Porsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 001Porsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 001IntroductionThe new '992.2'-generation Porsche 911 Turbo S has arrived on UK roads. The twelfth technical iteration of this wild, revered, extra-special sports car in a history of a little over half-a-century, the Turbo has gone hybrid. Imagine suggesting that idea twenty years ago. Imagine even thinking it. Well, Zuffenhausen's out to prove that you should be excited by it. And, as it turns out, with very good reason. Adopting a widely reworked version of the 3.6-litre hybrid flat six that the '992.2' Porsche 911 GTS received in 2025, the new Turbo S uses two smaller electrically roused turbochargers (one per bank) rather than just one. It carries over the 911 GTS's gearbox-mounted electric drive motor, but turns up the wick on that also. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe influence of what's gone on in the engine bay even reaches the car's suspension and steering. Operating at 400 volts, Porsche's T-Hybrid system enables technical upgrades for the Turbo's PDCC active anti-roll bars and four-wheel steering systems, making them faster acting.That's the technical digest, which we'll revisit in more detail in a month or so after we've borrowed a Turbo S Coupe for a full Autocar road test. For now, we'll settle for an advanced flavour of how compatible with UK roads this even more powerful, electrified 'übermensch' 911 has become, courtesy of a £209,100 Turbo S Cabriolet; having first sampled a Coupe on roads in Spain late in 2025.Design & stylingPorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 002We knew it was coming: the new hybridised 3.6-litre flat-six engine that made its debut in the 911 GTS last year, called T-Hybrid, has been turned up to eleven.Mechanically much of it is the same here as in that application: it has the same block, married to an eight-speed automatic transmission that has an 80bhp electric motor between the engine and the clutch. The 911 Turbo is automatic-only and four-wheel-drive only.AdvertisementAdvertisementDrive is never provided by the motor alone: this 400V electrical system is about performance rather than economy, and with this level of urge the Turbo S is some 14sec quicker around the Nordschleife than its predecessor (not a figure we'd normally note; but that is an awful lot, isn't it?). The adoption of the high-voltage system means the engine is shorn of various pumps and ancillaries that would normally live atop the block, making the engine itself a little lower; with the space left above occupied by high-voltage systems.All of those electrification systems have added weight to the Turbo S - more of which in a moment - but if you're not as fussed about a few extra kilos as some Porsche diehards, the Cabriolet only adds another 85 of them relative to an equivalent Coupe.InteriorPorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 012The cabin of the 911 Turbo S is essentially the same excellent one you will find in the basic 911 Carrera.AdvertisementAdvertisementPerceived quality is high; and while many people still take issue with the stubby gear selector, in general Porsche's plastics look and feel so fine that it plays perfectly into the brand's sport-luxe vibe. This car retains the tactile appeal of a proper luxury coupe, as the '992' always has; even though it's 'only' a sports car.Luggage space remains excellent. Up-front storage is fine, with deep door pockets. But the capacious front boot and the ability to throw large bags into the rear of the car make the Turbo S far more suited to touring than any mid-engined alternatives.Engines & performancePorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 022One of the things that hybridisation has taken from the 911 Turbo is a starter motor. You push the engine start button now and there's no preliminary whirring; just a sudden, slightly coarse ruckus that put me in mind of the early days of the McLaren MP4-12C's thrashy-sounding V8. It's not the enticing startup routine that special 911s have spoilt us with over the decades; although the new Turbo S's flat six certainly becomes better to listen once it settles down - and then better still on the move, as its flat six character becomes more evident, the whoosh and hiss of audible forced induction adding welcome texture.Is it fast? Formidably so. You wouldn't imagine any big-hitting turbocharged engine could respond quite like this. Feeding in big applications of power in higher ratios isn't quite like dolling out the instant torque of a big electric motor; but then you wouldn't want it to be.AdvertisementAdvertisementThere is, instead, pin-sharp urgency to the Turbo's initial delivery of torque. But, where an electric motor's delivery would wane as speeds rise, there's also a building, swelling supply of dramatic firepower as the car accelerates. Unlike in something fast and electric, there is no sense that the Turbo's engine has given its best before your foot has finished ruffling the carpet. There's plenty given up; but a lot more still to come. And my word is it worth keeping your toe in for.If you were in Hamburg and had, say, an appointment in Frankfurt, this is precisely the sort of car you would pick first and foremost – made for