Wednesday 7th October 2015

New Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and Targa 4

For when a two-wheel drive 911 on 305-section rear tyres just doesn't have enough traction!

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By now everyone should be familiar with the new Porsche 991; turbos for the Carrera models, the mildest of styling changes and even more technology. The rest of the 911 range was certain to receive the updates at some point, so here are the four-wheel drive and Targa 911s. Exactly one month after the two-wheel drive cars... Media launch on November 7 then?

Targa still sitting pretty

Both Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S use the same 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat six, making 370hp in the Carrera and 420hp in the S. A Carrera 4 PDK with Sport Chrono (there is still a manual if you so desire) will hit 62mph in 4.1 seconds, the S taking three tenths off that. Yep, 3.8 seconds. Both the Cabriolet and the Targa are two tenths slower for the sprint than the hardtop models. Porsche quotes the top speeds as between 178 and 189mph. Fuel consumption - because that's now about as important as speed - is rated at 36mpg for a C4 PDK cabrio and 35mpg for the equivalent Carrera S.

As before, the four-wheel drive 911s are identifiable through the additional 44mm in the rear wings and the strip between the lights. 911s do look good with wider arches, don't they? Porsche says the new all-wheel drive responds even faster thanks to tech from the 911 Turbo, making the car more stable "during extremely sporty driving".

Carrera 4 cabrio not one for purists...

Other than that, the four-wheel drive cars are much as the other facelifted 991s. PASM is standard, the 918 Spyder wheel is optional and the PCM infotainment now has real-time traffic info. Don't forget the 'Sport Response Button' too; because who wants just kickdown when you can have kickdown on a button?

The Carrera 4 and Targa models are on sale now, with deliveries expected early next year. A Carrera 4 Coupe starts at £81,398, a £4,986 premium over the Carrera 2. The Carrera 4 Cabriolet is £90,240, just a few hundred pounds less than a C4S Coupe (£90,843). A 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet is a £100K car without options at £99,684. Finally, the Targa 4 and Targa 4S are priced identically to the equivalent cabrios. Coming to your local high street soon!

[PhantomPH]

It strikes me that the success of the Boxster and Cayman have forced Porsche to do two things to differentiate the 911: 1) Make the 911 crazy fast in a straight line, and 2) Put the price of a 911 up through the roof.

It really does feel like they are charging all that money 'because they can'. I spec'd a C2S the other day, quite conservatively. I really only added things that I believed were expected of a car in that bracket. £102k...for a C2S???I promise this did not include extended leather this or alcantara that...in fact I didn't even tick the box for a rear wiper or floor mats.

I still have a PDF from when I spec'd a 997 C2S in a similar fashion and it was roughly £76k. Did Porsche start using solid gold instead of aluminium and I missed that article??

[PhantomPH]

Ozzie Osmond said:

mnx42 said:

Axionknight said:

I'd take the Targa, but I expect to be in a minority of one.

Nope,+1 here. I think they are a very good looking car.

Do you think we could get a nice discount for three?

Group buy discount - I'll take one.