Porsche reveals turbo 911 Carrera

Porsche’s controversial transition to turbocharging for its iconic 911 will bring with it an increase in power, torque, performance, fuel economy and — inevitably — pricing.

The recommended retail price of the entry-level 911 Carrera Coupe will rise by $9600 to $217,800 plus on-road when it arrives in Australia in mid-March 2016.

Joining it will be the Carrera S Coupe, which climbs in price by $8000 to $252,800, and the Carrera and Carrera S Cabriolets, which increase by $9800 (to $239,300) and $7500 (to $274,300) respectively.

And those are the prices for the standard seven-speed manual. At least the cost of the popular $5950 PDK dual-clutch automatic option stays unchanged.

While those RRP rises are hefty, Porsche justifies it with the installation of the new-generation bi-turbo 3.0-litre boxer six-cylinder, an updated PASM active suspension system that is now standard on the Carrera as well as the S, a new infotainment system and some other equipment additions such as a reversing camera, front parking sensors and digital radio.

There have also been some exterior and interior refinements as the seventh-generation 991-series 911 goes through its first substantial overhaul since its 2011 launch. They include new headlights with four-point daytime running lamps, a redesigned rear lid with vertical louvres outside and a new steering wheel inspired by the 918 Spyder inside.

While the 911 has not been immune to turbocharging, it had previously been restricted to high-end models such as the Turbo and GT2.

But with ever-more restrictive emissions and fuel economy limits being applied globally, the Carrera’s naturally-aspirated 3.4 and the S’s 3.8 have gone. It will be a change debated as intensively by Porsche fanatics as the earlier moves from air to water-cooling and hydraulic to electric steering assistance.

However, Porsche will mollify some as it has pumped up power by 15kW and torque by 60Nm for both cars, resetting them at 272kW and 450Nm for the Carrera and 309kW and 500Nm for the S.

An S Coupe equipped with PDK and optional Sport Chrono package can now accelerate to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds. That’s combined with a claimed 7.7L/100km fuel consumption average. Impressively, those figures are down 0.2 seconds and 1.0L/100km from the current S with PDK.

It’s a similar story of more go and less thirst across all the models, with the Carrera Coupe the most frugal of all at 7.4L/100km. We’ve summarised the stats Porsche has released at the bottom of this story.

Porsche isn’t giving much away about the new 3.0-litre engine right now. More detail comes at the car’s official launch at the Frankfurt motor show next week.

But it has revealed the Carrera S gets its extra oomph via turbos with modified compressors, a specific exhaust system and tuned engine management. Peak torque is delivered from 1700rpm to 5000rpm in both versions, while maximum engine speed is a high – for a turbo – 7500rpm.

And just in case you need that little bit extra oomph, Porsche has added a ‘Sport Response Button’ to the Sport Chrono Package which delivers maximum acceleration for 20 seconds in PDK-equipped 911s.

Sport Chrono now also gets a rotary dial on the steering wheel that allows you to also choose between Normal, Sport, Sport Plus and Individual driving modes. Depending on equipment, this allows adjustment of PASM, active engine mounts, PDK and sports exhaust.

Standard PASM means all 911s now have the same ride height (10mm below the old standard set-up) and new-generation shock absorbers, which are claimed to have a wider spread of characteristics and enhanced comfort. Other dynamic initiatives include new wheels (0.5 inches wider at 11.5 inches) and a 305-width rear tyre (up from 295) for the S.

The S buyer can also now option the rear-axle steering previously available with the Turbo and GT3. Porsche claims enhanced turn-in, high-speed stability improvement, better low speed manoeuvrability and 0.5-metre smaller turning circle.

A new-generation Porsche Communication Management (PCM) system is standard on all 911 Carreras, featuring a 7.0-inch display, voice control, smartphone-like multi-touch and input by handwriting.

However, some functionality is not yet offered in Australia, such as connection by WiFi for access to Google Earth and Google Streetview (coming in 2017). The Porsche Connect app, which includes functions such as transfer of destination to the PCM for navigation and streaming services by third-party providers, will not be offered until 2018.

The option of connecting an iPhone to the PCM to use Apple CarPlay is available.

911 Carrera S seven-speed manual/PDK:

911 Carrera Cabriolet seven-speed manual/PDK: