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Michael Taylor12 Apr 2014
REVIEW

Porsche 911 Targa 2014 Review

The Targa has been part of the 911 history since 1965 and now it's back with more power, more speed and a lot more weight

Porsche 911 Targa
First Drive
Bari, Italy

Porsche’s halfway house between its 911 Coupe and Cabriolet is back. Built on the same  all-wheel drive layout with the same aluminium body and on the same production line as the 911 C4 Cabrio, it marks a return to the third-generation 911’s classical rollover bar with a heated glass rear screen, even though it uses the same scissor folding roof mechanism as the Cabrio. But if the look is retro, the workings aren’t, because the rear glass and the soft-top targa panel can fold down on top of the engine at the touch of a button.

It’s been quite some time since Porsche delivered a 911 Targa that looks like a traditional 911 Targa. In fact, you have to go back to the third generation of Porsche’s California special to find a permanent, thick rollover protection hoop and a removable “targa” roof.

But they’re both back (after a fashion, anyway). The roof has moved away from being a glass panel that slides back to give open-air driving and is now a cloth panel again. And there’s a heated glass panel for the rear to give some protection to the rear passengers (or, more likely, the lazily thrown luggage or briefcases) occupying the rear seats of the 2+2.

For reasons Porsche couldn’t quite identify as logical, the Targa and more powerful Targa S models are both built exclusively on all-wheel drive architecture, which probably helps to move some weight forward on the tail-heavy machine.

It’s heavily influenced by the Cabrio, adopting its entire front-end, it’s stronger A-pillars, its underbody reinforcement and even its push-button roof operating system, which lifts the rear bodywork high, scissor fold the roof panel up and the rear glass down, then drops them both above the engine before lowering the bodywork again.

It’s the same system as the Cabrio uses, just adapted to the different dimensions of the Targa’s bits and pieces. One significant difference, though, is that you can’t raise or lower the Targa’s foldable bits on the move. It’s just too big a parachute, plus the raised bodywork blocks the tail lights.

It’s cheaper to build than the Cabrio, too, and is priced accordingly. In Europe. It doesn’t need the pop-up rollover hoops because it’s got a fixed one and because most of it is Cabrio-based, it didn’t need that much development.

In Australia, though, the Targa is positioned above its clear-sky sibling. The base version is $247,900, which is about $3300 more than the Cabrio, while the Targa S is $285,100, which is up by $3200.

Porsche Australia insists this is because the Targas are positioned with different spec in Australia compared to Europe, adding a three-year warranty, Porsche Communication Management (including Bluetooth and satnav), climate-control air-conditioning, metallic paint, a Bose sound system, front and rear parking assistants and 14-way electric seats. At Porsche options prices, flipping the difference to a tick over $3K sounds cheap…

The powertrains are familiar to Porsche people, with 3.4-litre or 3.8-litre versions of the direct-injection flat six sitting behind the rear axle and twisting all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. It has an active all-wheel drive system that can shift 100 percent of the drive to the front or rear axle as required, has its own anti-slip software and can even give a dab to a single brake disc to tame things should the car still be sliding off line.

The entry model has the smaller 257kW version of the flat six, with the peak power arriving at 7400rpm. While the torque figure arrives at a fairly high 5600rpm and, at 390Nm, isn’t huge these days, it never feels like it wants for mid-range urge. Probably because it’s busy charming you with its meaty tones and subtle timbre changes.

With almost 102 horsepower per litre, it’s capable of hurling itself to 100km/h in five seconds and on to a 280km/h top speed (or 282km/h, if you choose the unloved seven-speed manual). Porsche claims a 13.3-second sprint over the quarter-mile, too.

Then there’s its economy. The base car claims 8.7L/100km on the NEDC cycle for the PDK-equipped versions, which will make up the bulk of the Australian Targa fleets, which translates to 204g/km of CO2.

The Targa 4S is a stronger proposition all round, with its oversquare 3800cc flat six using the same power and torque peak revs, but crunching out 294kW and a far stronger 440Nm of torque.

It gets a bit more top-end, running to 294km/h in PDK form, and sprints to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds (though you can cut that to 4.4 seconds if you option it up with Sport Plus), and then it cuts a quarter mile in 12.9 seconds.

The price it pays isn’t in economy, either. It still scores an NEDC number of 9.2L/100km and has 214g/km of CO2.

There are other differences to justify the extra $38,000. The 4S runs on 20-inch wheels and tyres (including monster 305/30 ZR20 boots at the back) compared to the 4’s 19-inch contact patches.

But where they both suffer is in weight. Bewilderingly, each variant of the 911 Targa is 20kg heavier than the equivalent Cabrio, or 90kg heavier than the equivalent Coupe. And the weight is all up high and rearwards and a lot of it is glass. The Targa 4 weighs 1560kg with the PDK attached to it (the manual is 20kg lighter), while the Targa 4S is a chunky 1575kg in the same format, and they’re the dry weights.

