2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S Review + Video

I’m a highly nostalgic person, and the Porsche 911 Turbo is a highly nostalgic car for me.

The Porsche 911, especially the Turbo, has been my dream car for as long as I can remember, so driving one recently was a full-circle moment for me. I drove past my childhood home with this Porsche and thought about my room, which had 911 Turbo posters all over it. When I lived there, the only stress I had was making sure I could rush home from school at lunch quickly enough to watch Sailor Moon. It was a simpler time.

Life always seems to get more complicated during our teenage years, but throughout it all, my high school best friend Gladys was there to help me navigate it. We met on the first day of Grade 9 and were inseparable for the next four years. She never judged me for loving cars when every other girl my age was more interested in dance or makeup, and she even bought me Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed as a birthday gift one year. Nearly 25 years after we first met, I picked her up in the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S, and we went for a ride.

Design: 10/10

These days, Porsche 911s are a dime a dozen, but I still get excited every time I see one. To my eyes, the range-topping Turbo S is the best-looking of the bunch. Refusing to dramatically alter its iconic shape for good reason, the 911 is instantly recognizable. The Turbo S’s wider rear haunches, subtle wing, sculpted fenders, and bold intakes help differentiate it from the other 911s in the lineup, and even with this added aggression it’s still the most subtle and timeless supercar you can buy. It will continue to look sick for generations to come and is absolutely ageless.

Powertrain: 10/10

For the first time, the 911 Turbo S is electrified, with Porsche’s new T-Hybrid system to augment performance from its already beast-mode 3.6L six-cylinder boxer engine. With two electric turbochargers, a 52-kW electric motor, and a compact high-voltage battery, total system output is a monstrous 701 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, making this the most powerful production 911 of all time.

Harnessing all that power via Porsche’s brilliant eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, that’s enough brute force to accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h in a brutally quick 2.5 seconds with the Sport Chrono package. The electric assistance means that explosive acceleration is instantaneous — there’s no waiting for the turbos to spool up or the engines to build revs, just slingshot acceleration in the blink of an eye.

Driving Dynamics: 10/10

But that raw power and ultra-quick acceleration are nothing if the rest of the car can’t handle it; luckily, the genius engineers and designers at Porsche have done it yet again, improving on a car I already considered perfect.

Porsche continues to set the benchmark for driving dynamics, and while it can be difficult to distill all the world-class engineering at play here, consider this: the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S is 14 seconds faster around the infamous Nürburgring than its predecessor despite being heavier.

That type of gain from one generation to another is almost unheard of, and it shows how obsessive Porsche engineers are about extracting every ounce of performance from their cars. From the seemingly laser-guided precision of the steering to the massive stopping force of the enormous carbon-ceramic brakes, the rear-axle steering, and the witchcraft-level adaptive suspension combined with the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) technology, all the performance elements perform together in a mechanical symphony for repeatable, confident, and exceptional capability.

This car pulls hard all the way up to redline, and it’s an out-of-body experience when you reach that magical 7,500 rpm. I’m not religious, but I swear I could almost see the heavens. The 911 handles immaculately, with the type of control and precision other automakers strive for but never seem to achieve. The 911’s driving dynamics are flawless.

Comfort: 9.5/10

Despite that impressive handling and performance, the 911 Turbo S is surprisingly easy to live with and drive daily, even when you’re not racing around like you’re being chased. The adaptive suspension helps the car stick to the road when flung through a corner to the point where there’s virtually no body roll, yet is also variable enough to not require your chiropractor on speed dial when driven daily over broken or rough roads.

When driven normally tooling around the city or suburbs getting groceries or commuting to work, the 911 is comfortable and surprisingly mellow. It’s entirely reasonable to drive this supercar year-round, as long as you can figure out how to get in and out of it gracefully and you have budgeted enough for a set of winter tires this large.

Everyday Usability: 9.5/10

For a supercar, the 911 Turbo S is more practical than most. The deep 128-L frunk is designed to hold at least one carry-on-sized piece of luggage, and more stuff can go behind the front seats, which adds about 260 L of space. Porsche 911s now come with no rear seats by default, which is great for extra storage, but drivers can opt for rear seats in most trims for no cost if someone is limber enough to actually squeeze back there. Sure, there isn’t much room in the cabin for a water bottle or other small items, but no supercar will make those kinds of compromises, because that’s not their job.

But Porsche helps where it truly matters, like with the optional front lift system, which is highly recommended. A toggle on the dashboard activates the front lift to prevent scrapes on driveways or ramps, and the locations can be saved so the lift happens automatically.

Equipment: 9.5/10

The Porsche 911 Turbo S comes with all the creature comforts and bells and whistles expected from a supercar, though most of them are meant to enhance the driving experience. Still, there’s a wireless phone charger, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a heated steering wheel and seats.

Safety: 9.5/10

Safety features include lane-keep assist, front and rear parking sensors, traffic sign recognition, and active braking assist. All of the systems work as advertised, and none of them are annoying. Probably more relevant is that despite its intimidating capability, this 911 never feels like it’s going to kill you or like it’s always on the verge of catastrophe. Porsche has done an admirable job keeping the driving excitement intact while also ensuring that a small mistake doesn’t send you careening into a guardrail.

User Friendliness: 9/10

The 911 Turbo S has a dizzying amount of menus in its touchscreen, but for daily use, it’s a pretty user-friendly system. It has clear shortcuts, a mix of physical toggles and knobs, a few touch-capacitive controls, and a decent amount of customization available.

Efficiency: 9/10

The 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S’s fuel economy wasn’t rated by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) at the time of this writing, but through 470 km of highly enthusiastic testing, the indicated consumption of the finest premium fuel available was 14.0 L/100 km — not bad for a car with this much power and performance. Keep in mind, the T-Hybrid system is meant for performance, but it’s relatively efficient for what it is. The Turbo S has an ignition stop-start system that helps cut emissions, and the new hybrid system helps smooth out the restarts and allows the climate control to continue running even when the engine is off.

Value: 9/10

It’s easy to justify any dollar amount spent on a dream car, and Porsche takes full advantage of this. The starting price for the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S is a staggering $289,300 before the $2,950 destination fee, taxes, and the monumental list of customization and options available. This particular tester has $28,750 in options for an as-tested price of $321,000 before tax.

The Verdict

The Porsche 911 has set the benchmark for performance cars for more than six decades, it keeps raising the already high bar it sets for itself, and it has earned its title as an icon and a dream car for generations. High-school me would not believe where we are today.

Picking up Gladys in the 911 Turbo S, meeting her two kids, and seeing where we both are today was what my nostalgic heart needed. Gladys is a teacher now focusing on art, a career she’s wanted ever since we met. I’m an automotive journalist testing my ultimate dream car. The girls we were in high school would be incredibly proud of the women we’ve become.

I show Gladys’ kids the 911, and her son sits in the driver’s seat. He can’t even reach the pedals, but his tiny hands are on the steering wheel, and he’s beaming. I witness Gladys encouraging her kids the same way she lifted me up, and it fills my heart.

These days, I try to live in a way that would make my younger self proud. With all the stresses of modern adult life slowly chipping away at my optimism, driving this dream car was a return to a simpler time. It was a reminder that as long as I’m making my teenage self proud, nothing I’ve ever done was in vain. This car is both nostalgia and the future all wrapped up in one glorious, perfect package.