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Driving Impressions:
The 911 Carrera 4
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Confession time. Out of the closet. After lying to myself about it for several years, believing and claiming a liberal streak that wasn’t really there, finally realized the truth and its only fair that you should know it too before you read any further. I’m a 911 freak. Quarter of a million miles with the engine where it’s supposed to be, behind me. And cooled by what it’s supposed to be—I don’t have to tell you. Half of those miles a four pushed; the last, faster half a good-sized six.
Still, I reallybelieved I was an automotive liberal, open to any good idea generated in the right suburb of Stuttgart. I evidenced a grudging admiration for 914s, and even recommended them to burgeoning autocrossers. I drove and enjoyed a variety of the later water-cooled fours—both of the slimhipped and the macho variety. I had something of of an apparent religious conversion after spending a little time behind the wheel of an S4, and declared to a good friend that I had found automotive Nirvana, a car I’d really love to have. I believed it too. And then he asked me the painfully straightforward question that I hadn’t dealt with: “Yes, but would you trade your 911 for it?”
No wonder, then, that this new car, this 911 that isn’t a 911 (85 percent new pieces, remember), brought outstrong emotions. A first look atthe car was reassuring. No mistaking what this is. Sure, the changes in the bumpers and the rocker panels take a little getting used to but the shape is there, slipperier than ever.
Inside the car is no different. The consoles in recent 911s have prepared us for the division between the front seats, and it goes essentially unnoticed. The five familiar round instruments look out of a dash made striking by its three large air vents, promising that this 911 will finally really move enough air to quickly satisfy its cold or hot occupants. Best of all, the location of the ignition key,
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that symbol of all the many characteristics that make the 911—in the real meaning of the word— unique. It remains on the left, perhaps the only car currently in production to do so.
But we came to drive, not just to look, and that left-sided key produces first an amazing display of indicator lights scattered across the various instrumeñt faces for your amusement and edification. This is immediately followed by a sound that is as unmistakable as the car’s appearance, though again slightly different, as the engine starts without hesitation and the fan begins to push air over the 3.6 liters behind you. It sounds right, just maybe a little quieter than you’re used to. The clutch comes outalittle high for my taste, but gives light and easy access to a pleasantly notchy gear box—no question when you go into a gear.
And so the games begin! No waiting here—not for the power that never comes in a small engine, not for the power that comes only after the initial moments of disappointment in a turbo. It’s there right now, when you want it, when you need it. If you like, this car will play the idiot game of idling down the streetinlow gear, foot off the gas. When youtire of this, it will accelerate from its 1000-rpm idle right on up to where the rev limiter cools it down, asnick under 7000. Movingthrough the box, it’s the same in each gear: a fme blend of tractability and power.
The message that this is a serious sports car comes not only from the engine. The comfortable but not very deep bucket seats constantly send messages to the nether sensors of your body concerning the state of the road beneath. Driven sedately on an interstate or autobahn, there are levels of comfort that put one at ease, but vigorous driving on a rough road fully advises that this is a stiff, working suspension.
The offset pedals—another 911 trademark—are no problem, though there seem fewer options for placement of the resting left foot than in the past. The power steering is Porsche-like in its invisibility. Even though the car I drive every day has manual steering, I had been driving for more than an hour before I realized that the Carrera 4 is power assisted, a high compliment indeed.
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PORSCHE PANORAMA
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