘S’ for in this scenario? Go back to the late ‘60s, when the original 911 S arrived, and ‘S’ was for ‘super’. That’s because the 911 S was the most super 911 you could buy, until Porsche launched the 2.7 Carrera RS that is. That was even ‘superer’, of course, so around that time Porsche quietly dropped the ‘super’ tag for its one-time top-flight model. By the time the 993 Carrera S arrived, ‘S’ was for ‘sport’, which made more sense. The Carrera S was a bit sportier than the base model but nothing more. And you could say the same is true for the 992.2, except that after reading the stats a simple ‘sport’ designation appears to somewhat downplay things. Indeed, maybe it’s time that the ‘S’ in 911 Carrera S stood for something more dramatic. Like supercar, perhaps?

If you think I’ve lost the plot (it wouldn’t be the first time), let me steer you towards the Carrera S’s performance figures. This one-up-from-boggo 911 now has an extra 30hp over the previous model – thanks in part to bigger turbos and a 911 Turbo-esque induction system – so the 3.0-litre flat-six now makes 480hp. That’s a lot. Peak torque remains the same, at 391lb ft, but spread over a wider range than before. Now, if you add the Sports Chrono pack, this one-rung-up-from-bottom 911 biffs you to 0-62mph in just 3.3 seconds, which is genuinely brutal and, significantly, quicker than a GT3. Not last year’s GT3, or the one before that, but the current one. Sure, it’ll only do 191mph, which is 2mph behind the current GT3’s vmax, but that’s hardly slow, is it? See what I mean when I suggest ‘S’ could be for supercar these days? The fact that the new Carrera S is also producing fewer emissions is just the cherry on top.

The only thing that counts against its supercar status is, oddly, the price. Sure, no 911 is cheap these days, but £120k for the coupé and £128k for the soft top is a very un-supercar price. Confirmed supercars, like the Ferrari 296 GTB, cost way more than that. So, arguably, the Carrera S is one for the ‘How much?’ critics to celebrate rather than chastise, because it appears to be a bit of a bargain. And good news: you can buy one simply by walking into a Porsche showroom and handing over some folding. That’s a refreshing concept that’ll please the ‘But you can’t buy one’ fraternity, too.

It means Carrera S owners will have the satisfaction of knowing that their car’s a) faster than a GT3 and b) that they haven’t had to kiss the cheddary-scented feet of a supercilious salesman to get it. And if you think it’s still way too expensive for an everyday 911 and no one will buy it, the statistics appear to suggest otherwise. They show that even as 911s keep getting more expensive, sales aren’t dipping. Porsche sold 50,000 of them in 2023 and another 50,000 last year (globally). In the UK, Porsche expects around 25 per cent to go for the Carrera S but more like 50 per cent uptake for the Carrera GTS. So not only are they selling, but most people are happy paying the GTS premium – and it’s worth noting that today’s Carrera S matches the power of the outgoing GTS.

So, we know it’s very fast, available to all, and with and without a roof. What else is there to know before we get on to how it drives? Well, it only comes with an eight-speed PDK gearbox, so you’ll want the Carrera T that Matt drove recently if you still favour a three-pedal arrangement. In terms of placement, as you might expect, the Carrera S fills the gap between the Carrera and the GTS T-Hybrid. Standard equipment includes the same bigger brakes that you get with the GTS, red calipers, staggered wheel diameters (20-inch front; 21-inch rear), Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, sports exhaust, and PASM adaptive suspension. Or you can option PASM sports suspension (£939), which drops the ride height by 10mm and runs stiffer springs, but it’s available only with rear-wheel steering (£1,941), so isn’t a no-brainer.

Right then, does the new Carrera S feel like a supercar? To find out I flew to Stuttgart, picked up the keys and drove to the Black Forest, in what was pretty much a repeat of the journey I made in the 911 Sport Classic a few years ago. Now, that was a special car and certainly fitted the supercar mould, which makes this experience just the job to judge the Carrera S’s abilities in that regard. It certainly compares well on real-world performance. While it’s slightly down on power and torque next to the Sport Classic that doesn’t hinder it. Not with the PDK offering more ratios to play with and faster shifts than the manual-only Sport Classic. On paper, the Carrera S is way quicker in a straight line, and on road it feels at least as quick, too. What impressed me about the Carrera S wasn’t its supercar-rattling pace, though, but the engine’s drivability. Now, I should explain at this point that I was never a fan of the Carrera S from the 991.2-gen onwards. Once they all became turbocharged, and massively quicker across the board, I found the standard Carrera more than enough in terms of raw speed and way better when it came to power delivery. Those early turbocharged Carrera S’s just felt too boosty and a little overwrought, like they were trying too hard.

The latest model is a different animal entirely. Thanks to its sweet power delivery I never thought it was too fast for the road. Not even the really tight, twisty ones en route to our Black Forest lunch stop for a slice of gateaux. If that makes it sound a bit boring, it isn’t. It’s both mightily quick and has character – the entertaining kind rather than spiteful sort. Dial up around 2,000rpm on the digital tachometer (I do rue the loss of that lovely, analogue rev counter) and the flat-six awakens, although, despite the wider torque curve, 3,000rpm is the point where it hits its stride. Between then and 6,000rpm it’s relatively linear, but as the torque eventually wanes towards the top end the performance really doesn’t. There’s no lacklustre finish because, at 6,000rpm, the power kicks in, which you feel as a welcome burst of added urgency – a swagger, if you like – that carries you keenly to the red line. There’s certainly nothing dull about the way it revs. Quite the opposite: it’s a proper riot to rev out, but that’s not to say you have to thrash it. Opt instead to coast along on the glut of mid-range torque, enjoying the almost-immediate throttle response along the way, and you’re rewarded with heady and ever-ready progress.

