GTS Ride Quality with or without Active Ride

[prj]

@prj thanks for your descriptions and explanations . Very helpful. I’m still not sure which I would prefer. GTS with PAR or Turbo without. I’ll be looking at sport Tourismo instead of CT which I have now. The one thing I do like with my CT is the smoothness in normal when just cruising and going over rough roads. However, when it comes to spirited driving then happy to have it firm to eliminate the floatiness which isn’t totally eliminated in my CT.

Going from CT to GTS will be pretty extreme difference. Put your CT into sport plus and see if you like to drive like that in normal. I strongly suggest to try to find one for test drive.

Detail question - does the PDCC on J1.1 sort out the side-to-side uneven road bumps - by decoupling the ARBs?
It is the one thing that annoys me on mine, granted I also have 21" but you imply 20"s won't change that?

Yes, it is noticeably softer than without it and also less body roll in corners, but it doesn't hold a candle to PAR.

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[SoccerMan94043]

Have you ever driven a J1.2 GTS with PAR for comparison?

I noticed the marketing for the GTS specifically mentions a 'GTS specific tune' for the Active Ride system, while the Turbo GT (Weissach) page just shows the generic PAR description.

Since you find the GT in Normal 'too soft', I'm wondering if the GTS in Normal might actually be stiffer/more communicative by design or (hopefully not) even softer? Or do you think they share the same base calibration?

I test drove a J1.2 Turbo S with PAR (the reason I decided to find a car with PAR) and I ended up buying a J1.2 GTS with PAR.

I can't tell you the difference... I didn't have the opportunity to push the Turbo S much (only a 15 minute test drive) and there was a few weeks between driving both of them. I didn't notice any ride quality differences when I drove the GTS however.

I think one would need to drive them back to back aggressively to really know.

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Thanks @Mr.Smith, that puts my mind at ease!

Knowing your 'floaty' reference is relative to a GT3 (and explicitly not a Rolls/Tesla X 'waft') confirms the GTS is likely exactly what I'm looking for.

If you do manage to get some seat time in a GTS with PAR, I’d still be very curious to hear your thoughts on how it compares to your Weissach!

I came from a 2016 Model S 70D (75kWH battery upgraded) and a 2018 Model 3 (Dual Motor, AWD) to the J1.2 GTS with the Dynamics package (RWS, PAR, Max Summer Tires). It's like night and day: the ride is much smoother, the control is much finer and my confidence on what the car is doing is much higher.

Just go test drive whatever car you can find with PAR as well as a GTS.

 

[Boss Hogg]

This graphic might help this discussion! Note 'shaking' PAR vs standard J1.2 air there is no difference, in every other measure PAR is superior.

I have PAR and love it, the car remains flat as pancake when pressing on and is super comfortable on long drives, especially at higher speeds.

 

[prj]

This graphic might help this discussion! Note 'shaking' PAR vs standard J1.2 air there is no difference, in every other measure PAR is superior.

I have PAR and love it, the car remains flat as pancake when pressing on and is super comfortable on long drives, especially at higher speeds.

Yep, the "shaking" part is dampers + wheel size. PAR irrelevant.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Very useful and informative series of posts above. Thank you all.

Seems we have collectively concluded that for those who want 20” wheels (or can put up with their visual consequences) a Taycan GTS with PAR is/will be a big fun to drive vehicle that drives smoother than one with PAR and 21’”s.

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Very useful and informative series of posts above. Thank you all.

Seems we have collectively concluded that for those who want 20” wheels (or can put up with their visual consequences) a Taycan GTS with PAR is/will be a big fun to drive vehicle that drives smoother than one with PAR and 21’”s.

The 21" RS Spyders are worth whatever ride sacrifice required

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Agree enthusiastically that 21” RS Spyders are stunningly gorgeous, but how are they when on a Taycan GTS with 22” wheels on moderate roads.. That is the question please.

We know on bad roads that 21” Taycan wheels result in a unplesant ride but candidly we are talking about a handling sports cars and what of them are pleasant on bad roads….

 

[d00d]

It's possible to have the look of a 21" without an unpleasant ride quality due to stiff sidewall performance tires.
I have the 21" Mission E Design wheels, as well as a winter set of 20" Turbo Aero wheels, both with Continental ProContact RX all season tires, can't feel any difference.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

One of the issues for 2026+ buyers is that Porsche decided to no longer offer any but summer tires with all 21”wheels. For those who do not want nor need two sets of wheels, but want or need all seasons, Porsche complicated the 21” wheel ordering decision process, e..lg, you can only get factory all seasons with 19” or 20” wheels.

 

[prj]

One of the issues for 2026+ buyers is that Porsche decided to no longer offer any but summer tires with all 21”wheels. For those who do not want nor need two sets of wheels, but want or need all seasons, Porsche complicated the 21” wheel ordering decision process, e..lg, you can only get factory all seasons with 19” or 20” wheels.

Buying a performance car and then running that on all seasons seems wild to me. Why would you do that? Horrible grip in summer compared to a summer tyre and also the all seasons wear fast in summer since usually they have a softer rubber compound to work better in lower temperatures.

 

[d00d]

I'm just using my Taycan as a three to four hour highway commuter between houses twice a week, so not sporting use.
The Continental ProContact RX all season has a tread wear rating of 500, but the performance tires are 300 or less (higher is longer);

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?tireIndex=4&autoMake=Porsche&autoYear=2023&autoModel=Taycan&autoModClar=&frontWidth=265/&frontRatio=35&frontDiameter=21&frontSortCode=61027&rearWidth=305/&rearRatio=30&rearDiameter=21&rearSortCode=61058&performance=ALL

 

[Fun TC Driving]

My C8 Z06 is my pure performance car. I want my Taycan GTS to be an exciting daily driver, including running errands, including road trips, including very spirited curvy country road drives. All seasons work best for my multiple DD uses, for every car we own is one that I passionately love to drive. Everyone’s use case is different..

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Not concerned about a firm Taycan GTS ride with PAR and 21”’ tires for it will be definitely a softer ride than we are used to in our C8 Z06.

Thanks Porsche (sarcasm) for your starting with the 2026 model to no longer allow an original GTS purchaser to order theirs with 21” all seasons.

We need to get our 2027 Taycan GTS with PAR due to my wife’s arthtis, for PAR allows her to get into/out herself. So our trade off choices include: a) getting the gorgeous 21” RS (or equivalent 21’”s), then driving it for about six months before putting on all season Contis, OR, then getting a set of 20” wheels and all seasons Contis for them —and then undergoing the twice each year having fun of swaping wheels/tires back and forth (and sitting the second hibernating set for those months), OR, buying the Contis, replacing them whenever they become worn out and then until about six months before returning the car back in at the end of my lease putting back on the original summer tires that came with the car.

OR, a completely different “PATH B” would be starting with our original order our selecting one of the three 20” factory wheels, but damn none of thier looks either of us lust after.

Our path conundrum of ordering 20” or 21” wheels originally will of course be figured out before our order goes in roughly August/September; and, we know we are far from the only ones with this or a similar set of circumstances.

BTW, Porsche just did the same with the Macan EV GTS in that it does not allow its largest 22” wheels (five choices) to be factory ordered with all seasons…

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Finally there could be an alternative IF any reputable tire manufacturer made a set of all season 245/40R21 & 285/35R21’s for these factory wheels. Perhaps one of you knows of someone who makes high quality A/S tire in these sizes, eg., been looking for over a year so far unsuccessfulliy.

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