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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.

Chris Paukert
Following stints in TV news production and as a record company publicist, Chris spent most of his career in automotive publishing. Mentored by Automobile Magazine founder David E. Davis Jr., Paukert succeeded Davis as editor-in-chief of Winding Road, a pioneering e-mag, before serving as Autoblog's executive editor from 2008 to 2015. Chris is a Webby and Telly award-winning video producer and has served on the jury of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. He joined the CNET team in 2015, bringing a small cache of odd, underappreciated cars with him.
Chris Paukert
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1 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The 911 Turbo may not have a whale tail spoiler anymore, but its heritage is obvious.

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2 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Porsche's iterative, evolution-over-revolution 911 design strategy continues with the 2017 991.2 generation.

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3 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Few cars look as properly at home on a racetrack as a Porsche 911 Turbo.

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4 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Even with its big rear wing, the 911 Turbo's teardrop shape has a drag coefficient of 0.31.

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5 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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6 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The new Turbo's nose is instantly recognizable as a 911.

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7 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Rear visibility in the 911 Turbo isn't great, but it's better than most supercars.

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8 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The 911 Turbo doing what it does best.

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9 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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10 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Standard cornering LED headlamps are new for 2017.

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11 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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12 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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13 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

That rear-mounted 3.8-liter flat-six turbo needs lots of air, as do the massive rear brake discs.

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14 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The engine cover receives new horizontally oriented strakes.

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15 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

A closer look at the 911 Turbo's rump, which incorporates both a duckbill spoiler and a larger secondary wing.

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16 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

An optional nose lift feature raises the front end of the 911 Turbo by 1.5 inches to prevent scraping.

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17 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Even the side mirrors have been aerodynamically optimized.

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18 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The 911 Turbo's business-first cabin returns mostly unchanged.

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Appropriately snug 18-way adaptive sport seats with leather upholstery are standard on Turbo models.

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20 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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21 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Porsche's iconic crest adorns a commendably small steering wheel airbag boss.

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22 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The 911 Turbo's door switchgear remains unchanged.

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23 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

A new 7-inch touchscreen includes Google Maps and StreetView functionality.

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24 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Special door sill finishers let you know you're not stepping into a standard Turbo.

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25 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The Porsche 911 Turbo's PDK transmission is capable of both lightening-quick gear changes and surprising low-speed refinement.

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26 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

That button on the right lets you manually extend and retract the 911 Turbo's active aerodynamic features regardless of speed.

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27 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Kyalami's road-course layout is captured in the 911 Turbo's GPS.

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28 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

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.

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29 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Note the subtle stitching on the door armrests adjacent to the window and mirror controls.

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30 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

Matte-finish speaker grilles call out the optional Burmester audio system.

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31 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The 911 Turbo gets a new 918-Spyder-derived steering wheel.

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32 of 32 Manuel Hollenbach/Porsche

The steering wheel's cross-pattern stitching feels good in the hand.

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