We’re testing the $334,900 (plus on-road costs) 911 Carrera GTS coupe with rear-wheel drive and eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission.

You can also have a seven-speed manual in this variant, which makes no difference to the price – and one in five buyers go for the DIY version.

All-wheel drive, Cabriolet and Targa GTS variants are PDK-only – the only other 992-generation car available with a manual is the hardcore GT3.

For your $35,000 over the equivalent Carrera S is an extra 22kW/20Nm from the turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six, bringing the total to 353kW of power and 570Nm of torque courtesy in part to the standard – and rather vocal – sports exhaust.

In rear-drive coupe format, it’ll do the 0-100km/h dash in a claimed 3.4 seconds, on the way to a 311km/h top whack.

Porsche’s spirit of charging more for less comes in the shape of reduced sound insulation to let more of that throaty rasp thrill the occupants. More thrills come from the bespoke 10mm-lower GTS suspension tune with adaptive damping.

Beefed-up brakes are derived from the hairy-chested 911 Turbo that costs $96K more while being 74kW/180Nm punchier. Borrowed from the Turbo S is the staggered alloy wheel pattern (20-inch front, 21-inch rear).

A typical GTS cosmetic black pack comprises satin black alloy wheels, blacked-out spoiler lip, engine cover louvres, headlight surrounds and GTS badging.

This theme continues inside with a GT Sport steering wheel, Sport Chrono package, Porsche Track Precision app compatibility, tyre temperature display and upgraded sports seats. 

Our test car was fitted with a cool $61,310 worth of options – almost enough to buy a Volkswagen Golf R for the school run – with the costliest being a GTS Interior Package that matched the $5700 Carmine Red exterior paint finish with the same colour applied to the contrast stitching, seat belts in embroidered GTS logos on the headrests, Porsche-branded floor mats, rev counter and Sport Chrono stopwatch.

The package also includes carbon dashboard, door and centre console trim as well as applying a mixture of leather and suede-like Race-Tex to the majority of interior surfaces.

Also lavished on the interior were 18-way adjustable adaptive sports seats ($5910), a $4720 tilt/slide glass sunroof, Race-Tex headlining ($2440) and sun visors ($860) ambient lighting ($1050) and a fancy Porsche Design ‘Sub-second clock’ for $2110.

Dynamic upgrades included roll-reducing Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control ($6750) and rear steering ($4720) while a nod to practicality came in the shape of the $5070 front axle lift system (which we used a lot when negotiating driveways, speed bumps and poor urban surfaces), adaptive cruise control ($3570 but really should be standard) and semi-automated parking ($1640).

Nice-to-haves were the $780 colour-matched key with leather pouch and Porsche logo puddle lights ($720).

We reckon many of the above inclusions genuinely contributed to a more satisfying all-round experience than if we’d tested a bone-stock GTS. But for 60 grand, you’d bloody hope so.