What is the turbo badge worth at Porsche?

A Porsche with two turbos where the designation ‘Turbo’ in the type name is completely missing, flanked by a Porsche without turbo that even says ‘Turbo S’ in large letters. Are you still there? Ten years ago it seemed unthinkable, in 2022 it is possible. At Porsche, the Turbo label is no longer reserved for cars with an exhaust gas compressor, it is now used by marketers in Stuttgart on various models as a name for the top of the range, even if it is a fully electric car. And vice versa, having a turbo under the hood is no longer an obvious reason to equip a Porsche with Turbo badges. What is going on? For the answer, we go back half a century and return to the present via the motorsport division, the climate and the marketing department.

infernal machines

The turbo history starts with Porsche in racing. To compete competitively in the various racing classes, there is always and always a need for ever greater engine powers. Initially, this can still be provided by giving the engines even greater displacement volumes; bore and stroke increase and more cylinders are added. For example, in 1972 Porsche even experimented with a version of the 917 (an open sports prototype) with a 6.5-liter sixteen-cylinder boxer engine, which delivers a maximum power of 755 hp. That is much more than the 660 hp that comes from the 4.9-liter twelve-cylinder used until then. In addition to its size, that huge sixteen-cylinder also counteracts its own weight – think of all the components that move in it – not to mention its complexity. Thus, Porsche (still in 1972) returns to the twelve-cylinder, but with a turbo. The displacement is reduced to 4.5 liters via a slightly shorter stroke, but the power increases to no less than 850 hp. While that’s a good step forward, it still leaves you wanting more. Soon there are other crankshafts, leading to greater displacements and powers, which meanwhile add up to an awe-inspiring 1,100 horsepower. The large boxer engines have thus become infernal machines that only a few can control. The racing version of the 911 will also have its turn as far as turbos are concerned. The starting point is the 1973 Carrera RSR 3.0, which peaks at 330. For the 1974 season, that car is further developed into the Carrera RSR Turbo. When using a turbo, the regulations prescribe a correction factor of 1.4, so that the manufacturer has to reduce the cylinder capacity from 3.0 to 2.1 liters. Nevertheless, a maximum power of no less than 500 hp is squeezed out of the six-cylinder. In short, the turbo delivers performance that allows the men to distinguish themselves from the boys.

Higher in the pecking order

For the consumer market there are no restrictions with regard to cylinder capacity and it is not a gram more or less. In the early 1970s, the naturally aspirated six-cylinder boxer engine in the back of the 911 seems to have reached its maximum. Over the years, the cylinder capacity has grown in a number of intermediate steps from 2.0 to 3.0 liters. The block offers no space for even more content in atmospheric condition: the rack has been removed. In order to further increase performance, just like in racing, the answer must come from a solution outside the engine. The knowledge of the turbocharger is now in house and soon the almost magical component also finds its way to the street. Thus, in 1974, the Porsche 930, better known to the public under its trade name 911 Turbo, made its debut. With its 260 hp, it is clearly higher in the pecking order than the naturally aspirated 911 Carrera 3.0 peaking at 200 hp.

Immediately the addition ‘Turbo’ sounds like a spell. The new Turbo isn’t exactly the easiest 911 to drive, at least not when you want to get the most out of it. Keeping the turbo engine under control requires not only skill but also courage because of its unpolished character. The blown six-cylinder engine does not perform very spontaneously and the large power gains are mainly achieved in the upper part of the rev spectrum. Many a wannabe driver has white knuckles from squeezing the steering wheel. The brutal nature of the 911 Turbo commands respect, adding to the aura that surrounds this car: it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you can handle it, it’s great fun. The Turbo marks the beginning of a success story that has lasted almost half a century; you can still find it in the price list. Over the years, Porsche has removed the frayed edges and the 911 Turbo is increasingly becoming everyone’s friend; you can safely lend a modern version to your elderly mother-in-law without her standing backwards in the first corner. Even so, the Turbo is still the top of the series for many. Although at least as entertaining stuff has been developed in the form of the RS, GT3 and GT2 versions, ‘911 Turbo’ still has a magical sound to many.

