991.1 GTS or Carrera S with Powerkit - comparison

[sam303]

Hi,

Has anyone here driven both a (991.1) GTS and Carrera S with Powerkit? If so please would you offer your thoughts in terms of:

- how do they compare in terms of steering feel?
- does the engine sound different / louder / better in the GTS?
- any other thoughts?

This is to help me decide which to buy...

Thanks,

Sam

[m88ony]

GTS anyday of the week. The widebody chassis and centre lock wheels look stunning.

Widebody in a RWD configuration looks stunning.

[sam303]

Yeah the GTS looks amazing. But the Carrera S models I'm looking at are the 4S which has the wide body. And not all GTSs have the centre lock wheels (although they look awesome). So I'm more interested in the engine note and steering - trying to figure out if the engine has more tweaks or sounds different than a C4S with Powerkit.

The reason is that there's a couple of manual 991.1 C4Ss in the dealer network with Powerkit, whereas there are zero manual GTS 4s.

So if anyone has thoughts on how the engine and steering compare I'd appreciate it.

[Porsche911R]

sam303 said:

Yeah the GTS looks amazing. But the Carrera S models I'm looking at are the 4S which has the wide body. And not all GTSs have the centre lock wheels (although they look awesome). So I'm more interested in the engine note and steering - trying to figure out if the engine has more tweaks or sounds different than a C4S with Powerkit.

The reason is that there's a couple of manual 991.1 C4Ss in the dealer network with Powerkit, whereas there are zero manual GTS 4s.

So if anyone has thoughts on how the engine and steering compare I'd appreciate it.

they would be the same I would guess.

[Adrian-9iafn]

The power should obviously be the same, however the steering is quite different. It feels sportier and sharper than the S, there is talk about the wide body giving some of this but it's also possibly steering electronic changes and other things as well.

In short I was disappointed when I drove the 'S' it felt more sporty road car to me. The GTS felt special and more sports car to me. The S I drove was PASM and GTS I drove was PASM and I ended up buying SPASM with PDCC. I then went with Techart springs and it was awesome.

The engine sound in the GTS is much better too, crisper and more classic 911 as well as louder. It has an edge that has a bit of a classic older 911 rasp, loved the engine noise. Inside it sounds lovely as you get close to the red line, the last 500rpm are special. Again it moves from good to great

The .1 GTS is a classic, over time I think this car will be rightly well sought after, it is a classic NA car. I moved from .1 GTS to .1GT3 and I still love my old GTS, the GT3 is better, but not everywhere IMO. They look very cool too

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:00

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:01

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:08

[Stirlings]

My understanding is the GTS has the X51 power kit as standard and a sports exhaust
so a powerkitted car and a GTS should sound the same

are the cars you ve driven both manuals?

the reason I ask, is I v had manual 997 GTS and PDK and the manual car felt totally different to drive as the manual box felt totally different, you really noticed how 'on cam' the engine felt
with a PDK the power kit difference isn't as easy to notice.
don't forget a GTS has 20mm lower suspension the C2/4S has 10mm as standard with PASM

the steering feel could be that one had Power Steering Plus ( which can be retro fitted as its a software tweak to the electronic power steering)

[seastorm]

Maybe this doesn’t help you much, but I’d suggest 991.2 over everything you are looking at. The 991.2 GTS is supposed to be perfect.

I had a 991.1 C4S which I liked and then bought a 991.2 Targa 4S which I sold 10 days later as I didn’t like the sound at all (plus it felt heavy). Like you, sound is important to me.

I’m now back in a 991.2 - but this time a C4S coupe and I’m converted. It’s way better than the 991.1 in every way. Maybe not right at the top end of the rev range, but in 95% of everything else... better.

I have a friend that sells high end cars. He has a 991 Anniversary car. He says that the 991.2 is so much better than the 991 it’s weird the 991 cars are selling for what they are selling for.

There you go. Head for a 991.2 GTS and keep it!!

[m88ony]

Adrian-9iafn said:

The power should obviously be the same, however the steering is quite different. It feels sportier and sharper than the S, there is talk about the wide body giving some of this but it's also possibly steering electronic changes and other things as well.

In short I was disappointed when I drove the 'S' it felt more sporty road car to me. The GTS felt special and more sports car to me. The S I drove was PASM and GTS I drove was PASM and I ended up buying SPASM with PDCC. I then went with Techart springs and it was awesome.

The engine sound in the GTS is much better too, crisper and more classic 911 as well as louder. It has an edge that has a bit of a classic older 911 rasp, loved the engine noise. Inside it sounds lovely as you get close to the red line, the last 500rpm are special. Again it moves from good to great

The .1 GTS is a classic, over time I think this car will be rightly well sought after, it is a classic NA car. I moved from .1 GTS to .1GT3 and I still love my old GTS, the GT3 is better, but not everywhere IMO. They look very cool too

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:00

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:01

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Tuesday 24th July 08:08

I think the .1 GTS will also be a classic over time. The howl is addictive. I dont think these will go up in value but will be seen as a good 911 in the future years.

[Adrian-9iafn]

Stirlings said:

My understanding is the GTS has the X51 power kit as standard and a sports exhaust
so a powerkitted car and a GTS should sound the same

are the cars you ve driven both manuals?

the reason I ask, is I v had manual 997 GTS and PDK and the manual car felt totally different to drive as the manual box felt totally different, you really noticed how 'on cam' the engine felt
with a PDK the power kit difference isn't as easy to notice.
don't forget a GTS has 20mm lower suspension the C2/4S has 10mm as standard with PASM

the steering feel could be that one had Power Steering Plus ( which can be retro fitted as its a software tweak to the electronic power steering)

The cars I drove were both PASM snd the GTS felt much better with the steering both had power steering plus, I deleted my Power plus option (lightens the steering at low speeds) when I bought my car which came with SPASM/PDCC. The steering was lovely, I didn't feel that with the S, it felt more numb and less direct, less numble. The Alcantara wheel helps, obviously wider centre lock wheels etc. I did read on one article that the steering had been reprogrammed for the GTS, so I do think it's slightly different

The GTS .1 does not come with 20mm lower as standard, just 10mm, the .2 comes with 20mm lower as standard, if I recall

Edited by Adrian-9iafn on Wednesday 25th July 07:54

[Cheib]

seastorm said:

I have a friend that sells high end cars. He has a 991 Anniversary car. He says that the 991.2 is so much better than the 991 it’s weird the 991 cars are selling for what they are selling for.

There you go. Head for a 991.2 GTS and keep it!!

Yours and your friends thoughts were certainly backed up by owners on here....lots of people traded in 991.1 GTS's for 991.2 GTS's. People were blown away at how much better the car was....distinct lack of teeth gnashing about the lack of naturally aspirated howl.

And let's face it Porsche have a strong track record of making the .2 versions of cars a lot better than the .1's.