Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS first test

MotorTrend published its first test of the 2026 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS on May 13, putting Porsche’s hybridized 911 through instrumented testing and a road drive on the Pacific coast near Los Angeles. The review, by Alex Leanse, examined whether the all-wheel-drive GTS has become the broadest-ability version of the updated 911 range. Porsche introduced the T-Hybrid system on the 911 Carrera GTS in May 2024 as the first road-legal 911 with a performance-focused hybrid setup. (porsche.com) MotorTrend’s test centered on a familiar question for Porsche buyers: what the hybrid hardware changes in a car long defined by its rear-engine flat-six layout. Porsche says the Carrera 4 GTS pairs a new 3.6-liter flat-six with an electrically driven turbocharger, an electric motor integrated into the eight-speed PDK transmission and a 400-volt battery. On Porsche’s U.S. site, the 2026 911 Carrera 4 GTS coupe starts at $189,300 and is rated at 532 horsepower and 449 lb-ft of combined torque. (motortrend.com) ### How quick was MotorTrend’s test car? MotorTrend reported a 0-60 mph time of 2.6 seconds for the 2026 911 Carrera 4 GTS. The magazine said the car also ran the quarter mile in 10.7 seconds at 128.6 mph and stopped from 60 mph in 99 feet. On the skidpad, it recorded 1.07 g average grip and a 22.7-second figure-eight lap at 0.96 g average. The comparison in the same test was with the rear-drive Carrera GTS. (newsroom.porsche.com) MotorTrend said both cars reached 60 mph in 2.6 seconds and both ran 10.7-second quarter miles, though the rear-drive car was about 1 mph faster through the traps and posted shorter braking and better lateral-grip numbers. Leanse wrote that the all-wheel-drive car launched “without a whiff of wheelspin,” while the rear-drive version needed well-warmed tires to match it. (motortrend.com) ### What exactly is Porsche’s T-Hybrid system adding? Porsche said on May 28, 2024, that the 911 Carrera GTS became the first production Porsche 911 with a lightweight, performance-focused hybrid powertrain. The company said the system uses a newly developed 3.6-liter boxer engine, an electric motor in the transmission that can add up to 40 kW and 110 lb-ft at idle, and an electrically driven turbocharger that can also recover energy from exhaust flow. (motortrend.com) Frank Moser, Porsche’s vice-president for the 911 and 718 model lines, said in the company’s launch materials that engineers “developed and tested various ideas and approaches” before settling on a hybrid system that “enhances the performance significantly.” Porsche said the battery stores up to 1.9 kWh gross and operates at 400 volts. ### Did the hybrid system change the character of the 911? (newsroom.porsche.com) Alex Leanse wrote that Porsche “went far enough to hybridize the iconic 911” and said the T-Hybrid setup “reduces lag and improves response.” He also wrote that the added electrification did not “corrupt the drive,” describing the package as engineered more for speed than fuel economy. MotorTrend’s road test placed the car on mountain roads and coastal highways between Los Angeles and Malibu. (newsroom.porsche.com) Leanse wrote that the 4 GTS left him with “virtually nothing to say” during the drive because, in his account, the car performed its tasks with little obvious compromise in everyday use or driver engagement. That assessment was MotorTrend’s, not Porsche’s. ### Where does the Carrera 4 GTS sit in the lineup? (motortrend.com) Porsche positions the Carrera 4 GTS above the standard Carrera and within the upper middle of the 911 range, below Turbo models and above less powerful Carrera variants. On Porsche’s U.S. site, the rear-drive Carrera GTS coupe starts at $181,000, while the Carrera 4 GTS coupe starts at $189,300. Porsche lists both GTS variants at 532 horsepower, 449 lb-ft and a 194-mph top track speed, with a factory 0-60 mph claim of 2.9 seconds when equipped with Sport Chrono. (motortrend.com) MotorTrend’s test suggests the all-wheel-drive version’s edge is consistency rather than outright superiority in every metric. The publication said the measured results “complicate” broader praise because the 4 GTS did not clearly outperform the rear-drive equivalent, even as it delivered easier launches and broader all-weather capability by design. ### What should buyers watch next? (porsche.com) Porsche’s U.S. retail page now lists the 2026 911 Carrera 4 GTS coupe with pricing and technical specifications, while MotorTrend’s May 13 first test provides the first widely circulated independent instrumented results for the model. Buyers comparing trims now have factory figures from Porsche and back-to-back measured data from MotorTrend for the rear-drive and all-wheel-drive GTS versions. (motortrend.com)