The German prancing horse cars were always seen as reliable sports ones. Nowadays, almost every banker has – as people say – a basic Porsche 911. The enthousiasts say Porsche lost its soul particularly after the VW purchase. Sadly, Porsche cars are now seen as the proper conformity sports ones, just after the conformist family cars, like Volkswagen. Yet, the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS exists to counter this thesis. Text : Luca W. © Images : Porsche & Thomas Z. ©
The thing is, Porsche is the first victim of its own success. By creating the 911 and improving it for over 50 years to provide humans the best sports car ever, obviously everyone wants one. The old fans blame the brand for its popularity but Porsche just charmed everyone with the same passion. Of course, there always are the conceited junkies who buy a Porsche just to show off the streets, but that’s the case for everything.
Nevertheless, Porsche tries out to build unconformists 911s. If we had to buy new-factory Porsches, there would be two of them. The very first one is the GT3, obviously because of its radical sport spirit (more details on it with the test drive you can consult by clicking here). The very last one – the second – is the brand new 911 Carrera (4)GTS. Briefly, it’s a Porsche 911 Carrera (4)S with few more horse power but it’s not that easy Jackie.
« All that matters. » – Porsche
They’re right. Behind the Apple-like product title (I really love the full stop), many details are hidden. We didn’t drive the new Carrera GTS but to give you an idea of what GTS means to Porsche, we’ve driven for several hours the previous one : the 997 MKII.
The Carrera GTS was the last 997 variant, the 23rd. We still don’t know why Porsche made another variant again, but it’s certainly not like Bugatti, that is struggling to sell the last Veyrons. The first question everyone asked was « Isn’t it too much ? ». After driving it, we answer it with a big « No. ».
There were and are four sub-variants of the GTS : the GTS Coupé/Cab and the 4GTS Coupé/Cab, which is 4-wheel drive. Compared to the « normal » 997 Carrera S, which produces 385 HP, the GTS delivers 408 HP, so we cannot say there’s a huge difference between them, in terms of power.
There’s something special about the GTS : it’s the perfect 911. It’s not too asepticized, it doesn’t have new generation loudless turbos and god it’s beautiful. People say 911s « all look the same », but still, there are many considerable differences. The 997 GTS was equiped with different rims and the sports exhaust. With the 991, Porsche made an effort : the Club Sport front bumper, the Jubilee-like rear bonnet, the rims, the exhaust, the Pack Sport Chrono and last but not least, the GTS stickers on side doors. The new thing is, the GTS is available with the 7-speed manual gearbox (PDK is optionnal) and I feel excited about it !
The new Porsche 911 Carrera GTS
The 991 GTS 3.8 litres engine develops 430 HP and 440 Nm of torque, 30 HP more than the basic 911 Carrera (S), which is quite a gap ! The torque instead is unchanged. Speaking of numbers, there are almost no differences between the two. 0 to a 100 with the manual gearbox is faster with the GTS Coupé (4.4 sec vs 4.5 sec). With the PDK, the GTS does 4.0 seconds against 4.3 seconds for the Carrera S. The Cabriolet – which is heavier than the Coupé – is a bit slower than the Carrera S on manual. The top speed is the same for both GTSs : 304 km/h on manual and 302 on PDK. The wheelbase remains unchanged but the GTS is a bit longer by 18 mm, so the car might be a bit more stable than the Carrera S. With 30 HP more, the fuel consumption rises by 0%, which, I have to admit, is very good (less than 9L/100km). For the Cabriolet, the fuel consumption this time truly increases by 3%, which is still low.
In terms of performances, the chassis was lowered by 10mm, the air intake system was improved by using more lightweight plastic, and of course, the new 7-speed manual gearbox, for the purists. It is the perfect car for the Porsche mid-radical enthusiast. If you don’t want a conformist 911, neither a radical GT3, then the GTS is perfect for you.
To give us an idea of what the Porsche Carrera GTS means, we had to drive it
We’ve driven the 997 Carrera 4 GTS for a moment. We thought we were in the Batmobile : the car was all black. Black 20 inches rims, black body, black leather interior and black dials.
Anyway, the best thing is the start of the engine and pushing the little exhaust button on the central console. The sport exhaust system, by opening the valves, really make the engine sound like a tiger. Over the garage, we could feel the vibrations of the walls caused by the car. As my godfather says « Sound is 50% of pleasure ». So the test-drive was 50% done, and I didn’t use any fuel. Good work Porsche.
The car was 4-wheel drive and 44mm wider than any 2-wheel drive 911. What really impressed me was its reliability. In fact, the PDK makes everything. The gearbox and so the engine are divided up in 3 modes : the Normal mode, the Sport mode and the Sport+.
We were pleased with the Normal mode : if you like to drive slow, in a chill way and want to enjoy landscapes, this mode is perfect for you. Low revs, low fuel consumption and when you flat out, the engine still answers. The Sport mode is different : gear changes are much higher in revs (at least 4500 RPM) and the throttle response is phenomenon ! PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Managment) turns on by hardening the suspensions, which is terrible for comfort (we love back pains).
Not a GT3, but fast as hell
The performances are enormous : it sticks, it revs and it’s fast ! Then is the radical mode : the Sport+. We prefer to name it the Racing mode. What does « + » stand for ? The revs. It simply changes the programmation of the PDK to push the engine to the breaker ; maximum revs for maximum pleasure. If you don’t plan to go on a circuit with your GTS, then we think this mode might be useless : you won’t do 7.500 RPM in town after a green light, we hope.
Speaking of max revs, when we got to 7.500 RPM, I thought there was something missing, some high frequencies from the engine. It’s like the engine tells you it wants more, but simply can’t. Yet, the acceleration is growing in an exponential way so fastly that you’re simply happy with it.
The 911 Carrera GTS from my point of view is just perfect : not too radical, not too simple. When I see a GTS, I see the 901 concept, I see it as the bearier of Dionysus and Porsche’s soul which breaks todays rules, just like the GT3(RS).
« Back to 911. » – I think my Apple-like title is better.
