2021 Porsche 911 Turbo pricing – and now it's a record setter!

Regular readers might recall that the current lap record at South Australia's The Bend Motorsport Park is held by the heroic Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

Well, there's been a development: the GT2 RS – and its record 3:24:079 lap of The Bend's full 7.7-kilometre layout, set by our man Warren Luff – has been surpassed, by none other than the new 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo.

That's not a bad way for the GT2 RS to go, really, and a clear sign that Weissach hasn't been sitting on its thumbs when it comes to improving the breed.

Setting a new benchmark time of 3:22.066, the 911 Turbo stands out as the new king of the hill. To its credit, Porsche acknowledges that the track has benefited from improvements in grip and speed.

Sam Shahin, Managing Director of The Bend Motorsport Park, said: "Since the first lap record set by Porsche at The Bend, our 7.7 kilometre GT Circuit has seen a lot more use, including a round of the Asian Le Mans Series."

Catch the new record video lap in our gallery above, and our pricing/specs story below.

April 7, 2021: The new 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe and Cabriolet models have landed on Australian shores, priced from $396,500.

In a break from tradition, Porsche released the more potent 911 Turbo S variants first but the traditional Turbo is hot on its heels offering mind-bending performance with a more ‘grand touring’ bent than some of the sportier 911 models.

Nevertheless, performance is far from lacking, the new 911 Turbo’s 3745cc twin-turbo flat-six is offering an extra 30kW and 40Nm over its predecessor for totals of 427kW and 750Nm, matching the previous generation 911 Turbo S.

The torque figure is now available at all times rather than as an over-boost which, combined with the new eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, cuts the 0-100km/h claim to just 2.8sec for the Coupe and 2.9sec for the Cabriolet. Top speed remains 320km/h.

Virtually no aspect of the chassis has gone untouched, the wider body allows for a much bigger footprint.

There’s an extra 45mm of track at the front and 10mm at the rear while the staggered rims (20 x 9.0-inch front; 21 x 11.5-inch rear) wear 255/35 and 315/30 tyres respectively.

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The downside of the expanded dimensions is an increase in weight, the Coupe weighing in at 1640kg and the Cabriolet 1710kg.

Hiding in plain sight behind those wheels are monster brakes: 408mm discs with six-piston calipers at the front and 380mm discs with four-piston calipers at the rear.

Even larger carbon-ceramic discs with 10-piston front calipers are available starting from $20,190.

A sign of Porsche’s desire to make the new 911 Turbo a more focused proposition is the fact that buyers can option a Sports chassis and Sports exhaust for the first time.

The former drops the ride height by 10mm and stiffens the suspension for sharper responses, while the latter extracts more volume from the flat-six engine.

Also available is a Lightweight Design Package, which reduces weight by 30kg thanks to lightweight bucket seats, removal of the rear seats and less sound insulation, though buyers can also opt for a carbon roof.

On the inside there is Porsche’s latest 10.9-inch infotainment touchscreen, 14-way adjustable heated front seats, GT steering wheel, BOSE surround sound stereo and active safety systems such as lane change assist and front and rear park assist with surround view.

Adaptive cruise control remains on the options list along with dozens and dozens of items, from exterior colours, interior trims, mechanical upgrades and extra equipment, all of which can easily push the standard $396,500/$417,500 (Coupe/Cabriolet) ask well beyond $500,000 on-road.

Stay tuned for a local review of the new Porsche 911 Turbo.