Porsche has long earned our admiration for making thrilling machines and then artfully making them even more so. The 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS is the latest reason we feel that way. 

The classic 911 silhouette adds even sharper lines, and a bolder front spoiler. Newly developed twin turbochargers empower the three-liter, flat-six engine to unleash the uprated 450 horses… that’s 20-more than before.  All that force is reigned in with the standard seven-speed manual… or optional seven-speed PDK for an under 4 second 0-to-60 straight-line. A sport exhaust makes it sound even faster.  And, as before, Porsche puts the pieces together so well, there’s virtually no roll even when the corners become fast.

For the first time, a black Targa roof bar is standard on the 911 Targa 4 GTS… which we drove on the winding roads near Lake Tahoe.

BEN DAVIS: “we got it up to about 8500 feet elevation today and where normal vehicles might have a problem with the thinner air these bigger turbos in the GTS not only stirred more air into this monster, but they also stirred my soul as well and kept me grinning like a fool all day long and managed to scratch something off my bucket list that I didn’t even know was there”

The fast expanding GTS sub-brand now includes 5 911 models, depending on which wheels do the work… and how flexible you want the top.

Porsche first brought the total thrill of a race car to the streets in 1964 with a street-legal 904 Carrera GTS.  That tradition carries on with the 2018 Porsche 911 GTS.  It’s on sale now… starting at about $120,000.

Specifications

  • Engine: 3-liter, flat-6
  • Horsepower: 450
  • Pricing: Starting about $120,000