Porsche 911 Turbo official pics

The latest 911 Turbo has landed… And in true Porsche style the updated version is virtually indecipherable from its predecessor!

Chrome headlight surrounds, restyled foglights and new wheel designs mark the only exterior upgrades, but there’s more to this facelift than meets the eye.

Under the bonnet, or wedged in the boot in the 911’s case, is an all-new 3.8-litre direct-injection, twin-turbo flat-six, delivering a faintly ridiculous 500bhp – only the second road-going 911 to ever breach the 500bhp barrier after the current 530bhp GT2.

That additional 20bhp gives the performance figures a healthy boost. At 3.7 seconds from 0-60mph it’s three tenths quicker than the current Turbo, and tops out 1mph higher, at 194mph.

But it’s an interior change that will have Porsche enthusiasts across the globe sighing with relief. The excellent PDK twin-clutch gearbox can now be specified with standard wheel-mounted levers – pull the left to change down and the right to shift up – rather than the confusing push button setup on earlier versions.

Most impressive of all though is that Porsche has managed to not only turn up the performance, but to cut CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by around 18 per cent.

Coupe and Cabriolet versions of the next-gen Turbo go on sale in the UK on November 21, priced at £101,823 and £109,048 respectively – roughly a £2,000 increase over the outgoing model.