Styling
How we can possibly call anything with such a chunky set of hips on it as the 992.2 Turbo S T-Hybrid 'discreet' probably seems like a bleedin' liberty, but as we walked up to OPR 911 from a front three-quarter perspective on a murky day at Porsche UK's HQ on the outskirts of Reading, we had to double-check the excellent PR team at Calcot had left us the right car. It didn't look beefy enough, and this despite the fact that the 992.2 Turbo S is actually wider at the front compared to the more demure 911s at the other end of the manufacturer's range than it is at the back. The front wings on the ultimate T-Hybrid are 45mm broader edge-to-edge, whereas the rear flanks are flared by a 'mere' 25mm.
What we're trying to say is that the Turbo doesn't immediately betray its specialised nature from a visual perspective. Sure, once you get round to the rump of the car and see the meatier bumper/diffuser arrangement, and those signature squared-off tailpipes (as long as they've not been optioned-out for the oval finishers by the customer), and that flat spoiler reminiscent of the 'whaletail' fitted to the iconic 930 Turbo of yore, and the stupidly wide rear wheels (now running 325-section rubber on each side of the back axle, clothing oversized 21-inch alloys because the fronts are 20s), and of course the 'Turbo S' legend on its engine cover, then you have no doubt what you're looking at.
But it's kind of like Stuttgart's designers wanted the Porsche cognoscenti to pick up on the subtle details that differentiate this 711hp car from any other 911, rather than putting up the equivalent of a huge neon sign of aesthetic pointers going 'THIS IS A TURBO S'. And we have to admit, we approve of that tasteful blend of modest clues mixed with the implied visual hints of menace, so the 992.2 Turbo S is a kerbside knockout from our point-of-view. Oh, and if you want the key giveaway to the 992.2 T-Hybrid's nature at the front, it's those vertically slatted, active air vents at either corner of the nose which are the telltale signifiers.
Interior
We'll keep this brief: the 992's cabin is arguably our favourite car interior on sale now, because it mixes spot-on ergonomic correctness, a driving position from the gods, and just the right trade-off of smoothly integrated and easy-to-operate tech with proper, physical switchgear that is always sited in exactly the right place. You get into a 911 these days and, within minutes, you're operating its systems like you've owned the car for decades. Also, material quality is exceptional, while a few underplayed Turbo S details (badgework here and there, the use of Turbonite-coloured trim, model-specific graphics in the 12.6-inch Curved Display cluster and 10.9-inch Porsche Communication Management infotainment system) only serve to enhance the ambience of the 992.2's exceptional passenger compartment.
Practicality
Inasmuch as a 2+2 convertible that's less than 4.6 metres long from tip to tail can be, the Porsche 911 Turbo S T-Hybrid Cabriolet should be considered a success on the practicality front. Yes, those rear seats are cosy in the extreme. Yes, they have perfectly vertical backrests, so sitting there for any length of time won't be much fun, unless you're eight. Yes, with the hood up, anyone over about five-foot-three tall will be folding their neck over due to the lack of headroom.
So we're not trying to say the 911 Turbo S is some unheralded superstar of usability. But, as far as any other comparable car with similar levels of breathtaking performance and peerless desirability to the Porsche go, it's the 992.2 which is the most versatile. Interior storage and stowage places are useful, the fully built-in wind deflector which pops up electrically behind the back seats in seconds is a stroke of genius, and there's up to 291 litres of boot space on offer if you require. True, more than half of that volume is effectively made up of the back seats, which indicates that even Porsche itself doesn't see the second-row accommodation as viable for human use. But at least with the fast-acting powered roof of the Cabriolet, loading cases into the rear chairs will be a lot easier with the car's hood down than it would be in the fixed-top 911 Turbo S T-Hybrid Coupe.
Performance
The very simple summation here is that the 992.2 Turbo S T-Hybrid has a twin-turbo iteration of the single-turbo 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine seen in the
updated Mk8 GTS. The slightly more detailed analysis of that precis is that, yes, the Turbo S has a pair of electric blowers, but it also has a stronger electric motor sequestered away in its PDK transmission: it's a 60kW/190Nm item here in the 911 flagship, whereas it's a 40kW/150Nm e-motor in the GTS. Both cars, though, use the same 1.9kWh battery pack to power all this 400-volt T-Hybrid magubbins.
