PORSCHE 911 GTS

TESTED 16.9.21, ITALY ON SALE NOW. The model between a Carrera S and Turbo has just got more serious. Too serious?

- MATT SAUNDERS

It’s now more than a decade since Porsche introduced its latest extra-special 911 derivative, the GTS – although you might wonder whether many besides those who actually bought and sold them really noticed at the time. There were modern GTS models before the 997-generation 911, of course, so it’s a complicated equation to contemplate. But is the 911 GTS really ‘a thing’ yet?

We anticipate and expect a new 911 GT3, don’t we? Just as we do a Turbo, or even a whole new 911 model-generation debut. But a 911 GTS? It’s just a sort of mid-range trim level, surely?

Well, perhaps it won’t seem that way for very much longer, because Porsche has set about this new 992-gen 911 GTS with a good deal more intent than it did either of its predecessors. Whereas the last GTS was mechanically hardly any different from a Carrera S with optional PASM Sport suspension and an engine power upgrade kit, the new one has upped its game, its price and its suspension specification, each by notable hikes.

In the engine compartment, the GTS uses an uprated version of the 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged flat six that powers the regular 992 Carrera – one developing 30 horsepower more than a standard Carrera S and with a similar advantage on torque. That engine blows through a specially tuned active exhaust and makes its presence heard in the cabin thanks to the removal of much of a regular 992’s noise insulation.