It used to be that the 911 Turbo S was the pinnacle of 911 for Porsche buyers who wanted top speed, performance, and luxury. It was a regular 911 that could compete on the level of supercars, with 911 luxury.

Now, as it stands in the performance hierarchy, the 911 Turbo S is nothing but a faster 911 Carrera and no longer competitive with supercars.

The top-of-the-line Corvette, the ZR1X, has a base MSRP of slightly over $200k. It costs $70k less than the top-of-the-line 911, the Turbo S. And yet, the performance is supercar-level in 2026 while the Turbo S has not improved similarly:

- 8.6 second 1/4 mile at a trap speed of ~158 mph
- 0-60 time of 1.68 seconds
- top speed of 224+ MPH
- 1250 HP
- all this completely unmodded with factory warranty


The new Turbo S?
- 9.9 second 1/4 mile at a trap speed of ~138 mph
- 0-60 tie of 2.2 seconds
- top speed capped at 209 mph
- 700 HP

The Turbo S has barely improved over the 992.1 model, and yet carries the same hybrid weight and complexity penalty of the new ZR1X. However, the ZR1X delivers massive performance gains for its hybridization, and the Turbo S does not.

So less performance, more complexity, and a huge price increase. The ZR1X and other supercars did not incur such a huge price increase, and yet delivered substantial gains over previous models and established a new performance hierarchy that leaves the Turbo S out.

How can anyone say that the Turbo S is still relevant in this HP game?

 

omfg this is the death of RL. rip.

 

I think the Zr1x is a unicorn, home run out of the park hit by GM, not indicative of current supercar performance. I see 750s, 296gtb, Lamborghini Temerario as the current supercar benchmarks. I agree though that the turbo is not as stellar as it once was, the choices have grown exponentially. Great time to be a car guy/ gal!

 

ZR1X is a great product in terms of performance numbers, but for those of us who don't like the Chevy brand, and love the Porsche brand, it's a massive disappointment overall for Porsche. We want Porsche to compete with a lesser brand like Chevy. Why can't Porsche engineer a product to compete directly with the best Chevy can produce? This is the problem for me and other Porsche fans. It's not a "great time to be a car guy" if you have no intention of ever buying a Corvette.

Thinking of the Turbo S now makes me limp as a noodle. I want to be excited thinking about the newest 911. And I want it to not feel like price gouging when the performance is barely better than the outgoing model and they're charging much, much more for it. Especially when lesser brands like Chevy are pricing their top-tier model much more reasonably and offering much more performance. Porsche needs to step their game up!

 

thank tariffs for the price differential. Not a political statement, but rather a simple explanation. I used to be a big fan of Kleenex, but Puffs developed a superior delivery device, so I am strictly Puffs now. Grateful to have choices.

 

Its all about being "bespoke" now. Porsche has shifted the trend.

 

Is it the EU and some worldwide emissions standards holding back Porsche while GM doesn’t have to abide by them?
Emission standards that cause more complexity which costs more money to develop while losing power at the same time.

 

Its none of those reasons. Germans simply lack the resourcefulness and boldness of Americans. They are drowning in their social values being so deeply embedded in corporate structure as well as never really having a “go big or go home” mentality. You will never ever get what Chevy did with “project gemini” with a Porsche. I have owned over a dozen Porsches and dealt with PAG on so many levels (complex warranty claims, PTS approvals, numerous CXX related queries) and the way they think is totally different than how an American company inherently operates. They move very slow and for them its all about tiny incremental improvements which gets the “job done”. Americans are the same people that designed Saturn V and built space shuttle and have done some colossal things that no other nation has the will and risk appetite to do.

Sorry I am very blunt but you are never going to get a project gemini out of PAG. AP is the reason GT product line up got where it did and it was an uphill battle for him where it was him vs everyone else. But there is no PAG board of directors with a $1.2 billion project budget and literally “here is a blank sheet of paper, go design the best engine you can” attitude. It will never ever happen.

Do you have any idea the length Chevy’s engineers must have gone, personal sacrifices they all have made, the hurdles that they overcome to build that engine? I dont think this could be achievable with a 9-5 job that allows 60 (sixty) days of vacation per year. Can you tell someone in Weissach because the project is late, cancel your vacation and work 70-80 hours/week “until you get it back on track”? You cant. I’m sure their laws would put the manager running a tight ship like that in jail or some serious repercussions. We have people like Elon Musk and (had) Steve Jobs here. They would never be able to accomplish what they have in Europe with European values.

Porsche will survive but they will sell you some other value no more “apex predator” but it will be the “emotion” and “heritage” and pepita here and pasha there.

I remember once I joked with my German friend about the concepts above and he told me “in America, employees work for the CEO and CEO runs the company. In germany, workers (including blue collar) run the company”. Or something along those lines. And I could tell he was getting quite a bit angry/upset with me as he truly believed what he was saying.

 

To each his own... and that's ok.
I personally wouldn't daily drive a ZR1X which I can def daily drive a Turbo S.
I own a 2026 ZR1 and just took delivery of a 992.2 Turbo S. And I have driven the ZR1X too.
When I compare the ZR1/ZR1X with the Turbo S immediately you feel the difference.
I honestly, love them both...
The fact that People in this forum are comparing a Porsche car to a Chevy car is a huge win for Chevy...
And honestly, unless you're tracking this cars, you get to 100 mph on 3rd gear on both cars....Where I live if they catch/clock you going over 100+ mph on regular roads you go straight to jail... wouldn't risk it....
I agree 100 % that Porsche should price better these cars...
At the end people should buy what they want and whatever makes them happy...

 

I think we can all agree that we live in a time and place where we have such great choices and none of them are right or wrong. However, performance is not just numbers achieved very rarely but the sum of all the elements delivered by the car plus, this is the important bit, how it is interpreted by each individual driver.
Ive been fortunate to own many cars including Ferraris and Corvettes (been around a while) and for me the Porsche 911 fits me and my needs well.
Just go out and drive these things.

 

For me, having a sports car that can carry my son in the back so he can join the fun and still be a daily driver (even in the snow) that doesn't attract too much attention is the perfect mix for me.

If there was a better all rounder available, I would definitely consider it, but I haven't found that...yet!

 

It’s just odd to me that people will come here and trash Porsche just because Chevy made a great alternative. If it’s that great and 0-60 times mean that much to you go out and buy it. Many of us didn’t buy the TTS because it was the fastest car out there. Besides, what does that get you in the “real world?” Absolutely nothing, other than you can go post on Reddit that you have a car that’s faster than a 911 TTS. Who cares?

At the end of the day as said above, buy what makes you happy and give a nod to Chevy for doing what they did, it’s great for all enthusiasts.

 

Comparison is the thief of joy.

There's this weird "keeping up with the jones" sort of thing happening with car culture and I wish it would stop...

I live like 7 miles away from one of the fewest chevy dealers in the US that sell ZR1s at MSRP and had the opportunity to get one last year, I toyed with the idea but eventually about a month ago I purchased a low mile 1 owner 992 TTS on BaT.

 

Here's a video of the ZR1X beating the Bugatti Chiron. The ZR1X performance is absolutely insane for the money. Noting is beating it period...hats off to Chevy for what they did.


That said, if I had to choose between the 2, I'm picking the Chiron all day every day.

 

In the REAL World, the Turbo S is FAR more relevant than the GT cars!!

They're just a D*** measuring contest for most owners, where the Turbo owners actually understand what having a car that can truly do EVERYTHING well is like! And more fun in most real world situations.



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