On its own, Porsche says the 3.6 in the back of the Turbo S makes 630hp, which is more than the 541hp peak system output of the GTS, but with the electric unit also thrown in, that's where power rises to 711hp. Which is a farcical number, isn't it? Sure, we've already seen other Porsches with more horses at their disposal than this, namely V8-derived PHEVs which culminated in a
739hp SUV or a faintly preposterous
782hp shooting brake estate. Heck, the 992.2 Turbo S isn't even the first 911 to attain the 700hp barrier, that honour instead falling on the old 991 GT2 RS model's shoulders.
Yet an increase of 61hp over the old 992.1 Turbo S seems such a nonsensical idea, considering how blazingly fast that 650hp 911 felt back in 2020. Intriguingly, this fancy hybrid propulsion set-up adds no more torque to the 992.2 halo car, the S maxing out at the same 800Nm as its predecessor. Also, as you'd predict, adding batteries and e-motors to the 911 commensurately adds weight, with Porsche claiming around 50 kilos goes on the vehicle's mass. As a Cabriolet like this, the Turbo S T-Hybrid therefore tips the scales at a portly 1,810kg.
None of this matters, however. Not when you've experienced the devastating, hammer-blow violence of the 992.2 Turbo S T-Hybrid's thunderous power. The printed stats suggest that this hike to 711hp has only trimmed a 'mere' 0.2 seconds from the 992.1's 2.7-second 0-62mph time, with the hybrid Coupe now running the benchmark sprint in 2.5 seconds and this 1.8-tonne Cab another tenth behind that. But you need to pay heed to the fact the Turbo S T-Hybrid is now half-a-second faster for 0-124mph than its ancestor, putting in a brain-frying 8.4-second time. Or that it's a vast 14 seconds quicker round the Nordschleife than it was previously, with its fresh stopwatch time of 7:03.92s in the bag.
This Porsche 911 is just outrageously fast. Even in an age of megawatt EVs with torque figures often running to several thousand Newton metres, we've not experienced much that can accelerate with anything like the savagery of the Turbo S. In a gobsmacking display of its warp-speed prowess on a 90-mile loop around some of the best roads in the North Wessex Downs, the 992.2 Turbo S does three things that will long remain indelibly emblazoned in our memory.
One, it breaks traction. At the top of the tacho in third. In the dry. And it's a four-wheel-drive car with road-roller rear rubber, remember. Two, on only half-throttle openings, its wonderful and whipsmart PDK transmission and super-sharp responsiveness from the electrified induction system means it'll pile on pace in a manner that would still embarrass 90, maybe 95 per cent of all other cars out there in the world. And three, last but by no means least, at a speed we can't really publish in fifth gear on a trailing throttle, when we mashed the right-hand pedal back down with the PDK in full manual mode, it managed to summon up enough in-gear accelerative force to pin us back in our chair - summoning up tangible g-forces where the laws of physics really ought to say 'no way is that possible, mate'. Absolutely and utterly astounding potency.
Seriously, the 992.2 Turbo S T-Hybrid isn't just incrementally faster than a 992.1 Turbo S; it feels obliteratingly, intoxicatingly, wonderfully quicker than its forefather. It's sensational. Remorseless in its indecent accelerative urge. A seminal experience to drive it. Oh, and to cap it all, it both sounds decent thanks to its standard-fit titanium sports exhaust - admittedly, maybe not
nat-asp, 4.0-litre yowlingly memorable, sure, but it has enough of an industrial, big-hearted charm overlaid with boosty hissings to its vocals that makes it a treat for the ears - and it also stops almost as well as it explodes furiously away into the middle distance, thanks to the standard fitment of Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB). As befits the most expensive standard 911 of them all.
Ride & Handling
Right, you're not going to get the sort of delicately involving nor thoroughly delicious driving experience at the helm of the 992.2 Turbo S T-Hybrid as you would when sitting behind the wheel of the
winged GT3 Weissach Club Sport. Nor are you going to get quite the same engagement as you would from the much, much cheaper,
last-of-the-attainable manual 911s. But to dismiss the Turbo S as a car which is all about the straight-line speed and nothing else would be a grievous error.
