ROLL WITH IT
After reviving classic Targa styling with the 991-generation semi-open-911, Porsche refines the package for the 992…
We get to grips with the new 911 Targa 4S.
When you boil it all down, there’s really no need for the new 911 Targa. Sure, we all know this model’s history: named after the Targa Florio road race, in which Porsche had been so successful, the original 1965-developed 911 Targa was built to circumvent proposed US road regulations, which would have outlawed traditional convertibles on the grounds of safety. Stuttgart’s distinctive Targa ‘roll hoop’ design neatly bypassed any such problem, whilst offering many of an open-top car’s benefits. Our sister title, Classic Porsche, has just featured the very first chassis numbered 911 Targa as its cover story. Check it out.
As we now know, the rumoured legislation didn’t materialise, meaning there was no barrier to convertibles with completely open passenger cabins as a result, leading to Porsche’s debut of a 911 Cabriolet in time for the 1983 model year. Really, this move should have killed off the Targa — why have a halfway-house compromise when you can enjoy the real thing? There have, in fact, been Targa versions of all eight generations of the venerable Porsche sports car. Admittedly, the model somewhat lost its way through the 993, 996 and 997 iterations of the 911, when the Targa nameplate suddenly meant nothing
much more than ‘full-length glass sunroof’, but the boffins in Zuffenhausen had an epiphany with the arrival of the 991 and wondered what would happen if they brought the much-loved rollover hoop back to the fold.
The result was spectacular critical response. The 991 Targa was a triumph of aesthetics and a showcase for one of the most remarkable bits of kerbside theatre a car (of any sort) can put on. You see, thanks to the rear extrusion of metal and glass, the Targa maintains much of the 911 Coupe’s roofline, but it boasts genius engineering for the folding away of the little bit of fabric roof which sits above the front-seat occupants. Granted, the 911 Targa is a 2+2, but the rear seats are better thought of as a second boot to go with the 132-litre ‘frunk’ between the headlights. Porsche even reckons the same, citing a useful 163 litres of storage space “behind the front seats”.
Pressing the ‘hood down’ button in the 991 Targa’s cabin, all of the upperr ear section of the car lifts itself away and to the back, with the short roof section dropping neatly out of sight. The moveable rear clam of glass then slides forward and slots back into place. The time for this whole process to run through jaw-dropping gymnastics? Just nineteen seconds. For the 992’s take on the retro-convertible theme, Porsche has simply adopted a ‘same again’ approach, using exactly the same mechanism and process the 991 Targa uses to go from pseudo-coupe to pseudo-cabriolet, or vice versa. The problem, though, is that the Targa still represents a 911 which, it could be argued, has the drawbacks of both the coupe and cabriolet body styles, with none of the two’s undoubted main strengths. For instance, the Targa has to be stationary for the position of its roof to be changed, whereas the 992 Cabriolet can do the same trick on the move at speeds of up to 31mph. It could also be pointed out that a 992 Targa is no cheaper than its equivalent drop-top (both 4S models retail at an identical £109,725) and that Porsche has made significant dynamic steps with the current 911 Cabriolet, which drives almost every bit as sharply as the coupe-bodied 992.
FAMILY VALUES
Fair and valid points, all. And, as we shall come to see, there’s undoubtedly a kinematic penalty to pay for having the Targa’s oh-so-cool looks. Before we get onto the driving, however, a quick word on the line-up. Like its 991 predecessor, the Targa features a far more minimal choice of drivetrain and transmission arrangements than either of the other two body styles in its 992 bloodline. The Targa is available in four-wheel drive only, with the possibility of a rear-driven Targa being nothing more than a pipe dream at the time of writing. Nevertheless, there is a ‘third way’ of specifying your Targa, which is to go for the 4S model and then opt for the no-cost selection of a sevenspeed manual gearbox. Otherwise, your 1960s-inspired half-open Porsche will come with an eight-speed PDK and only
two pedals in the footwell — PDK is the only transmission offered for the 380bhp 992 Targa 4 (from £98,170), which delivers 332lb-ft torque.
The Targa 4S packs the more potent 444bhp iteration of the three-litre biturbo flat-six (rated at 391lb-ft), as used in the Carrera S models elsewhere in the 992 range, and it’s this engine that serves as the basis for the current flagship of the Targa portfolio, the 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition. It’s a model with a starting price of £136,643 and comes in a variety of special motor sportinspired liveries. It’s also a 911 subject to limited volume production thanks to Porsche’s decision to assemble only 992 examples. Beyond these launch models, there may soon be a 992 Targa 4 GTS (as there was with the 991), but there’s very little likelihood of the Targa gaining either of the new 3.7-litre versions of the Turbo motor (572bhp as standard or near 650bhp in S specification). This is something that the 992 Cabriolet is privy to, by the way.
All of which brings us back to our original observation: is there a need for a ‘second’ convertible car in the 911 family, when it doesn’t have anything like the wider spread of options its Cabriolet relation enjoys? Furthermore, there’s another problem with the Targa: its weight. This car is forty kilograms heavier than the Cabriolet and a whopping 110 kilos portlier than its equivalent 992 Coupe model, standing at a chunky 1,675kg unladen. Not only that, but the weight is added in all the wrong places (high up and far back). Can the 992 Targa therefore really convince as a sports car, when it doesn’t seem to offer an awful lot beyond attractive looks and a tenuous connection with a long-distant piece of Porsche’s history?
