Porsche refreshes the 911, goes all-turbo

Porsche

The 911 also gets some cosmetic tweaks for its mid-life refresh.

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Porsche has just given its 911 a mid-life refresh and in doing so has taken the bold step of moving to an all-turbocharged engine lineup. The company was one of the early pioneers of forced-induction engines for road cars in the 1970s and since then has offered a range-topping 911 Turbo for customers who wanted the ultimate in 911 performance. Now, every* 911 will be a turbo.

The days of the high-performance naturally aspirated engine are doomed. It's increasingly difficult to build such an engine that can simultaneously meet emissions regulations and fuel consumption targets while also making lots of power (in a drivable manner). Turbochargers—which use the exhaust to drive a turbine that squeezes more air into the engine—can help solve this problem, which is why you'll have noticed almost all OEMs are using them on new cars, particularly ones with small engines and ones with performance-oriented engines.

The new 911 engine is a 3L flat six with a pair of turbochargers. The base 911 engine makes 370hp (272kW), while the engine in the hotter 911S now makes 420hp (309kW), a useful jump of 20hp/15kW from the old 3.6L and 3.8L engines. Torque is up by a hefty 44lb-ft/60nM on the older engines, and there's a bump in fuel efficiency, too.