2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and 4S: The joy of all-wheel drive
Graz, Austria –
The Austrian Alps are already underneath a blanket of snow and the roads around Graz are wet. Comprised of a series of tight turns and larger, faster bends, these mountain roads are often icy in shaded areas. All of these elements add up to ideal conditions for the Carrera 4 and 4S, the first all-wheel drive versions of the seventh generation of the Porsche 911 Carrera.
Driving a 4S coupe in this demanding setting is pure excitement, heightening all your senses and placing them on full alert. I selected Sport Plus mode to make the ride more incisive and enhance the experience. Moreover, the sport exhaust really lets you appreciate the sound of the 3.8-litre six-cylinder 400-horsepower boxer engine to the fullest as it flirts with maximum speed before upshifting via the dual-clutch gearbox. I opened the windows just to enjoy the sound of the engine echoing off the rocky surface of the mountain. Porsche charges an additional $3,370 for this optional sport exhaust but, believe you me, once you’ve heard it at work, you won’t be able to pass it up.
Fantastic
We’re climbing a mountain on a winding road characterized by hairpin turn after hairpin turn. The braking is intense, and the ABS springs briefly into action. Downshift to second or first gear with “blips” of the throttle while the dual-clutch transmission increases the engine speed to match that of the car before the lower gear engages. Enter the turn and rotate the wheel. Flat-out acceleration to the apex of the turn and then the all-wheel drive system kicks in to deliver a tad more torque to the front end. The load shifts back toward the rear and – presto! – just like that, the car drives like a traditional rear-wheel drive 911 Carrera as it exits the turn. It’s absolutely fantastic. Drive this car fast and you’ll be awed by its jaw-dropping performance potential and its willingness to follow the driver’s whims. The 911 Carrera 4S doesn’t just tolerate sport driving, it straight up encourages it. The steering is as precise as it is linear and although the factory standard brakes are already more than capable of potent decelerations, you can also opt for even more efficient ceramic composite disc brakes.
According to August Achleitner, director of the 911 Carrera line at Porsche, the “conventional” rear-wheel drive 911 is perfectly up to the challenge of 90% of the weather conditions that Mother Nature can throw at it, but the optimal actuation of the Carrera 4 and 4S with all-wheel drive give it that extra 10%. That feature makes it ideal for certain markets like Canada and Austria. The Carrera 4 and 4S set themselves apart from the “conventional” RWD 911s with rear tires that are 10 millimetres wider and rear fenders that are 22 millimetres larger – if Kim Kardashian were a car, this is what she’d look like. Furthermore, the Carrera 4 and 4S come with a now luminous red stripe between the two taillights as well as oversized air intakes in the front. The engines, gearboxes and suspension components are identical to those of the rear-wheel drive Carrera, with the exception of the roll bars that are modified on the Carrera 4 and 4S.
100 milliseconds
But the real showstopper is the new version of the all-wheel drive developed by Porsche. Known by the acronym PTM (Porsche Traction Management), it can deliver torque to the front end via a multi-disc clutch in a mere 100 milliseconds. The Carrera 4S also comes factory standard with the PTV (Porsche Torque Vectoring) system that helps control the rear differential mechanically on trims equipped with the seven-speed manual transmission and electronically (and with totally variable torque distribution) on trims that have the PDK twin-clutch gearbox. What’s more, the Carrera 4 and 4S equipped with the PDK gearbox can be equipped with an optional adaptive cruise control that maintains the distance with the vehicle in front using a radar sensor located in the front shield. This active cruise control is coupled with Porsche Active Safe, a collision avoidance system that intervenes by sending first a visual, then an audible signal, to the driver. If the driver doesn’t react, the system will engage the brakes. If the driver still doesn’t react, maximum braking will be applied to stop the vehicle before impact or to reduce speed as quickly as possible before the collision.
Carrera 4 and 4S coupes and cabriolets will be on sale in Canada at the beginning of 2013 at a price of $103,900 for the Carrera 4 coupe and $117,400 for the Carrera 4 cabriolet. As for the 4S, the coupe will sell for $120,500 and the cabriolet for $134,100. As always with Porsche models, the options catalogue is over 40 pages long, which allows a buyer to add often pricy equipment like the “Power Kit” that helps increase the power developed by the Carrera 4S’ 3.8-litre to 430 horses ($23,310), ceramic composite brakes ($9,730) or the high-end audio system developed by Burmester ($5,720), to but a few. Translation: you can almost double the bill in the blink of an eye if you choose a lot of options.
The previous generation Carrera 4S was the bestselling trim in the 911 line-up in Canada where all-wheel drive versions represented 52% of sales over the last two years if we include the AWD 911 Turbo in the equation. Clearly, the new Porsche 911 Turbo is on the way, but with its performance potential only useable on rare occasions on our roads, buying a 911 Turbo says more about wanting to show off behind the wheel of the most dynamic car in the line-up than anything else. All of that means that the 911 to buy to drive in Canada is the Carrera 4S.
