A friend of mine often says that automotive engineers do their best when they’re backed into a corner. At least in Europe, internal combustion cars have to run Lambda=1, i.e. no fuel enrichment to help keep things cool or generate extra power. It’s a big challenge, and Porsche decided to respond to it with a new hybrid system for the 911.
I’ve written about this system a lotSo I’ll go over the basics. You have a 400-volt, 1.9-kilowatt-hour battery that lives in the front trunk (aka frunk) where a 911 normally houses its 12-volt battery. The battery is in harmony with the engine and is connected to an eight-speed PDK transmission, along with a 53-horsepower electric motor.
The engine itself is the ubiquitous flat-six that makes Porsche’s sports car so iconic – a 3.6-litre unit. The engine is coupled to an electric turbocharger with a motor that controls boost pressure and can feed power either to the traction motor or back to the battery.
There’s no all-electric driving mode, or even any need to plug the car in. This is the right way to do things, because it keeps weight down – Porsche claims the 911 Carrera GTS is just over 100 pounds heavier than its predecessor – and it means the performance is always there. Five hundred and thirty-two horsepower and 449 lb-ft, whenever you need it.
The few times I’ve driven a new 911 hybrid, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the hell the system is doing. There’s a power meter in the tachometer that swings left to show charging, and right to show deployment. Basically, the thing is swinging back and forth all the time.
The car is constantly mixing power, putting power into the turbo or traction motor, or using both to harvest energy it can use later. There’s a power-flow display in the infotainment system, and if you watch it from the passenger seat, it’s nearly impossible to follow, so the hybrid system’s dance is extremely complicated.
But if you put all that out of your mind, what you’re left with is an amazingly fast car. A few days before driving the 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet, I spent some time in a non-hybrid Carrera S. Now this is a very fast car. This sounds like it has more than 59 extra horsepower compared to the “S.” It has huge torque across the low and midrange, as you’d expect, but it continues to pull well beyond 7,500 rpm.
Photo by: Porsche
Unsurprisingly, throttle response in Sport and Sport Plus modes is immediate. My only real issue with this powertrain is the sound, which is sharper and less musical than past 911s. But that’s hardly a criticism.
As for the rest of the car, it’s hard to go wrong. I’ve always been a 911 Cabriolet hater, but these 992 droptops feel every bit as solid as their hardtop brethren, and on the road, you don’t really notice the extra weight.
With the roof up, it barely sounds louder than the coupe, if at all, and with the roof up and all the windows and wind deflectors in place, vibration is minimal. The only real compromise is looks, and even then, this isn’t a bad-looking car.
The handling, of course, is great, and the ride quality is forgiving enough to be livable on a daily basis. The biggest dynamic downfall here is the feel of the brake pedal, which is a bit more artificial than in a non-hybrid 911. That’s great by any other standard, but the 911 Carrera SI I previously drove had the best brake feel of any car I’ve driven in recent memory.
However, the GTS is all about this great powertrain. Porsche – like its industry peers – has been backed into a corner here, and has come up with an answer that not only pleases regulators, but should please enthusiasts as well.
Change is scary, and the auto industry is going through some of the biggest changes it has ever seen. Enthusiasts wonder where this leaves them; They feel alienated by what is happening.
Certainly, some of the changes in our cars are for the worse, from an enthusiast’s point of view. But this car and the brilliant minds behind it prove that the future doesn’t have to be scary. Change can be a good thing.
If the future can look even remotely similar to the 911 Carrera GTS, then go for it.
