No other internal combustion machine has made 701 horsepower as easy to live with as the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S.
If you’re of a certain age, the Porsche 911 Turbo was a bedroom poster all-star.
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Turbo → make → age
Often red, sometimes done up in full ‘80s flachbau (slant nose) style with side-strakes and pop-up headlights, and always with the “whale tail” on display, Stuttgart’s finest shared prime real estate with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Crawford and Stamos.
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Stuttgart → do → Ferrari
The 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S may share the badge, but it is not the same sort of car.
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it → share → car
The range-topping 911 is still the most powerful option of them all — now with a whopping 701 horsepower — but it’s cleaned up.
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it → top → horsepower
All of that makes this an eerily capable supercar, but at comfortably more than $300,000 as-tested, the Turbo S is almost too subtle for its own good.
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S → make → good
The characteristic intakes aft of the doors, which necessitate even wider hips than a standard 911, are the most obvious signs of this ultimate model.
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which → necessitate → model
There are vertical slats in the lower front bumper that automatically adjust for optimal airflow.
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that → be → airflow
These debuted on the Carrera GTS model last year: undoubtedly useful, they’re still fussy to these eyes.
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they → debut → eyes
Banish the thought of Prius power from your brain: Porsche has instead wedged a small electric motor within the casing of the eight-speed PDK transmission, producing up to 53 hp on its own.
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Porsche → banish → own
The turbochargers now also feature electric motors.
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turbochargers → feature → motors
This too is also familiar from the GTS; the Turbo S just doubles the number of turbochargers.
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S → double → turbochargers
While I could spend this entire column talking the technical side, the results are key here: an almost complete absence of turbo lag plus the torque-fill from the transmission’s electric motor gives the Turbo S the sort of quick reflexes normally reserved for electric cars.
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absence → spend → cars
The term “sledgehammer” has never felt so appropriate.
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term → feel → ?
A handful of EVs may sprint up to 100 km/h even quicker than the Turbo S — it’ll do it in barely over two seconds in the right situation — but none with the associated savagery.
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it → sprint → savagery
It’s the only peak behind the curtain the 911 provides: a hint of the sheer mechanical complexity and robustness required to launch over 1,700 kilograms at the horizon with such a quickness.
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911 → ’ → quickness
The transmission shifts are there, but only offer the briefest pause in the process of rearranging internal organs.
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shifts → offer → organs
I showcase launch control for family and friends (in a safe, controlled environment of course).
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I → showcase → course
Even as the pilot I need a breather after a few runs.
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I → need → runs
The adaptive suspension is tuned for grand touring tastes: it is more forgiving over bumps than the GTS but no less sharp when the driver selects Sport or Sport Plus drive modes.
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driver → tune → modes
An electro-hydraulic evolution of the brand’s anti-roll system ensures the 911 stays flat no matter how hard it is thrown into corners.
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it → ensure → corners
Braking is strong and intuitive; the massive carbon-ceramic discs never even hinting at their limits on the road.
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discs → hint → road
Like all modern 911s, the Turbo S has excellent steering, with an appropriate amount of weight and consistent feedback.
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S → have → weight
This car is easily capable of the sorts of speeds a race track requires; that it can still be entertaining at mere mortal speeds is important.
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be → require → speeds
That’s where it will be operating most of the time, after all.
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it → ’ → time
All the while drivers get to enjoy the best exhaust note of all the modern turbocharged 911s, the 3.6-litre flat-six happily spinning up to 7,500 rpm.
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drivers → get → rpm
Fuel efficiency isn’t a sexy subject but it deserves mention here
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it → deserve → mention
: the Turbo S’s observed 12.9 L/100 km makes it a genuine road trip machine.
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it → observe → ?
A Bose audio system provides appropriate levels of sonic satisfaction.
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system → provide → satisfaction
Technology is intuitive without being overwhelming, there are still plenty of physical buttons for major controls, and the plus-two rear seats can be used for extra storage.
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seats → be → storage
My mind says no, while my heart yearns for the extrovert, poster-worthy shapes of the Ferrari Amalfi, Aston Martin Vantage, and McLaren Artura that occupy this rarefied air.
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that → say → air
Reality sits somewhere in the middle: buyers at this end of the market don’t concern themselves with price, and this ultimate 911’s combination of face-melting pace and province-crossing endurance single it out.
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combination → sit → it
The 911 Turbo might not be as extravagant as it once was, but there is value in flying under the radar.
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it → be → radar
The Aporia
