2025 Porsche 911 GTS First Drive: Hybridized Sacrilege?
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.