New 911 Turbo gets 530bhp and four-wheel steering; on sale next year for around £120k
Porsche is busy putting the finishing touches to the new 911 Turbo, seen here nearly undisguised.
The new model will, like the 911 GT3, adopt four-wheel steering for added agility, Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz has confirmed to Autocar.
The latest incarnation of the 2+2 supercar is due to get its first public airing at the Frankfurt motor show in September. The new 911 Turbo will enter UK showrooms at a price that’s expected to nudge £120,000 in fully loaded form — the same territory that McLaren is targeting with the P13.
As with all recent new 911 models, the new car benefits from a wide range of weight-saving measures, including extensive use of aluminium.
Despite an increase in dimensions, the kerb weight has been reduced below the 1585kg of the last of the previous-generation models, in a move that promises to provide the new range-topping 911 with even more explosive performance.
Along with the larger body, the 911 Turbo adopts a heavily reworked chassis that uses a longer wheelbase and wider tracks. This is claimed to provide it with improved weight distribution. It also provides scope for an increase in tyre size, with 325/30-profile rubber set to appear at the rear.
The latest 911 Turbo prototypes provide a clear indication of the styling direction that the new car will take. Features include a unique front bumper with larger air ducts to help cool the front-mounted radiators, more pronounced sills under the doors, air ducts ahead of the rear wheel arches, a complex rear wing that provides active aerodynamics dependent on speed, and a reworked rear bumper with cooling ducts to extract air from the engine bay.
As with the existing 997 model, the new 991-series 911 Turbo is powered by a turbocharged version of Porsche’s 3.8-litre horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engine. Insiders have confirmed that it retains a twin-turbocharger arrangement, with low-inertia, variable-vane units to raise induction pressure.
Autocar understands that the new 911 Turbo will match the output of the most recent 911 Turbo S, with 530bhp and up to 530lb ft of torque. Those reserves will be channelled through a standard six-speed manual or optional seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and a four-wheel drive system with torque vectoring.
Nothing is official just yet, but the new Turbo is expected to match the old Turbo S for straight-line pace. Porsche insiders point to a 0-62mph time of about 3.3sec and a top speed nudging 200mph.
Although larger than the car it replaces, the new 911 Turbo offers even sharper handling, Porsche engineers claim. Developments include electro-mechanical steering for the first time. As mentioned earlier, it forms part of a new four-wheel steer system shared with the 911 GT3.
The new system allows the steering angle of the rear wheels to be varied by up to 1.5 degrees, depending on the speed. At up to 37mph, the rear wheels are steered in the opposite direction to the front wheels, providing faster corner entry speeds. Above 50mph, the system steers the rear wheels parallel to the front wheels to improve stability.