The 996 Turbo S left motoring scribes
gasping, while the 997 made the previous model seem dated. Total 911 looks at
the background to the most blistering Turbo model yet
From its introduction in 1975, the Turbo
has always been the pinnacle of the 911 range, but in more recent times
Porsche’s astute marketing machine realised that if an ‘S’ niche worked for the
Carrera and other Porsche models, then logically a similarly higher powered
Turbo ‘S’ version should top the Turbo range. “Given a choice, customers will
always take the faster car,” says August Achleitner, who led the engineering
team behind the 997 Turbo. He bases this assertion on experience with the 997,
which shows that the 3.8 Carrera S outsold the plain 3.4 Carrera by a ratio of
three to one. As is well known in the motor industry, the better specified a
production model, the more profit the manufacturer makes from it.
997
Turbo S
Just as the 996 brought the 911 bang up to
date, the Turbo, launched in 2001, did the same for the blown model, and the
996T soon gained the enviable reputation of being the most accessible and
usable super car on the market. From the very beginning, Porsche has always
made its Turbo stand out from lesser 911s with wider haunches and aerodynamic
appendages. The 996 Turbo was the first, however, to be accused of looking
slightly bland. With its side skirts, turbo hips and lower front and rear
valances, it certainly stood apart from its normally aspirated sister, but for
some it did not appear special enough for a model retailing in Britain for
upwards of $135,000. Arriving in 2004, the 996S did gain white, turbo-inscribed
instruments and turbo flashes on its sills, but at this stage Porsche was
preparing to introduce the 997 so the changes were limited.
Big
yellow brake calipers are another sure sign of a Turbo S, while ceramic discs
eliminate brake dust
Though the 997 was basically a reskin of
the 996, Porsche evidently took criticism of the styling of its first
water-cooled 911 to heart, for the new model had more of the much-admired 993,
especially its front. So when the Turbo arrived shortly afterwards it was, as
anticipated, a distinctly more interesting design, with a number of changes to
make it appear more aggressive. The rear wings were 22mm wider and the valances
were revised, the rear incorporating new exhaust outlets and a horizontal bar
at the front containing the now obligatory LEDs, as well as reducing lift by
redirecting airflow. Less successful in some people’s opinion were the
ostentatiously chromed five-spoke wheels, which Total 911’s then editor thought
would be more appropriate on a gangster rapper’s motor.
The
front spoiler aids aerodynamics and feeds air to the brakes
The interior of the 997 was of far higher
quality than the 996, and this was better expressed nowhere than in the cabin
of the Turbo S, which had its own distinctly luxurious two-tone leather
adaptive sports seats together with ‘Turbo’ reminders in the instruments and on
the door sills. The S also saw the introduction for the first time of an S
Cabriolet, priced a cool $10,500 over the Coupe.
The
bi-plane rear spoiler rises at speeds above 75mph, retracting again at 37mph
Interestingly, there was no ‘S’ version
with the original launch of the 997 Turbo; Porsche waited until the arrival of
the Gen2 engine before presenting the S variant of the turbocharged unit. The
new engine represented perhaps the biggest milestone in the history of the
Turbo, as the famous Mezger engine, versions of which had powered the Turbo for
34 years, was replaced by Porsche’s completely new direct injection unit. This
was a major development; direct injection, originally used on diesels, squirts
fuel directly into the cylinders at very high pressure, eliminating loss and
increasing efficiency while allowing better control of the mixture, which in
turn enhances power and economy. It’s a significant advance on traditional
injection, which mixes the fuel and air in the manifold before it is sucked
into the combustion chambers. After launching the Gen2 997 Turbo in September
2009, Porsche would finally unveil the 997 Turbo S at the 2010 Geneva Show. As
with the 993 and 996 Turbo S models, it offered more power and torque than the
‘base’ Turbo, with 526 instead of 500bhp and 700Nm rather than 650Nm. Porsche
claimed a 0.4 seconds faster 0-62mph time, too.
The
Sport Chrono Package Turbo is standard on all Turbo S models, with visual
features including a digital and analogue stopwatch in the center of the
dashboard, a performance display plus ‘Sport’ and ‘Sport Plus’ buttons, which
illuminate on the steering wheel to notify the driver of the driving mode
selected
Known for its abrupt mid-corner turbo boost
and equally sudden loss of adhesion, the early single Turbo 911s had something
of a reputation as experts’ cars - a state of affairs which perhaps suited
Porsche at the time. But times and tastes change, and by the late Nineties twin
turbo chargers were used for more modulated boost and four-wheel drive had
completely changed the nature of the beast. The new century saw the
introduction of electronic safeguards, notably traction control and Porsche
Stability Management, which made exploiting the Turbo’s immense performance
more secure. The advent of the 997 Turbo saw this advance further, and the 2010
Turbo S sports the full panoply of electronic watchdogs. In addition to PSM and
PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management, which lowers the suspension by 20mm
and firms up the damping), the Turbo S has Porsche Torque Vectoring, as well as
the popular Sport Chrono. Of all the options, the Sport Chrono is one of the
most useful: the accompanying Sport button remaps the engine to give a more
aggressive response. In the case of the PDK-equipped Turbo S, Sport Chrono
holds the lower ratios longer and controls the turbo’s overboost facility. It
also controls the adjustable engine mounts: in a new development, Porsche’s
Dynamic Engine Mounts are fluid-filled rather than the regular solid bushes. As
such, they remain pliable when refinement is required, but they harden when
commanded by the Sport Chrono to enhance stability during cornering.
Occupant
space is generous in the Turbo S, which features contrasting seams on the
seats, door panels and dashboard
PTV works by applying braking to the inside
rear wheel (an intervention mandated by the PSM), and the effect of torque
vectoring is to rotate the car into corners, which is particularly reassuring
on wet surfaces and, in the words of Porsche development engineers, makes the
911 “handle more like a mid-engined design.” With the Sport Chrono button on
and backed up by the standard mechanical LSD, which allows earlier application
of throttle, the Turbo S can be made to corner at speeds once thought to be
physically impossible.
