2020 Porsche 911 Turbo S: Still the ultimate everyday supercar?

[MUSIC] These days supercars are seen as more usable than ever to pedals, adaptive dampers, more ergonomic interiors, it's definitely possible to use them on a daily basis. If you want to And yet, there is still unquestionably one that remains the genuine supermarket supercar. This is the new Porsche 911 Turbo S. But just what makes it the ultimate everyday supercar. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] For starters, just look at it. Or rather, don't because people tend to ignore the 911 turbo in a way that they wouldn't with another supercar. I know this is in rather sort of fade into the background GT Silver but you put some McLaren or A Lamborghini in this sort of color, and people would look at it just for its sharp lines and sleek looks. This not so much. Anybody taking any notice? Brand new car, brand new 170,000 pound car. anybody having a look? Nope. just ignoring it. Arguably this generation of Turbo S is even more unobtrusive because there is less differentiation in body size between this and the standard Carrera talking of being unobtrusive and also extend to the sound. Now this car has got the optional screen. Sports exhaust which you can tell from these sort of gt two rs 991 GTR s exhaust to the back of the big oval ones. I'm not sure I'd actually spec the sports exhaust on a 911 turbo because as I say, you really want to be shouty in fantasy. This isn't particularly shouty anyway, we'll get on to the sun perhaps later. Cuz it's changed a little bit I think from turbos evolve, but in general terms might love them turbo slips quietly through life if you wanted to, as well as being a little bit shy and retiring on the outside, it's also a wonderfully friendly on the inside I mean the seating position in the 990 Uk Kinda slam the seat really really low, but it can also be much more upright. This windscreen, it's not really got a huge amount of rake on it, even these days. So it feels very manageable really. Then there's the actual physical size of this car. At 1900 millimeters wide, this is two centimeters wider than the old 991 turbo, but it's not actually that wide compared to its competitors. Things like the 488 or wider might expect that. How about Aston Martin Vantage still five centimeters wider than this. Jaguar f type, similar amount. I haven't even mentioned the fact that this has the not inconsiderable practicality of four seats. [MUSIC] Quick shout out to to the Garvey green leather of this particular car, which is rather like. Stop start, pulls away smoothly and easily. It's not intimidating. It's not shouting. It's not Aggressive. If you don't want it to be the steering as soon as you guys end, it's actually still quite slow. It's not twitchy and hyperactive. So the 911 Turbo S is well it's practically as usable as a hot Hatch around town, but it has got 641 brake horsepower. You can't use that in town. So we better head out onto the open road, [BLANK_AUDIO] And then we're released That's it, actually, that's 60 and that is fine. The trouble with a turbo is that it is so fast that the opportunities to actually enjoy performance are vanishingly small on the road. And yet, there's still something really Well, appealing about retopo and the only way I can really describe it is it's a bit like I imagined being a superhero walking amongst mortals. You've got so much abundance of performance both in terms of acceleration, cornering grip and stopping grip because this has got 10 piston calipers on its carbons. The ceramic brakes which are standard, the front and small pistons back but it has so much performance that anything you want to do. You want to overtake is done incredibly quickly through around, gone. It feels well Almost incredibly safe, it's like this is the safest car imaginable because it can do anything you want and roll. It is the sheer accessibility of the performance that makes it feel faster even than something like a McLaren 720S which has more power and less weight. The response from the new 8 speed PDK gearbox combined with a turbo tenacious traction means you can dip into its 590 pounds foot, not only rapidly but without any fear of whether it will deploy smoothly to the tarmac. There is simply no histrionics. Something I'm really not sure about where this car is. Is the ride quality so this has the optional sports suspension which is a 10 millimeter drop in ride height. And to be honest, I just don't think it needs it. I obviously haven't driven the standard setup bus I think any more compliance would be very welcome certainly in its brief as an everyday usable supercar. In fact, this sort of edginess is something that I noticed, really came in with the second generation 997 and I'm sure if It was a response to the Nissan GTR suddenly there was this car that was really super aggressive and everybody put it up against the 911 turbo and almost combat that. I think Porsche decided to go more hardcore. And I think that's a shame ready because although this, you get up to speed it does breathe through the road better, but it's still It just needs a little bit more travel, I think. One thing that I think has actually improved, sadly, is road noise. It's not brilliant. I mean, you've got 315 section tires out there and 911 particularly turbos with a big rear tires have always suffered from road noise, but I actually think this generation is It's better than certainly previous ones that I've experienced.