911 Turbo S Has 640 Horses, Shrouded in Mystery

911 Turbo S can leave onlookers’ jaws on the floor and lesser machines in its dust, but it also leaves a major question hanging in the air.

If you go to the Porsche website, you can quickly find out some of the 2021 911 Turbo S’ major stats. One thing you won’t see there is the answer to this question: Is it a supercar?

That’s a question that Jakub and Yuri, the hosts of the popular YouTube channel, The Straight Pipes, pose in their review of the boosted, AWD super-911. Conventional wisdom holds that it is indeed a supercar. For starters, the Turbo S is made by a European sports car manufacturer with decades of racing success. It has two doors as well as a starting price of $203,500. Numerous vents and an adjustable rear spoiler help air pass through and over the Turbo S’ widebody. The Euro-spec model Jakub and Yuri tests has an unforgettably red interior.

And the Turbo S has a ludicrous amount of power, as any supercar should. Porsche tuned the twin-turbo 3.8-liter, flat-six to attack rivals such as the Mercedes-AMG GT R and Audi R8 with 640 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. Routed through a quick-shifting 8-speed PDK dual-clutch auto and all-wheel drive, that fury enables the Turbo S with the Sport Chrono Package to rocket to 60 mph in only 2.6 seconds and top out at 205 mph. You can see just how potent that combo is when Jakub puts his right foot down hard.

After a forceful launch, he tells Yuri, “I think this is the craziest launch I’ve ever experienced and the closest for me would be the Lamborghini Huracan or maybe even a Tesla?” With hardware, specs and comparisons like those, it’s a no-brainer that the Turbo S is a supercar in every sense – and second – of the word, right?

Not exactly. It depends on who you ask. The guys at The Straight Pipes don’t see it that way. While their test car is fast enough to make Jakub almost blurt out an expletive when he floors it, it has the base exhaust system so it lacks the sound to go with that speed. Yuri says, “There’s not much to the exhaust. It’s pretty quiet. It crackles a little bit in Sport mode. It’s nothing nearly as insane as the GT cars.”

Unlike its Lambo competitor, the Turbo S has conventional doors. Then there’s the simple fact that the Turbo S doesn’t get a lot of attention from other people out on the road. Clearly, the conservative gray paint has something to do with that. Perhaps a more vibrant and exotic color would get some more eyeballs on the uber-911.

Ultimately, the Turbo S’ wildly different characteristics keep it from being a true supercar. Instead, it’s the poster car for a different breed of machine. Yuri says, “If there was a category for a sleeper supercar, I think this would be top of the list.”

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Derek also contributes to other outlets. He started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to get even more automotive content out to fellow enthusiasts.

He can be reached at autoeditors@internetbrands.com.