It was an interesting experiment, even if I do say so myself. Fourth gear, 1,500rpm on the clock and foot set to the floor. Had I been in a 911 Turbo S, there’d be a pause, almost as if the car were asking if I was sure I didn’t want a lower gear, followed by a gentle accrual of steam, followed by a howling gust of boost propelling me into the next postcode.
But I wasn’t. I was in a new 911 GTS, the first car of the second-generation 992-series of 911 to be launched. And, in the time it would have taken the old Turbo to gather its thoughts, I was already gone. Who knows how long it would take for the Turbo to catch up, but it would be longer than you’d ever have to be at full throttle while staying safe on the public road.
Porsche says the response of this car is so fast, it’s quicker out of the blocks than a Turbo and around the Nürburgring too. Remember when the GTS was just a choice confection of parts bin options brought under one sloping roof at a rather attractive price? Well, you should forget all that now. In performance terms, this car now sits where the old Turbo sat – a rampaging monster of a thing and all the better for it. Which all rather begs the question: what is the new Turbo going to be like? That, sadly, is for another time. For now, let us focus on the GTS, which is on sale alongside the entry-level Carrera as the vanguard of the new generation of 992, and exactly how it got that way.
You will know already that it is a hybrid (albeit not one you can plug in or run on electric power alone) and perhaps that the 992 was designed from the very start to accept such a powertrain, the first generation simply electing not to install the electric motor where PDK gearbox meets flat six motor. On that note and before we progress, shed a swift tear for the demise of the manual gearbox option, at least in this model – it simply cannot be integrated with the hybrid system and that’s that. It is almost certain to survive in the next GT3, however, which will retain a version of its existing engine. As for other 911s, we will have to wait and see. The new entry-level Carrera uses the old, non-hybrid engine, so it could be manual if Porsche chose but, as with the present generation, there are currently no plans. Which, if we assume the model range will eventually be fleshed out along similar lines, leaves just Carreras S and T as the last refuge of the three-pedal, non-motorsport 911. I digress. The important news is that the hybrid engine is brand new and hybrid not just in the sense that it is powered by both electricity and petrol, but also in its turbo – note the use of the singular form there – which is spun in the usual way by exhaust gases when the flow is sufficient, but also by electricity harvested from the hybrid when it is not. Hence that astonishing low-down response.
Why a single turbo? Because, with the hybrid drive filling in what would otherwise be a Mariana Trench-sized hole in the torque curve, Porsche can fit one the size of a dustbin lid, boosting power by fully 60bhp to 533bhp. This, the rapid response and a two-section increase in rear boot width means that, if you lined old and new GTSs up at the lights and just planted their throttles at the same time without resorting to launch control in a simple good old traffic light Grand Prix, after just 2.5 seconds and at about the time you hit 50mph, the new car would already be fully seven metres – that’s more than 22 feet – ahead of the old.
Downsides? It depends how you look at them. You won’t be able to waft past your neighbours in ethereal silence as you leave at 5am to catch the red eye. The fuel consumption and CO2 emissions have barely changed despite the hybrid drive, amounting to an improvement of, at best, a single mile per gallon and a reduction in CO2 of just 8g/km, so those hoping a hybrid spelled the first truly tax-efficient 911 will likely be disappointed.
Two points, however. First, any improvement in fuel consumption is a mighty impressive achievement given the leap in performance. Second, were the car capable of being plugged into the mains and driven on electricity, its weight would have ballooned by a substantial triple-digit number of kilos. Moreover, all that additional gubbins plus the enormous battery that would be required to produce any kind of EV range long enough to make a significant dent in the claimed CO2 output would have to go somewhere so, in all probability, you’d lose a chunk of boot space too. As it is, the tiny 1.8kW battery sits atop the fuel tank in the position set aside for it in the development of the original 992, so not one litre of carrying capacity is lost.
Most important, total weight gain which, lest we forget, includes not just the entire hybrid system but a 20 per cent increase in engine capacity from 3-litre to 3.6-litre, is just 50kg. Or so Porsche claims. Actually? Make that 60kg. It is perhaps instructive to learn that, so determined was Porsche to bring this car’s weight in at under 1,600kg – that’s the standard, rear-wheel-drive GTS coupé which has a quoted DIN (so with fluids but not a driver) weight of 1,595kg – that, when it realised it wasn’t going to make it, it made the rear seats a no-cost option so their 10kg mass didn’t need to be included in the calculation…
I remain in two minds about the new front-end treatment. Those new vertical vanes are active flaps that stay closed for aerodynamic efficiency under light load and flick open when additional cooling is needed, but lend the car a certain toothy appearance. Inside, the new instrument pack comprising electronic gauges (all of which, would you believe, can now be seen through the wheel) is far better. I thought I’d miss the now-deleted analogue rev counter, the last vestige of 911dom from another era, but it turns out I didn’t think about it at all.
