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Porsche 991 Turbo road test: Turbo Triumph

Power. Presence. Poise. Precision. Prowess. These ever evocative adjectives have been synonymous with the very character of Porsche’s most glamorous supercar of the last 40 years: the 911 Turbo.

What started in 1974 as the first homologated car in the world to utilise blown induction, the lavish first Turbo used a single KKK turbocharger as it sent 260bhp to the rear wheels, an unworldly figure for the time.

Since then, the model has grown substantially in size, power and sophistication.

Intercoolers, another turbocharger, four-wheel-drive and latterly a glut of intricate electromechanical advancements have ensured that the Turbo has remained one of the 911’s most refined drives in the intervening years, so much so that in our final road test with the outgoing 997 Turbo S in issue 105 of Total 911 last year, I wondered where Zuffenhausen could possibly go with the car from here.

Porsche 911 Turbo road trip

The 2014 Type 991 Turbo duly arrived thereafter, and after Porsche invited us for a first drive of the new 520hp car – exactly double the power of the first Turbo – our reporter Kyle Fortune heaped praise on “a technical masterpiece of rare ability.”

Delving deeper into the report from issue 105, Kyle surmises that the 991 model retains that Turbo trait of being as fun to drive as it is fast. Kyle goes on: “It’s able to be backed into a bend with judicious use of the accelerator, while traction out of corners is simply sensational”.

The crux here, of course, is that the first drive of the 991 Turbo was on a quiet and incredibly smooth race circuit in Bilster Berg, Germany – a capable yet not default environment for a 911 with such luxury in its DNA.

Porsche 991 Turbo Paris

The 991 Turbo needed its merits examined in the real world, and Total 911 duly obliged, encompassing the grand tourer on an epic road trip among a variety of environments to investigate its true, more traditional spirit of Turbo.

To read more of our ultimate road test to Paris and back in the new Porsche 911 Turbo pick up your copy of Total 911 issue 109 now, available in store, online at the Imagine Shop, or to download onto your mobile device here.

Also inside you will find, a drive in Prodrive’s championship-winning 1984 Porsche 911 SC RS, a history of widebody 911s, a look behind the scenes at Singer Vehicle Design, and a head-to-head between a Porsche 911 and its four-cylinder cousin, the 912.

Singer Vehicle Design

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