The CO2 ghost

Pressured by increasingly stringent emissions and fuel consumption standards, the auto industry has been downsizing since the turn of the century: turbocharging smaller engines to perform like a larger engine, and then most of the time (when only a fraction of the of maximum performance is required) with the consumption and associated emissions of a small engine. In this way, many manufacturers manage to keep the CO2 ghost in their cage. Among those manufacturers is now also Porsche itself. In order to meet the requirements set by the legislator, the less exotic versions have also been equipped with turbo engines for a few years now. In the back of the Boxster and Cayman, it no longer starts with six-cylinder engines, but with four-cylinder downsize turbo engines. Of course, such a four-cylinder engine would also fit well in the back of the 911, but a 911 with four-cylinder is unthinkable from a historical perspective; it would be a 912 after all. Closely related to the four-cylinder in the Boxster and Cayman, the base engines of the 911 are now also equipped with turbo technology. Not to compete with the 911 Turbo, but purely to curb consumption and emissions without compromising performance. In order to maintain the hierarchy in the price list, the basic models do not bear the designation ‘Turbo’ despite their turbo technology, but they are still known as Carrera, Targa or Cabriolet, just like when no turbos were used yet. Downsizing alone is not enough to further reduce average CO2 emissions. Porsche cannot escape electrification either. And that is immediately taken seriously in the form of the Taycan. Remarkably, the most potent versions of that car bear Turbo and Turbo S logos. Foreign. The closest thing to a turbo in the Taycan’s food chain is a wind turbine. With the 911, Porsche has already shown that having turbos is no reason to stick Turbo logos on a car, so it now turns out that you don’t need to have turbos on board to still get Turbo badges. . In short, ‘Turbo’ has become a marketing slogan. The mythical value of the word ‘Turbo’, built up over the years, is now used as a designation for the top of the range, regardless of the type of powertrain.

Clichés knocking

Is the use of the word turbo for the Porsche marketers a matter of scoring quickly to put an EV on the market or can the Taycan rightly use its Turbo designation? Already after the first few meters, the Taycan Turbo S gives the feeling that it is not inferior to Porsches with a combustion engine. The handling is top notch, as is the steering. You can feel all the knowledge and expertise that Porsche has in this area in this super EV. You have absolute control over the car. Feeling one with the technology, a base that is an extension of your senses, you can let go of all the clichés and they all make sense. The Taycan appears to carry the brand values ​​of its creators in every way.

When it comes to drive technology, Porsche is starting a new chapter. An electric motor is always directly involved, has a linear progression from standstill to top speed and in principle has no shifting breaks. It approaches a perfection that engineers have strived for since the inception of the car, but have never achieved with an internal combustion engine and will never achieve. The combustion engine naturally has a rather uncomfortable character, to put it mildly. Its peaks are achieved anything but linearly, and when you as a constructor have it nicely done at high revs, it just doesn’t go well at the bottom. It’s a box full of compromises. The course of torque and power of an internal combustion engine is also completely unsuitable for being able to operate the car from standstill to top speed in one go, at least not just like that. In order to extract the best bits from the engine’s behavior, a series of transmissions has to be used. A manual 911 has seven gears, with an automatic it is even eight. Although the automatic transmission, a gearbox with a double clutch, has very short shifts and changes gears at appropriately timed moments, you notice that the whole thing does not work continuously. In addition to a Taycan, you could consider that a shortcoming or perhaps a frayed edge. However, the behavior of the combustion engine in combination with the gearbox makes the car what it is.

King too rich

The frayed edges of a modern 911 are not much compared to those of the first 911 Turbo, but it does give the current version more character compared to the polished behavior of Taycan powertrain. Where it all goes stepless with the Taycan, with the 911 you still have to take into account that you choose the right gear at the right time to keep the engine in the optimal rev range. It makes you feel much more like you decide what happens. And it’s not a matter of which is better, it’s just different. Just like a motorboat and a sailboat are different without you having to decide which one gives the most pleasure. In the case of the lightning-fast automatic transmission, you don’t have to interfere with the drivetrain, but when balancing on the border between driving and sliding, you should always keep in mind that with every gear change the drive forces jump. Even if it is minimal, you can feel that something is happening. With the Taycan, that experience is hardly or not at all. Should we just tape the Turbo logos on the Taycan? No definitely not. With its two electric motors, the Taycan Turbo S peaks at a staggering 761 hp and 1,050 Nm, and the 2,295 kg EV is able to catapult you from standstill to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds. And although there is a lot of mass around the corner, the chassis knows the driving forces more than fine to cope. With these figures, the numbers of the 911 Targa 4 GTS pale slightly, but you get a striking sound in return. With its two turbos, the six-cylinder boxer engine produces a maximum of 480 hp and 570 Nm, with which the sprint to 100 km/h with automatic transmission is completed in 3.5 seconds and with the manual transmission in 4.3 seconds. At Porsche, that is apparently enough reason not to put Turbo logos on it these days. Had the 1974 911 Turbo had this performance, every owner would have been king.