Manual not dead for Porsche 911 GTS

PORSCHE Cars Australia has officially launched the hotly anticipated 911 GTS range for local consumption, offering increased grunt, a more raucous soundtrack, and better driving dynamics over previous GTS models.

The new GTS range consists of all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive options across coupe, convertible and Targa body styles and, as one of few models within the 992-series range to be offered with a manual gearbox, a fifth of buyers are opting to change gears themselves.

“For the 992 generation, in Australia and most markets, the manual is available on GT3 and GTS,”Porsche Cars Australia head of public relations, Chris Jordan said.

“At the moment it’s at about 20 per cent for manual orders on the 911 GTS.”

Australian buyers who got in quick when Porsche opened the order book late last year are already starting to receive their new 911 GTS models, but for new orders Porsche Cars Australia has confirmed expected delivery is mid-next year. 

“It’s quite hard to give people a definitive wait time, and a definitive picture, because it can change week-to-week,” said Mr Jordan.

“The cars are just arriving now, but we opened the order book when the world premiere happened … We urge people to go to their local Porsche Centres, but for the 911 GTS, it’s certainly going to be next year and it’s probably going to be in the second half.”

Despite lengthy wait times, prevalent across the entire automotive industry, Porsche Cars Australia believes its customers will wait for the right model.

“If you were to look at customers wanting a Turbo or Turbo S, or a Carrera or Carrera S, they’ve had three years to order it,” Jordan said.

“The customers that really want a GTS, and are perhaps existing GTS customers, those people have been waiting.

“If you’re an existing Porsche owner, wait time is less of a concern.”

The 911 GTS range will start at $314,800 excluding on-road costs in Australia for the rear-wheel-drive Carrera GTS Coupe with either a manual gearbox or PDK dual-clutch automatic.

For all-wheel-drive models, the price jumps to $334,000 for the 911 Carrera 4 GTS and continues north for the Cabriolet and Targa models. 

Five new 911 GTS variants are fresh on the scene for Australian buyers, with Porsche Cars Australia launching the following models:

• 911 Carrera GTS Coupe (rear-wheel drive)

• 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet (rear-wheel drive)

• 911 Carrera 4 GTS Coupe (all-wheel drive)

• 911 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet (all-wheel drive)

• 911 Targa 4 GTS (all-wheel drive)

All GTS model options share the 911 Turbo chassis, modified to achieve a mix of performance and ‘touring’ comfort.

For context, the Gran Turismo Sport moniker came about nearly 60 years ago when works racing drivers Colin Davis and Antonio Pucci needed to make their Porsche 904 both comfortable and quick enough to take out the gruelling 1964 Targa Florio endurance race in Italy.

The resulting Porsche 904 GTS achieved the ideal mix of performance and comfort, allowing them to take the win in seven hours and ten minutes of ten-tenths racing.

Visually, the 992 iteration fits the bill with GTS badging and satin black body parts like the front spoiler lip, wheels, rear lid grille, light surrounds, and the exhaust tips are finished in high-gloss black stainless steel.

Inside, the ‘blacked-out’ theme continues, including brushed black anodised aluminium accents and the black Race-Tex interior package is standard fare, too. 

Porsche’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-lite flat-six engine, shared with other 911 models, has been fettled to produce 353kW/570Nm – 22kW/20Nm more than the previous 911 GTS. 

The increased output propels the GTS to the legal limit quicker than ever before, hitting 100km/h in 3.3 seconds for the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 GTS Coupe with PDK.

For the manual Carrera GTS Coupe, the 100km/h sprint takes a fraction longer, at 4.1 seconds, but the PDK and manual GTS Coupe also scores the highest top speed of 311km/h.

The aforementioned raucous exhaust note, which GoAuto will describe when the drive impressions embargo lifts next month, is made possible by Porsche’s dual-flow exhaust system with map control and variable exhaust flaps. 

Porsche has tweaked the eight-speed PDK dual-clutch for the GTS models, and the seven-speed manual available on rear-wheel-drive models has a 10mm-shorter throw than before. 

All GTS models score the latest-generation Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) system, allowing constant dynamic changes to be made by the on-board smarts.

Stopping power for the 911 GTS models comes courtesy of the same system used in the 911 Turbo, with six-piston monobloc calipers up front and four-piston fixed calipers up back. 

GoAuto tested the 911 GTS range on-road and on-track as part of the Australian launch event, but drive impressions are embargoed until July 12, so be sure to stay tuned.

2022 Porsche 911 GTS pricing*

*Excludes on-road costs