09 Jun 05
Let's get the 911 cliches and urban myths out of the way right now. Yes, if Porsche had just launched its first-ever car and it was a 911, we'd all laugh our faces off, as in 'they put the engine where?!?' Fair enough, as sticking a big flat-six behind the rear axle seems like asking for trouble. But 40 years of continuous, focussed development, which includes tremendous success on race circuits all over the world including Le Mans, has resulted in a car that is now crashed exclusively by fools. And here's another fact - the sportscar most often purchased by frontline motoring journalists (using their own cash, no less) is a Porsche 911. By a very big margin.
A group of us stand at the foot of a mountain pass that feeds the Col de Turini, contemplating the latest four-wheel-drive 911 Carrera S. One of our number remarks that most of us have been telling people for at least ten years that 911s don't bite, that any number of Italian supercars (I remember the Ferrari 348 as particularly lethal) will happily dump you backwards in a hedge whilst a 911 will telegraph gentle warnings before sending in the bailiffs. But nobody listens, which is why the Carrera 4 exists.
Ask Porsche and they'll tell you that the C4 exists because it offers 'an even higher standard of driving dynamics maintaining a perfect balance of drive power in bends up to the most extreme limit.' But if there was ever a company that will never compromise dynamic excellence, Porsche is it, so why aren't all 911s four-wheel drive?
The simple answer is, and I refer you to paragraph two, that the 911 Carrera 2 is quite simply the most wonderful tool in which to go down the road. It needs another driven axle like I need to put on a few more pounds. But the Americans in particular are quite fond of C4s, and there are enough 'fraidy-cat myth-mongers in Europe to justify its continued existence. And Porsche would quite reasonably say, if people want it, who are they to argue.
