911 Carrera GTS: the most powerful Carrera ever

Porsche is presenting ahead of the Paris Motor Show its latest 911: the Carrera GTS. Thanks to the maximum output of 408 hp the 911 Carrera GTS the most powerful car of the Carrera model series.

Available as Coupé and Cabriolet the new Carrera GTS’ 3.8-litre engine has more 23 hp than the 911 Carrera S, which closes the gap up to the 911 GT3 with 435 hp. Although it its power is larger than the Carrera S, according to Porsche the 911 Carrera GTS delivers the same fuel consumption.

The 911 Carrera GTS features a unique look within the Carrera family, starting with the use of the 44 millimetre wider Carrera 4 body of the AWD models. Besides the GTS runs on 19-inch centre-mount RS Spyder wheels, painted in black, with high-gloss finish rim flanges and 305/30 ZR 19 tyres on the rear axle.

Other differences include the SportDesign front apron with spoiler edge, painted in black, special sideskirts, also in black, and the Carrera GTS logotype on doors and rear lid, in black or silver depending on the body colour.

The interior of the Carrera GTS is dominated by the black colour of the Alcantara. Besides being use on the driver and passenger sport seats, the high-quality material is also used on the rim of the new three-spoke SportDesign steering wheel and on the gear and handbrake levers.

In order to achieve the 408 hp of power output the 3.8-litre flat engine received special attention. It features a special resonance intake manifold, six vacuum-controlled tuning flaps that switch between power and torque optimized geometry. The torque on the Carrera GTS remains the same (420 Nm) but is already available at 4,200 rpm, 200 rpm earlier compared with the Carrera S.

The Carrera GTS 3.8-litre engine is matted with a six-speed manual transmission. If requested it can also be fitted with a seven-speed Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK).

Comparing with the Carrera S, the top speed of the GTS with manual transmission is superior by 4 km/h, at 306 km/h. The Carrera GTS Coupé with PDK and a Sport Chrono Package Plus in Sport Plus mode accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, improving 0.1 seconds.

In terms of efficiency the Carrera GTS with PDK has a combined fuel consumption of 10.2 litres/100 km (27.69 mpg imp), which represents CO2 emissions of 240 g/km.

With its world premiere scheduled for the Paris Motor Show, in the beginning of October, the 911 Carrera GTS will be available in Germany from December 2010. The prices start at € 104,935, for the Coupé version, and € 115,050, for the Cabriolet.