Porsche 911 Turbo S 2021 Review

I can now admit that just for a second I thought I was going to park a brand-new $473,500 (plus on-road costs) 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S in a guard rail.

I popped out onto a curving main road and before I had lined everything up straight just hammered the throttle to the floor.

The front-end lifted, my substantial bulk was slammed into the seat and fingertips barely remained in contact with the steering wheel as the car accelerated very, very fast on the line it had been pointed … toward the edge of the road and the metal fence beyond. S%#T!

But in micro-seconds control had returned. The car mostly did the work, me helping a little bit. Direction was corrected and the 911 Turbo S rocketed forward. “To 100km/h only, officer. I swear.”

The experience was frightening and scintillating at the same time; 478kW and 800Nm bludgeoning their way to the road through any of the four wheels that would accept drive.

I dunno why I was so careless, so impulsive. Maybe it’s like going to the Louvre and looking at the Mona Lisa. Just once you want to step over the rope and touch the paint. Feel the heart and soul of it up close.

The heart and soul of the most expensive 911 coupe sold in Australia (the convertible is $494,500 plus ORCs) is – as always – a rear-mounted flat six petrol engine. It’s a new design mated to a new PDK transmission and upgraded all-wheel drive.

As the first 992-generation iteration of the Turbo, this car is also dimensionally larger than its 991.2 predecessor. It looks big too, maybe too big for a 911. But it’s still unmistakeably 911 in its styling, so iconic it surpasses good or bad and simply is.

Clearly at this price the Porsche 911 Turbo S is not a car you worry about value, at least not in the traditional sense. This thing would have to come with a heap of Tesla shares stuffed in the glovebox to achieve that.

It sits in rarefied air in the Aussie car market, up against Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens.

There’s no way the price you pay can be justified by the equipment on offer, but we’ll list it anyway. The comfort equipment includes 18-way adjustable adaptive sports front seats, two-tone leather trim, a 10.9-inch touch-screen incorporating the online navigation, a Wi-Fi hotspot and Apple CarPlay (but no Android Auto).

Voice control, a 4G/LTE phone module, a Bose Surround Sound system, the Sport Chrono performance package, the Porsche Track Precision App functionality, GT sports steering wheel, heated seats, dual-zone climate control, two USB ports, a 12-volt outlet and metallic paint are also standard.

The Turbo S comes with a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and 15,000km/12-month service intervals.

The 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S isn’t submitted to anything as bourgeoise as an ANCAP safety test. The thought of running something this expensive intentionally into a wall is shocking.

Not that it would get the maximum five stars as ANCAP protocols have accelerated past it. They must be among the few things on earth capable of doing that to a 911 Turbo S.

Those missing items include lane departure warning, lane keeping and a centre airbag.

But safety stuff it does get includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring, a 360-degree camera, front and rear parking sensors, LED Matrix headlights, tyre pressure monitoring (no spare, of course) and Wet mode, which tunes the car’s dynamics for slippery surfaces.

A new chassis, body, interior and drivetrain ensures the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S deserves the all-new tag.

The twin-turbo flat six engine has actually dropped slightly in capacity to 3745cc, but still delivers 51kW more power and 50Nm more torque than its predecessor.

Mated to a new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission (PDK in Porsche acronym-ese) and an upgraded all-wheel drive system that can shuffle up to 500Nm forward, it propels the Turbo S to 100km/h in 2.7 seconds. Then it blasts onwards to 200km/h in just 8.9sec. The top speed is 330km/h.

All this urgency is given added drama via the 911 Turbo S’s dual-mode sports exhaust. Brraap!

And remember, Porsche usually undercalls its performance figures, so the 911 Turbo S is probably even faster. Porsche also claims a fuel consumption average of 11.5L/100km. We achieved 12.2L/10km on 98 RON fuel.

There’s a new active aero package to keep rubber gripping to the road. There’s wider tracks and more rubber for the wings and things to work with too, including massive 21-inch 315/30 rears (20s up front) that snuggle under a wider rear-end and attach to faster-acting dampers.

The various aspects of the technical package can be adjusted via the drive mode dial on the steering through Normal, Sport, Sport Plus, Track and the aforementioned Wet setting. Via buttons, you can raise the nose at slow speeds, and raise the rear wing at high speeds.

Dimensionally, the 911 Turbo S now measures up 30mm longer at 4535mm, 45mm wider up front at 1840mm and 20mm wider at the rear at 1900mm. The wheelbase is unchanged at 2450mm. The kerb weight is up 40kg to 1640kg.

Okay, we’ve established the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S is ridiculously fast in a straight line. In fact, it is fast everywhere. Maybe too fast.

The problem – maybe ‘problem’ is the wrong word, the ‘conundrum’? – is it has such an outrageously wide, high, deep and imposing performance capability there’s just no way to tap more than a smidgeon of it on-road.

It’s still possible in lesser 911s to extract a feel for the car, even if you’re still miles away from the ‘edge’. I had that experience only months ago in the base 911 Carrera, immersed and satisfied. A corner here, a jab of the throttle there.

But the Turbo is another enormous step beyond that. Its performance is mountainous and mountain climbing can be extreme and dangerous if not approached with respect and skill.

At the very bottom of its performance envelope where I found myself on a deserted country road, the Turbo hinted at its amazing ability. Instantaneous throttle. Slashing gear changes. Superb brakes. And an ability to pierce a corner that’s almost ethereal.

Apparently it will eventually understeer.

Sure, you can dial around in the drive mode selector to find the set-up that suits you best, but even somewhat tamed in Normal mode this is a mighty beast.

If you’ve been reading about 911s for long then you know the seats are superb, the steering and pedal feel intimate. You sit low and deep inside this hunched frog of a car, cocooned in leather, having your senses delighted.

And so much more is familiar including the analogue clock atop the dashboard, the five-dial instrument display that’s partially obscured by the steering wheel rim, and the long slope of the centre console.

But brand-new are the minimalist gear lever and a large new touch-screen that looks a bit like a Windows computer homepage.

And yes, it really is driveable day-to-day as a commuter. The engine doesn’t have notable lag, the PDK can slur rather than snap through the gears, the ride can be liveable not jarring, and even the road noise is manageable.

Use the rear seats for luggage, not people, because the 128-litre frunk is limited to a couple of soft bags and little more.

If you haven’t picked it up already, I do have mixed feelings about the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S.

It is a masterpiece, no doubt. Its raw performance is simply phenomenal and the way it is corralled and controlled just as incredible.

But it’s so expensive, its ultimate capabilities so far beyond the bounds of modern road systems, it’s impossible to justify as a logical vehicle purchase.

Sure, it can trundle around untapped. But what’s the point of that?

If I had the choice (which I never will, of course), I’d happily settle for the 911 Carrera. If, however, you choose the Turbo S, that’s totally understandable.

I mean, who wouldn’t want the Mona Lisa?

How much does the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S Coupe cost?
Price: $473,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.7-litre twin-turbo petrol flat six-cylinder
Output: 478kW/800Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 11.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 263g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested