2025 Porsche 911 GTS Hybrid First Drive: A Better 911

• The GTS is the first production hybrid 911.
• New T-Hybrid powertrain is good for 532 horsepower and 449 lb-ft of torque.
• Rear-wheel steering, sport suspension and sport exhaust are standard.
• Starts at $166,895 including destination.

What's going on here?

There are other changes made to the GTS for 2025 but we'll get right to the stuff you're wondering about. The GTS is a hybrid; Porsche calls the powertrain T-Hybrid, short for turbo hybrid. And part of that hybrid powertrain is a new internal combustion engine. Previously the GTS used a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engine, but this new one uses an all-new 3.6-liter engine, still a flat-six layout, and a single turbocharger. On its own (without any electrical assistance) the engine makes 478 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque.

The hybrid side of things starts with a 1.9-kWh battery that's situated in the front of the car. Roughly the size and weight of a standard 12-volt car battery, the GTS' battery is 400 volts and sends power to one of two electric motors: one embedded in the eight-speed PDK transmission and one on the turbocharger. Together, these two motors can add up to 53 hp and 110 lb-ft, though total system output is quoted as 532 hp and 449 lb-ft. 

The motive for having the electric motor in the transmission is simple: It provides instantaneous power at all speeds, most notably at lower speeds where the internal combustion engine hasn't yet reached its maximum output. The motor on the turbocharger serves to immediately spin up the turbo to speeds it would reach after a second or two at full throttle. This effectively eliminates turbo lag.

A quick side note about the single turbo on this new engine: Even though the larger, single turbo lacks the low-rpm responsiveness of two smaller turbos, a larger turbo is more efficient at higher turbine speeds, i.e., high rpm. By utilizing the electric motor on the larger single turbocharger, you get greater responsiveness from the single turbo than you would the two smaller ones at low speeds. Plus you have less restriction from the larger turbo at higher speeds with the side bonus of being ever so much more efficient with regards to emissions due to the engine's ability to use a cleaner-burning air-to-fuel ratio at wide open throttle. So it's a win-win. Now, back to the hybrid system.

Regeneration of electricity is handled entirely by the two electric motors. There is no attachment to the GTS' braking system. Both the transmission motor and the turbo motor can regenerate electricity and can do so either simultaneously or independently of each other depending on the situation. For example, at higher rpm and wide open throttle, the motor on the turbo is no longer needed for assistance and can be used to regenerate as much as 11 kW of power while the motor in the transmission is cranking out the juice to shove the GTS down the road. Likewise, during deceleration, the motor in the transmission can recoup energy while the motor on the turbo spins up the unit in preparation for impending acceleration. That electricity can be swapped between the motors or go back to the battery, ensuring the battery keeps a decent amount of charge over a longer duration. 

It's a complex yet compact system and, along with other changes to the GTS, ensures this new model only weighs an extra 103 pounds over the previous, non-hybrid version. If this hybridization of a sports car has you thinking about the Corvette E-Ray, here's the main difference: In the E-Ray, the electric motor drives the front axle, making the E-Ray all-wheel-drive when the motor is active. In the 911 GTS, the electric motor only powers the rear axle via the transmission, which allows the GTS to be rear-wheel-drive only. An all-wheel-drive version is available but it uses a traditional mechanical drive system like all other 911s. The Porsche's battery is smaller and lighter than the one in the Chevrolet, though both offer a similar capacity.

If you're still following along, you might be thinking that this hybrid system seems to have nothing in common with Porsche's other electrified vehicles, what the company calls E-Hybrids. It's true; E-Hybrids are plug-in hybrids and feature much larger battery packs that provide enough power to propel the Cayenne or the Panamera they're in down the road using solely electricity. Those vehicles can also be charged externally; the GTS cannot.

The T-Hybrid powertrain uses the electric motor in the transmission to double as a starter motor, so a traditional starter is no longer present. Likewise, since the air conditioning is now electric, a belt-driven unit is gone. This frees up space on top of the engine for some of the hybrid infrastructure and makes the engine more compact than before. There is still a 12-volt battery, which is located in the rear of the passenger compartment.

So, there's other new stuff?

It seems almost inconsequential to mention the raft of other changes the GTS sees for 2025, but we'll cover quite a few of them now. Race-Tex, a pseudo-suede material, is now the standard interior trim. A higher-powered wireless charger, complete with cooling, is also standard, along with ambient lighting and power-folding exterior mirrors. Other added features for the GTS include matrix-design LED headlights, driver attention warning, lane keeping assistance and traffic sign recognition. Another item on the tech front is the much more robust Apple CarPlay integration into the 911 and the My Porsche app. 

Other major additions to the spec sheet, controversial or otherwise, include standard rear-axle steering and a fully digital dashboard. That's fully, which means the too-cool analog tachometer is no more on the 911 Carrera. To address complaints about the previous partly digital instrument panel, Porsche has redesigned the whole thing, making every piece of customizable information visible through the steering wheel — no more looking around the edges to read any part of the display. 

Another controversial change, depending on just how seriously you take your Porsche tradition, is the loss of the starter key. In recent years it's simply been a key-like switch, as Porsche hasn't used a traditional metal key in forever, but it marks the end of an era for the brand. The 911 now uses a start button, much like the Cayenne and Panamera do, but it is still located on the left side of the dash just below where the key used to live.

