Porsche 911 Carrera S review – the daily 911 that’s quicker than a GT3

There was a time when the Carrera S was all the 911 you could ever need – the Goldilocks point in the range. Usefully more powerful and dynamic than a base Carrera, more involving than a Turbo and more habitable than GT models, for years it was the de facto choice for an involving everyday sports car to cover almost all bases. 

Today, however, life isn’t so simple for the Carrera S. Not because it’s been overthrown by rivals from other brands – it’s still just as capable and usable as any of them – but because the 911 range is more diverse than ever, which potentially leaves it without a defined USP. It’s still substantially more powerful and better equipped than the base Carrera, but either side of it you have the Carrera T – the purest ‘normal’ 911 and the only one available with a manual gearbox – and the raw, engaging and hybrid-powered GTS. Both have more distinct personalities, and may leave you wondering if the S is worth a second look. 

With that said, we’d argue it still is. Building on the base Carrera’s abilities, it’s a superbly rounded sports car that few – if any – rivals in the £120k price bracket can match. It may not be as outright exciting as the models flanking it, but as a 911 to slip into your life with ease, being as usable as you’d expect as well as enormously fast (it accelerates quicker than a GT3), hugely competent and enjoyable when the right road presents itself, it’s one we’d happily recommend. Read on to find out why. 

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Engine, gearbox and performance 

• Carrera-based flat-six boosted to 473bhp
• Eight-speed PDK the only gearbox available
• Faster 0-62mph time than a PDK-equipped GT3

Compared to a base Carrera, the S takes things up several notches in terms of power. Its 3-litre twin-turbo flat-six is 84bhp healthier than the Carrera’s, bridging the gap to the 3.6-litre, 534bhp hybrid GTS. Torque is bumped up from 332lb ft to 391, and the resulting numbers aren’t far off those you’d expect from a full-blown supercar: 62mph comes up in 3.3sec (a tenth quicker than a GT3) and it runs on to 191mph. As with the Carrera, an eight-speed PDK is the only choice of gearbox, with the Carrera T being the sole mainstream 911 offered with a stick. 

Those numbers are believable in practice. The motor sweeps around to 7500rpm with real urgency and the S’s 305-width rear Pirellis find fantastic forward drive. As in the base Carrera, the delivery is linear with a satisfying top-end crescendo and flat-six howl from the switchable sports exhaust, but there’s tangibly more energy to the way it accelerates. Shifts from the PDK box hit home swiftly, too, although we occasionally caught it out with the odd clunky upshift. Do you need the extra power over a Carrera? On the road, not really. It just means you hover on the throttle in places where you’d be flat out in the standard car, and it’s a bit more exciting when the chance comes to fully open it up. The fundamental character isn’t much different, and the S hasn’t turned into a heavy-handed, M4-style powerhouse. 

When you back off, the S plays the everyday role as well as a Carrera, if not better, thanks to the extra torque and flexibility of the engine. It starts pulling from as little as 2000rpm and settles into a calm stride on the motorway, and remains rock steady at autobahn speeds. Intrusive road noise at speed is still an issue, however, as in most 911s.

Driver’s note

‘The S feels seriously quick. Its 3-litre flat-six loves to rev – and makes a great sound while doing so, its howl every bit as enjoyable as the bellow from an AMG GT’s V8 – and it has more of a sense of crescendo than you’d expect from a turbo engine.’ – James Taylor, evo Deputy Editor

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Ride and handling

• Composed, stable and confidence inspiring, rather than truly thrilling
• Superb wet weather ability
• PASM Sport suspension is more poised and controlled, at the expense of a firmer ride

As well as the extra power, the S gets a more generous list of standard equipment to justify the price hike. Among the included kit are larger, staggered 20- and 21-inch wheels, a Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus diff and the aforementioned sports exhaust, with rear-axle steering, Power Steering Plus, ceramic brakes and a stiffer, 10mm lower PASM Sport suspension setup offered as options. Compared to the outgoing Carrera S, the steering, front-axle kinematics and damper tuning have been adjusted, and the S’s uprated brakes (with huge 408mm front discs) are borrowed from the old 992.1 GTS, which it matches for power. They stop well and don’t wilt after repeated hard braking, but the pedal is a little soft on initial travel. 

