2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S First Drive Review

For any warm-blooded car enthusiast, it’d be a sensational fantasy, but my palms were damp and my stomach was churning.

As the sun began to rise above the Spanish horizon, I sat in the driver’s seat of the newest in a legendary line of Porsche prodigious 911 Turbo S, my anxiety building as I fine-tuned the position of the mirrors and steering wheel. This has been a dream car for many generations, having taken on and slain countless super cars with its heroic performances. And I was moments away from hustling the latest iteration around a race track.

This particular car has a sinister past — one that’s earned it nicknames like widowmaker and doctor-killer for its brutal strength that could snap on someone with more gall (or money) than skill, spinning them off a cliff. Or a track.

That reputation harkens back to a time when the meanest Porsche dispensed less than 300 hp. But the engine behind me in the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S has just awakened more than 700 of them, and the thought of managing it all was a little daunting despite more than a decade of experience under my belt.

Anxiety Meets Addiction

My car’s highlighter yellow paint — officially called Cartagena Yellow Metallic — looked playful enough, and the impeccably assembled interior, swathed in taut black leather from the seats to the dashboard and door panels, could dupe someone into thinking this is some sort of a tame executive express, not a weapon of mass horsepower capable of rearranging internal organs under acceleration, braking, and cornering.

Then there was the asking price: $336,000 with the mandatory luxury tax added on. Having an off-track incident would certainly put a dent in my career.

And so off we went, tiptoeing through traffic to the serpentine routes of the Malaga region in southern Spain, en route to Circuito Ascari an hour and a half away. At least it gave me and the Turbo So a chance to get to know each other as the traffic thinned and the pavement wound up and down and around the hillsides.

From time to time, we’d come upon a slow-moving hatchback or truck, and then suddenly it would be behind us — as if they’d been snorted through one of the gaping rear fender intakes and spat out the back. The Porsche’s thrust is addictive, but as the speeds increased, the sight of the Turbo S’s broad haunches in the side mirrors was a constant reminder of how narrow these mountain roads can be.

Electrified, Not Electric

The 911 Turbo S is the first car I’ve driven with an internal combustion engine that delivers the sort of seamless and instantaneous wallop of a high-performance electric vehicle (EV). Even wildly powerful gas-powered cars need a beat to drop a gear or two, build revs, and wind up a turbo- or supercharger before launching forward. However, EVs do it in an instant — and so does the 911 Turbo S.

The secret ingredient here is the genius and — perfectly-executed — electrification that’s been added to the engine bay. Like its sensational sibling, the 911 GTS T-Hybrid, there’s a small electric motor nestled between the engine and transaxle, while the turbocharger technology is electric, too, ensuring it’s wound up whenever it’s needed without delay. The difference here is that while the GTS gets a single turbo, the Turbo S gets a pair of them, with one each nestled beneath the cylinder banks of its flat-six. They’re slightly smaller than the GTS’s turbo, which allows them to spin faster.

The 3.6L engine is noticeably lighter than before, and the replacement of last year’s stainless steel exhaust system in favour of a titanium setup shaves plenty of kilos, too. More importantly, those savings come from behind the rear axle, which helps with the car’s balance. They’re also important since hybridization adds mass, and overall the new car is 85 kg (187 lb) heavier than before.

But then the Turbo S wears its weight well, and nobody is going to notice any gain. Besides, 701 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque has a way of hiding that kind of mass in a car that weighs 1,737 kg (3,800 lb). And as impressive as the 61-hp bump compared to last year’s car is, having all that torque available from 2,300 through 6,000 rpm is incredible.

Less Scary on Ascari

Arriving at Ascari, the view from the meeting centre reveals very little of the 5.5-km road circuit that was designed to make the most of the existing terrain with its elevation changes and corners named after parts of other famous tracks. Having had a taste of what the 911 Turbo S has to offer during the drive to the track, I had grown less anxious and more excited about the track session ahead until it dawned on me that I’d barely tapped into the throttle on the road.

Accelerating out of pit lane, the course rose quickly before diving back down into a blind left, all the while picking up speed around a pair of wide curves before the first short stretch was consumed in a blink. The eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission changed gears imperceptibly fast, and a hard press on the carbon ceramic brakes — they measure 420 mm (16.5 in) up front and 410 (16.1 in) mm in the back — shed speed like the car was suddenly mired in quicksand. Meanwhile, getting back on the throttle made the standard sport exhaust roar like the king of the ‘Ring.

A straightaway on the back half of Ascari saw speeds easily climb to 200 km/h before a series of uphill corners tested the new car’s improved grip. A particularly tight dogleg revealed how incredibly nimble the Turbo S is. While the larger rear tires, now measuring a whopping 325 mm (12.8 in) across, help with ultimate grip, it’s the rear-axle steering and wildly complex electro-hydraulic Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) system that constantly adapts to reduce body roll when cornering. Best of all, it does so without having to stiffen the chassis to masochistic levels for road use.

After a half-dozen laps, my apprehension had been replaced by a healthy dose of respect, my cheeks fatigued from grinning. The 911 Turbo S is the sort of exceptional feat of engineering that turns mere mortal drivers like me into road course aces. Still, I couldn’t help hopping in the shotgun seat with Porsche test driver Timo Bernhard, who circled the track in what felt like half the time I had just finished congratulating myself for doing. As I alternated between hysterical hoots of joy and unexpected grunting noises caused by the lateral forces that also distorted my face, I was shocked by not only the ferocity of the car, but how playful it could be in the right hands.

In my control, the Turbo S was an exhilarating and bloody fast machine. But with Bernhard at the wheel, it was as obedient and impressive as a ninja wielding a katana, drifting exquisitely when commanded, and rocketing down the straights to speeds vastly greater than I’d witnessed on my laps.

The new Turbo S is unmistakably the next evolution of its legendary lineage, but it’s quickly identifiable by the vertical slats in the large square openings beneath the headlights. Part of the car’s active aerodynamic system, those slats can open or close depending on where the air flow is best directed through or around the car. It also helps the Turbo S’s high-speed stability all the way up to its maximum velocity of 325 km/h. It’ll reach those speeds quicker than before, officially hitting 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds from a standing start compared to 2.7 last time.

Final Thoughts

Setting out for the return trip from the track, the yellow coupe was exchanged for a heavily-optioned cabriolet, as if to reinforce the point that the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S is the ultimate super car for everyday use. Outward visibility is excellent, the driving position and space for the two up-front occupants is generous, and while the rear seats are too small for human use, they make a great parcel shelf to complement the spacious front hold. When off duty, and away from the track, the Turbo S easily transforms from vicious attack dog to loyal, loving companion, serving as an amazing road trip machine or even commuter.

The Porsche 911 Turbo S is a car that has earned its fearsome reputation over the years as much as its admiration by driving enthusiasts the world over. Through constant evolution, the Turbo S’s performance has kept it in the conversation with some of the most sensational super cars on the planet — it just happens to be more manageable for the folks who can afford to buy one. There’s no need to fear the Turbo S, but it still demands respect.