demolishing big distances at high speeds.Ride & handlingPorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 024Suspension is by MacPherson struts at the front and a multi-link arrangement at the rear, with adaptive dampers and, more significantly, active anti-roll bars. These are driven off the 400V system, which makes them much more responsive. Likewise the rear-wheel steering.If all of this sounds complicated, I think you're right, but Porsche is better at tuning complex dynamic systems than perhaps anyone bar Ferrari, which has a smaller operating breadth anyway.AdvertisementAdvertisementIf it also sounds a little heavy, again you're correct. The Turbo S weighs 85kg more than before, at 1725kg - and this is now measured without the rear seats (now a no-cost option), which would add another few. It's just inevitable with all of the additional hybrid hardware, which accounts for about 65kg of the gain, with bigger brakes (420mm and 410mm carbon-ceramics front and rear respectively), wider rear wheels (with 10mm-wider, 325-section rear tyres) than before to cope with the additional power, plus the body now has to be around 10kg heavier after some strengthening to meet latest legislation. Frank Moser, vice-president of Porsche's 911 and 718 model lines, says you won't feel the weight gain – and I think he's mostly right.On relatively good Spanish roads to the Ascari race circuit, the Coupe felt really precise. Very responsive for overtakes, as you would expect, with medium-weighted and -geared but incredibly accurate steering, impeccably well-tuned.It rode really well, too. And in respect of its handling, you wouldn't have known the active rear steer was doing its thing (Porsche does such systems better than anyone), and I could imagine commuting in it in summer or putting on a set of winter tyres and heading to the Alps in winter. AdvertisementAdvertisementOn circuit, some people have previously found the Turbo S a little cold, a little too perfect. Not a bit of it; not this time.In its more tightly suspended drive modes, body control is impeccable. Some roll and pitch is allowed to lean reassuringly against, and there's a hint of understeer that can be quelled with power or trailed braking; but it really moves around if you want it to.It feels like there's tremendous integrity too. This being a Porsche, I drove the car off the road, straight onto the circuit and ragged the bejesus out of it, with no drama, no fires, just some monitoring of the tyre pressures.On UK roads, meanwhile, the Turbo S Cabriolet had excellent evident chassis integrity, too. It felt entirely natural and intuitive in its steering and handling; and had a way of tackling faster corners that spoke of 95 per cent stability and accuracy, with just a hint of vivid animation available if you were prepared to look hard, and carry plenty of speed, to unearth it. AdvertisementAdvertisementMost abidingly, however, it felt taut, flat, reigned in and secure. Terser with its body control, and a little less yielding, supple and communicative in its inclinations perhaps, than some of its forebears. But certainly like a car whose chassis has really stepped up; no doubt in response to a powertrain that's become even more potent than ever - but leading, arguably, to a bit of a character change for what was once considered Porsche's wild child model.MPG & running costsPorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 001The Turbo S is now all but a £200,000 car without options, and there won't be a Turbo S that leaves the factory without any of those. That's about the going rate for a Ferrari Amalfi Spider or McLaren Artura Spider; but gone are the days when a Turbo would undercut cars of that sort by about 20- to 30 per cent on price, and then promptly set about duffing them up on the road. On price alone, this probably isn't a car you can call a giant-slayer; not any longer.However, even though Porsche says the T-Hybrid system is about performance, it's more frugal than most cars of this performance, because the 911 is still (relatively) compact. You could expect near 25mpg in daily driving - unless you put your foot down.VerdictPorsche 911 Turbo S review 2026 025Famously once a sports car that sprouted four-wheel drive almost in order to tame an engine overhaul that'd given that engine total dominion over its chassis, the Turbo S now seems like a car that has moved decisively in the other direction. Even with 701bhp, it finally feels fully supercar-precise and -composed in the way it handles. AdvertisementAdvertisementIt's a sports car that absolutely demands to be known better. Watch this space and - after a full MIRA road test - we'll see how much more it has to reveal.There should certainly be plenty. The Turbos S is an 'and' sort of car, in that it will do the lot. Country road driving; high-speed autobahn miles; track laps; in-town commuting; even trips to the mountains on winter tyres. And it's hard to think of a car that will do all of those things with such composure and ability as this car has the potential for.That was always the big lure of the Turbo, and remains so. The supercar for every drive and occasion has regenerated; and has some incredible new talents. We'll see where they take it soon enough.]]>
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