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Marton Pettendy22 Jan 2016
NEWS

Upgraded 911 Turbo even quicker than Porsche claims

Porsche 911 chief says new all-turbo engine line-up won't diminish status of rapid new Turbo flagship

Porsche insists the move turbocharged engines for almost all 911 models won't undermine the top-shelf positioning of its 911 Turbo flagship, which it says is quicker than its official figures suggest.

Speaking at the global launch of the '991.2' series 911 Turbo in South Africa this week, 911 model line vice-president August Achleitner admitted what long been widely known: Porsche's official acceleration claims are consistently conservative.

Officially, the 2016 911 Turbo can hit 100km/h in three seconds flat, while the upgraded Turbo S is the first to be able to reach Australia's national highway speed limit in less than that, in just 2.9 seconds.

On paper, that makes the Turbo S quicker than all of its supercar rivals – except perhaps Nissan's GT-R, but including Ferrari's new 488 GTB.

But Achleitner said the latest Turbo S, which arrives in Australia in May with a larger pair of turbochargers to deliver a whopping 427kW or 580hp, is actually quicker than that.

"I can tell you this 2.9 seconds is rather on the conservative side, so you should easily be able to achieve this," he said.

When asked how quick the 911 Turbo S really was, Achleitner would not offer any numbers, but motoring.com.au understands internal Porsche tests have recorded 0-100km/h passes as low as the 2.6s.

That would make it quicker than the McLaren P1 and almost as quick as Porsche's own discontinued limited-edition 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid, which the company said could hit 100km/h in 2.6 seconds with the optional Weissach lightweight package, as well as another multi-million-dollar left-hand drive-only hypercar, the Bugatti Veyron.

However, while the Veyron was controversially named the world's fastest production car with a top speed of more than 400km/h, and the 918 Spyder has a 340km/h claimed top speed, Porsche says the latest Turbo S can hit 'only' 330km/h – 12km/h faster than before.

Those numbers appear to be conservative too, however, with Porsche Cars Australia claiming it clocked the outgoing 911 Turbo at 327km/h in the Aussie Outback last April, when the 918 Spyder was recorded at more than 350km/h as part of a publicity stunt.

Achleitner said the Turbo's position at the top of the 911 range would not be eroded by the move to turbocharging for all models but the GT3 with the 2016 facelift.

He highlighted the fact the upgraded 911 Turbo now produces 397kW of power and 710Nm of peak torque (up 50Nm from 660Nm), while the new 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat six produces 'only' 272kW/450Nm in the latest 911 Carrera and 309kW/500Nm in the 2016 Carrera S – both up about 15kW and 50Nm on the models they replace.

"Can the Turbo stand out now that 911 is turbo?," he asked rhetorically. "700Nm is a difference of 50 per cent... I think that difference is substantial and you will feel it especially on the racetrack."

However, the 911 chief defended the lack of a peak torque increase for the newest 911 Turbo S flagship, which produces 15kW more power at 427kW but continues to deliver 'just' 750Nm despite the fitment of a bigger turbocharger.

Achleitner said the reason for not upping the Turbo S torque output was not the durability of its seven-speed dual-clutch PDK automatic, but fuel consumption.

"We still have sufficient buffer on the gearbox, otherwise we wouldn't have the service life," he said.

"We wanted to focus on fuel economy at the same time [as performance], which is why it's 0.6L/100km less than before. We didn't see a need to increase the torque on the Turbo S."

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