Mind you, even in the dry it has the potential to be ferocious. It’ll light up the monster 305-wide rear tyres during a full-bore launch. But because the power delivery is so predictable you can use the engine’s torque in more subtle ways: to gently rotate the rear to counter any modest understeer, for instance. I also encountered some less modest understeer but that was my fault entirely. I was carrying a tad too much speed into a tight, downhill hairpin at just the point a tractor was coming the other way. Not the best situation to find yourself facing in a 911 – a car famous for its inherent rear bias and lift-off antics – but this moment proved how far the 911 has come. The only thing that I could do to avoid meshing a 911’s bonnet with the teeth-like treads of a large, agricultural vehicle, was hitting the brake pedal to transfer some weight forward. So I did what I had to and, would you believe it, the front found more bite, I found the line I needed, and the rear didn’t so much as flinch. Crisis averted.

If the performance and tractability are noteworthy, the Carrera S’s steering isn’t, which, before you assume the worst, is a plus. The lack of noteworthiness is simply because you expect a 911 to steer well, and it does. The steering is superbly weighted, loading up consistently with lock, and the gearing is judged to perfection, so the rate of response is bang on. All you could really wish for is a little more sensation at times. There’s some, so it’s hardly mute, but knowing how talkative the GT3 RS’s steering is, I just wished for a little of that stardust to have fallen farther down the range. All the cars I drove had rear-wheel steering, by the way, and it sure makes for an eager turn-in, but one that’s so natural you barely consider why it’s happening.

The ride on the standard PASM is fine. It’s comfortable in the softer of the two damper modes, especially at higher speeds, but the Carrera S never matches the exquisite deftness that keeps you marvelling behind the wheel of the best-riding supercars. Much of that is down to their big-budget componentry, though. Regular 911s, being more mass-market, have rarely, if ever, felt able to compete with the big boys in that regard, or even the likes of the Audi R8. Such delightfully supple suspension was the preserve of 911 greats, like the 993 Carrera RS or latest 992 GT3 RS, where the purse strings are a little looser.

The Carrera S’s limitations are the same as they’ve been since the 992 was introduced and aren’t extreme: a little firmness over really beaten-up town roads – particularly the sharp-edged imperfections – and a lack of damping effect in extreme situations at speed. We’re only talking fractions, though: slight-but-noticeable unwanted lateral movements at the rear, or that extra half-bounce before it fully settles off a crest. Now, most of that can be dialled out by selecting the firmer damping mode, but then you have to put up with even more abrupt inputs at slow speed. As a result, either setting feels like a compromise. Having driven a car with standard and PASM sport suspension, I’d suggest the standard suspension is better – and let me be clear, good enough – for those interested in comfort over absolute handling, while the PASM sport set-up is busier but offers more consistency, without ever feeling cruel.

It struck me that this is by far and away the most refined 911 I’ve been in. For once it wasn’t tyre noise reverberating around the rear of the cabin that piqued my interest but the comparative lack of it. The relative silence was, indeed, deafening. It could’ve been Germany’s roads – far better than our shamefully below-par UK asphalt, as we know – but even on sections of concrete Autobahn, while I was travelling at speeds that would have me locked up over here, I was sure the improvement was real, considerable and, hopefully, not country-specific. The GTS-spec brakes are good, too. Whether it’s the standard iron discs or optional carbon ceramics (I tried both) the stopping power is excellent and accompanied by Porsche’s typically reassuringly firm pedal feel and progression.

I was mildly disappointed by the PDK gearbox, but only based on Porsche’s previously impeccable standards in this regard. At times it felt like the eight-speed ‘box was a touch hesitant to change down using the paddles, and once, when I went up a gear while accelerating, it got itself in a tizz and swapped cogs with a discernable shunt. The steering wheel paddles are a tactile delight, as always, though. While we’re on the subject of mild irritations, I’m no fan of the sports exhaust. Again, this isn’t a new thing for me. It’s all highly subjective but, to my ears, the 3.0-litre turbo has never been that sweet at the top end. Above 6,000rpm it’s somewhere between uninteresting and a tad harsh, and the sports exhaust only exacerbates the effect. However, below 6,000rpm it’s as flat-six sweet as you could wish for, and, for a modern motor, it remains something to savour.

If my criticisms come across as weighty, I can assure you they’re not meant to be. They merely reflect the fact that I’m comparing this latest incarnation of the 911 with the finest standard bearers. Let that be a sign of how good it is. But is the Carrera S a worthy supercar? Does it match the very best? No, but only when counting those last few tenths in terms of ride, body control and steering feel. If missing those finer details will leave you wanting, then go ahead and find an extra £100k-plus for that McLaren, Ferrari, or the MC20 GT2 Stradale I was raving about recently. I suppose it’s just the same old 911 story then: never a true supercar at this end of the range, but close enough to make one think. And this one has made me think jolly hard, which leads me to conclude that it's a super 911.

SPECIFICATION | 2025 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA S

Engine: 2,981cc, flat-six, twin-turbo
Transmission: eight-speed dual-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 480 @ 7,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 391 @ 2,200-6,000rpm
0-62mph: 3.3 seconds (with Sports Chrono pack)
Top speed: 191mph
Weight: 1,540kg (DIN)
MPG: 26.4 - 27.7 mpg
CO2: 243 - 232 g/km
Price: £120,500