Last hurrah

What we like:

Where do I start? The sweet noise from the engine

the way it feels to drive

its practicality?

What we dislike:

Perhaps lacks the visual excitement of some competitors in the same sort of price range

It’s such a fun car to drive this Carrera GTS. The engine revs so hard and so willingly that you’ll hit 100 km/h in just 4 seconds dead. And the way it gets there is just so rewarding; you rev the engine to the redline at something like 7400 rpm and the power just builds and builds and never lets up.

There are no turbochargers here, unlike the AMG C 63 S that I drove previously, so all you get is that linear acceleration without any sudden boosts or spikes in power that is just so much fun. The car encourages you to rev it over and over again, with the sports exhaust howling all the time in the background.

Chuck it around a twisty bit of road and watch the GTS hug tarmac like a terrified toddler clutching its mother’s hand. There’s loads of grip and the car simply steers with the precision that its GTS race-inspired name implies. I’m not even going to try to criticise the electric power steering that aforementioned hard core 911 fans cry foul at. The steering is so well weighted and precise giving just about all the feedback that you’d need I really don’t know what the fuss is about.Needless to say, the venerable PDK gearbox does its job marvellously, but perhaps the 7 speed manual might be a bit more in keeping with the GTS badge.

If you’ve never driven a 911 before and want to buy a new sports car, I seriously urge you to get into one of these. How Porsche has made a car with the engine in the wrong place work so brilliantly is something of a mystical art I suspect, and possibly the reason why it has been king of the sports car segment for such a long time. I doubt the crown will be stolen from the 911 soon, not especially with GTS up for grabs.

This car rides well too, with such a great chassis that the handling is plenty good enough without the sport suspension turned up to ‘uncomfortable’. Sport Plus mode is slightly redundant if you value your license here in Singapore; the best mode to drive this car being just plain old Sport with the increased throttle response and slightly later gear shifts without the unnecessarily harsh ride. Launch control makes for loads of noise and drama, also great for scaring your girlfriend for the first time.

Right; so we’ve got a nearly perfect sports car here then. What else need I say?

Oh yes; this: the Carrera GTS is the last of the naturally aspirated 911 Carreras. Porsche has already released the 991.2 which has a turbocharged engine. If you cringe at the thought of a turbocharged 911 Carrera, better grab one of these quickly. It’s a good thing then that I got to enjoy the famous 3.8l flat-six that has been the pride and joy of Porsche for years. What’s going to happen next; will the 911 Carrera become a 911 Turbo? I wait with bated breath.

Credits: Story and Photos by Alvan Sio