Saturday 6th May 2017

Turbo uber alles: PH Blog

Resistance is futile in the face of the 911 Turbo

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Throw your outpourings of sympathy for my current situation into the comments thread below but as I write I'm on the way back from Wales after a pretty stellar couple of days in a fabulous combination of cars. Videos, reviews and more to follow from this. But out of a group comprising a super saloon three-way (M3, C63 S and Giulia Quadrifoglio) and two rivals for 'my' McLaren 570GT long-termer one car stood out. And not just for its colour.

Yes, my transformation from Turbo sceptic to Turbo lover is now pretty much complete, courtesy of the latest custodian for Porsche GB's famous 911 HUL registration. Straight up? I'm not sure bold, flat colours like Miami Blue suit Turbos. And there's quite a lot of tyre noise.

And that's about it on the negatives.

Musical chairs on the shoot meant everyone involved had time in each of the cars. And there were no duffers among them, not by any stretch. But the Turbo was the one that got everyone the most animated, despite being the supposed 'known quantity' in the group.

I've said it before but I think we owe the Nissan GT-R a huge debt of gratitude for Porsche taking a look at the Turbo and reconsidering its approach. This has always been a stupidly fast car. It's now genuinely rewarding and exciting one too.

Launch Control is a bit of a gimmick but is so nonchalantly easy to select and deploy you can't help doing it, especially if your passenger hasn't been paying attention. No longer does the Turbo just sway one speed for another - it throws in a little drama to make exciting too. And the way a launched Turbo plays its power around the tyres, squirms around just enough to give a sense of what's going on and yet feels utterly nailed down and secure is just addictive.

And, unlike a GT3, on the track it rewards everyone. Nervous and new to circuit driving? The Turbo will look after you with its grip, traction and face-saving driver aids yet at the same time thrill you and inspire you to dig deeper into your bravery and skills. A GT3 demands a base level of ability before letting you in and a good deal more before really revealing its skillset. The Turbo is accommodating from the off. But, dear god, when you really start pushing it the thing just gets better and better and better.

The noise is amazing too. Flat chat PDK upshifts shriek through with a thunderclap of boost, the PCCBs haul you down from mental speeds even when you think you've been way too bold and if you do go in too hot the four-wheel steering rotates you into the corner just when you expected the front tyres to scrub. Get on the throttle at that point and the transition to four-wheel drift and lunatic corner exit speed is just boggling. Hold your nerve, keep your foot in and the Turbo will do things you never thought possible. In one fantastic moment on Anglesey the nadge of corrective lock as I drifted out of the blind 90-degree left turned out to be exactly what I needed for the hairpin right that followed. I just held the wheel, stayed on the throttle and the car rotated perfectly around its middle.

I shouldn't like this car. It's heavy, it's reliant on a huge array of gadgetry, gizmos and gimmickry to do what is basically the polar opposite of everything I love about 'my' McLaren. And yet out of that amazing group of cars it's the one we're all talking about on the way home.

Dan

[Roma101]

A few people with experience have said to me that if you could just have one Porsche to do everything, it would be the Turbo. So I get what you are saying. And, yes, perhaps not in blue though!

Hope your saloon shoot-out was fair and that you took along a CP equipped M3.

[HorneyMX5]

It's a head car though, the heart would still buy the McL. Well mine would at least. I've never warmed to the looks of the 991, it just seems to be very badly proportioned compared to all the other 911s.

I can completely understand the love of the driving experience though.

So now you're a turbo convert when I will I see you down at Skuzzles getting a turbo bolted to the 5? Dsves's sorting your body out so surely that's the next step?

BTW I need to drop you a line re a trackday at Llandow on July 29th if you fancy it? Mx5's only.

[ManyMotors]

The 911 Turbo S (that's an 'S') does things few cars have ever done or are doing. After maybe 100 mph, several cars can pull it. But from a standstill using launch control, there is nothing close - look at the zero to 30 or 60 times where entertainment can occur without being extra-legal. (The torque curve, consequent horsepower and all wheel application to the pavement simply gives it an advantage other cars don't have). Yet the car can putter along like the best of beetles (note to critics: it isn't a VW underneath) handling fast food drive throughs like Mom's SUV. Well, well done, Porsche! (Now maybe slap that forthcoming GT2 engine in it).

[Ollywood]

It's what the 720S wants to be. An all round daily supercar. Interesting that Porsche have managed to put a sole in that car. On paper it's a numbers cars. McLaren haven't quite cracked the magic.

[anonymous-user]

Ollywood said:

It's what the 720S wants to be. An all round daily supercar. Interesting that Porsche have managed to put a sole in that car. On paper it's a numbers cars. McLaren haven't quite cracked the magic.

