What is it?
Having tried the new Carrera GTS abroad in four-wheel-drive automatic form, and then again on British roads in rear-wheel-drive automatic form, this is our chance to taste the most serious sub-GT3 911 of the 992-generation era in ‘purist’ guise. Which is to say, rear driven and fitted with the manual ’box that Porsche offers despite knowing that precious few will opt for it. Chapeau, Porsche.
First, a quick reminder of what the GTS is, because in the past, the model has been something of a Carrera-based parts-bin special, with nothing truly bespoke but plenty of desirable regular 911 options bundled together at an attractive price.
Not this time. The suspension is mostly borrowed from the phenomenally well-sorted 911 Turbo, with helper springs for the back axle (these essentially keep the main springs located both during and after moments of maximum extension – over a fast crest, for example), although the PASM dampers are GTS-unique. The cast-iron brakes are also from the Turbo although, as ever, carbon-ceramic discs are available.
For maximum weight saving, the GTS is also available with a Lightweight package, which bins the rear seats and adds 918 Spyder-style carbonfibre buckets in the front, along with lightweight glazing and a lightweight battery. It saves 30kg and, in doing so, drops the car's kerb weight to less than 1500kg, assuming you go for neither the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox nor four-wheel drive.
Lastly, the car’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo six has also been fettled, with power up 29bhp from the Carrera S to 473bhp. It’s not an epic uplift, but with it the Carrera is now knocking on the door of 500bhp, which is a fact that takes some digesting. Finishing things off is a sports exhaust specific to the GTS, which has also had some of the regular Carrera’s sound-deadening removed.
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Much quicker 0-60 if choose PDK (<3.5s)
But you shouldn't and 0-60 really doesn't matter
I'm not advocating hard acceleration as the be all and end all, but 0-60 times are a snap shot of a cars performance.
My buddy has the Performance Tesla 3 as a company car and of course by no means a rival.
Under safe circumstances (living in the sticks as we do) its acceleration is astonishing.
The GTS' performance stats tested here just surprised me that's all.
Take your point re PDK.
Straight line acceleration isn't everything. How the cars corners and the feedback to the driver is also important. My Father was looking for his first BEV when he is coming from a 2018 Audi RS3. He didn't like the Tesla Model S however quite liked the Tesla Model 3. He finally settled on Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo which he will be collecting in January 2022. He said that although the Tesla Model 3 was good in a straight line the Taycan drove like a ICE car. He specifically mentioned the steering in the Porsche which is better than the Tesla. He also liked the build quality in the Taycan compared to the Tesla.
In the past year I have test driven a Taycan Turbo S and joy ridden a buddy's Model S P100 - both cars put me over 100 mph in seconds, the Porsche had me hit 80 over the speed limit so quickly I was out of on control (on an empty road, thankfully), the Tesla whipped me from around 30 to 110 so quick I nearly ran out of brakes to stop finding myself upon traffic that a few seconds earlier was 1/2 mile down the road. I've owned an early GT-R and my daily driver has over 400BHP, so I'm used to fast cars but both the Tesla and Taycan rewrote what 'fast' means for me.
*but* my neighbors (150bhp?) Mazda MX-5 which has been track prepared is more fun than anything else I've every driven - I just love it when he has a problem and asks me to test it to see if I can detect the source. There is so much more to a sports car than 0-60.
Actually with PDK and launch control you are looking at 2.8 for 0-60