[Auto] 2020 Porsche 911 Turbo S test: magma mia!

[#Em i[N]O']

In a sulphurous Turbo S variant with record power, the Zuffenhausen icon looks more volcanic than ever.

 

If the Auvergne volcanoes, which serve as a backdrop for this test, died out several thousand years ago, there is one, here in the image, still in activity. Or subject to hyperactivity. Its color, “fusion orange”; it is not invented. For him to wake up and start scolding, a quarter turn with his left hand is enough. After that, it is better to clear the floor.

 

 

 

Drive transmission, selected Sport Plus driving mode, left foot on the brake, right on the floor, the Porsche 911 Turbo S stands ready to spurt out like lava from a crater in the sound of the end of the world. When you let go of her bridle, it was indeed the apocalypse. The brain glued to the bottom of the skull, the vision is blurred. Vital functions are limited to the bare minimum. And again, lung ventilation and consciousness are not far from faltering.

Briefly immersed in a second being, I relive certain scenes from the past. Like this first time behind the wheel of a 911 Turbo. It was a 480 hp 997, I was a young intern at the time. You constantly had to keep your hand on the gear lever in order to anticipate the gearshift as the engine went from idle to the red zone instantly. A precaution despite which fortuitous encounters with the breaker were not so rare.

Today, this risk remains minimal. First, because I’m a little younger intern. Above all, the most powerful of the 992s, to date, necessarily has a robotic PDK box. Pity ? Not that much.

 

 

With 650 hp and 800 Nm of torque in the back, everything is still going much, much faster than 15 years ago. Porsche announces 0 to 100 km / h in 2 ”7. You read correctly. While double is usually enough to move most of us, these numbers border on science fiction.

To try to appreciate the way in which the new 3.8 biturbo (or 3.7 according to its exact displacement), derived from the 3.0-cylinder 3.0 of the Carrera, delivers its supernatural strength, you have to imagine the Turbo S like a fantastic monster, holding you in the hollow of its enormous plush, like a common insect. Then grips, crushes you as you step on the gas. Until you can no longer breathe, unable to resist it. The expression "breathtaking" is overused today. However, this is the most appropriate here.

Almost all 911s, now boasting a turbocharged engine by default, some may imagine that LA Turbo, the real one, is no longer out of the ordinary. However, this demonstrates quite the opposite. To the point that Porsche could legitimately have inscribed "911 Turbo Turbo S" on the enlarged stern.

Admittedly, there is even faster… if one is interested in spacecraft in particular. Conversely, this bomb does its best to keep the tires on the ground no matter what. The previous generation’s active aerodynamics are renewed, with a retractable spoiler at the rear, and a flexible pneumatic blade at the front, which deploys more or less depending on the speed and driving mode chosen. Movable elements to which are now added, still at the bow, the piloted cooling flaps of the shield contributing to the increase in downforce by 15%.

Of great sophistication by tradition, especially since the 993 in the mid-1990s, the 911 Turbo once again takes on the air of a gas factory. The 992 combines all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars, controlled rear differential, adaptive suspension, sport chassis lowered by 10 mm (optional), carbon-ceramic brakes with 10-piston calipers at the front… All which makes a 911 a supercar.

 

 

A supercar which remains a 911; a sportswoman whose practical aspects are not negligible (starting with her two small rear seats), at the antipodes of the circuit diva, who only travels on a trailer and takes the track only in good weather. The proof here, on the Puy-de-Dôme departments where the hostility of the road network is only matched by the harsh climate.

Exploiting the extraordinary potential there will require no more skill than driving a simple Carrera. The projectile is supported in curve at high speed with as much ease as it turns almost on itself in the winding. The extreme discretion of the body movements, despite an often infernal rhythm and undulations of the roadway, makes the possibility of strengthening the piloted suspension superfluous on open roads. Démentielle, the effectiveness is measured with the insertion of the beads of the seat in the ribs. And vice versa.

Looking as far as possible towards the horizon seems the only essential step in the manual. Good actions then follow naturally. Management makes it easy. Quite heavy for that of a modern sportswoman, it allows you to stay precise at all gaits. Right, left, right, re-right ... Regarding the speed displayed on the digital speedometer, chaining turns of all kinds should not be so simple. And yet. Everyone is free to add a little panache and round off the angles by partially or completely disconnecting the ESP.

And if it can become tiresome to be just a ball in a pinball machine, it is always possible to ease off, just a hint, and opt for a more rolling course. A field where the 911 Turbo S, in exchange for a colossal price, remains one of the best touring coupé in the world, capable of taking you very quickly and far in a relaxed atmosphere, in all conditions. And in relative discretion, if, of course, you don't opt for its famous orange fusion livery.

Reverse of this clinical omniscience, this "nine-eleven" does not last durably in the guts, at least from a purely mechanical point of view. There is indeed an optional sports exhaust, to make the raucous and warm buzz of the “flat” more present on board. Too rushed to indulge in sentimentality, the Turbo S leaves that to other 911s, those of the GT division, like the GT2 in particular. And to say that there will undoubtedly be a 911 even more powerful than this one ...

 

Our verdict
This 911 Turbo S is yet another show of force from Porsche. Even if it means not feeling.

WE love :

Stunning performances
Ease of use
Relative versatility

 

We like less

Exaggerated rate
Recessed mechanical charm

 

 

Technical sheet Porsche 911 Turbo S
BUY

Trial version: € 221,135
From 221,135 €
Average manufacturer's consumption / during the test (l / 100 km): 12 / 14.6
CO2 / penalty: 271-278 / 20,000 €
Fiscal power: 61 CV
Country of manufacture: Germany
Range offered

Petrol from 385 to 650 hp, from € 108,334 to € 234,814
DRIVE

 

 

Engine: rear, longitudinal, 6-cylinder flat, twin-turbo, direct injection, 24 valves, valve lift and variable valve timing, stop & start, 3,745 cc.
Transmission: all-wheel drive, 8-speed robotic
Power (hp at rpm): 650 to 6,750
Torque (Nm at rpm): 800 to 2,500
Curb weight (kg): 1,715
Long.xlarg.xhaut. (m): 4.54 × 1.90 × 1.30

 

 

Wheelbase (m): 2.45
Tank (l): 67
Maximum speed (km / h): 330
0 to 100 km / h: 2 ”7
Standard tires: AV 255/35 R20; AR 315/30 R20
Test tires: Pirelli PZero
LIVE

Safe at 4 (l): 128
RECOMMENDED OPTIONS

Sport exhaust: € 3,108
Front axle lift: € 2,436
Alcantara steering wheel: € 168

 

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