Then there’s the rigidity. You’d expect its big hoop to make it near as rigid as the Coupe. It’s not. The 911 Coupe is about twice as stiff as the Cabriolet, according to Porsche’s engineers, while the Targa is only about 10 percent more rigid than the Cabriolet.

The upshot is that you probably shouldn’t expect either of the Targas to flit through the direction changes like the tip of a hummingbird’s wing. They don’t.

It’s actually quite tough to put a finger on the nub of the reason for the Targa’s existence, which is odd given that Porsche expects the Targa’s share of 911 sales to rise from the seven percent share it held in the 997 to about 15 per cent in this 991 generation.

It’s simply nothing like as good as the 911 Coupe at doing 911-ish things in corners and it’s simply nothing like as good as the 911 Cabriolet when it comes to taking in the sun. If you’re the type of person who likes to mix and match, then maybe all the weight, performance and rigidity sacrifices are for you.

The base car is, oddly, the sweet spot of the small range. It rides on softer suspension and its tyres have a slightly taller aspect ratio (235/40 ZR19s up front and 295/35 ZR19s at the back) and it felt demonstrably suppler on the (extremely) lumpy roads Porsche chose to launch it on.

The engine is still a charmer, starting with its Billy Goat Gruff throaty depth and deliciously climbing through the revs until you can’t wait to do it all again. All of our test cars had the Sport Plus option, and even with its dampers switched into the firmest setting, it still rode with more compliance and less vertical impact than the Targa 4S.

On our route, the PDK was as smooth as it usually is, but delivered some hints of hunting on even slight rises. This could be nullified by choosing the Sport mode, but that locked out seventh gear. The upshot is that all that extra mass uncovers the 911’s low-ish torque in the mid range and there’s not much you can do but change gears via the paddle shifts, which is more fun and intuitive anyway.

The extra suspension compliance meant the base car was also more fluid on the low-grip road surfaces we had to deal with and could manage to carry its speed more comfortably on bumpy corners. It never gave a wobble, but kept at that delicious 911 trait of squashing the rear end into the road under hard cornering or acceleration, or both.

The 4S, by contrast, rode with a firmness that bordered on uncomfortable for pure ride, which will surely be a focus of people who buy a car that has become a GT, rather than a sports car.
While it will almost certainly be the faster of the two cars point-to-point on normal roads, that’s a) hardly the point with the Targa concept and b) what you’d expect for the price difference of a mid-spec Golf.

But on the poorly maintained roads of Puglia, it was far too jittery in the normal damper setting and downright uncomfortable in the firmer, sportier setup.

It’s demonstrably quicker, though, and it’s stronger everywhere, with no trace of the hunting that afflicts the stock version. As powertrains go, there’s little to nothing you could complain about, even if someone desperately begged you to.

The new bit is the Targa roof system and it largely works well. The thickness of the roll bar turns it into a B-pillar and on any intersection that isn’t perfectly square, you’re going to struggle to see through the fairly massive blind spot it creates.

There’s also a fair bit of whistling turbulence coming from behind the driver’s head as the wind hits the top of the rollover bar. At speeds above what Australia’s governments allow you to enjoy, there’s also a fair bit of wind coming from behind you, as the wind gets in, hits the inner side of the rear glass and looks to escape again.

It’s a silent, calm proposition with the roof fitted, though, and it feels like a very cosy GT car, albeit one with little oddments space.

In the end, there aren’t too many pressing reasons why you’d buy a Targa over a Cabriolet, but one of them is the looks. It’s a gorgeous thing and one of the better looking 911s of any kind.

That it retains that visual advantage whether the roof is up or down is just a bonus. It’s clean and organised in both open and closed positions and there’s a nice bit of theatre every time you stop to put swap between them.

And that’s why Porsche is expecting big things from the Targa.

2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4 pricing and specifications: 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4S pricing and specifications:
Price: $247,900 plus on-road costs Price: $285,100 plus on-road costs
Engine: 3.8-litre flat six petrol Engine: 3.8-litre flat six petrol
Output: 257kW/390Nm Output: 294kW/440Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 8.7L/100km (combined, PDK) Fuel: 9.2L/100km (combined, PDK)
CO2: 204g/km (combined, PDK) CO2: 214g/km (combined, PDK)
Safety rating: TBA Safety Rating: TBA
What we liked: Not so much:
>> That engine is a peach >> Not worth the weight.
>> Fair homage to Targas past >> Not a great coupe
>> Steering still terrific >> Nor a great convertible
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Written byMichael Taylor
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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
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Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
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Price, Packaging & Practicality
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Safety & Technology
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Behind the Wheel
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X-Factor
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