2017 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS PDK

They know how to do it, don’t they? There’s a reason the greatest sports car of all time is also one of the most successful sports cars of all time. Beyond the fact that it’s the greatest, they give you options.

Go to the Porsche website and you’ll currently find 19 variants of the 911 on offer, even though the range is currently without a GT3/RS model. From the base Carrera 2 through tao the Turbo S Cabriolet, Porsche is the master at making a 911 for everyone. Well, not quite everyone, because even the cheapest one is £76,000, but you know what I mean. With some sports cars/junior supercars, you might get two or three, or four or five, even seven or eight flavours. Nineteen means that, if one isn’t quite for you, another one likely is.

The latest and meanest batch to join the range are the GTS models which, last time around, acted like some kind of bridge between regular Carrera models and the GT3. Now the GTS is back, with the suggestion that it might do the same: a Carrera S Plus, if you will. Lower, faster, keener, but not motorsport-derived.

Watch our video review of the 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS here:

Sounds quite promising for the road, doesn’t it? GTSs now account for five models in the 911 range. You can have a two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive coupé, the same in cabriolet form and a Targa in four-wheel drive only, in either manual or dual-clutch PDK automatic form.

All GTS variants get the wider body that usually marks out four-wheel-drive models, and the same power output of 444bhp – 30bhp more than the regular Carrera S – courtesy of new turbochargers for the 3.0-litre, flat six engine. That the GT3, GT3 RS and 911 R are no longer available means the 911 line-up is now entirely turbocharged.

All GTS models get sports suspension, which is 10mm lower than standard, but coupés like this one get a further suspension drop courtesy of PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management), which also allows the dampers to be swapped between normal and stiffer modes. The Targa and Cabriolets do without that. Standard on all, though, is a sports exhaust and Porsche’s Sport Chrono package, which brings with it dynamic engine mounts. Soft during normal driving, they firm up in cornering to prevent the engine moving around and unsettling the handling of what is, let’s remember, a rear-engined car.