By Otsile Kadiege

Porsche is a car manufacturer known for creating one of the most driver engaging sports cars in the world. One such a sports car in their growing catalogue is the highly-praised 911 Carrera GTS. It’s slotted above the Carrera S and to help make the GTS the “sweet spot” in the 911 range Porsche bumped up the power and torque and added various bits & bobs like GTS-specific suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), as well as a high-performance braking system from the 911 Turbo to name few.

911 GTS exterior

Thankfully Porsche didn’t over-style the 911 GTS to help set it apart from its siblings. Instead, the 992 GTS has subtle styling updates like tinted LED headlights, Turbo S sourced 20/21-inch wheels, black painted Sport Design front and rear apron, body-coloured mirrors, black GTS badging, black tailpipes and black “Targa” lettering on Targa models bars.

911 GTS interior

Inside, the 911 GTS has a modish design and a logically laid-out interior with the latest gizmos and GTS-specific styling like its landscape 10.9-inch centre touchscreen with sharp graphics and the automaker’s intuitive PCM 6.0 infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and an incredible Bose Surround Sound system. Like the exterior, the interior also features GTS styling like 4-way adjustable sport seats with GTS stitched on the headrests, which are comfortable and supportive. It also features an Alcantara wrapped multifunction steering wheel with a Drive Mode rotary dial and an easy to configure semi-digital instrument cluster with an analogue rev counter on the centre with GTS lettering.

While the interior is comfortable and well-appointed, its rear seats won’t seat four adults nor will it seat children comfortably when tall drivers like myself and co-driver Derek Watts are sitting in front. At 132 litres, its ‘frunk’ luggage capacity is also very small. These inherent shortcomings might sway a few potential customers to its arch-rivals like the BMW M4 Competition, Mercedes-AMG C63S and Audi RS5.

911 GTS drive

One thing I love about the 911 range is the tried & tested 3.0-litre flat-six engine nestled about a metre away from my ears which were yearning to hear the GTS’ soundtrack. Does it hit the right notes? Absolutely and that’s thanks to the standard sports exhaust system. The engine makes 353kW and 570Nm fed to the rearwheels or all wheels via an 8-speed PDK or a no-cost optional 7-speed manual transmission which wasn’t available at launch.

The GTS is astoundingly quick and I have no doubt it reaches the claimed 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds. Its DCT gearbox is lightning fast and the GTS remains planted when pushing it through some curvy roads at speed. The GTS’ suspension is on the firm side due to model-specific tuning; however, it’s by no means jarring as we travelled through some imperfect twisty roads with minimal discomfort.

Final word

Giving back the keys after a lengthy jaunt was a bit of a challenge as I wanted to take the GTS home with me. Yes, it’s a darn great performance car that is an absolute joy to drive. It’s nowhere near practical competitors and with its starting price of R2,340,000 some consumers might see more value in the above-mentioned competitors which are more practical and somewhat more attainable, but I doubt any of them are as special as the 911 GTS.