2011 Porsche Turbo S Coupe and Cabriolet

Porsche's new Turbo S Coupe and Cabriolet

Drive may be starting to sound like a broken record with this story, for two reasons actually. Firstly, this is yet another story about a car that is set to be introduced at the Geneva Motor Show next month, and secondly this news piece is about another brilliant Porsche, okay we don’t know that yet but what are the odds of it not being awesome? This announcement after all is hot on the heels of our editor going on the launch of the Panamera and absolutely loving it. The Porsche Turbo S is set to be the fastest 911 of the range so can you really blame us for not getting excited.

The current Turbo with it’s flat-six boxer engine produces 500hp/368kW, but the engineers in Stuttgart felt it necessary to plow an additional thirty horses in there for the Turbo S. It’s still roughly the same 3.8L twin turbo motor, just better. So the Porsche Turbo S will produce 530hp/390kW, torque too is very meaty at it’s peak, with 700Nm. Apparently fuel economy remains the same despite the power boost but in this sector is that actually relevant?

2011 Porsche Turbo S Cabriolet

Naturally the Turbo S comes equipped with Porsche’s double clutch gearbox, the seven speed PDK, with steering mounted paddles thankfully. Unfortunately all that power going through the PDK will then be delivered to all the wheels via the Porsche Traction Management (PTM), instead of just the rears. On a side note I blame all the varying and confusing names for all-wheel drive from different manufacturers on Audi, they made a legend out of their awesome Quattro system through rallying and now everyone has to have a vague name for all-wheel drive instead of just calling it what it is.

Other features on the Turbo S include Dynamic Engine Mounts and Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV). Those I think are a bit like Ford’s Revo Knuckles or big piston forks on bikes, I don’t completely comprehend just what it is they do or how they go about doing whatever it is that they do, but what I do know is that I want some of them. And besides, when 0-100km/h is dealt with in 3.3 seconds you’ve got to believe that all that vectored torque is doing something right. The Turbo S is also a comfortable member of the 300km/h club, top speed is 315km/h. Being a range topper the Turbo S will come equipped with Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB), which although very impressive, here at Drive we’re not absolutely convinced they’re outright necessary and thus anything more than an expensive gimmick.

The Turbo S will be arriving at international dealerships during may 2010, although South Africa does tend to lag behind Europe and the States, there’s always hope though.

2011 Porsche Turbo S Coupe

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