A sole for that new car smell?

[AndrewD]

I love the Turbo S. It is also discreet (not in that blue) in a way a McL never could be and it is to me the ultimate everyday car.

[ZX10R NIN]

Not that I'm in a position to buy one but if it came to it I'd be buying the GT-R taking it to Litchfield for them to tickle it to LM20 spec, then grabbing Megane Trophy R with the change so I've got the best of both or buy a 997 Turbo & do the same, the 991 is just too (I've only driven an S) big for my liking.

[RenesisEvo]

I can't make my mind up about the 911 Turbo. Otherworldly-fast, capable, a hoot to drive... and yet... and yet a basic RWD 911 interests me more. Can't explain why, just does. Not to say I'd ever pass up the Turbo - launch control in one of those is something everyone should experience at least once in their life - actually, properly breath-taking; your mind and body are totally lost for a moment as it they no idea what just happened.

Also, familiar looking colour that...

[mmcd87]

That colour is just fantastic.

[911p]

ZX10R NIN said:

Not that I'm in a position to buy one but if it came to it I'd be buying the GT-R taking it to Litchfield for them to tickle it to LM20 spec, then grabbing Megane Trophy R with the change so I've got the best of both or buy a 997 Turbo & do the same, the 991 is just too (I've only driven an S) big for my liking.

Compared to the 991 Turbo, the GT-R is bigger in every dimension, and the Megane is wider and taller.

[Deep]

It's an amazing car, especially from 997.2 onwards. A lot of people who slate it have never driven one.

If you can 'only' afford one supercar and want to drive it to work, the shops and the school run it's in a class of one.

I use mine everyday and it always brings a smile to my face.

[Loyly]

The Turbo looks really good in that blue. Daring colours aren't just for GT models.

Glad to hear the Turbo is finally exciting again, though in truth it would always have been my choice in the 911 range. I still lust after a 996 Turbo.

[Adz The Rat]

911p said:

Compared to the 991 Turbo, the GT-R is bigger in every dimension, and the Megane is wider and taller.

The GTR feels a bigger, heavier car too. I havent driven a MY17 GTR but all the others have felt BIG cars to me, do the job nicely though.

Strange how the Turbo is universally loved, yet any with a GT badge get the speculator comments.

[MaxA]

Seems to me that this latest 911 Turbo is the Goldilocks of supercars: not too slow, not too obvious, not too uninvolving, and not too hard for the day-to-day. The thing is, as much as I love my n/a 997.2 (and you can prise it out of my cold dead hands), if I had the money, I'd be in a MacLaren. I just don't see myself as a Turbo kind of guy.

This of course is written on the basis that I haven't driven either. It's just the mere thought of the Big Mac that gets my juices going.

[Yipper]

Always amazed that more carmakers don't compete with the 911T. You can take a Golf R and make it as fast and reliable and handleable for a third of the price. With modern turbos, engines and AWD systems, making a superfast daily is not hard. For its price, the 911T looks a bit of a ripoff, and more carmakers need to get stuck in and challenge it.

PS. Yes, I know Golf R and 911T are in the same VAG group, it is just an example

[Dale487]

RenesisEvo said:

I can't make my mind up about the 911 Turbo. Otherworldly-fast, capable, a hoot to drive... and yet... and yet a basic RWD 911 interests me more. Can't explain why, just does. Not to say I'd ever pass up the Turbo - launch control in one of those is something everyone should experience at least once in their life - actually, properly breath-taking; your mind and body are totally lost for a moment as it they no idea what just happened.

Also, familiar looking colour that...

I'm similar I'd rather spend the money on a 911GTS, then I can have a manual & rear wheel drive in a slightly more understated package. 450bhp is good enough for a 993 GT2, so why not a GTS?

[the_hood]

Deep said:

It's an amazing car, especially from 997.2 onwards. A lot of people who slate it have never driven one.

So what you're saying is that the PH community need to drive a car before they decide they don't like it? I don't think that'll catch on.

[anonymous-user]

911p said:

Compared to the 991 Turbo, the GT-R is bigger in every dimension, and the Megane is wider and taller.

Quite. The 911 feels tiny compared to most cars with similar performance which are all but unusable on B roads.

[anonymous-user]

Yipper said:

...making a superfast daily is not hard...

Yeah. Ok.

[RenesisEvo]

fblm said:

Quite. The 911 feels tiny compared to most cars with similar performance which are all but unusable on B roads.

Not sure I agree entirely. I've tried a 991 GT3RS and I can't say it felt all that small; no better or worse than say a 570S. An F-type feels very wide; strangely a Nissan GT-R is phyiscally wide but somehow shrinks a bit on a B-road. I suspect earlier 911s might feel much more compact (996, 997).