The naming of cars always causes a bit of debate. With the Porsche 911, you know where you stand. Mention a 911 and everyone, even non-motoring enthusiasts, know what you’re referring to. Since the early 1960s, the Porsche 911 has been a prominent fixture on the automotive landscape. Cynics might suggest that everything and nothing has changed since then. 911s are instantly recognisable across the generations. As the years have passed, however, the 911 itself has grown into a wide and varied family of cars. From the entry level Carrera T to the range topping Tubo S, with specials like the GT3 RS serving as punctuation marks for the range, not all 911s are designed equally. This brings us to the nuance of the name and today’s review, the Porsche 911 992.2 Targa 4 GTS.
I’m unsure how you’d approach this when discussing your new car down your hypothetical local. You’ve got a 911, everyone will understand that. Reel off the full title of Porsche 911 992.2 Targa 4 GTS, however, and you will soon sort the interested from the disinterested. In the world of 911 enthusiasts – and it’s a bigger world than you might realise, featuring people who get worked up about water cooling and electric steering – the nomenclature is everything. Across those six words, the 911 is brought to life as an individual car. They make it stand out.
And stand out the latest iteration of the 911 GTS certainly does. The aesthetics may be familiar, but the underpinnings are not. Here sits the first electrically assisted Porsche 911. It’s a hybrid, but not as we know it. Porsche’s incredibly clever T-Hybrid system supports the delivery of a car that troubles the Turbo range. After 60 years, the old dog is learning new tricks.
Living with the Porsche 911 992.2 GTS
First things first, this isn’t a hybrid you have to recharge. The emphasis in on efficiency, just of performance delivery rather than emissions. It doesn’t start in or feature an electric only mode. The 1.9kWh battery recharges itself as you go.
Away from refuelling the Porsche 911 992.2 GTS, everything inside is unmistakably Porsche. Very plush, well laid out and comfortable. The truffle interior didn’t appeal to all, but once inside it drew no complaints.
You’ll also have noticed that the model tested here is the Targa. I was delighted when the spec sheet came through because, personal opinion alert, I think the Targa is the best looking of the 911s. The roof mechanism alone is a work of art, watching the rear lid open and tilt, consume the fabric and slot back into position. I showed it to anyone who would watch, just so I could watch it again. Magnificent.
On the practicality front, the front storage in surprisingly large. I played cricket on my Sunday with the Porsche 911 GTS and managed to fit two bats in the front. I thought they’d be too long. This meant the two accompanying bags could be placed on the back seats.
The back seats, really, are auxiliary storage. My seven-year-old son complained about a lack of room back there, for some idea of the space. My mum, on the way back from an airport run, raised similar complaints. The 911 has never pretended to be a family car, though.
My only internal complaint was the burying of the HVAC controls in the screen. You’re always a couple of clicks away. There’s empty space alongside the gear selector which Porsche used to use for physical buttons. Some HVAC shortcuts beyond temperature and fan speed would make life easier.
What’s the Porsche 911 992.2 GTS like to drive?
The weather played ball, so I drove many of my 410 miles with the roof off. You get a bit of thudding at higher speeds but lower the windows and it rectifies this. Embrace the elements and the 992.2 GTS performs a GT role with aplomb. Great ride quality, comfortable surroundings and plenty of power in reserve.
When I reviewed the 992 GTS cabriolet a couple of years ago, I don’t remember thinking: “this car could do with being a bit faster.” Still, the engineers in Stuttgart went away and made it exactly that. 0.4secs has been shaved off the 0-62mph time, now standing at 3.1secs. A 3.6ltr flat six producing 549bhp and 610Nm of torque will do that even in the Targa, the heaviest of all the 911s at 1745Kgs.
You don’t really notice the extra weight. You’d have to go back-to-back with the coupe to make it obvious. The Porsche 911 GTS is so powerful now that it reduces the extra weight to a feather. The improved performance is in no small part due to the clever T-Hybrid system. A battery sits within the turbo to make it spool faster and reduce turbo lag, which Porsche has done by around three seconds. It results in an almost naturally aspirated feel.
The drive modes are accessible via a rotary dial on the steering wheel. Whilst it’s not slow in comfort, dialling up through sport and sport plus changes the character of the Porsche 911 GTS. There’s also a red button within the dial which upon compression gives you 20secs of everything this car has to offer. Spot an overtake, hit the button, the car instantly tightens up and barks at you before booting you up the road. It’s a hugely impressive, Jekyll & Hyde moment deploying it from comfort.
How does the Porsche 911 992.2 GTS handle on the road?
Whilst the Porsche 911 GTS undoubtedly performs a sterling job as a GT, it is first and foremost a sports car. Except it has a supercar’s turn of pace. The boundaries between sports car, supercar and GT are increasingly blurred in a deeply impressive pool of cars. You could reasonably pit the 992.2 GTS against the Ferrari Roma, McLaren Artura, Maserati GranTurismo and Corvette Z06. It’s a broad church, but a nice congregation to be a part of.
Having settled into the Porsche 911 GTS with a gentle trundle along the M4, the time came to poke and prod at it a bit. The ease of driving experience extends to all the added functionalities. Drive modes and launch control are accessed in an instant, for example. The launch control is deeply impressive. It’s the only time the mighty GTS really puffs out its chest and breathes out fire. The GTS hunkers down then shoots you down the road like a cannon ball.
Alongside this, the brakes are possessed of almighty stopping power, which is just as well. The model tested isn’t equipped with carbon ceramics, but they would only come into play if you’re taking it on track days. In which case you wouldn’t buy the Targa. The standard brakes are brilliant.
Porsche has also done a great job with the steering. It’s heavily but nicely weighted, with clearer communication than most. It means that you can hustle along B-roads with confidence, exploiting the near limitless traction in such a scenario. You really have to mean it to get the Porsche 911 GTS to step out of line.
From commuting to motorways to B-roads, the Porsche 911 992.2 Targa 4 GTS is an exceptional all-rounder. Every one of the 410 miles in it was a pleasure.
Conclusion
The 911 has become so accomplished that you don’t really miss any of the old school touches. I put the gearbox in manual once and deployed the paddles just to see what they were like. They were predictably excellent but then the PDK box does such a good job that you don’t even feel the need to call upon them. Press the red max-boost-power-turbo button and you get all the savagery you could ever need in one simple action.
I didn’t long for a manual. If outright tactility is your desire, the Porsche 911 Carrera T will cater for that. The Porsche 911 992.2 Targa 4 GTS is effortlessly, almost politely, violent. It so easily calls upon its vast resources and allocates them with pinpoint accuracy.
It’s a car that reacts to your inputs and almost reads your mind. Apply the throttle with assertiveness and it just seems to pick the right gear for your whims.
It even sounds good, too, with a pleasantly gruff bark from the flat six upon start up. It howls along to a 7500rpm crescendo before clicking back up the cogs and slotting calmly back into a background burble at under 2000rpm on the motorway.
It’s hard to think of a more competent, do-anything sports car for south of £175,000. There’s the luxury refinement Porsche has grown to embrace. Yet it lacks none of the sporting punch the brand was raised on, either.
What we have here is just a superb car. It was easy to navigate through Gatwick’s tight car parks and West London’s congested roads. It cruises serenely on the motorway and raises a few pulses along B-roads. I just couldn’t find a situation in which it, or I, was flustered.
