Porsche 911 TURBO S
If Theres Such Thing As A Real World Supercar, Porsches 911 Turbo Is It. With A Power Upgrade To 450bhp, The Turbo S Variant Ups The Desirability Factor Still Further. Andy Enright Reports
To qualify as a bona fide supercar, a few entry requirements must be met. A charismatic badge, searing performance and ridiculous amounts of power are all must-haves. It should also be achingly desirable, wield an eye watering price tag and must be so beautiful it reduces grown men to a gibbering mess. Certain things that you may think are necessary are in fact optional.
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A supercar neednt handle particularly well, nor does it need to be styled by an Italian designer with a multisyllabic name. As
Porsche have proved with their 911 Turbo, a supercar can also carry luggage, be reliable, safe and not prove to be an unmitigated moneypit.
The trouble with the 420bhp 911 Turbo is that it has possibly become a little too sensible for its own good. After all, rivals like the
Lamborghini Gallardo sport 492bhp and a shape to die for while executive cars like the Mercedes E55 develop a hefty whack of 476bhp. Even this iconic Porsche could end up looking a little outgunned, hence the Stuttgart top brass found themselves in something of a quandary. The forthcoming 997 Turbo model was still a good two years away yet something needed to be done now and at limited development expense.
The answer is the 911 Turbo S, a car packing 450bhp and performance virtually on par with its rivals. In many ways Porsche were lucky. The turbocharged engine of the 911 lends itself easily to such power increases.
Ferrari backed themselves into something of a corner when they eked 400bhp from the normally aspirated 3.
6-litre engine fitted to the 360 Modena and now this power output is routuinely beaten by
Audi estates. Some serious work was required to up the 360s power output to 420bhp in the Challenge Stradale model. Porsche, on the other hand, had long offered the 450bhp conversion as an optional extra to 911 Turbo owners, so introducing this more powerful 911 as a separate model in its own right would seem at first to be a mere badging exercise. Thats a long way from the truth however.
"Performance is predictably electrifying"
Rather than just a few lines of altered coding on the engines electronic control unit, the 911 Turbo S features larger turbochargers, modified intercoolers and a strengthened six-speed manual transmission. The engine computer has been tweaked to allow for these changes and as a result, the Turbo S records fuel consumption and emissions barely different from its Turbo sibling. The brakes have also been uprated with the fitment of Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) which were previously a rather pricey option on the Turbo. These stoppers offer a 50 per cent weight reduction per wheel over conventional steel rotors and are a good deal more resitant to brake fade.
The weight factor is important. Chassis engineers get very concerned about unsprung weight. Because this part of a vehicle is in direct connection to the road and therefore subject to all of its imperfections, it is important that this weight be as low as possible. The greater the unsprung weight, the greater the inertia of the suspension, which will be unable to respond as quickly to rapid changes at the interface between the road and wheel.
Some owners who specified them on the previous Turbo have had reservations about their long term durability however, having to be expensively replaced within around 12,000 miles. Standard equipment levels have been boosted across the board. The interior features a BOSE audio system and Porsche Communication Manager (PCM) incorporating all of the audio, telephone and sat nav functionality. Full leather trim, aluminium-coloured dials, cruise control and xenon headlamps are also standard fit items.
The Turbo S also sports 18-inch alloy wheels painted in GT Silver metallic and there are a number of metallic body finishes to choose from with the option of a unique Dark Olive metallic tone. Both Coupe and Convertible models are offered, the hard top car retailing at £99,300 and the open body requiring £105,030 of your disposable income. The stiffest 911 Cabriolet to date, it features a significantly reinforced chassis yet still tips the scales at a mere 13kg heavier than the coupe. Although the roof is a fabric rather than metal affair, its nonetheless an impressive piece of engineering.
The three part roof opens and closes electrically in 21 seconds and the 911 is one of the few cars that can drop its top whilst on the go. At speeds of up to 30mph, the driver can lower the roof by a button on the centre console, the operation in this instance taking 26 seconds. Like all 911 Cabriolets, the Turbo S features twin roll bars that deploy automatically and a removable aluminium hardtop is also supplied for year-round convenience. Performance is predictably electrifying.
Porsche often err on the conservative side when quoting performance figures, so when they state that the Turbo S is good for a top speed of 191mph and 0-60mph in 4 seconds flat, you can get some idea of this cars awesome potential. A clearer yardstick of its muscle is the 0-100mph sprint which it notches off in nine seconds - the same as the heavier but more powerful and expensive Lamborghini Gallardo. Both cars put their power down using sophisticated all-wheel drive transmissions. The 911 Turbo S may be something of a stop-gap until the 997 generation car comes along but few who sample it will care a jot.
The usability of that performance, the sheer practicality and sense of the design and the attention to detail are all as good as ever. More of everything rarely gets the thumbs down, from us at any rate.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Porsche 911 Turbo S range
PRICE: £99,300 - £105,030 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: 309-339g/km [est]
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 4s / Max Speed 191mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (average) 21.2mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: [Coupe] Length/Width/Height, 4245/1735/1300mm
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