Porsche 911 GT3 Touring Package aims for subtlety
And, in a rare display, you get more stuff than the standard GT3 -- for free.
It's hard out there for a person who wants a performance car but doesn't want the aesthetics that come with it. Thankfully, Porsche recognizes this group, and it's built an options package for the 2018 911 GT3 to suit their subtlety.
The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring Package maintains a low profile without losing any of the GT3's capability. Since the standard GT3 features a rather large rear wing, the Touring Package does away with that, replacing it with an automatically extending rear spoiler similar to other 911 variants.
Not everyone wants a car as flashy as its performance specs belie.
Purists will enjoy the fact that the Touring Package is only available with the six-speed manual transmission. Think of it as a 911 R, but without the stripes or the additional weight-loss regimen. As a matter of fact, as if by magic, the GT3 with the Touring Package is exactly the same curb weight as the manual GT3 without the package.
At 3,116 pounds, the 911 R is about 95 pounds lighter than the GT3 Touring Package, but that doesn't affect straight-line performance all that much. You'll still arrive at 60 mph in 3.8 seconds -- same as the standard 6MT GT3 -- although with a top speed of 196 mph, you're down by 1-2 mph compared to the big-winged GT3 variants. The engine remains a 4.0-liter flat-6 putting out 500 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque.
If you think that's the end of it, it's not. The interior gets a little fancier, too, thanks to a standard leather-finish GT Sport steering wheel, with that leather extending to the shift lever, armrests, center console and interior door handles. Four-way power sport seats with an embossed Porsche crest are standard, but you can upgrade to 18-way adaptive seats or proper buckets if you want to drop additional coin.
Speaking of coin, Porsche traditionally loves to charge buyers for the privilege of removing items from vehicles, or making the interior fancier, but the 911 GT3 Touring Package is different. It's actually the exact same price as the standard GT3 -- $143,600, before destination and taxes and all that good stuff. If you want to tear it up on the track without all eyes on your big ol' wing, and feel a little fancier in the process, the GT3's Touring Package is a hell of a deal.
Porsche's leather interiors are some of the best in the industry.