Turbo’s Hybrid Powertrain and Suspension: A Surprising Combination
On the move, both the Turbo’s hybrid powertrain and its clever suspension have enormous potential to surprise and impress, and in a variety of different dimensions.
The system is the same in both the Turbo and the Turbo S; it’s simply that the V8 engine can work so much harder in the faster version, to lend a hit of speed when called upon that feels fully Herculean rather than merely huge. And yet, even in the Turbo S, that engine never imposes itself unless you want it to.
In electric mode, there’s enough oomph from the 188bhp motor for fairly assured, if unhurried, engine-off cruising around the national speed limit.
Our Turbo S test car’s trip computer promised a little under 50 miles of electric-only running on a full charge, although it needed to be kept to lesser cruising speeds to reproduce that.
Even so, the motor is really well integrated into the wider power delivery; the engine starts and stops discreetly, after bigger pedal inputs that become easy to gauge even without any additional haptic pedal feedback.
The V8 fire and brimstone is there when you go digging for it, though, adding plenty of soul and theatre in wilder moments. And sure enough, every bit as much buttock-clenching acceleration as you have an appetite or use for, whether you want the torque-rich, locked-in-gear, hauling-from-lower-revs variety, or the redline-bothering, maximum-sound-and-fury kind.
Use Sport+ mode and the car ensures its hybrid battery remains at a healthy state of charge, so you never drag dead weight around.
The Turbo S is an unrelentingly fast car when given its head, and the Turbo isn’t far behind it. Both have plenty of authentic audible V8 charm, provided that you option in the sports exhaust (without it, they can sound just a little overly digitally augmented from the driver’s seat).