On the outside, there are numerous small styling tweaks, but the GTS' most obvious change is the addition of active louvers, or gills, in the front bumper. These are specific to the GTS, so you can't order them on a non-GTS model, and they will automatically open or close depending on what you're asking the GTS to do. 

Does it 911?

All of the T-Hybrid powertrain's complexity and capability wouldn't mean a thing if the GTS didn't feel like a Porsche 911. And after a day of frolicking through southern Spain, including an all-too-brief stint at the lovely Circuito Ascari, we can say without a doubt that the GTS is a stellar example of what a 911 should be. 

Concerns about the powertrain should be left at the curb. The hybrid integration is seamless and you'll be extremely lucky if you even catch a whiff of electric assistance at any point from behind the wheel. When pulling away from a stop, there's no hand-off from electric to mechanical propulsion because the electric motor in the transmission isn't designed to move the GTS on its own. So what you get is a unified front and a satisfying feeling of accessible low-end power. 

Around town, the GTS sounds and feels no different from the standard Carrera with the exception of you knowing that the GTS is packing a lot more power. In fact, when driven back to back, the engine in the standard Carrera comes off feeling a little flat, something that hadn't stood out to us when driving it only hours before. With the GTS' additional 118 lb-ft of torque over the standard Carrera, that feeling should come as no surprise.

Winding out the GTS a bit more reveals, again, the extra power and impressive responsiveness from the powertrain. That surge of low-speed torque feeds into higher speeds without interruption and right when you expect, and want, that big turbo to start chipping in, it's ready to go. Even without selecting either the Sport or Sport Plus drive mode, the GTS moves with authority, even at part throttle. It's an effortless thing to drive.

You mentioned a racetrack?

Not everything, or everyone, is going to wind up on a racetrack, but Porsches tend to have a magnetic attraction to closed circuits. The Nürburgring is one of them, and Porsche has famously not only developed its vehicles on that track but routinely uses it to set records or simply show improvements of a new model over an old one. Like it or not, the GTS is no different, but we think Porsche had a bit more riding on its lap time. The T-Hybrid powertrain was going to come under scrutiny no matter what, so by throwing down a lap time 8.7 seconds quicker than the previous model, even while weighing just over 100 pounds more than the last GTS, helps establish the legitimacy of the system. 

Even after our time on the public roads, we were fairly convinced the T-Hybrid engine was excellent. But after numerous laps around Circuito Ascari, we were true converts. Like the road drive, we spent some time in a standard Carrera to not only learn the track but to establish a benchmark for the GTS. Within half a lap the GTS felt like a significantly different car. With excellent stability, great steering and confident brakes, it's still very much a 911 but the noise and the tremendous acceleration, especially off medium speed corners, was eye-opening. So was the noise.

At full chat the GTS is just howling. Sport exhaust is standard for this model and it comes through inside and out. There's no futuristic spaceship sounds in here, just pure Porsche mechanical rippage. We won't go so far as to say it's too loud, but after a particularly longer lapping session, our heads didn't have a slight ring going on inside. Outside, the GTS belts out a deeper, stronger tone than the standard Carrera and sounds mighty cool.

Optional on the standard Carrera, the GTS includes sport suspension and our test car had the optional Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) fitted as well. This system, a great addition on other 911s, has been reengineered to work with the 400-volt hybrid architecture and features even quicker response times to help keep the body motions in check. This allows the GTS to not only ride over apex curbs and rumble strips but also to remain flat through high-speed sweepers and remain composed over quick crests and dips. The rear-axle steering is just icing on the cake. Depending on your speed it either adds stability or agility and feels utterly natural all the time. Like the hybrid system, you'll never know it's there.

The rear wheels and tires are even wider on the new GTS and are now 11.5 inches wide and wrapped in 315-millimeter tires, up from 305-mm rubber last year. Front tires remain at 245 mm, and the GTS runs a staggered setup with 20-inch wheels in the front and 21-inch in the rear. Traction is, as you'd imagine, immense, but as the GTS can be had in rear-wheel drive, as well as all-wheel drive, the right driver can get some pretty lurid slides out of this 911. Give us enough time, and enough of a tire budget, and we'd be doing it, too. 

As powerful and as serious as the performance of the GTS is, it still has the accessibility and ease of use of a regular 911 Carrera. You're comfortable in the GTS and decent speed comes easy. Push harder and the GTS flatters you with how easy it all seems but it's always got a bit more up its sleeves. If you're fast, it's fast. If you're not, you still feel fast, and that's worth quite a lot to many buyers.

Edmunds says

We didn't doubt that Porsche would have done the research, the engineering and all the development to get its T-Hybrid powertrain right. But seeing it and feeling it work, or not feeling it at all, was more impressive than we imagined it would be. Yes, it is heavier. And yes, the idea of a hybrid still brings momentary thoughts of Priuses and mindless commuting to mind, but the GTS is unequivocally a 911. It's comfortable, easy to use, and faster than you're likely to know what to do with all the while still retaining the feelings and nuances that make Porsche 911's so coveted.

Much like the introduction of turbocharging, water cooling and the Tiptronic transmission, this is the next phase of development for the 911, and it's exciting to see how good it is right from the start.