SET THE PACE
Well, dear reader, we’re sorry to report that it’s not the most scintillating of 992s in corners. You feel that extra mass early on — the Targa 4S doesn’t feel quite as rabid as its Cabriolet stablemate. The Targa is considerably duller for full-bore acceleration than the Carrera 4S Coupe, too. Bizarrely, on paper, the Targa is claimed to be no slower than the Cabriolet and only 0.2 seconds behind for the 0-62mph sprint when compared to the performance of a tin-top C4S, but believe us when we tell you the Targa doesn’t feel as quick as either model. And then there’s the understeer. Not catastrophic levels of the stuff, not
howling great push-on antics in lowspeed bends; that would be impossible with a chassis as gifted as the 992’s. No, it’s more a sensation of the nose going too light when you’ve got the car loaded up on its outside suspension in a long, sweeping, constant-radius curve and then, when you spy the exit of the bend, squeezing on the power. The heft of the wraparound rear screen and uprated, beefier motors required to move it for
THERE’S GOOD VISIBILITY IN THE TARGA AND BETTER SUPPRESSION OF HOOD-UP CABIN NOISE THAN YOU’D GET IN A 992 CABRIOLET
hood-raising/lowering procedures means there’s more weight on the rear axle, which lifts the front — and so, the Targa 4S gently pushes wide where a Cabriolet would cling and a C4S Coupe might even tighten its line. Additionally, our test car doesn’t have quite the same composure of vertical control over high-speed crests and is less happy performing whipcrack direction changes.
We are, however, talking very fine degrees of separation from the Targa’s 911 siblings. It’s still pretty damned capable and a proper hoot on the right roads, with beautifully weighted steering and impressive body control. And, if you also think of it as the grand tourer of the 992 family, you’ll get on with it just fine. After all, when roof and windows
are folded away and that little pop-up wind deflector on the header rail in its deployed position, the motorway-pace refinement of the Targa is quite superb. There’s little buffeting for front-seat occupants (although any poor souls crammed into the rear will likely think they’re in a greenhouse-cum-wind-tunnel if you’re cruising along the M4) and the standard-fit Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) provides an exemplary ride quality. There’s an underlying firmness, but it’s a supple, forgiving car on washboard surfaces and it deals with big transverse ridges with sublime good grace.
It also feels solid in construction, with little frame shimmy to report, and the calibration of its major controls is as sweet and as perfect as you’d expect from Porsche. There’s good visibility in the Targa and better suppression of hood-up cabin noise than you’d get in a 992 Cabriolet, although the trade-off here is that you can’t hear the Targa’s exhaust and engine noises quite as well as when motoring in the fully open 911. Oh, and did we mention we think this is the best-looking 911 of the lot? We didn’t? Well, it is. Seriously, just look at it. Our German-plated test car was finished in Carrara White (£876) with a Targa roll hoop in satin black (£413) and its Carrera S wheels (twenty inches of width at the front, twenty-one at the back) rendered in high-gloss black (£842). The overall effect is stunning. Throw in the usual exceptional 992 cabin and we’re talking about the undoubted showroom star of the current 911 family.
TOY STORY
While we’re on the subject of optional equipment, the standard kit-list on the Targa 4S is pretty decent, as it is on any 992 of similar ilk — aside from the aforementioned PASM, features include Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus, with an electronically controlled rear differential lock), LED lights, dualzone climate control, heated Sports front seats, Keyless Go, Parkassist front and rear (including a reversing camera), cruise control, leather upholstery, the twin seven-inch Tft-screened instrument cluster and Porsche Communication Management (PCM) on a 10.9-inch
touchscreen display in the centre console. As our test car highlights, there’s the capability to splash out on another £19,447 of extras on a 992 Targa 4S, resulting in spend of almost £130k, but after time with our Stuttgart-supplied demonstrator, none of what’s on offer seems like needlessly expensive frippery. Moreover, most of the price increase was down to several big-ticket items, such as Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) Sport (£2,273), the Sport Chrono Package (£1,683), the giveaway twin-centre oval exit pipes of the Sports exhaust system (£1,844), Rear-axle Steering (£1,592), tinted LED Matrix
Beam headlights with Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus (PDLS Plus, £2,315), Adaptive Cruise Control (£1,203 – maybe the only option which is a bit ‘oof’, given the same system is standard on a Volkswagen Golf these days), Adaptive Sports Seats Plus with eighteen-way electrical adjustment and memory package (£2,315), the carbon-matte interior package (£1,263) and a BOSE Surround Sound System (£1,002).
PICK OF THE BUNCH
Weirdly, despite the fact both the new 911 Coupe and Cabriolet models are ostensibly better than their Targa-topped relation, it’s this 992 we want to drive again. Sure, nebulous concerns such as ‘feelgood factor’ and ‘street cred’ might not be as desirable to some as perhaps more tangible benefits like ‘keen turn-in’ and ‘flawless chassis balance’, but just like we’ve already suggested, it’s not that the 992 Targa is bad in bends; rather, it’s just that it’s not quite as stellar as its two incredibly gifted siblings. It remains, though, a 911 and is therefore far more rewarding and enjoyable to steer than almost any other remotely similar sports car out there for the same price.
At the same time, the Targa 4S looks utterly tremendous on the outside and boasts all the usual 992 cabin excellence within. And there’s no doubting how giddy it makes you feel when cruising along in sunshine with the hood dropped away. Is there a point to the Targa? Of course there is. It might not be the sharpest nor most capable of the 992s, but there’s a strong argument for it being the most joyous.
THE 911 IS FAR MORE REWARDING AND ENJOYABLE TO STEER THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER REMOTELY SIMILAR SPORTS CAR OUT THERE FOR THE SAME PRICE