A friend of mine often says that auto engineers do their best work when backed into a corner. At least in Europe, internal-combustion cars have to run Lambda=1—no fuel enrichment to help keep things cool or make extra power. It's a huge challenge, and one Porsche decided to respond to with a novel hybrid system for the 911.
I've written about this system plenty, so I'll go over the basics. You've got a 400-volt, 1.9-kilowatt-hour battery that lives in the front trunk (aka, frunk) where the 911 normally houses its 12-volt battery. The battery meshes with the engine and is connected to the eight-speed PDK transmission, alongside a 53-horsepower electric motor.
The engine itself is the ubiquitous flat-six that makes Porsche's sports car so iconic—a 3.6-liter unit. The engine is paired to an electric turbocharger with a motor that controls boost pressure and can feed energy either to the traction engine or back to the battery.
There's no fully electric driving mode, or even any need to plug the car in. This is the correct way of doing things, as it keeps weight down—Porsche claims the 911 Carrera GTS is a little over 100 pounds heavier than its predecessor—and it means that the performance is always there. Five-hundred thirty-two horsepower and 449 pound-feet, whenever you need it.
In the handful of times I've driven a new hybrid 911, I've spent a decent chunk of time trying to figure out what the hell the system is doing. There's a power meter in the tachometer that swings left to show it's charging, and right to show deployment. Basically, the thing is just swinging back and forth all the time.
The car is constantly shuffling power, putting energy into the turbo or the traction motor, or using both to harvest energy it can use later. There's a power-flow display in the infotainment system, and if you watch it from the passenger seat, it's almost impossible to follow, so complicated is the hybrid system's dance.
But if you put all that out of mind, what you're left with is an eye-openingly quick car. A few days before driving this 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet, I spent time in a non-hybrid Carrera S. Now that is a very quick car. This feels like it has way more than 59 additional horsepower over the "S." It's got huge torque across the low- and mid-range, as you'd expect, but it just keeps pulling up beyond 7,500 rpm.
Throttle response in Sport and Sport Plus modes is, unsurprisingly, instant. My only real issue with this powertrain is the sound, which is more hard-edged, less musical than 911s past. But that's hardly a criticism.
As for the rest of the car, it's hard to fault. I've always been a bit of a 911 Cabriolet hater, but these 992 drop-tops feel just as rigid as their hardtop brethren, and out on the road, you don't really notice the extra weight.
With the top up, it seems hardly, if at all, louder than the coupe, and with the top down and all the windows up and wind deflector in place, buffeting is minimal. The only real compromise is looks, and even then, this is no bad-looking car.
Handling is, of course, superb, and the ride quality is just forgiving enough to be daily livable. The biggest dynamic downfall here is the brake-pedal feel, which is a bit more synthetic than in a non-hybrid 911. It's great by any other standard, but the 911 Carrera S I drove prior had the best brake feel in any car I've driven in recent memory.
Still, the GTS is all about this remarkable powertrain. Porsche—like its industry counterparts—was backed into a corner here, and it came up with an answer that not only satisfies the regulators, but should satisfy enthusiasts, too.
Change is scary, and the auto industry is going through some of the biggest changes it's ever seen. Enthusiasts are wondering where this will leave them; they feel alienated by what's going on.
Certainly, some of the changes in our cars are for the worse, as far as enthusiasts are concerned. But this car, and the brilliant minds behind it, prove that the future doesn't have to be scary. Change can be a good thing.
If the future can look and feel a bit like this 911 Carrera GTS, bring it on.
