01-04-2025
Tested: 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S
People buy sports cars—and pretty much all other cars—as if they're filling out their employee self-evaluation forms. Or like they're ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant.
The most popular choice is typically the one that's one step away from the edge. Am I an "Excellent" employee or an "Utterly Faultless" one. Pick the second best and you still have a good score without sounding delusional. As for wine, pick the second cheapest option on the menu so you don't look cheap, while still being mostly cheap.
And so it goes with the Porsche 911. The Carrera S version is the most popular in the line, accounting for 35 percent of 911 sales in the U.S., and it is one rung up from the bottom of the seemingly endless 911 model ladder.
For 2025, Porsche gives the Carrera S a substantial midcycle refresh, as this second-rung 911 moves to the 992.2 Carrera S moves into the new year with the same basic twin-turbo 3.0-liter flat-six as it had last year. But Porsche has turned up the boost to make 473 hp, up 30 hp from the 2024 Carrera S. That's also 85 hp more than the same basic engine in the base Carrera. Unfortunately, in the transition to the 992.2 version, the Carrera S is no longer available with the option of a manual transmission. The 2025 Carrera S gets bigger steel brakes, which are essentially the size of last year's GTS brakes. Carbon-ceramic brakes are an option. Updated adaptive dampers promise a more comfortable ride. The S now gains a standard sport exhaust. And the interior now comes with more standard leather trimming, including the seats. Of course, Porsche being Porsche, you can still get an optional and pricey full-leather interior.
Porsche says that the 2025 model has a "significantly revised front/rear fascia," which is overstating the case a bit. They are technically different than last year, but even Porsche stans would be hard-pressed to tell you just how. Such is the slow evolutionary change of the 911.
Vehicle Tested: 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S
Base Price: $148,395
Price As Tested: $182,005
Location: San Diego County, California
Engine: 2997cc twin-turbocharged flat-six
Power: 473 hp @ 6500 rpm
Torque: 390 lb.-ft. @ 2200 rpm
0-60 mph: 3.1 sec (mfr est)
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Weight: 3424 lbs
EPA MPG: N/AHow does it drive? Well, very much like a 992.1-generation Carrera S. That is to say: It drives fantastically well. But, as with its mild styling updates, the Carrera S's road comportment has only slightly evolved from its immediate predecessor. Such is the way of Porsche. And who is going to argue with the company's success with this methodical approach?
Like all 992-generation 911s, the Carrera S dimensions now split the difference between a large sports car and a trim grand-touring car. On a mountain road (up and down Mount Palomar, in this case), the Carrera S felt as if it filled a lane. It's a substantial thing, this 911. And it doesn't just take up residence there, it positively owns the road. Imperturbability is the Carrera's defining driving characteristic. It is stable. It is precise. It is drama free. The imperceptible rear-steer system (a $2090 option) made it nimbler than it might look. Its well-managed body control kept weight from shifting around and upsetting the car's poise. And the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission can be left to its own devices, such is its almost telepathic control of the gears. That's a good thing, too, because the Carrera S is no longer available with a manual transmission. I know I mentioned that already, but it bears repeating.
There's none of the edginess of, say, a Ferrari 296. None of the live-wire danger. But you'd be hard-pressed to go faster in any other car over a given stretch of public road than you can in the Porsche.
There were, however, a couple of fleeting moments in my drive up and down the mountain that gave me pause. Twice while pushing the car hard around constant-radius corners, the Carrera S's generally excellent steering went distressingly light as if the front tires had given up entirely. They hadn't. In fact, the grip of the 245-section front Pirellis is impressively high. It felt like momentary steering system failure, which is, well, terrifying. But that doesn't really make sense either. Seems as if it was more likely due to the incessant creep of unnecessary technology and the tuning of this German-market example.
That's a long way of saying it might have been a hyperactive lane-keeping assist system that caused the steering disturbance. According to Porsche, European regulations insist on a more conservative lane-keeping scheme, so it's more likely to activate than one running on U.S. tuning. Further, EU regs insist that such systems are always on when you cycle the ignition.
All Carrera S models come with lane keeping, so you need to remember to turn it off when you're out for an entertaining drive that may involve transgressing white lines. Also, I bristle at the idea that with a sports car, even one that borders on a GT car, a buyer should have no choice but to have such a system. But I digress. The car drives beautifully.
The 911's ever-increasing size and list of standard niceties mean it's also increasingly easy to live with. This is a supple-riding car thanks in part to the retuned adaptive dampers that allow for a more comfortable ride while maintaining or improving precision. The standard steel brakes are firm, easy to modulate, and quiet around town. Like 911s past, this Carrera S's relatively upright stature makes for excellent outward visibility.
The wide interior provides plenty of elbow and shoulder room for the driver and front-seat passenger. (No one will ever actually sit in the available rear seats, unless they are a masochist.) Even big oafs can find ample leg and headspace. And the instrumentation, now fully digital, is easy to read at a glance.
Porsche says 31 percent of owners drive their Carrera S on a daily basis, but at least 90 percent easily could.
Yes, you should. This assumes you have the coin to do so. At an almost $150,000 base price (including destination charges), the Carrera S is pretty dear. And when you add the roughly $30,000 in options that Porsche says buyers usually do, you're getting perilously close to $200,000. A loaded Corvette Z06 can get close on price and provide more if you're considering the Porsche, you're historically more likely to choose something else on the Porsche ladder than switch brands. I might opt for the more bare-bones Carrera T or the more powerful Carrera GTS hybrid, if I had the money. Which I do not, as Porsche notes the median income of a Carrera S buyer is more than $800,000 per year.
Oh, and a Carrera S Cabriolet is also available, starting at $161,595.
Handling, which is both trusty and lusty.
Huge performance with easy livability.
Power upgrade over the 992.1 version.
Lack of a manual transmission option.
Would gladly trade the standard lane-keeping system for a slightly lower price.
This is perhaps not my favorite detail, but the most curious one I encountered on my drive of the German-market Carrera S was the heavily tinted rear window and quarter window. The tint is not available in the U.S., and it's just as well since the contrast between the dark rear with the untinted side windows and windshield gave this Carrera S a strangely SUV-like look.
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