Porsche 911 Targa: Review

Another 60s-influenced 911 tested; is the Targa the best of all 911 worlds?

"The new Targa is everything that the 911 can offer in one car." That's certainly one way to grab attention at the press conference. Porsche is confident the latest Targa combines the attributes customers love of the coupe (dynamics mainly) with those from the cabrio (wind in the hair, more on which below) to create quite literally the perfect 991. Compromise-free, viceless, without flaw or foible. Surely even Porsche can't carry that off?

Roof needs 19 seconds to do its thing

It's difficult to doubt them on first seeing the Targa. Purely on aesthetics, it has the 'best of both worlds' ideology completely nailed. The 991 cabrio is much improved over previous generations but the Targa makes it look a little dumpy and arse heavy. Compared to the coupe the Targa just appears that little more exotic because of the removable roof section. The retro cues from the original Targa are incorporated well, even the (optional, of course) rear window wiper. And nobody will ever, ever get bored of seeing that unimaginably complex roof do its thing.

First impression
Out on the road the Targa makes an auspicious start. The PDK remains stellar, shifting almost imperceptibly in auto and delivering shifts precisely on demand in manual. As PH is old fashioned and still values involvement (plus the 991 manual is supposedly less obstinate now than at launch), we would forego the PDK. And be pretty much alone in doing so, we'd wager.

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Enjoying the Targa's excellent mooching abilities led to a humiliating mugging at the hands of another pair of hacks early in the launch route. But being passed by another Targa is simply an excuse to enjoy looking at it again; 911s with wide rear arches really do just work, don't they? The styling will probably clinch it for many prospective Targa buyers. And yes, we overtook the other car back.

But for those that, heaven forbid, may want their 911 as a driver's car, the Targa's apparently impenetrable armour reveals some chinks. It takes a little while though.

Scorchio
With so much GT3 discussion at the moment and its, ahem, scorching performance, it's easy to forget what a special engine the regular 3.8-litre 'S' motor is. Though not endowed with bountiful torque, its willingness to rev renders that trait immaterial. From 3,000rpm it's well into its stride, there's another surge just before '5' and it absolutely howls through the last 1,000rpm or so. It's glorious.

Wind noise spoils the fun out here

Or it would be, if the engine could be heard. Alright, that's exaggerating the situation slightly but the Targa's wind noise is almost insufferable. At 40mph it's annoying and then it becomes gradually more intrusive to the point of spoiling enjoyment. It seems to flood in around the roll hoop; the small deflector at the top of the screen can be raised to very marginally improve the situation but the change is minor. A fellow journalist complained of feeling cold after a prolonged period with the roof down and the air-con at a sensible temperature. This was Bari too, where it was at least 20 degrees outside. Blatting down by the coast, running third gear from below 3,000rpm to its stunning upper reaches should have been brilliant but the wind interference became infuriating.

Of course raising the roof alleviates the problem entirely but this is fundamentally against the Targa ethos, isn't it? That wraparound rear screen does at least afford some decent visibility but it's rather absurd to enjoy driving an open Porsche more with the roof up. That appears the unfortunate truth in the Targa's case.

Will that matter when it looks like this?

Blown away
Porsche didn't have any coupes or cabrios to directly compare with the Targa out in Italy but the test would surely have proved fascinating. It was only reasonable to expect that the fancy roof to incur a weight penalty over the coupe, but it's also 40kg more than the cabriolet. So much for possessing the dynamics of a coupe, it's 110kg heavier than the equivalent hard top!

The 911 Targa is not a bad car, far from it, but it appears compromised in an exemplary 911 line-up. Relatively speaking. It's significantly more expensive than the coupe but carries a lot more weight, and is frustrating with the roof down where a cabrio (with the wind deflector) surely wouldn't be. Don't forget the Targa is only £647 less than the cabrio too and £8K more than 4WD coupes.

Targas have typically accounted for 10 per cent of 911 sales, a figure Porsche expects to rise slightly with this latest generation. Given how it looks they're right to be optimistic. From a driving perspective though a coupe remains the purist choice while the cabrio does the open air thing more convincingly than any open 911 has done before. Leaving the Targa slightly in the middle ground and struggling to match function to its admittedly alluring form.

PORSCHE 911 TARGA 4
Engine: 3,436cc flat-six
Power (hp): 350@7,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 288@5,600rpm
0-62mph: 5.2 sec (5.0 with PDK, 4.8 with PDK and Sport Chrono)
Top speed: 175mph (174mph)
MPG: 29.7 (32.5) NEDC combined
CO2: 223g/km (204)
Kerbweight: 1,540kg (1,560kg) DIN empty
Price: £86,281

PORSCHE 911 TARGA 4 S
Engine: 3,800cc flat-six
Power (hp): 400@7,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 325@5,600rpm
0-62mph: 4.8 sec (4.6 with PDK, 4.4 with PDK and Sport Chrono)
Top speed: 184mph (183mph)
MPG: 28.2 (30.7) NEDC combined
CO2: 237g/km (214)
Kerbweight: 1,555kg (1,575) DIN empty
Price: £96,316

Figures in brackets for PDK.

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