2025 Porsche 911 GTS First Drive:  Hybridized Sacrilege? - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

Every time Porsche introduces a new 911 it's always followed by a bit of controversy

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00:00Hi there, I'm Johnny Lieberman from Motor Trend, and today is a big day.

00:09Why?

00:10Because we're about to drive a new 911.

00:17Every time Porsche introduces a 911, it's always followed by a bit of controversy.

00:22Like for instance, with the 993 going to the 996, suddenly it was water cooled, brand betrayal,

00:28that was the end of the 911.

00:29But actually, they were pretty good, 997 was even better, then the 991, they added turbocharging

00:35instead of natural aspiration, oh, it was horrible, turned out it was pretty good.

00:41Then the 992, it got one inch longer and gained 60 pounds.

00:44That was the end, actually, hey, it turned out the car was okay.

00:48However, the 992.2, this might actually be the end, because this is a hybrid.

00:55That's right, Porsche has electrified the 911.

01:00Is it any good?

01:01Well, we're going to find out, but before we do, we're actually going to jump into the

01:06base car, the Carrera, and that still has a three liter, twin turbo, flat six, no hybridization,

01:14makes 388 horsepower, it's up about nine horsepower from the previous one.

01:19We'll see how that drives, then we're going to get into a hard top version of this, the

01:23GTS, which again, has a hybrid system, it has a new 3.6 liter, single electric turbo

01:30motor, with a 1.9 kilowatt hour battery, and makes 532 combined system horsepower.

01:39Is it the end?

01:40Is this sacrilege?

01:42Should you burn your Porsche shirts?

01:45Let's find out.

01:48911 Carrera.

01:52Rear drive, PDK only, no manual.

01:55Yeah, I mean, it's a 911.

01:57It's pretty carryover, like we talked about.

02:01Basically for the Carrera, what they did was, they added a lot more standard features, so

02:07you can sort of think of it as a Carrera GTS, if you want to, just because a lot of stuff

02:14that was optional before is now standard, although the price has gone way up.

02:20It's a very balanced car.

02:22I mean, from where I'm sitting, it's pretty good.

02:25You know, it's 388 horsepower in 2024, that's not a ton of horsepower, but it's by no means

02:33bad.

02:34Yeah, I mean, it's a 911, like, yeah, so GT3 is going to be better on a track.

02:41What on the market compares to a 911, and Porsche's kind of got this whole sports car

02:45thing figured out and cornered.

02:48Is it drastically different than, you know, the 992.1?

02:53No, you know, no, not at all.

02:56Still sounds pretty good for a twin-turbo, three liter, pancake six, flat six.

03:02Can't wait to see the difference between the hybrid and this one.

03:19GTS, this is a rear drive GTS, so 532 horsepower, 3.6 liter with a single turbo, but the single

03:28turbo is fascinating because it's an electric turbo, so the battery actually sends power

03:35to the turbocharger, and it keeps it pre-boosted, and we'll learn Sport Plus, you know, as I'm

03:43regening, the regenerative braking from the e-motor is sending power to the battery.

03:48Yeah, even when it's shifting gears, the e-motor is still spinning, so you're still accelerating

03:54during gear shifts, and it's pretty incredible the way the system works.

03:59You would never know it's a hybrid unless they told you.

04:02It has no, nothing that gives it away.

04:07You know, it doesn't have an electric only mode or anything like that.

04:10It's just for performance.

04:13It works brilliantly, and it's very simple from my perspective as a driver.

04:18It's insanely complicated if you're an engineer.

04:22Comparison to the base car, Carrera, I mean, night and day in terms of performance, it's

04:31so much quicker.

04:34That's 216 kilometers an hour in the Carrera.

04:37I think I saw 202, something like that, and again, I'm talking, not going flat out, so

04:44yeah, just a much, much quicker vehicle.

04:500-60 is going to actually be under three seconds, and again, the rear drive, and steering is

04:57sharper because it has better tires.

04:59The braking is incredible.

05:03What a great car.

05:04I'm trying to think of things I don't like.

05:08We drove the all-wheel drive one a little bit, and the steering's not nearly as nice

05:12as the two-wheel drive, but you know what?

05:14That's been true for a long time.

05:17The power is great.

05:18The power delivery is great.

05:20Yeah, yeah, boy.

05:26All right, Sacrilegious, have they ruined the 911?

05:30No, it's fantastic.

05:33Yeah, this is probably what everyone really wants from a GTS.

05:41It is a comfortable daily sports car that you can rip around a track.

05:47I mean, just flying in this thing, and you can do track stuff with it, and the brakes

05:54are really strong, and the turning is great, and you can get on power, and you have anti-lag

06:02essentially, torque fill.

06:04It's got an electric turbocharger that spins at 100,000 RPM, which is pumping 20 PSI into

06:11the motor, and it's just incredible, and it really does sound pretty good for a turbo.

06:25Final thoughts, there's really no downside.

06:28You might say, well, there's a little bit more weight, but if you're on an internet

06:31forum, there's all the downsides in the world.

06:35Here in reality, meaning you're actually on a track driving the car, on a canyon road

06:40driving the car, it's amazing.

06:43They've really done a wonderful job.

06:46Angus McKenzie, his ultimate praise for a car is, I would have one.

06:54Not to sound just like Angus, but I'd have one.

06:58I would have a Carrera GTS.

2025 Porsche 911 GTS First Drive: Hybridized Sacrilege?

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