Facelift for 911 Turbo S 01 | 12 | 2015
THIS IS OUR first look at the facelifted Porsche 911 Turbo S which, when it's launched into Scottish dealerships at the end of January, will be the fastest-accelerating production 911. Take a deep breath: it'll hit 62mph from standstill in 2.9sec – 0.2sec faster than its predecessor. (See more photographs of the new Porsche 911 Turbo S)
Set to be unveiled officially at the Detroit Motor Show, the 911 Turbo S is also among a small group of road-going 911s to boast a top speed in excess of 200mph. In fact it's expected to top out at 205mph.
Available in in both coupé and cabriolet body styles, the 2016 911 Turbo S retains the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre horizontally opposed six-cylinder direct injection petrol engine as its predecessor, which first went on sale in the UK in 2013.
However, a number of technical improvements have boosted power output by 20bhp to 572bhp.
Porsche has yet to reveal official torque figures for the new car, but it's expected they will match the 553lb/ft as the previous 911 Turbo S. Again the car is mated to a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and four-wheel-drive system.
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Porsche has also updated the 'standard' 911 Turbo, again available in both coupé and cabriolet form. Utilising a less aggressively-tuned version of the same engine, it delivers 532bhp, 18bhp more than its predecessor.
Worth highlighting that despite boasting 40bhp less than the new Turbo S, it will still hit 62mph from standstill in 3.0secs, and carry on to a top speed of 199mph: that's an improvement of 0.4sec and 3mph.
Both the new 911 Turbo and 911 Turbo feature what Porsche calls a dynamic boost function, designed to reduce the effect of turbocharger lag and provide what sportscar maker describes as sharper throttle response.
Porsche claims improved response when the driver reapplies the throttle, with the effected described as being more pronounced in Sport and Sport Plus modes than in Normal mode.
Improvements to fuel efficiency have also been made, with the coupe models returning 31.0mpg and the cabriolets 30.4mpg: that's an increase of 2.0mpg.
The two new models also adopt the subtle exterior styling upgrades first seen on the facelifted 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
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In addition to an altered front bumper with reshaped cooling ducts, there's a revised splitter element and twinned LED indicator units either side helping to emphasis the new car’s visual width.
The rear of the new cars get restyled tail lamps with added structure to the lenses and altered LED graphics. There's also a redesigned engine lid featuring a new look grille for improved cooling properties as well as re-profiled bumper with new trapezoidal shaped tailpipes.
Inside the cabin the 2016 model year 911 Turbo and 911 Turbo S each now sport a new 360mm-diameter steering wheel featuring a rotary driving mode controller.
And a key, innovative feature is the new Sport Response feature. This allows the driver to call up maximum accelerative potential for up to 20sec in any of the four driving modes – Normal, Sport, Sport Plus, Individual – at the press of a button.
Prices? While the facelifted 911 Turbo coupé — which is on sale in Scotland now —starts at £126,925, with the Turbo cabrio costing £135,766, the 911 Turbo S starts at £145,773 with the soft-top version £154,614.
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Jim McGill