New Porsche 911 Carrera S facelift gains power despite snubbing hybrid tech
The updated 992.2-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S produces 473bhp from a pure-petrol flat-six engine, all sent to the rear wheels
The Porsche 911 Carrera S has received its mid-life refresh for 2025, and the big news for the new 992.2-generation model is a significant boost in power, which certain fans of the iconic sports car will be pleased to hear isn’t the result of hybrid technology, as on the latest 991 GTS.
The 911 Carrera S sticks with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six petrol engine that’s been upgraded with a new set of turbochargers and reworked charge air-cooling system. The result is 473bhp – up from 444bhp – while the 530Nm of torque on tap is the same as before. The 0-62mph time drops to 3.3 seconds as a result, and top speed is 191mph.
All that power is sent to the rear wheels only via Porsche’s eight-speed dual-clutch PDK transmission. While the base Carrera and Carrera T models are offered with a six-speed manual gearbox, it’s not available in the Carrera S.
Porsche also claims the new Carrera S is “the most dynamic” it’s ever produced. The front suspension geometry has been tweaked, and there’s a new brake system that uses 408mm discs on the front and 308mm discs at the rear. The Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus system that boosts agility is now fitted as standard, as is a sports exhaust system with silver exhaust tips.
Elsewhere, the refreshed design is based on previous-generation 911 Turbo models, and changes compared to the outgoing Carrera S include a restyled front bumper, new matrix LED headlights and a staggered set of wheels, with 20-inch front rims and 21-inch rears.
Like the other recently facelifted Porsche 911 variants, the Carrera S has ditched its physical rev counter in favour of a new fully digital instrument cluster. A wireless smartphone charger pad comes as standard now too. Buyers get black leather inside as standard, but this being a Porsche, there’s a lengthy list of optional extras to pick from, including extended leather and the familiar Sport Chrono package.
Porsche also offers the ceramic composite brakes, rear-wheel steering and a PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) sports suspension set-up. Adding this lowers the ride by 10mm, and the company claims it has improved the responsiveness and precision of its adaptive dampers by tweaking the hydraulics.
The new Porsche 911 Carrera S is available to order as either a coupe or cabriolet. Prices start from £119,800 for the hard-top model, and £129,800 for the soft-top.
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