Ah, GTS. Famously not an acronym for Get There Slowly. The badge isn’t all that old either, having been introduced in 2010 on the 997 generation 911, as a more affordable driver-focused experience. A decade and a half later, the badge thrives across most of the Porsche portfolio, but today it has returned to the pert bum of the 2025 911. A car, which I’d just recently driven in entry-level Carrera form. Back then I said, “If this is what the base car is capable of, you can only imagine what happens when Stuttgart turns up the wick?” Well, that day has arrived.
LET’S ROLE PLAY
I like to imagine it went like this. A brilliant German engineer presents his plan to introduce electrification into the famous flat-six engine, the proudly beating, forcefully aspirated heart of the 911. And that his colleagues celebrated with him all the virtues – efficiencies, and linearity. More power, yes – but also less fuel consumed. And I imagine the discussion on what was lost in analogue feel and visceral noise was quickly balanced with hard, sensible data. But, that ultimately, a mad scientist in a dark corner twirled his pencil-thin moustache and added, “Yes. We will do all of this, and it will be good. But I have something more wicked in mind”. Because he realised that with a performance-oriented hybrid drive system, they could also delete any lag the introduction of a turbocharger ever introduced. Milestone moment? I’d argue a resounding yes.
LET’S RUN THE NUMBERS
By introducing an electric exhaust turbocharger (dubbed the eTurbo), a lightweight drive unit featuring a compact high-voltage drive battery, and pairing it with a newly developed 3.6 litre, six-cylinder boxer engine, the GTS is brimming with a combined output of 398kW and 610Nm. It’ll tear from standstill to a hundred in three seconds flat, ultimately topping out at 312kph. It is by all accounts, a beast. Yours in a variety of profiles from Coupe to Cabriolet and Targa. I’d have the honour of piloting a black coupe around some of the Cape’s finest mountain passes – giving the Performance Hybrid Drive more than enough opportunity to impress me. And don’t be fooled by the word hybrid, this is not the kind of car that pootles around on battery power alone, it lays waste to 95 octane like it’s a hobby, where the electric motor (integrated into a strengthened dual clutch transmission) functions as a starter and alternator. Clever, German. A single (wastegate-free) turbocharger is employed here, spinning at 120,00rpm with a max pressure of 1.8 bar (available in just 0.8 seconds) while the Rimac battery is just as impressive, consisting of 216 round cells and weighing only 27kg. Heavier than last time? Sure, but the weight’s in the right place and the added power more than makes up for it, making the new car even quicker than the one it replaces while being more frugal.
The GTS sits on wide 21-inch 315/30 ZR rubber at the rear, with pointier 20″ inch 245/35 tyres at the front, stopped by six-piston brake callipers on 408mm discs (front) and four-piston callipers on 380mm discs (back). Rear-axle steering comes standard and then there’s Porsche’s Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) system integrated into the aforementioned high-voltage system. Naturally, the GTS is endowed with a sport suspension with variable damper system (PASM), a 10mm lower ride height and active cooling. Five vertically-positioned active air cooling flaps (visible) plus additional concealed air flaps contribute to a 911 that already benefits from superior aerodynamics than the last model. Further markers of distinction here are the LED Matrix headlights, now with their ancillary front lights omitted for a cleaner aesthetic. That’s to say, it looks better, goes quicker, and I can’t be bothered to spout another fact about it when the key fob is burning a hole in my pocket so off I go.
PHYSICS BE DAMNED
Three seconds is not a lot of time. It is, I’d argue, very close to 2.9 seconds, which is frankly an absurdly short amount of time to do anything, never mind sprinting from parked to 100kph. This is the sort of thing that you think about when crushing asphalt beneath your tyres in what must be considered ordnance, a projectile with the intent to harm – I can almost feel the G-forces being pulverised as I climb on that right pedal, while the active exhaust screams and barks. The helm is weighty but flavourful, the nose is wieldy and the rear just tucks in and follows obediently. My cheeks hurt, but that might just be the result of wearing a smile for far too long as I twist the GTS stem to stern the Franshhoek Pass, eventually emerging at the top where I could finally shift it into Park and have a moment to reflect. As the engine tick, tick, ticks itself cool, I can’t help but think this is peak 911. Yes, you could strip away the electronics, the turbo, and with that, so many of the advances that engineering has given us over the decades – but what’s the point? Played where it landed, this GTS is achingly engaging to drive, stunning to behold and I can’t wait to get back inside it. So I will. Bye.
