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The Porsche 911 Carrera has always been the most popular version of the 911, usually consisting of the base Carrera and the sportier "S" models while the GT 911's were always designed solely for track use. The 911 Carrera GTS aims to slot in between the Carrera S and GT3 as the new medium-affordable alternative.
At face value, this car seems to answer no need whatsoever but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Cars like the 911 subsist on a fairly modest customer base, and with the current 991 generation now approaching middle age, Porsche needs something to lure owners back into the showroom.
With the awesome GT3 now all but sold out, the company also needs a more pragmatic counterpoint to offer customers clearly not in the market for the imminent GT3 RS. That, in a nutshell, is the GTS’s raison d’etre: to add spice to the model range, but at a level that isn’t too rarefied.
The GTS is very good – mainly because it’s a Porsche 911 sprinkled with go-faster dust, when normal 911s are already pretty special devices. But when you strip away what it really is, the GTS actually appeals more as a shrewd buy than as some kind of idealised sweet spot on the 911 ownership ladder.
Porsche has simply taken a regular Carrera S, thrown into the mix the wider body and axle tracks of the Carrera 4 and the engine upgrade of the optional ‘powerkit’, and likewise included some items of drivetrain and chassis equipment as standard that you’d otherwise have to pay extra for.
So the GTS gets Porsche’s Sport Chrono Plus package with sports exhaust and dynamic engine mounts, its torque vectoring set-up with the limited-slip diff and its actively damped PASM adjustable suspension thrown in.
It doesn’t have Porsche’s PDDC active anti-roll bars, but conveniently you wouldn’t want them. However, were you to order the car’s standard specification on a normal Carrera S, you’d get within £2000 of the GTS’s list price - not counting the leather/alcantara interior, wide body or the powerkit upgrade.
Added to that, there are one or two ways in which the GTS’s mechanical specification is genuinely new. The suspension and steering have been retuned for greater dynamic poise and feedback, with 10mm of ride height having been taken out of the former compared with the PASM set-up on the Carrera S.
The GTS is also the first 911 to benefit from a retuning of the 991’s standard seven-speed manual gearbox for better shift quality. While it’s a more civilised device than a GT3, you wouldn’t call the GTS a particularly comfortable tourer.
The standard 20in rims and low-profile tyres kick up noticeably more road roar than you’ll find in any GT worth its salt, the flat six ranges from vocal to very vocal in its various exhaust modes, and you have to keep that engine stoked up with frequent gearchanges in order to make the car feel seriously fast.
The car’s ride is compliant enough to deal well with most UK road surfaces, but it feels resolutely firm – and quite uncompromising in its body control at times. The GTS is better tied down than lesser models as a result, as well as flatter and more precise when cornering, but it can be a touch wearing over a bad surface.
Besides the improved shift quality, the GTS also beats its lesser siblings on steering weight and feedback, which both build more usefully away from straight-ahead. Lateral grip levels are such that you’ll need to be on a closed road or a circuit to probe them fully; on the road, even in fairly slippery conditions, balance, directional response, handling accuracy and stability are excellent.
The Porsche 911 continues to offer a more immersive and invigorating driving experience than any other sports car for the money, and this one certainly deserves a rank as one of the good ones.
It isn’t the most rounded or well mannered of grand tourers, and judged against rivals its bald performance is now much more commendable for its quality than its quantity, but its usability continues to distinguish it among less practical two-seaters.
If going fast matters as much to you as having fun, the GTS wins. But whichever you chose, you’ll have a sports car of effusive charm and character.
Price £91,000
Engine Porsche 3.8 Flat 6
Power 424bhp @ 7500rpm
Torque 325lb-ft @ 5750rpm
Gearbox 7 Speed Manual
Kerb weight 1500kg
Top speed 190mph
0-62mph 4.4sec
Economy 29.7mpg
CO2/tax band 223g/km, 35%
Source: http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/porsche/911-carrera-gts
