2015 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS

The porsche 911 lineup covers a wide variety of performance possibilities - from the base carrera, to high power  turbos’, and track star GT3s. But, it turns out, there was still a gap in the range. A gap that’s now filled by the Carrera 4 GTS. 

Bridging the gap between the demure and the devious means that the 2015 porsche 911 carrera 4 GTS must be equally adept at providing both comfort for the commute and terror for the track. And at the risk of giving it all away, it succeeds fantastically in that mission. 

This is simply a lovely piece of machinery; with a very refined ride quality that makes it just a pleasure to drive, regardless of which driving method is in effect. It can be comfortable and even quiet most of the time.

But like a shape shifting mythological creature, it will soon turn into whatever kind of nasty animal you can conjure up, once you go heavy on the pedal. Doing our due diligence, we did just that at Summit Point Motorsports park near Charles Town, West Virginia; doing our best to harness the power of the C4 GTS around their 2.2 mile Shenandoah circuit. And surprisingly, it’s still one of the most docile 911s in recent memory.

There’s nothing that puts you off about it. Turn in is immediate, there’s almost no roll in corners, and power delivery is smooth and linear; helping us rocket off corners in a straight line, not fight our way out of them. Both the sport chrono package and pasm active dampers are standard. Seats are terrific in both comfort and support for track work. 

This car had us wanting to do our own endurance race and never leave the track. But alas, the needle on the gas gauge was diving and there was no pit crew waiting for a refill.

The GTS changes little inside. We’ve grown very accustomed to the control-heavy rising console, and appreciate all of its real buttons and knobs. We also love seeing a full navigation map in the gauge cluster, not just turn directions. In typical porsche 911 fashion, there’s a large tach front and center, but now with a red GTS face.

Alcantara leather is located just about everywhere; and while we like the look and feel of it, it tends to collect dirt and dust readily. Hopefully you’ve got some people for that. Reporting for duty under the stubby rear hatch is the carrera s’s 3.8-liter flat-6, but it gets a 30-horsepower promotion to 430, by way of freeing up the intakes and retuning the exhaust.  torque carries on at 325 lb-ft. a 7-speed manual is standard, as is all-wheel-drive, and of course the 7-speed pdk is a “money well spent” option. The total powertrain’s smooth as silk operation gives no indication of the monster lurking inside, mostly because pdk usually starts you off in 2nd gear; but power is there sure as hades when you want it.

Launch mode sees to it that you get a perfect escape from the line each time and can bang out 3.8-second 0-60s all day long. The quarter mile streaks by in 12.1 seconds at 114 miles-per-hour. And 107-feet is all that it takes to bring you to a full stop from 60 miles-per-hour.

The exterior design doesn’t feature a whole lot of extras, but there’s enough there to let you and rubbernecking bystanders know it’s something special. Dark-tinted bi-xenon headlights with porsche’s dynamic light system are standard, as is a new front fascia, and 20-inch center-lock wheels. 

While ride height has been lowered by 10mm. a large sun roof is available, and since there’s not much real estate up there to begin with, it allows plenty of the outside in without the hassles of a convertible or targa. 

Government fuel economy ratings with the pdk fall slightly to 19-city, 26-highway, and 21-combined. The energy impact score comes in at 15.7-barrels of oil used yearly, with CO2 emissions of 6.9-tons.

GTS trim is available in both rear and all-wheel-drive 911s, in coupes and convertibles; prices start at an expectedly lofty $115,195, our C4 GTS coupe at $121,895. Besides that, there’s really very little to dislike about the 2015 porsche 911 carrera 4 GTS. It’s quite a car. 

Porsche has taken the process of fine honing a proven winner, and elevated it to an art form. One drive, and it’s easy to see how people can so quickly become porsche fanatics. Careful, or it could happen to you!