that far out of whack before the lockup clutches force it to keep pace with the others. That means it also keeps pace with the passing road surface and remains “hooked up.” Flying into a bend too fast, or powering hard out of one, the Carrera 4 gets maximum effort out of all its tire contact patches and resolutely refuses to get out of shape.

Porsche has given the car mild basic understeer, and this becomes the only real dynamic characteristic the driver works with. Ease up to the limit (this means cornering very hard) on neutral throttle, and the nose pushes gently, asking for the natural reaction of lifting off the gas to put a little more weight up front and decrease speed. Roll on more power, and the lightening nose plows outward more obviously. You could understeer right through the guardrail, but that requires staying on the gas against all reason and instinct.

Go searching for this car’s oversteer behavior, as many of the journalists did at the press introduction in the south of France, and you’ll find there really isn’t any. Once or twice we had the chance to

feed in a whiff of opposite lock, but that was only when the tail was becoming light in response to a big bump just as we put on the power in a curve. There will be no lund broadslides in Carrera 4s, and no tales of disaster thwarted only by superhuman control executed at the speed of light.

Weissach engineers have actively employed the variable, progressive lockup capability to tune the car’s handling and maintain a predictable balance. The degree of slip allowed by the differentials, especially the rear, determines the amount of on- and off-throttle oversteer, so there might be some chip tuning in the future if enough people feel too safe for their own enjoyment. But it’s impossible to argue with the father of the Carrera 4 (and of the 959), retiring R&D chief Helmuth Bott, when he says, “Dynamically controlled four- wheel drive gives the Carrera 4 not only optimum traction, but also a degree of safety unknown among sports cars.”

We agree. The car feels unshakably precise over any kind of road and truly benign as it approaches the limit. And

the whole system is invisible to the driver except for a soft green indicator that glows when the duff clutches are locking and a lockup switch on the center console for low-speed mud plugging or getting unstuck in the snow.

Working with this max-traction system is a completely new chassis (in fact, only fifteen percent of the Carrera 4’s parts are carried over from the previous 911). A new body platform carries a suspension using coil springs all around instead of the former torsion bars. Wheel location is still by wishbones and damper struts in front and semi-trailing arms in back, but the geometry and the pieces are all different. The rear arms’ outboard pivots are located all the way around in front of the tires—much like those on BMW’s recently introduced Zi roadster—and they incorporate a degree of controlled toe steer (“elastokinematics”) something like the 928’s Weissach axle. The front geometry gives a scrub radius of zero, permitting the long-overdue fitment of anti-lock braking on a 911. Power steering also arrives, banishing the 911’s stiff action in the tiller (although some drivers will miss the sharply communicative, high- feedback manual gear despite the power system’s good feel and perfect weight). Upgraded brakes, with light-alloy four- piston calipers and huge vented discs, handle the additional mass and power of the Carrera 4.

In the engine bay, tradition and progress nestle densely together. The power- plant descends from the hallowed line of air-cooled flat-sixes but benefits from yet another displacement increase—to an even 3600cc. Nearly every part has been improved or upgraded, but the big news is the cylinder heads, with their dual spark plugs per pot, high 11.3:1 compression ratio, and completely redesigned cooling airflow. Together with ever-improving digital engine-management electronics, the new pieces greatly improve thermodynamic efficiency. The engine cranks out a remarkably flexible 247 bhp and drives the hefty 3197- pound Carréra 4 to 60 mph in about 5.7 seconds, then on up to 160 mph. Yet it still returns from 15.7 to 35.3 mpg in the European test cycles. Effective engine compartment encapsulation reduces

PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 4

FEBRUARY 1989