2025 - page 96

Porsche sports cars are some of the first to come to mind when talking about engaging, driver-focused performance cars that offer that classic driving feel. Much of that comes from being able to row through the gears yourself through a third pedal and a stick. While most automakers are gradually phasing out the manual transmission, especially in high-performance models, Porsche will still sell you a brand-new car with an H-pattern shifter and a clutch pedal.

German automakers are still at the top of their game when it comes to luxury performance sedans. Take the Panamera for example. Porsche dropped the third generation in November 2023, and eventually hit us with the craziest Panamera yet – the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid for the 2025 model year. This thing packs a frankly ridiculous 771 horsepower and a price tag that’ll make your eyes water – over $225,000! Yeah, it’s gonna cost you big money, but it’s hands-down the fastest Panamera ever.

It’s a big year for the Porsche 911! Specifically, I’m talking about the 992.2 generation, the latest and greatest version of this iconic sports car. It all kicked off with the 911 GTS, featuring a cutting-edge hybrid powertrain and a classic gas-powered base Carrera. Then we got the naturally aspirated 911 GT3 and now, Porsche has dropped the new Carrera T.

Porsche has been churning out facelifted 911s this year faster than you can say “mid-life crisis.” This year, we’ve already seen the base 992.2 Carrera, the mental GTS, the stripped-down T, and even the track-focused GT3. But the real storm’s brewing on the horizon and the one that I’m most excited about is the Turbo lineup. Now, thanks to a leak on Porsche’s own configurator from its German site (talk about a spy’s paradise!), we’ve got a glimpse of the upcoming Turbo for the first time. It’s not much, just a rear-end shot from a video showcasing the cruise control system, but it is enough to get the rumor mill churning once again.

Like several other automakers, Porsche devised a strategy for electrification. Originally, the plan was for Porsche to electrify 80 percent of its model lineup by 2030. That said, the automotive industry is a dynamic place and things often change at a rapid pace. Demand for EVs has slowed down, forcing many automakers, Porsche included, to rethink their long-term strategies. The Porsche Taycan marked great success in its early years, but global sales of the EV model have dropped by 50 percent, during the first three quarters of 2024.

Although Porsche has given us a staggering number of all-time great sports cars going back several decades, the German automaker has diversified its lineup over the past 20 years, by adding SUVs and sedans to its model lineup. This leaves the 911 and 718 as the only two Porsche sports car offerings, presenting Porsche with the opportunity to bring back iconic nameplates from its glorious past.

Hot on the heels of the 992.2 GT3, Porsche has now unveiled the 2025 911 Carrera T, a lightweight and dynamic driver’s machine built for pure on-road thrills. The "T" designation stands for Touring, harkening back to the homologation of the 1968 911 T. Let’s be honest, the 911 lineup can feel a bit bloated at times. But the Carrera T cuts through the confusion like a perfectly aimed heel-toe downshift. It slots right between the base Carrera and the upcoming Carrera S, offering a taste of that GT3 spirit without the stratospheric price tag, and for the first time, you can also have the ’T’, as a Cabriolet.

There’s a special kind of anticipation that comes with a new Porsche 911 Turbo S. While the modern-day Turbo models may not have the visceral soundtrack of a naturally aspirated mill; combining luxury, and performance with everyday usability, is a formula that Porsche has refined since the 1974 original, and the German automaker celebrated 50 years of the Turbo this year.

No Porsche can truly be called slow, but then again, no Porsche is truly affordable either. The sports carmaker has long traditions in motorsport, which has nicely transitioned into its road cars. While much can be said about the Porsche 911, you need to put together a hefty sum of money if you want to buy one. The base-model 992.2 Carrera starts at $122,000 and special-edition models like the GT3 RS are over $240,000. Not long ago, you could get behind the wheel of a 911 for under $100,000, but that is no longer the case with the 992.

Porsche finally took the wraps off its 992.2 GT3 and GT3 Touring on Friday, and after months of speculation and that teaser image from last Monday, the final reveal seemed a bit underwhelming. Sure, dot 2 models in the Porsche world, unlike an all-new generation, are more about refining the formula based on customer feedback, and thankfully we still have the 4.0-liter flat-six and a manual on offer, but for a GT car, I was expecting more specific details along the lines of aero and engine updates or Nurburgring lap times.

Outside of the track-focused GT2 and GT3 RS, the 911 GT3 is one of the most important Porsche race-bred models with license plates, and what better way to welcome a brand-new GT3 in the same week, than when Porsche themselves put out a press release celebrating 25 years of the revered nameplate? Enter the 992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 for the 2025 model year, and we’re not getting one, but two models including the wingless GT3 Touring. Now, I’ve been keeping tabs on the developments of the 992.2 GT3 with all the spy shots over the past few months. Porsche’s teaser from Monday didn’t give away much, but the profile with all the aero upgrades did seem to tie in with all those spy shots nicely.

Given how crossovers and SUVs are all the rage these days, it is no surprise that only a handful of wagons on sale in 2024. This is strange because most wagons are more practical than sedans and pack better driving dynamics than SUVs. In the EV world, Porsche’s Taycan Cross Turismo is a great alternative to some of the gas-powered or hybrid wagons like the Audi RS6 Avant and the newly debuted BMW M5 Touring.