The Old Monster Still Makes the Numbers Work

The GT-R Premium's case rests almost entirely on what £99,595 bought you in 2021: 565 bhp, a 2.9-second sprint, and 325 bhp per tonne from a car that had already spent over a decade embarrassing things that cost twice as much. On a pure cost-per-horsepower basis it came in at £176 per bhp new, against the 911 Turbo S's £311. That gap doesn't close on the used market either — Porsche's depreciation data here is thin enough (two model-wide sales, no Turbo S-specific auctions) that we won't pretend it's gospel, but even a rough 68% retention figure puts the 992 Turbo S used at somewhere around £211 per bhp. The GT-R still wins that fight, and it isn't close. Where the 911 wins is everywhere else. The Turbo S is 0.2 seconds quicker to 62, marginally lighter, makes 76 more horsepower, and does all of it while feeling like a car designed in this decade — because it was. The GT-R's cabin, by 2021, was showing its age badly. You're paying GT-R money and getting GT-R quality, which by that point meant an interior that felt behind cars costing half as much. The Porsche is genuinely faster, genuinely more refined, and genuinely daily-usable without compromise. The verdict: if your budget tops out at GT-R money, buy the GT-R without apology — it remains a startling machine at the price. But if you can reach 911 Turbo S territory, the extra spend buys you something that makes the R35 feel like the relic it honestly is.