Porsche 911 Turbo S: The return of the King

Porsche’s seminal everyday, all-weather, all-season supercar, the 911 Turbo, has carefully and continuously evolved since the original 930-generation Turbo came out in 1975. From a traitorous, scheming widow-maker to a perfectly capable and comfortable everyday car, Porsche’s sixth-generation Turbo variant has gone far indeed.

With bigger 20-inch forged aluminum wheels mounted with Pirelli’s P-Zero tires, measuring 245/40 fronts and 305/30 rears, the Turbo S has all the stature worthy of a king. Here’s why:

Reliability. Porsche produces the most number of race-ready cars. Five percent of all 911 production are racing vehicles which utilize a large part of original, OEM-specific parts from their road cars and make their way onto the track. And their benchmark? The legendary Nordschleife (Northern Loop) of the Nurburgring, with its 300 meters of elevation change, 20+ kilometer length and 73 officially recognized corners.

Composure. Need to drive up to the Alps with some snow? How about blitzing your favorite mountain pass in torrential rain?  Or some quick blasts on deserted, scarred, pock-marked and crowned B-roads? All-wheel-drive grip, matched with Porsche’s Torque Vectoring, Porsche Stability Management and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control or PDCC, means that the Turbo S sticks like glue on the road, riveted and welded for good measure. You also get Porsche’s LED-equipped Dynamic Light System Plus which swivels in the dark as it follows your steering inputs. A late-evening thrash should be of no concern. Should you, in the highly unlikely case, ever over-power all the electronic aids, there are six airbags as standard to keep your noggin safe.

Comfort. The added track width and longer wheelbase mean greater comfort and refinement and, with the dynamic dampers, a flick of a switch means the Turbo S can be as comfy as a regular sports coupe, or hard-as-nails as a dedicated track car. Yet even at its firmest setting (Sport Plus with PDCC switched on), there’s no hint of harshness,  only firmness with decent compliance over bumpy curves, which translates to control, boiling down to absolute confidence.

Practicality. Well, OK, for me and the missus who have a modest shopping list every two weeks, the boot in front fits all our groceries. It also easily fits my laundry basket to take to the cleaners, plus our clothes bag for a week-long trip. And the nose sits quite high up, the front bumper a good 5-or-so inches above ground in its default comfort setting, with the hardened rubber front spoiler retracting away in town, revealing itself only when things go crazy fast and fun as it adds much needed down-force on the rear-heavy Turbo S. Mall car parks and speed bumps pose no problems.

Drama. OK, here’s one aspect Porsches have, in the past, fallen short of. Everything about a Porsche is so efficient. The engine is as small and as powerful as it needs to be but lacks some acoustically tuned noises. In PDK guise, it might as well be a comfortable cruiser rather than a continental destroyer because it is so, well, easy. But the Turbo S, with its new engine, finally makes cracking, popping noises when shifting and on the over-run, much like how the Italians do it. Not as loud, not as dramatic, but definitely present and most welcome as the industrial turbine whine is overlaid by rich baritone notes and the odd minute backfiring noises.

So, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I get a call asking if I wanted to try out the latest 911 Turbo S. Uhm, am I fat?!

Fast-forward three hours and on a quick drive to the south, I experience, surprisingly, the 911’s comfort and civility. It’s an easy place to live in. Everything is within arm’s reach, yet nothing detracts from the driving. There are some foibles: The electric power steering feels lighter and a bit nervous than I remember it in the Carrera S, the PCCB brakes seem rather grabby and sensitive, and the seats feel like they’re molesting me. A few miles in and I feel more settled. My nervousness leaves as I realize that the active all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel steering constantly try to compensate for my driving skills (or lack thereof). Settled, an opening coming up, I press the Sport Plus and PDCC buttons. The steering and suspension firm up, the car drops itself lower to the ground, the exhaust opens its valves to emit a sportier, angrier blat, the rear spoiler pops up and the hardened rubber front lip spoiler reveals itself to add down-force;  I punch the 3.8-liter, VGT-equipped, direct-fuel-injected flat-six all the way into and well past state penitentiary territory; it happens so fast that as soon as I realize we might be overspeeding (and we were indeed), the massive six-piston monoblock calipers clamp down hard on the Carbon Ceramic rotors and we’re firmly back at legal speeds. And the opening was less than half a kilometer in length on the highway. Insane indeed. And the control required to keep the Turbo S at legal speeds can only be considered Christ-like.

We spot a common acquaintance driving an older 997 GT2 and play a bit of tag. Unfortunately, the GT2’s rear-wheel-drive architecture and far less electronic aids mean he can’t take as

many liberties as our newer AWD-equipped Turbo S. We carefully weave through traffic (doing legal speeds of course) but through some of SLEx’s badly surfaced areas nearing the mega Petron gas station just past San Pedro Exit. Here, the tarmac is rippled silly and all cars slow down to avoid getting thrown off the road. Not the Turbo S, which casually shrugs it off. Sure there’s a bit of tram-lining, but nothing more than you’d expect from a big, heavy, executive luxo-barge.

Exiting the Greenfield/ABI Exit, I try to get the Torque Vectoring to kick in. I’ve experienced this amazing technology at the 911 Carrera S launch in Santa Barbara, California, a few years ago: It’s a surreal experience as the front initially feels like understeering, followed by snap oversteer as the rear swings out, seemingly with a mind of its own. But keep the lock steady, keep your foot planted, and the 911 flows into a perfectly controlled drift/slide. Unfortunately, the Turbo S has huge reserves of grip (and sensibility for my sake) that only the active AWD and rear-wheel steering kick in, and as we exit the corner as quickly and as drama-free as possible, it was almost a shock as my gear flew all over inside the Turbo S’ pristine interior.

Coming home, the engine displays more of its flexibility better than ever. There are no peaks, troughs and valleys in the power delivery. The engine just feels really smooth, the wave of torque relentless, and the PDK transmits power to all four wheels seamlessly, almost like a step-less CVT transmission. This translates to faster in-gear accelerations and, no doubt, helps the Turbo S hit 100 clicks in under 3 seconds consistently.

There are other cars that are faster than a 911 Turbo S. Other cars are rarer, more dramatic, more soulful perhaps, and more this and that. But none of them combine the everyday civility, all-roads/all-weather confidence and, crucially, easy access to all the available performance in real-world conditions as a 911 Turbo S. Which is why to this day, it remains to be the benchmark of all its competitors. All hail the King.