If you’re going to spend $294,250 on a 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, revealed today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, you undoubtedly are a Porschephile with high expectations.
That’s why Porsche, having already jettisoned the six-speed manual transmission for a faster-shifting, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, has removed the concept of shifting altogether. What can shift faster than a continuously variable transmission, which doesn’t have to shift at all?
911 GT2s have always been a handful in the wet because of Porsche’s need to distinguish the GT2 from the all-wheel-drive 911 Turbo. That’s unacceptable now, so Porsche has made the CVT-equipped 911 GT2 a front-wheel-drive car.
Lane Keeping Assist, a vital component in many a modern midsize car, is permanently switched on in the 2018 911 GT2 RS to allow drivers time to ponder the wonders of a new cooling system that sprays water on the intercoolers when temperatures get too hot.
The gigantic rear wing, a skyscraper of a device, is only elevated when the CVT is shifted into Park so as not to distract other drivers on the interstate.
In light of modern emissions constraints, the 2018 911 GT2 RS’s Sport mode has been replaced by an Eco setting, enhanced by an Eco+ selector that reduces power from 700 to 350.
Once in Eco+ mode, the 2018 911 GT2 RS’s GPS offers directions to the nearest racetrack, at which point — and only at which point —the Eco+ mode can be turned off. Fortunately, because Porsche is an enthusiast-driven company, the nav system offers these directions without you even having to ask for them.
Due to an unanticipated increase in the number of families who require three-row seating, Porsche has reversed course with the traditional two-seat GT2RS and reinserted the rear perch — while also adding a rear-facing jump seat between the driver and front passenger.
The rear contact patches have been reduced to 255/50R19s in order to increase tread life and ease the cost of replacement for owners.
With the market for new cars shrinking, Porsche recognizes the need to incentivize the 911 GT2 RS, so the $294,250 will only be financed — no cash purchases accepted — over 96 months at 4.9 percent.
Cognizant of marketplace trends, Porsche has elevated the 911 GT2 RS’s ride height by nine-tenths of an inch for 2018, further marking its “urban lifestyle” capabilities with black cladding around the wheelarches.
Knowing the key demographic to reach is MWM – Millennials with money — Porsche will advertise the 2018 911 GT2 RS with no words and no voiceovers: emojis only.
We kid.
Cars aren’t dead. Driving isn’t done. Fun can still be had. Autonomy isn’t tomorrow. You don’t have to drive a Buick Encore.
Porsche still builds sports cars.
The 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS generates 700-horsepower from a 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six and sends 553 lb-ft of torque — 37 lb-ft more than the last GT2 RS — to the rear wheels through a seven-speed Doppelkupplung.
Top speed? 211 miles per hour.
0-60 miles per hour? 2.7 seconds.
Filled with fluids, the two-seat 2018 911 GT2 RS weighs just 3,241 pounds, but can drop its fighting weight to 3,201 pounds by way of a $31,000 Weissach Package: magnesium wheels, carbon fiber roof, carbon fiber anti-roll bars. Even in the bog standard GT2 RS, the titanium exhaust weighs 15 pounds less than the exhaust in the proletarian 911 Turbo.
Porsche ceramic composite brakes are standard fit. Front tires are 265/35ZR20s; rear rubber measure 325/30ZR21.
The 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS is available to order now, but it won’t arrive at dealers in the United States until early 2018. By which time we’ll all be driving Waymo Pacificas, anyhow.
[Images: Porsche]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.
“By which time we’ll all be riding in Waymo Pacificas, anyhow.”
Fixed.
Somehow, the humorous first two-thirds of the article seems entirely believable. Please don’t give them any ideas.
That handle is gold, by the way.
Eleventy.
>Unobtainium<
It’s April 1st?
No will be sold. 700hp Porsche weighing 3,200lbs
Great comeback in the article, except it’s automatic, so the car is still soul-sucking and autonomous where it counts.
2.7 is fast, though….
With a rear engine, RWD, and all the weight in the rear spoiler, it almost ought to wheelie….
Thank goodness I read the whole article. I was about to scream,
“HAVE THEY LOST THEIR DAMN MINDS?”
Know what this an the Encore have in common?
1) Automatic only
2) Owned by a 55+ demographic
3) Spends half the year undriven in a garage.
……..droooooooollllll
Another few minutes of my life wasted.
Looks to be industrial strength.
I’ve never driven a GT2 RS, I do have a few laps in a GT3 RS. If it’s anything like the GT3 RS then it’s astounding.
Same weight as my 1st gen CRV AWD more or less. Seems heavy for a supercar to me. I’m sure it has no problem getting up hills though. ;)
fake news
The new Porsche models looking is killer. Its interior is also awesome and the color red has highlighted the whole car from insight https://goo.gl/X1U2CT