>> So, definitely usable them. And you can be the undisputed king of the road without breaking a sweat, which is enjoyable. But the truth is that because you don't have the feedback or soundtrack of something like GT3 Because it is so usable and unflappable and unruffled at everyday speeds, you'll feel like you're barely scratching the surface of this supercar if you don't live near an Autobahn, or on the Isle of Man. It's kind of hard to conceive of a situation where you'd go beyond sport To Sport Plus, unless. [MUSIC] [SOUND] Unless you've got a truck available [SOUND], and Castle came is a combination. Fast circuit, an incredibly fast car, and after being in lockdown for weeks and weeks, this is quite the eye opener. [BLANK_AUDIO] Obviously, I'm now in Sport Plus mode. And what's really interesting actually is that I've got PDCC here. And just fiddling around with that is quite a vivid demonstration of how much that is helping the car actually. PDCC stands for Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control and it's an active anti-roll system that is standard on the Turbo S along with rear-axle steering. [SOUND] [SOUND] Did you turn it back on again, this is suddenly the whole car taught inside you get much, much better turning on the cars really far through the corners is quite incredible. Castle came is quite a bumpy circuit in places this is coming into quarantine so it's fully through there. And you can certainly feel the mass in the car. You can feel it on the road too. When you started pushing on. [SOUND] But through here, this weight 1640 kilos unladen, and you certainly notice it. It cannot disguise all that mass entirely. He could have accelerated between the corners. My God What's also interesting is that this new 3.8 liter engine,he's got a much nicer sounding top end than before, before you will cease to get that sort of gas rush sound, you still get a little bit of that. Between 6 and 7000 RPM there's a much more obvious crescendo to it. [BLANK_AUDIO] In the past, it was very easy to run into the limiter because you just seem to be one monotonous sound. Now, well it sounds more like a 911 really. It's a bit like a detuned version of GT2 RS. Of course, this Turbo S actually has 37 pounds for the top more than a GT2 RS. And although it also weighs around 200 Kilos more, it also has all wheel drive. So Porsche claims it will do nought to 62 miles an hour in just 2.7 seconds, making fastest accelerating series production 911 But what is that sort of acceleration look like? Now, I've got a demonstration for you because numbers bold numbers seeing me lean back in the seat can only say so much. So, here we have a BMW M 135 I 300 ish brake horsepower naught 62 in about 4.8 seconds so not a slow hot hatch quick In fact, let's see how it gets on against the lighter the Turbo S [NOISE] My, 100. My word. [BLANK_AUDIO] That was so much more of a gap than I expected. You will not get more of a vivid demonstration than that I think, of just the sheer acceleration of the Turbo S. I'm genuinely blown away by that. I thought it would again be a decent gap, [LAUGH] I didn't think it would be that. I didn't get the best start, I think he got away slightly He added me and then it was just gone. Wow.Of course, it's not just the straight line acceleration That's impressive.Is the grip through the corners mostly controllable if you can manage the way You have to look after the tires because they can get hot pretty quickly as you'd imagine. Shuffling all that power around is PTM Porsche Traction Management, just all wheel drive. We can now send up to 369 pounds of torque or 62% of the total available to the front axle. At the back is an electronically controlled limited slip diff, which vectors torque between the rear wheels, as I shall now demonstrate, sort of. [MUSIC] Wow this is fast, you feel all the bumps there That's 130 miles an hour into this final corner. It's trying to get a good run out of here. [BLANK_AUDIO] Deep breath through here, actually use the arrow. [BLANK_AUDIO] 150 miles an hour today, you're being really brave. [MUSIC] It's extraordinary that this car is Usable yet I can also do this from shopping to start finish straight for Turbo S remains the supermarket supercar beyond compare. its breadth of ability is deeply, deeply impressive. However, after driving it for several days, I couldn't help wondering if the Corona 4S wouldn't be just as enjoyable, snapping on the road, while saving you 75 kilos and the whole keep of money. Go back to the 1997 generation and it was clear water between the 64s and the turbo In terms of both philosophy and performance, now, not so much like for like not to 62 and 3.4 versus 2.7 really doesn't represent such a huge gulf. Then again, some will always want the car that speaks softly while caring, not just a big stick, but the biggest thing. For them Only the Turbo S will do. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]