My Kind of Hybrid

 Yesterday, I got to experience my kind of hybrid: a 2026 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS T-Hybrid.  I had about half an hour behind the wheel, so this is more of an impression than a full-on review.

She's a beast!

Here's a shot from the rear, which I think is a big improvement over the 992.1.

Looks good from behind, too!

So it looks good, but the real question is, what's it like to drive?  The first production hybrid 911.  It was surprising, visceral, and very, very fast.  A single word?  Impressive.  With 532 horsepower and 449 lb-ft of torque, it has an abundance of power.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Climbing into the car, it's immediately familiar to anyone who has driven a 911.  It's bigger than the 964 and much more comfortable inside.  

Starting the car is the first surprise - there's no key, but there is a push-button on the left.  It's OK, but I do like keys.  Second, there's no starter motor.  You press the button, and the engine instantly barks to life.  It feels instantaneous because it is.  There's no waiting, you push start, and the car is on, right now.  I noticed it has a cool engine warmup light that stays blue until the car is up to temperature.  I think that should be standard in every car to encourage drivers to relax until the engine is nice and warm.

The little shifting nub is small and honestly inconsequential. It's not something you're going to end up touching that much once the car is on the move.  I started off in manual mode, shifting with the paddles.  If you have experience with PDK, you'll be right at home.  You pull the trigger and the car shifts.  Immediately.

Throttle response is ridiculous.  The car makes power everywhere.  It pulls quickly, cleanly, linearly, and with no lag at all.  You press the gas and you're rewarded with instant thrust.  What's really interesting is how the car generates that thrust.  At first, I thought something was amiss with the gauges.  I'd prod the throttle, the car would surge forward, and the turbo boost gauge remained flat at 0.  That didn't make any sense to me, until I realized that when I kept my foot in it, the boost gauge would wake up as the car continued to accelerate.

So I paid closer attention to the battery power flow.  When I would stab the throttle, the car would jump forward and the electrons were flowing.  "Ah hah," I realized, "that must be the electric torque fill."  It's really a genius system.  You hit the gas, the e-motor pitches in to thrust the car forward, and then the turbo wakes up, and off you go.

The car gathers speed quickly and effortlessly.  When you keep your foot in it, it is just relentless.  On my favorite test road, it ripped up to 127 mph without any hint of a lack of thrust.  It just kept pulling until I shut it down.  Super impressive.

The car sounds good.  Jump off the throttle and you hear the turbo huffing and puffing like a tuned GT-R.  It sounds angry.  The exhaust note is good, classic 911 with some additional bass which I'm guessing comes from the 3.6 liter engine.  

One thing that really impressed me, beyond the abundant power, was the suspension.  I couldn't believe how well it rode.  With the suspension in default and the car in normal mode, the suspension was, dare I say, cushy!  It was pretty soft over bumps, feeling stable and planted.  Switching the suspension to its more aggressive setting firmed things up, but honestly, it had more compliance than the stock shocks and green H&R sport springs in the 964.  I was shocked (har har har) at how well the GTS road.  Even on my favorite local bit of bumpy two lane, the GTS just soaked up the bumps and felt comfortable and taut.  Super, super, super impressive.

With AWD, electric torque fill, and a pretty quiet cabin, it would be a lovely car to simply drive and enjoy, every single day.

The all-electric dash is fine.  Some people like to complain about it, but I thought it was easy to read and informative.  The shift lights in the tach, the boost gauge, all of the things just make sense.  Toggling to a different screen rotates the tach like I've done in the 964, but doesn't tilt the digits.  Nice touch.  I'm sure there are more things I'd realize with more time in the car.  Really, really impressive machine.