CARS

JUST WHEN YOU WERE THINKING THAT PORSCHE MIGHT BE RUNNING OUT OF TRICKS TO MAKE ITS VENERABLE 911 FIT FOR THE 2020S, ALONG COMES THE LATEST CARRERA 4S. JON WALL DRIVES IT

Porsche

It’s just days after Porsche’s director of sportscars, Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, told the British publication Autocar that its 911 model line, now in its eight generation and well into its sixth decade, would be the last of the company’s automobiles to go electric. That won’t happen, he said, until 2030 at the earliest, “coming hopefully after my retirement so I’m not responsible and no one can blame me”.

Walliser also implied that there’d be no hybrid version before the ninth-gen model at the earliest, adding that he’d “fight to let the 911 keep its gasoline engine”. So you might say that with its future in more-or-less recognisable form guaranteed for at least the next 10 years, this is the perfect time to be stepping into the latest version of the car that’s not only defined the Porsche brand for more than half a century, but is also considered by many autophiles as the greatest sportscar ever.

Walliser’s words are ringing in my ears when I twist the starter switch of the Carrera 4S and, as the largely digital dashboard display lights up, the busy, buzzy chattering of a gasoline-powered, 3-litre flat-six engine out back reassuringly announces that in some key areas at least the 911 remains much as it’s always been. Of course, there’s a huge gulf between this latest 992 iteration of the 911 and the first machine to bear those legendary numerals back in 1964.

The latter looks modest and almost diminutive compared with today’s longer, wider and infinitely more muscular Carrera – and with a weight of less than 1.1 tonnes, diminutive is exactly what that early model was. But the links between the two remain compelling, not just in the rear-mounted six-pot boxer engine, but also in concept and styling that still echo those of the Volkswagen Beetle, which was designed by the Austrian-German engineer Ferdinand Porsche in the 1930s, reborn in the aftermath of World War II and remained in production for almost 60 years. Crucially, the Beetle also served as the basis of the first sportscar to bear the Porsche name in 1948 and its rear-engine layout was adopted for all the company’s road cars until the mid-1970s.

While the design and construction of the 992 Carrera are claimed to be all new, it remains a given that it’s straight out of the 911 mould: in fact, its central bonnet cutline directly references that of the ’60s original, as does the small front-bumper indent. Yanking the look into the third decade of the 21st century, however, are the broad hips that now feature on every 911 model, distinctive fourelement LED headlamps, a full-width lower front intake, a row of vertical black cooling vents beneath the rear window (which also incorporate an additional brake light), and door handles that politely extend from the bodywork