This is our best look yet at the next-gen 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo. Wearing just a few stickers to shield the lights, front grilles and trademark side intakes, this 991-era Turbo is in the final stages of testing on Spanish mountain roads.
We’ll see the car unveiled in 2013, possibly at Porsche’s home event: the Frankfurt motor show in September.
What’s new in these Porsche 911 Turbo spy shots?
Porsche has yet again attempted the cunning trick of dressing its 991 mules to look like the old 997-gen car. Look closely at the engine air intakes and you’ll see that underneath the camo-sticker shaped like the 997’s triangular aperture, the 991 will sport a more rounded, smaller opening.
We’ve also got a better look at the revised front bumper and splitter, which sports slightly flared lower lips, like the new Cayman.
At the rear, we see the first outing for the boxy quad tailpipes – previous 911 Turbo mules sported ill-fitting single-section pipes. And the final shape of the wheelarch ducting in the corners of the rear bumper is also visible. Other Turbo cues like the large bi-plane rear spoiler, and front foglights in little ‘pods’ proud of the front bumper, have been carried over from the 997.
Is that a gearshift paddle I spy behind the steering wheel?
Yes it is. Though Porsche will reportedly still offer the 991 Turbo with an old-school manual transmission (albeit a seven-speed ‘box), you’ll need the seven-speed dual-clutch PDK to truly extract the best of the 991’s ground-covering performance. Buyers certainly the favour the PDK: 95% of 997 Turbos were ordered with the paddle-shift gearbox, according to Porsche figures.
Like the outgoing 997 Turbo S, which shipped with PDK only, the 991 Turbo will boast torque-vectoring all-wheel drive, the usual myriad of dynamic Porsche driving aids, and around 520bhp from its twin-turbo 3.8-litre flat six. Fuel consumption and CO2 output will also drop from the 997 Turbo’s decent 24.8mpg and 268g/km.
Although the rumoured 520bhp is close to the power output of a 997 Turbo S (and ‘only’ 30bhp up on the standard 997 Turbo) the new car should benefit from the 991’s recent diet. Porsche shaved around 65kg from the outgoing Carrera 4 with the latest model, despite the increase in the car’s overall dimensions.
And will there be a 991 Turbo S in due course?
Yes, and it’ll have around 550bhp, according to CAR’s sources. That power bump will push the 991 Turbo even further into the territory of its main nemesis: the 542bhp Nissan GT-R.
It should tee up quite a battle for the title of best all-weather supercar (and Nurburgring king) for 2013, though the Porsche will be significantly more expensive than the £74,480 Nissan. Reckon on a price tag of £130,000 for the new 911 Turbo, and £150,000 for the Turbo S flagship.