Porsche 911 remains the performance standard
Everything has its baseline for greatness. In golf, it’s Tiger Woods. In tennis, Roger Federer. In basketball, Michael Jordan.
For sports cars, it’s the Porsche 911.
Every brand baselines its sports cars to the 911 on track and off. The eighthgeneration 2020 model is no different.
After a day going to Hell (Michigan) and back in the convertible, Targa 4S— a new trim for the 2021 model year— I’m happy to report the champ is still at the top of its game.
I felt the 911 difference almost immediately. I had stepped out of Corvette’s all-new C8 the day before — hands down the besthandling Corvette ever made. Yet, it doesn’t instill the same confidence as the 911.
Pushing the Corvette (or most sports cars) over undulating hills, I had to work the steering wheel at the limit to keep the beast on its chain. On similar curves, the Porsche feels like it’s on rails. It’s like a slot car begging for more juice.
It wasn’t always so. The 911’s rear-engine layout is inherently unbalanced. It took decades for Stuttgart engineers to tease out the gremlins of oversteer. My Targa 4S tester benefited from innovations such as electronic limited-slip differential, rear-axle steering and engineering witchcraft like “PASM” and “PDCC.” All the driver needs to knowis it makes handling magic.
But when it comes to the new 911’s biggest change— the interior— Porsche still has work to do.
My Racing Yellow Porsche tester provided a roomy cabin with plenty of head clearance for this 6-foot-5 giraffe. Unlike its mid-engine competition, 911 has rear seats (though they are more hospitable to golf bags than people). Together with carry-on luggage storage in the frunk, it’s a sports car fit for weekend trips.
The console is much improved over the previous generation with room for a cupholder. (Imagine! Previous models had a flimsy pop-out fromthe glove compartment.) There’s adaptive cruise-control and a touch screen complete with 4GWi-Fi and Apple CarPlay.
But other details lag. The cabin lacks personality overall. Porsche doesn’t offer Android Auto, and voice recognition is average. The steering wheel obscures some information on the digital instrument display, and if youwant to open the Targa’s roof, you have to pull over first.
The Targa is available with a 7-speed manual for purists, but the dual-clutch 8- speed PD K automatic with paddle shifters is superior.
Its “sport response” plants a button in the middle of the steering wheel. Luffing behind traffic, I pushed the button. Instantly, the gearbox downshifted from 6th to 3rd, the flat-six engine screaming whilst the tach quivered at 6,000 rpms.
Nail the throttle. Gulp traffic in the blink of an eye. Exhale. Wow.