Porsche 911 Carrera GTS - Cape to coast, with extra spark

Key topics:New 911 GTS debuts with hybrid tech, no plug-in or EV creep involvedElectric assist boosts power, torque, and response without losing 911 feelRear-axle steering, e-turbo, and PASM shine on Cape’s twisty mountain roads.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Miles Downard.Porsche picked a suitably scenic way to introduce South Africa to the new 911 Carrera GTS: Cape Town to Hermanus, threading the ribbons of asphalt that tie together Helshoogte, Franschhoek Pass and the Overberg beyond. It’s a road that flatters most cars; the GTS flat-out courts them, adds a plus-one, and still gets there first.The headline is that “GTS” now pairs with hybrid tech. Before anyone faints into their flat whites: no charging cables, no EV creep. This is Porsche using electric assistance as seasoning, not the whole meal. The 3.6-litre flat-six is new, and on its own makes 357 kW and 570 Nm; add an electric motor neatly tucked into the PDK gearbox and an electric exhaust turbo, and you’re looking at a meaty 398 kW and 610 Nm. Translation: the GTS hits harder, sooner, and more often than its predecessor, while feeling eerily natural doing it. Porsche claims quicker sprints and bigger numbers everywhere you care to look, and independent tests have already borne that out. .On Franschhoek Pass the tech fades into the background - until you notice how cleanly the car slingshots from hairpins. The e-turbo spools instantly, the e-motor fills any gaps, and the PDK does that telepathic thing where it’s in the right ratio before you’ve finished the thought. Rear-axle steering is standard and frequently heroic on Cape mountain switchbacks; the nose keys in, the tail tidies up, and you’re pinging from apex to vista like a particularly enthusiastic pinball. PASM damping remains the great Porsche party trick: supple over coarse chip, iron-wristed when you lean on it. If you grew up loving the way a 911 breathes with a road and then bites into it, fear not - that DNA survived the electrification memo..Brakes? Turbo-spec serious. Tyre roar on gnarlier sections is present, but the overall refinement feels a half-step up on the outgoing car, despite the added hardware. And the noise: still deliciously flat-six, now with a richer baritone and the occasional turbine undertone. It’s more opera house than synthesiser, even if electricity does have a cameo. Inside, the familiar GTS vibe remains: blacked-out trim, Race-Tex where your hands and shoulders land, and few shiny distractions. The latest PCM is slick, voice control speaks human, and integrates into Porsche’s new ROADS app (worth a look for driving enthusiasts). The driving position is perfection; the optional buckets look motorsport but are long-haul liveable.South African context? Starting at R3,525,000 it lands right where you’d expect in the 911 pecking order. Consider it the sweet spot for people who actually drive their cars, and sometimes far. .About those three letters on the tail: GTS isn’t just a trim walk; it’s heritage. The badge first appeared on the fiberglass-bodied 904 Carrera GTS, unveiled in November 1963, a road-legal racer with a passport full of stamps and a Targa Florio trophy on the mantel. Later, the 924 Carrera GTS in 1981 proved the transaxle Porsches could fight above their weight (and above their price tags), and the 928 GTS in the ’90s framed GTS as the clever all-rounder - big pace, big comfort, big miles. Today’s 911 GTS blends all three ideas: competition edge, engineering smarts and continent-crossing usefulness. .Which brings us back to the Cape, the coastline, and a car that feels both evolved and reassuringly 911. The steering still talks in full sentences. The chassis still carries that weight-over-the-rear magic trick that gives you traction where logic says none should exist. Only now the powertrain has an extra dimension - a little electric nudge that turns good exits into great ones, and great ones into “did you see that?” ones..Purists will argue, as purists must. But the GTS’s job has always been to be the 911 for drivers who like doing, not just declaring. On this route - up and over the pass, along the sea, a nice dinner in Hermanus - it proved itself exactly that: the enthusiast’s everyday 911, now with an extra spark. Literally.

Porsche 911 Carrera GTS - Cape to coast, with extra spark

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