2024 Carrera S vs GTS – What You Need To Know?
2022 was a big year for the automotive world. We saw some great new additions to some old familiar families and some big shakeups in the world of green engineering and eclectic vehicles.
One such addition to the world of high-performance vehicles was the introduction of the new 2022 Porsche 911 Carrera and the subsequent GTS model to follow.
You know the deal by now, every time a new 911 comes out, we have to immediately tear it down and build it back up again to see how it works, to see what’s changed, and to immediately compare it in our heads to our old favorite 911.
Then decide whether or not it holds and candle to our old and reliable favorites. This article will do just that. Let’s dive right into it together – here is the New Carrera S vs GTS:
Highlights
- Comparison between the 2022 Porsche 911 Carrera S and the Carrera GTS.
- The Carrera S offers versatility with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, a naturally aspirated flat-six engine with 379 brake horsepower, and a choice between a 6-speed manual or 7-speed automatic PDK transmission.
- The Carrera GTS, while sharing the same 3.0-liter flat-six engine, delivers 473 brake horsepower, 420 lb-ft of torque, and a 0-60 time of 3.1 seconds.
- The GTS features improvements like PCCB ceramic brakes, a new suspension setup, lighter components including carbon fiber, center-lock wheels, and torque vectoring.
- The Carrera GTS offers enhanced power and performance but comes at a higher price point, typically around $20,000 more than the Carrera S. The decision depends on personal preferences and budget.
A little bit about the 2022 Porsche 911 Carrera S?
With a new year came a new 911. For 2022, that meant we got a new and improved version of the Carrera.
The Carrera built on previous models in all the right ways and brought forth something that Porsche petrol heads had been clamoring for all throughout Covid. Freedom!
Freedom in the form of a brand new Porsche that feels new, not just a repaint and retrim of the same old same old.
The 911 Carrera is a highly adaptable vehicle, from how it’s engineered to how you drive it. For example, it comes with either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
Depending on what you would prefer, it comes with a naturally aspirated flat-six engine and can be purchased with either a 6-speed manual or 7-speed automatic PDK transmission, depending on your preference.
With 379 brake horses at its disposal and 331 lb-ft of torque, the Carrera is anything but slow, as demonstrated by its 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds. It helps that it has a 3.5-liter engine, of course.
What does the 2022 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS bring to the table?
As always, Porsche has decided that enough is never enough, and they want to bring a little more to the table. So in comes the GTS. Does the GTS build on what the standard model does so well?
Honestly, yes. And it does so to an incredible degree. The GTS is a racing car, I mean, it’s not, it’s a standard production car, but it’s about as close to a racing car as you can be without finding yourself entered into the Le Mans 24-hour race accidentally.
The GTS also comes with rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive as standard, but you can only find them with the 7-speed PDK automatic transmission.
The GTS has the same 3.0-liter flat-six engine, but this engine is capable of producing 473 brake horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque as well as the ability to get from 0-60 in a whopping 3.1 seconds rather than the standard 3.6.
The new Carrera S vs GTS – How are they different?
We just talked about how both cars have nearly enough of the same engine, so how come the GTS is so much more powerful and so much better suited to track racing?
Because of pretty much everything else. The GTS has better brakes, making use of highly effective PCCB ceramic brakes, as well as a brand new suspension setup that is vastly different from the standard, or even sport, models of the 2022 Carrera.
These brakes, and even the suspension frame, are lighter than the standard model, which all adds to its overall improved power and performance.
Another way that the GTS has managed to reduce weight is by utilizing center-lock wheels in place of standard wheel setups.
Center lock wheels are often far lighter and better adapted to track day experiences than standard wheels.
The theme is weight loss, and Porsche has leaned into it with all of their worth, they have pretty much gutted everything that doesn’t need to be there and the stuff that does need to be there (like the frame, parts of the chassis, the internal panels, etc has all been swapped out with lighter material.
In most cases, carbon fiber. Since it’s Porsche, and they love to upsell you with optional extras, you can also make major changes, like swapping out all of the seats for carbon fiber bucket seats to reduce the total weight even further.
Porsche has also implemented torque vectoring in the GTS only, and that cannot be emphasized enough as a reason for the GTS’s improved power and performance.
Torque vectoring is essentially the act of calculating how much torque any wheel might need at any given moment based on the current angle of the road, how fast you are going, road conditions, how much grip one wheel has on the surface of the road, etc.
All of these things feed into the Porsches onboard control unit that adapts the torque sent to each wheel to give you maximum power and traction at any given second.
It is all handled automatically, you, the driver, just reap the rewards. And, I suppose, so does Porsche when you fork over several extra thousand dollars for the GTS over the standard models!
It’s up to you to decide whether torque vectoring is worth it (it is), as only you know whether it aligns with what you want out of your car (it should, it really is very good).
The new Carrera S vs GTS – A Summary
The GTS builds on the standard Carrera in some very wheel, very quantifiable, and tangible ways. It doesn’t just look better.
It does pretty much everything better. Now, that’s all very good. But we are talking about Porsche here, so we need to consider one other factor.
Money. Money, money, money. And how much more of it you will need to hand over in order to upgrade to the GTS model.
It actually isn’t that bad. The GTS costs about $20k more on average (it varies worldwide) than the standard Carrera.
That includes the carbon fiber seats and other minor optional extras. Is $20k worth the extra 100 brake horsepower? Honestly, it could be.
Considering it’s a lot harder to get from 300-400 horsepower than it is to get from 100-200, you have to really give credit where credit is due, Porsche has done something remarkable with the GTS.
But as always, deciding whether you think the GTS is right for you is up to you. Hopefully, at the very least, you feel as if this blog post has clarified what is right for you.
