Of course, they’re all turbos now…

Yes, that’s true, but the Porsche 911 Turbo with a capital T is still top dog. Or is it?

Four-wheel drive, wider arches, turbos. The specification sounds familiar – but there are four 911s here with it, and only two of them are wearing Turbo badges on their tails. All of Porsche’s Carreras now feature a pair of turbos to add pace without losing efficiency, exemplified here by the new Carrera 4 S and Targa 4. And so the 911 Turbo – and its faster-still Turbo S relation – have lost something of their USP. Once a byword for lunatic performance that demanded heroic reactions, the 911 Turbo has evolved to a point where it’s retained its ability to leave you slack-jawed, but without the intimidation factor.

Thank the introduction of four-wheel drive from the 993 onwards. This 991-series Turbo and Turbo S get more power as part of the ranges’s mid-life revisions, adding 20bhp here, some of the standard Carrera’s smarter interior touchscreen, smartphone-connected infotainment there, while getting some new lights and bumpers to mark, albeit subtly, those changes. Never have 533bhp and 572bhp outputs been so civilised: the Turbo and Turbo S’s massive go is entirely exploitable, if socially unacceptable on the road.

It’s indecently fast, the official numbers saying that the Turbo S manages 62mph in 2.9 seconds and a 205mph top speed (3.0sec and 198mph in the Turbo). Insiders quietly admit that those figures are conservative for ‘repeatability’, with around half a second to be shaved off that 0-62mph time in perfect conditions. Remember, this is a car that can, at a push, carry four, and some luggage. The 911 Turbo’s breadth of ability is nothing if not extraordinary.

You need a track really to explore just how extraordinary, Porsche usefully having access on the launch to a heavily revised, indulgently invested new Kyalami track in South Africa. Expansive, smooth tarmac, some very fast corners mixed with some sharp, technical ones, a huge straight and useful gradients make for a challenging track. More so, in fact, thanks to some rain run-off – practically rivers – and standing water in less-than-ideal places.

Even so, the 911 Turbo S monsters around the circuit, shrugging off the conditions with a shimmy of its wider hips as it finds traction and grip, its Porsche Traction Management four-wheel drive, torque vectoring and Porsche Stability Management defying physics. Fiddling with those systems in the Turbo is now easier with the adoption of the Carrera’s Mode Switch (actually a rotary dial) and Sport Response button. Mounted on the steering wheel, it allows quick and convenient access to the 911 Turbo’s Normal, Sport, Sport+ and Individual driving modes.

All are quick. Porsche’s trick new ‘dynamic boost function’, which holds boost for a moment when quickly lifting off and reapplying the accelerator for greater immediacy of response, works with all of them. Then there’s the Sport Response button – a ‘push to pass’ set-up for overtaking – which turns-up the Turbo’s systems to 11 for 20 seconds, though any overtake that needs it might be your last.

Mighty as its ability undoubtedly is, the Turbo’s cleverness doesn’t translate to the most engaging drive. The transmission shifts with incredible speed, the brakes are never-ending in their stopping power, the ride good, too, but the 3.8-litre flat-six’s tone is somewhat muted by those variable-vane turbos, and the steering – despite some geometry revisions –