The engine note, I’m not so sure about. You could never mistake it for anything other than a Porsche flat six, but there is something a little too manufactured about its voice. Of course, the sounds of almost all cars these days are synthesised to some extent, but this one is akin to the sound of a 911 engine played through a really high-end sound system – great, but demonstrably less authentic than the real thing. But sound, like beauty, remains entirely in the ear and eye of the beholder, so it is a subject on which my opinion bears no more weight than anyone else’s. We’ll leave it there and go for a proper drive.
I’ll say it now: the new engine is incredible. The theory is that it should deliver a Turbo-like thump, but with zero lag and manners more akin to a large-capacity, naturally aspirated motor. The reality is no different. You know how you’d stab the throttle in a Gen 1 PDK 992 to drop it to the lowest gear before rocketing past the car ahead? You still can, but you really don’t need to. It is not the ultimate performance that matters so much, but the ease and speed with which it is accessed. And, out there in the real world, beyond zero-to-60mph times and bar room bragging, that’s actually what really matters.
Point to point, this is a devastatingly rapid car. To give you a statistical illustration of what I mean, it’s worth remembering that not only does this car have both more power and more torque than a current GT3 RS, its torque to weight ratio – which is actually what you feel when you accelerate – is considerably superior too. This means that, for almost all drivers on almost any road you are likely to find, you are rarely going to be able to deploy all it has to the full. In this mid-range 911, geography is now the single biggest limiting factor to using its performance, extraordinary though that may sound.
What you absolutely do not have to worry about is the chassis’ ability to handle it. I drove cars both with and without Porsche’s PDCC active anti-roll bars, which are now quicker to respond than ever thanks to being able to take their instructions from the hybrid drive, and my feelings on the subject remain unchanged: unless you’re going to do extensive track work, you just don’t need it and probably won’t use it. The car is more than good enough as it is.
Which is not to say it’s perfect. It corners flat and very fast but, if you drive a base Carrera with the old twin-turbo engine sans hybrid, it is notably lighter on its feet – a legacy of its smaller footprint and 85kg slimmer waistline. And the gearshifts are almost too good, particularly when changing down. The hybrid fills in all those micropauses which bring the sensation of shifting. Now, the noise changes and the rev counter repositions, but there’s no theatre to it any more.
And I’d think really hard about spending extra on four-wheel-drive. Thanks to its fatter rear boots, this is the first 911 that is no slower off the line with two-wheel-drive than four, so you’re gaining nothing there. What you do gain is another 50kg of weight and those typically less consistent on-limit responses you find when the car’s shuttling torque from place to place, trying to save you from yourself. If you live in an American snow state or, perhaps, Aviemore, I get it. Otherwise, save yourself the money and the mass.
But don’t let any of this cloud the fact that this renewed 911 is a phenomenal achievement, and one dominated by that brilliant new engine. It may not happen often but, on those occasions when the road runs clear and fast, the confidence with which you can fling yourself across the countryside is breathtaking. Faster, grippier, more responsive and easier than any GTS that came before, this is not just the next step for those three little letters, but a giant leap.
On the track, wearing nothing more than standard Goodyear road rubber, it proved itself a tireless ally and almost impossible to upset. Yes, it will understeer if you’re too ambitious with your entry but, unless you’ve wildly overcooked it, a small lift should be enough to transfer enough weight forward to get the nose to bite without any hint of unsettling the back. Once again, it doesn’t feel as nimble as the Carrera, largely because it isn’t, and if you just want to chuck the car around and don’t care how fast you go, there’s no question the base car is more fun to drive. But play to the GTS’s strengths, primarily its torque, traction, response and iron-fisted body control, and a driving experience quite beyond the scope of the previous car is there for the taking.
But it leaves a few questions unanswered. Primarily, now that it has parked its tanks on the Turbo’s lawn, where does that car, let alone the Turbo S, go from here? And, for all the additional power they will doubtless have, what real and usable tangible benefits will they be able to bring above what we already have here? It’s a fascinating question to which I have no answer but, if I were to indulge in some idle speculation (which is absolutely not inside knowledge by another name), it does seem to beg the question that if this is what a GTS with one turbo is like, what might the same engine be able to do with two?
Now consider this: if you subtract the power created by the E-motor, this engine produces 478bhp from a 3.6-litre capacity for a specific output of 133bhp per litre. The old GTS produced 473bhp from just three litres, a specific output of some 158bhp per litre. Even if Porsche was merely to wind its new engine up to the same state of tune as the old, that would be 569bhp right there, before you’ve added back in the hybrid power which brings you to 624bhp, and still all with a single turbo. The potential for a twin-turbo hybrid engine to go way past 700bhp is clear to see. Will it happen? I expect it probably will. Will it be worth it? I look forward to finding out.