Porsche 911 S/T review

At the first blip of the throttle, the 911 S/T starts to put distance between itself and a GT3 Touring. The revs rise and fall more sharply. It’s not exactly a Lexus LFA, but you notice the lack of inertia. That’ll be the single-mass lighter flywheel and teeny clutch at work. It weighs just less than half of the equivalent component in the manual Touring.

The noise is a different character to what you’re used to in a GT 911 too. It’s graunchy. It clatters and grumbles like they used to be before the RSs went flappy-paddle. The classic raw 911 ‘washing machine full of gravel’ chunter is back. 

Set off and those machinations are swept away with a more melodious flat-six soundtrack, while you’re distracted by other new sensations. The clutch pedal travel is shorter and the biting point more of a snatch. The gearlever feels like it came off a Caterham: short, stubby, nestling deep in the folds of its leather gaiter, which means you can rest your arm and do it all in the wrist. Like a joystick.

The change action itself is sublime: positive, precise and satisfyingly mechanical. But, the gates aren’t so narrow that you’re constantly fretting about a money-shift. Thanks to a new final drive ratio that’s eight per cent shorter than a GT3 manual’s, the whole powertrain feels more energetic, and so does the driver. You’d never call a GT3 lethargic of course, but we’ve always yearned for the intercity train gearing to be swapped for something sprintier. The S/T grants our wish.

Perhaps our favourite part is it only has 518bhp, which is merely warm-ish in the world of supercars this competes in, and yet it never feels anything other than the perfect serving of power metered out in the most thrilling way possible. 

Does it drive just like a GT3 Touring manual?

Actually it’s quite different, and the changes are all positive. Firstly, the S/T shuns rear-wheel steering. It’s a feature we’ve become used to as the 911 has swelled in size, but Porsche has junked it here to retain a more ‘organic’ feel, and to save weight. Not only does deleting it ditch 6.5kg from the rear axle, but it allows a less powerful (and lighter) lithium-ion battery to be fitted. Bye-bye another three kilos.

Up front, the steering ratio has been quickened just a smidge to retain agility. It’s not Ferrari-quick, but the compromise is spot-on: responsive on turn-in but not hyperactive when cruising. Porsche’s GT boss Andreas Preuninger claims – to our raised eyebrows – that this is his favourite power-assisted steering yet. Yes, including the old hydraulic stuff, he likes the S/T’s best of all.

But he would say that, wouldn’t he? Fact is, this is very good steering. A McLaren offers more granular feedback, but we’re splitting hairs.

Meanwhile, the steering isn’t distracted by camber like a GT3’s. When the 992 made the switch to a double-wishbone set-up with a heap more spring rate, the increased track performance came at the cost of road manners. Fine, you might say: it’s a GT3 and if you want a comfy daily-driver buy a Targa, a GTS, or a Carrera. But we’re spoiled. We like the idea of dailying a GT3. Sadly on UK roads it’s just a bit too fighty. Preuninger bemoans British and American roads, noting his cars are good as gold in Germany.

So, his crack team of suspension experts have spent two years honing the S/T’s set-up. It retains adaptive dampers (fixed rate suspension was considered to save even more weight but Porsche concluded it’s better to have the bandwidth of normal and sport settings) but on the broken-up southern Italian roads we met the S/T on, the difference from a stiff, buckaroo-ing GT3 was uncanny.

The S/T keeps the tight body control and deft balance but filters out the kickback. While the soaring powertrain and delightful gearbox grab the headlines, the revised chassis is this car’s hidden ace. We can’t wait to try it in the UK to see if it copes as admirably over here. Could that push the verdict from a 9 to a 10? Stay tuned…

If you break the S/T down into individual elements - the engine, the gearbox, the ride, the handling, the steering and so on - then it’s all good. And yet when it all comes together and you just want to drive neatly, quickly and noisily, it’s still able to exceed the sum of these excellent parts. It’s just phenomenal to drive. Life-affirming. Something that’ll make you fall back in love with driving, and weedle its way into your ten-, five- or three-car garage. Harder work than a GTS? Yes. But worth it.