Stuttgart has thrown the technical kitchen sink at the chassis of this thing, in order to help it cope with its mammoth outputs. So on top of the aforementioned PCCB, there's now an active anti-roll system as part of the dual suspension systems of Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) dampers and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC). It comes with Rear Axle Steering from the off for greater agility. The staggered fitment 20-inch front, 21-inch rear alloys are fitted with Pirelli P Zero R tyres for maximum grip. It has a Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) electronically controlled limited-slip diff for the rear axle.
All of the above adds up to a 911 Turbo that's a hoot to drive without ever being terrifying, a car that's remarkably capable on nuggety backroads without ever once feeling boring or undemandingly foursquare. You get the 992.2 Turbo S flowing on the right roads, and you feel rewarded and as if you're extracting something from its chassis beyond what the electronics and clever gizmos are serving up to you. You can play with its balance on the throttle and with bungs of the sublime steering (no, it really is), and at no point does the Porsche spike into life-limiting behaviour. One high-speed kink over a crest with the twin e-turbos fully lit convinced us of the Turbo S Cab's stellar abilities; in an old 930 Turbo, doing the same thing would have ended in nothing other than a massive accident.
Yes, you can drive the 992.2 Turbo S in a point-and-shoot manner, sandbagging the corners at slower speeds by utilising its immense mechanical grip, before unleashing T-Hybrid hell and destroying the interlinking straights in a frenzy of traction and almighty acceleration. Yet there's just as much thrill and delight in eliciting a more cohesive, joined-up handling experience from the ultimate-power 911, and thankfully Zuffenhausen has put the full suite of top-end kinematic tools at your disposal to get that edifying latter job done in some style.
The final feather in the cap of the Turbo S T-Hybrid is that, when you need it all to calm down a bit, and you simply want to pack the 711hp side of its character away for a while, it is as docile and as biddable as any other 911 in the revised line-up. The chief attraction here is that both the ride comfort and the rolling refinement of the 992.2 Turbo S seemed better than we remembered from the old 992.1; unequivocally, there's less tyre roar and road noise in this Cabriolet at motorway speeds than there was in the 650hp Coupe we drove when it was new in 2020. So it would appear that, dynamically speaking, the Turbo S has improved in every conceivable way as a result of its T-Hybrid upgrade.
Value
At more than £221,000 with options fitted - some of the main uptick contributors being ventilated front seats (£914), the dashboard and door trim package leather (£2,044), the front-axle lifting system (£2,033), Surround View with Active Parking Support (£1,298), adaptive cruise control (£1,468) and the Burmester High-End Surround Sound System (£2,752), among more - and more than £209,000 basic, you have to ask whether the 911 Turbo S T-Hybrid Cabriolet is maybe overkill for our roads. For example, would a 394hp, £113,700 Carrera Cab, or even the
soft-top Carrera T, provide 95 per cent of the fun for around half the price, all while putting your licence at far less risk of being confiscated for eternity? Probably, yes, they would. But if you want the ultimate in Porsche's turbocharged engineering know-how, you've got to plump for the Turbo S T-Hybrid. And if you want something ideologically similar that'll serve up a similarly visceral driving experience, then you might end up paying
considerably more money than you would for even the optioned-up Porsche.
Verdict
We could sum up the Porsche 911 Turbo S T-Hybrid by saying it is yet another car in the Turbo legacy of Stuttgart's rear-engined sporting icon where the handling and driver involvement on display is dominated by the phenomenal haymaker punch of the powertrain. But that would be to undersell the overall pleasure of driving this technologically amazing car. We've not had this much fun in a forced-induction
neun-elfer since we last drove the
idiosyncratic Dakar, and in all honesty, we can't pay the part-electric Turbo S much more of a compliment than that. It's an utterly fantastic machine that can hold its head up high when considered against the enthusiasts' preferred 911 choice, the GT3, and thus we simply cannot wait to have a go in the complementary Coupe variant, sometime later this year.
