the new Porsche 911 GTS (2021) gives us a serious problem

New top of the range of the 911 Carrera, the GTS is full of horsepower and receives a chassis with more dynamic settings. But choosing your Porsche 911 has never been more difficult than it is today.

Do you dream of a Porsche 911? We understand you. Despite what some fundamentalists say in bad faith, the German GT is currently playing at its very best thanks to an absolutely stunning dynamic control. We can rail against the firmness of its suspension, the disappearance of the atmospheric engine on its most widespread versions or the relative banality of its lines. But to shiver at the wheel of a good sports car with real driving sensations, the German remains an absolute benchmark on the high-end grand touring market. You still have to choose one: launched in 2018, the 911 type 992 now has an almost complete range. In addition to the models of the Carrera series (Carrera, Carrera 4, Carrera S, Carrera 4S), existing in coupé, convertible and Targa, customers can also turn to the Turbo and Turbo S catapults, also available in coupé and convertible. Pending the arrival of other even more radical variants, purists converge on the terrible GT3 and its atmospheric flat-six capable of screaming up to 9,000 rpm.

The new 911 GTS is in a way the link between the “nice” Carreras, the overpowering Turbos and the GT3 track racer. Its technical sheet brings it closer to the Carrera family by using the same 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six, which gains 30 horsepower and 40 Nm of torque compared to a Carrera S (thanks to modified mapping and a circuit revised cooling). Incidentally, with 480 horsepower it only makes three equids to the 996 GT2 which represented the absolute peak of the 911 in 2003. Its chassis incorporates certain dynamic options from the Carrera S catalog as standard, such as sports damping lowered by 10 mm, as well as the large brakes of the 911 Turbo and a rear axle close to that of the latter. To add other strategic dynamic options such as rear-wheel steering, PDCC which further improves cash handling or even variable-assist steering, you will have to pay. So, does this GTS represent the perfect compromise of the 911 family as some Porschists like to say?

A surprise bomb

Contact put in a 911 Carrera 4 GTS Coupé (it exists in two and four wheel drive, coupé, cabriolet or Targa only in all-wheel drive), the first driving sensations do not differ from a Carrera S. We find the hushed universe of the 992, this typically Porsche heavy steering, a flat-six that buzzes and vibrates at low speed or even a suspension set firmer than on board an Audi R8. On the highway, the German behaves like a nice family car with its adaptive cruise control and lane keeping system (€2,592). The Porsche engineers explain to us that the engine sound diffuses more in the passenger compartment, which seems to be true with a flat-six which remains very present even when cruising at 130 km/h on Italian highways sadly stuffed with trucks.

Once you arrive on the circuit, the GTS immediately puts you back in touch with the extraordinary qualities of this dynamically successful 992. Copious (0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds), the accelerations will leave marble only those who have already tasted the astounding 911 Turbo S. The flat-six bi-turbo 3.0 liters, with surprising extension , absolutely not lacking in character despite all the bad things purists say about it. The PDK gearbox offers both sufficient responsiveness in sport automatic mode and superb instantaneousness in manual mode. Even on a track sorely lacking in grip (inaugurated a few days before our test), the sensations of piloting give confidence to the point of quickly cutting off the driving aids. We read in the behavior of this machine as in an open bookit pivots at will and the traction is such that the all-wheel drive seems quite superfluous. We only notice a heavier front axle on a model without rear steering wheels. (option at €2,268). Note that these steered rear wheels are fitted to the car as standard if you opt for the very dispensable lightening pack (approximately €10,000), saving 25 kg on the scale thanks in particular to the removal of the rear seats and the installation of buckets in carbon. Regardless of the number of drive wheels, driving a 911 GTS on the circuit never makes you want to stop. Difficult, however, to really feel a significant difference compared to an already formidable Carrera S in similar conditions (especially with almost the same dynamic options checked in the catalog). It would probably be necessary to switch from one version to another to really gauge the differences.

The GTS for installers

Unlike the coupé and the convertible, the new Targa GTS does not have the auxiliary springs of the 911 Turbo on the rear axle, which are supposed to improve its dynamic efficiency. As if Porsche suspected the priorities of the clientele of this version, probably more attracted by its monumental sex appeal than its performance on the circuit. 20 kilos heavier than the convertible (1,685 kg against 1,665 kg for a GTS Cabriolet four-wheel drive), it still does not protect better from the turmoil than the latter but turns all heads with its pretty rear bubble. And the manual transmission, by the way? Because like the Carrera and the Carrera S, the GTS allows you to replace the PDK transmission with a good old seven-speed manual gearbox at no extra cost, which we tried on the road. The traditional lever provides many short moments of mechanical satisfaction during a ride with the wind in the wind on a pretty road in Veneto, even if it imposes rigorous precision in its guidance with so many gears to go through. But with a PDK transmission that is both so efficient in sporty use and pleasant in quiet driving, it will take a lot of determination to give it up.

Spoiled for choice (literally)

Make no mistake, driving a 911 GTS really provides sensations that only the dean of European sports cars knows how to distill. A pleasure which, whatever your degree of indifference to the so familiar silhouette of the 911, will make you capsize to the point of dreaming about it at night. But at €144,022 as a starting price and even admitting that this supplement includes a lot of standard equipment offered as an option on the Carrera S, is it worth the €18,230 extension that it asks for compared to this version of 450 horses already extraordinary to drive? We were already wondering about the need not to be satisfied with a simple basic Carrera at €110,192 and now Porsche is making our task even more complicated. Especially that by adding another €30,000, it is possible to reach the absolute nirvana of sport in 911 by preferring the GT3, certainly less versatile. Or, by adding another €20,000 more, to taste the dizzying orbits inflicted by the 911 Turbo at each acceleration. No, really, we wouldn’t want to have to choose our Porsche 911…

Technical characteristics Porsche 911 Carrera GTS