Porsche 911 Turbo S Too Slow For You? 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series Turns Up The Wick

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Let’s stop beating around the bush. The Porsche 911 Turbo S is slow.

At first, the upgrade from a proletarian, 370-horsepower 911 to the 540-horsepower 911 Turbo sounds momentous. But, pfft. Puh-leeze.

The 911 Turbo S should therefore be the answer. 570 horsepower. Nought to 60 in 2.9 seconds. 205 miles per hour.

But I remain unimpressed. You remain indifferent. The Porsche 911 Turbo S is found wanting.

Porsche recognizes this. Porsche has heard our demanding cries for a genuinely fast car. This is the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. It is very exclusive, very expensive, and finally, the 911 Turbo S is sufficiently quick.

Limited to 500 units globally, the new Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series won’t arrive in customer driveways until the fourth-quarter of 2017.

There are only 27 additional horsepower produced by the 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six, enough to drop the 0-60 time by a tenth of a second, according to Porsche.

27 additional horses, on their own, surely can’t add $67,000 to the price of a Turbo S, can they?

The 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series, Porsche says, “is distinct from the standard 911 Turbo S due to its unique design, higher-quality materials, and luxurious details.”

The Exclusive Series emanates from Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, a branch formerly known as Porsche Exclusive. Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, “specializes in tailoring to customer wishes,” so the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series buyer won’t be forced into choosing this particular shade of Golden Yellow Metallic, a color which also appears on the brake caliper logos, wheels, seat stitching and roof lining.

Along with the horsepower increase and the Exclusive Series’ roots at Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, the price is further “justified” by a special body kit.

But the real reason Porsche buyers will pony up $257,500 for only 27 additional ponies is obvious: this is maximum 911. The 911 with the mostest. The supreme leader of 911s.

Don’t even bother mentioning that a Macan GTS and a regular 911 Turbo S could be had for roughly the same price.

A Macan is merely a crossover for the bourgeoisie. And compared with the Exclusive Series, Porsche’s 911 Turbo S is positively basic.

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.

Timothy Cain
Timothy Cain

More by Timothy Cain

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 19 comments
  • MWebbRambler MWebbRambler on Jun 08, 2017

    It looks like it's wearing the same paint and similar wheels as the VW Beetle Dune: www.vw.com/models/2016-beetle-dune

  • Shortest Circuit Shortest Circuit on Jun 09, 2017

    Didn't Porsche say just last week they won't be doing these restricted runs where basically 75% of they buyers just stick the car afterwards in an airlock? Am I missing something?

    • Wumpus Wumpus on Jun 10, 2017

      Because they came to their senses and realized that such a car only begins to make sense on a racetrack, where it can easily be passed by a much cheaper single-seat car that never tried to be street-legal. Everyone wants to be like Bill Gates and have the Porsche of their dreams appreciate faster than MSFT during the 1980s (although he drove his 959 at least for the year it was legal, and knowing his great respect for the law certainly more).

  • Varezhka I have still yet to see a Malibu on the road that didn't have a rental sticker. So yeah, GM probably lost money on every one they sold but kept it to boost their CAFE numbers.I'm personally happy that I no longer have to dread being "upgraded" to a Maxima or a Malibu anymore. And thankfully Altima is also on its way out.
  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
Next