2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S is a smarter track and street superhero (pictures)
Porsche's 911 Turbo has received a meaningful mid-cycle update with higher-performance alterations evident both under hood and in the dashboard.
The 911 Turbo may not have a whale tail spoiler anymore, but its heritage is obvious.
Porsche's iterative, evolution-over-revolution 911 design strategy continues with the 2017 991.2 generation.
Few cars look as properly at home on a racetrack as a Porsche 911 Turbo.
Even with its big rear wing, the 911 Turbo's teardrop shape has a drag coefficient of 0.31.
The revised lower fascia, sliver-like taillights and rear wing all serve to emphasize the Turbo's width, which has been greatly enhanced by its flared fenders.
The new Turbo's nose is instantly recognizable as a 911.
Rear visibility in the 911 Turbo isn't great, but it's better than most supercars.
The 911 Turbo doing what it does best.
The 911 Turbo's fat tires and standard all-wheel drive enable you to put the power down coming out of corners earlier than you might expect.
Standard cornering LED headlamps are new for 2017.
The press drive for the 2017 911 Turbo took place in part on Kyalami racetrack, which was purchased in 2014 by Porsche's South African importer.
The Turbo gains new taillights shared with the rest of the 911 lineup, and they have a neat 3D-quality to their lenses, along with halo-like light pipes that are best visible at night.
That rear-mounted 3.8-liter flat-six turbo needs lots of air, as do the massive rear brake discs.
The engine cover receives new horizontally oriented strakes.
A closer look at the 911 Turbo's rump, which incorporates both a duckbill spoiler and a larger secondary wing.
An optional nose lift feature raises the front end of the 911 Turbo by 1.5 inches to prevent scraping.
Even the side mirrors have been aerodynamically optimized.
The 911 Turbo's business-first cabin returns mostly unchanged.
Appropriately snug 18-way adaptive sport seats with leather upholstery are standard on Turbo models.
If you want a manual-transmission 911 Turbo, you'll need to go to the used market -- all 991.2 models are offered exclusively with dual-clutch transmissions.
Porsche's iconic crest adorns a commendably small steering wheel airbag boss.
The 911 Turbo's door switchgear remains unchanged.
A new 7-inch touchscreen includes Google Maps and StreetView functionality.
Special door sill finishers let you know you're not stepping into a standard Turbo.
The Porsche 911 Turbo's PDK transmission is capable of both lightening-quick gear changes and surprising low-speed refinement.
That button on the right lets you manually extend and retract the 911 Turbo's active aerodynamic features regardless of speed.
Kyalami's road-course layout is captured in the 911 Turbo's GPS.
This area of the center stack is a bit crowded between all of the audio and HVAC controls, but it's easy enough to operate.
Note the subtle stitching on the door armrests adjacent to the window and mirror controls.
Matte-finish speaker grilles call out the optional Burmester audio system.
The 911 Turbo gets a new 918-Spyder-derived steering wheel.
The steering wheel's cross-pattern stitching feels good in the hand.