The S doesn’t have the finely honed tactility of a GTS, but it’s still a satisfyingly polished sports car. It tracks your inputs precisely and breeds confidence through its controls – particularly the steering, which isn’t alive with feedback but relays a clear sense of load through the car. It means you can commit into corners, lean on the tyres and even edge past their limit with real confidence. At 1540kg the S isn’t especially light for a 911, and every glance in the mirrors reminds you of the 992’s bulging hips. But it still feels wieldy somehow, perhaps because it’s so easy to place on the road, and because rivals like the M4 and AMG GT have muscled up so much. Only through mid-corner undulations at speed do you feel the mass start to work the suspension hard – Sport for the dampers helps here, controlling the body more precisely.

On the lowered PASM Sport suspension, that sensation is enhanced further. There’s more of an edge to the ride but it’s not jarring, and the payoff is more poise and control, the S settling quickly and flowing precisely through fast corners. Eventually you do find the limit, and some classic 911 traits, but you need to go looking for them. The rear is so hooked up that the nose can unload and edge wide under power, but you can unstick it with aggressive steering and throttle inputs – more easily than you can in a Carrera. Even when breaking traction there’s a sense of huge forward propulsion, and the rear quickly nips back into line once grip is regained. 

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An M4 is more wild and happier to indulge when you want to play, but there’s something to be said for the 911’s more subtle approach – particularly in wet conditions. In weather where you'd normally be tip-toeing in a rear-drive car with this much power, the Carrera S remains on your side and comes alive. Its capability leaves you in awe and it encourages you to exploit it, kicking and writhing beneath you under power without being spiky, and leaving you to modulate the flow of 473bhp to the rear. It just seems to adapt to the conditions, never phased. 

Like the base Carrera, the S isn’t a car that draws you in through raw excitement, but it’s impressively consistent and confidence-inspiring, with more depth than a BMW M4, Mercedes-AMG GT or Lotus Emira. Though these rivals have distinctive – and occasionally more exciting – personalities of their own, none have the nuance and sense of deep-seated quality of the 911 in the way they drive. 

Driver’s note

‘The 911 puts you so clearly in touch with the road and gives such a clear picture of what each tyre is up to that you feel entirely at ease in wet conditions. Its Pirelli P Zeros struggle a little for lateral grip and traction on cold, sodden tarmac, but their hold is lost and regained in such a predictable way that it’s never unnerving.’ – James Taylor, evo Deputy Editor 

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Interior and tech

The 992.2’s cabin is easy to get along with, with an excellent driving position and intuitive tech. Key elements like the climate controls, ESC, damper modes and exhaust settings are operated via tactile physical switches, and the remaining controls in the touchscreen are simple to access. The infotainment system doesn’t have the biggest screen or fanciest graphics – certainly not compared to something like the Mercedes-AMG GT – but there’s something to be said for Porsche’s cleaner, simpler UI.

General build quality is good, but perhaps lagging behind that of the older 991 (the gloss black plastic centre console in particular isn’t very appealing.) It’s missing some character from older models too, with the 992.1’s analogue rev counter being replaced by a fully digital panel here, and an apologetic gear selector switch in place of the pistol-grip lever from 991s and modern GT models.

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Price and rivals

The Carrera S starts at £120,500, making it £17k more than a Carrera, £5k more than a Carrera T, but over £17k cheaper than the GTS. Adding four-wheel drive brings the price up to £127k.

The Carrera T is a very different proposition – more raw and connected but substantially less powerful, and only offered with a manual gearbox. The S is a more liveable daily sports car, but less involving. The GTS, meanwhile, is again more exciting than the S and can quite happily play the daily sports car role, but it’s noisier and generally more intense in how it drives. 

Beyond that, there aren’t many directly comparable rivals in terms of price. The Lotus Emira, for instance, starts from £92,500 in manual V6 form, while the Mercedes-AMG GT – traditionally a primary 911 rival – sits either side of the Carrera S in four-cylinder GT43 (£106,405) and V8 GT55 (£143,700) forms. Aston Martin’s Vantage, meanwhile, has moved up a class, costing from £165,000.

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