2022 Porsche 911 Carrera

The base 2022 Porsche 911 will cost $101,200 before any options and the delivery fee of $1,350 in the US. Following this is the Carrera 4 at an MSRP of $108,500, the Carrera S at $117,100, and the Carrera 4S at $124,400. The new GTS begins at $136,700 and the 4 GTS tops the lineup at $144,000. It's very easy to eclipse the starting price of the 911 Turbo ($174,300) by adding just a couple of options to the GTS.

For the purposes of this review, we will mostly focus on the Carmine Red 911 GTS Coupe, which came with the manual transmission and the Lightweight package. Porsche also had us sample a Targa 4 GTS with the PDK, giving us a clear picture of how wide the GTS model ranges, depending on how you option it. For buyers who plan to use their 911 GTS as a daily driver with limited track work, our experience in the Targa showed how livable this car can be - even the hardcore GTS trim offers standard Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), it doesn't punish its occupants, even in Sport Plus mode. On the highway, the cabin doesn't let in too much road noise and the 18-way adjustable seats are perfectly comfortable on long journeys.

The GTS Coupe was a different story. Porsche optioned this car to show how track-capable the GTS can be at its peak. This car had the Lightweight Package, stripping out the rear seats, reducing the sound insulation, and shaving the window thickness to create a more raw experience. There's far more road noise with this package, but on the plus side, it lets you hear more of the throaty sports exhaust. This car had the Coupe-only optional carbon fiber-backed racing bucket seats, which are a bit extreme for average road use. If you plan to take your GTS to the track often, the buckets are fantastic, holding you in place even through the most high-G corners.

The GTS Coupe is firmer than the Targa with a standard PASM system, including a 10-mm ride height reduction from the 911 Turbo. All GTS models get the same brakes as the 911 Turbo, with massive six-piston calipers up front and four-pistons in the rear. Despite their size, we found the standard brakes on the heavier Targa to be a bit faded by the end of our long day carving up Georgia's mountain roads. By comparison, the optional Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) repeatedly brought the GTS to a screeching halt, with zero signs of fading.

The 911 may offer more flavors than a Baskin Robbins menu, but there are no duds here. Few automakers offer steering that talks back to you like this car, giving you a precise feel of what the front end is up to. This impressive steering feel comes in handy because the 911 is no longer a tiny car, and you can feel it on a narrow back road. Porsche mitigates the 911's size with available rear axle steering, improving agility at low speeds and creating stability at high speeds. With AWD, the 911 GTS feels stable without understeer killing the fun. The RWD model feels slightly more natural, letting you play more with the rear end and providing a slightly more on-edge experience. Porsche lets buyers configure the 911 GTS to their liking, creating the ideal daily driver or forgoing some creature comforts for a perfect track experience. No matter which direction you lean, the 911 still stands as the pinnacle sports car.

There's a reason why every new sports car is instantly benchmarked against the Porsche 911; it's brilliant. Rivals like the Chevrolet Corvette have made huge strides in recent years, narrowing the gap on performance, build quality, and fine tuning, but we still favor the 911. Porsche nails the intangible aspects of sports car manufacturing; the steering is best-in-class, the fit and finish is flawless, and the cohesiveness of the product is unmatched. If there's a more complete sports car on the market right now, we haven't driven it.

We only have two complaints about the 911; it's a bit big for our liking, and the price tag is extreme. These are both reasons why we might choose one of Porsche's 718 models instead. But if money is no object, it's nearly impossible to beat the 911. As we discovered, no sports car offers such a wide range of customizability, allowing customers to fine-tune the experience to their liking. Even in the narrow spectrum of the GTS model, customers can build their 911 as a comfy GT car, or a track-focused maniac. If you missed the opportunity to nab a GT3 allocation or don't want to spend up for the Turbo, the 911 GTS feels like anything but a consolation prize.

Speccing out a Porsche 911 is a highly involved process with limitless possibilities, so your perfect configuration may differ heavily from ours. We'd stick with the standard 911 GTS Coupe, and would only suggest the 4 GTS if you plan to drive the car year-round in a cold climate. From there we'd add an exciting color (like Shark Blue), the 18-way adaptive Sport seats, and the Premium package. With these options, you can keep the 911 GTS just under $150,000. It's tough to resist checking every box on the options list, but we think the 911 is a fabulous sports car no matter what, so you don't need to go nuts adding expensive extras.

This is a much more interesting comparison now that the new Carrera GTS is here. In RWD guise, the GTS starts at $136,700, making it $37,600 less expensive than the cheapest 911 Turbo in the USA. For your extra money, the 911 Turbo dials power up to 572 hp and it'll require only 2.7 seconds to reach 60 mph. The even more powerful Turbo S shaves another tenth of a second off that time but costs over $200,000. Both the GTS and the Turbo are magnificent to drive, with the former being a touch rawer and the latter a little more comfortable. The Turbo has nicer cabin materials and more adjustable front seats, but the GTS can be ordered with a wonderfully tactile manual gearbox. You can save almost $75,000 over the Turbo and be perfectly happy with a base Carrera too, which has all the performance and comfort you'll ever need. While the 911 Turbo remains the ultimate 911 on the road, we'd save the money and opt for a manual Carrera S or GTS.

The 911 is a bona fide sports car while the M4 is based on a much humbler coupe. The two cars go about impressing you in different ways. As a piece of engineering, the 911's polish blows you away; from its engine to its steering, suspension, and both gearboxes, all the major elements blend together beautifully. The new BMW M4 screams for your attention before you even turn the key with its audacious styling and extreme carbon bucket seats. In base form, it's around $30k cheaper than the entry-level 911 yet has more power (and that's before upgrading to the M4 Competition), offers much more interior space, and comes with a manual. The new M4 is much more buttoned-down than its predecessor and is thrilling to drive, although its available eight-speed automatic can't match the Porsche's PDK. BMW throws in features like lane departure warning and blind-spot detection by default. Because these are high-performance machines, we'll give the edge to the 911, but in some ways, the M4 is more car for a lot less money.