911 Times Online: Porsche 911 Targa 4

[Bartek S.]

Assuming all the important things in life are in place — your family, a home, a job — the list of things you actually need isn’t very long. I don’t need a super-surround sound entertainment system, or six-piece electric drum kit with optional tambourine function, and I’m sure I’d get by without a 10-seat leather sofa wrapped in duck-egg-blue ostrich hide. By the same token, I don’t need a Porsche 911. But I’d do pretty well anything to get one.
When it comes to Porsche 911s, I’ve always been a Carrera 2 girl. There is something about the two-wheel-drive version of the car that just seems right. But perhaps the latest-generation Targa, which is available only with four-wheel drive, could prove me wrong. I’m very fussy, though, particularly when £71,443 is at stake.
The Targa is the last of the 911 model line-up to be given the new-generation genetics, which amount more to internal changes than external. Certainly at first glance there is little to differentiate this Targa from its predecessor.
In fact, discretion was clearly the designer’s brief — his brush strokes have barely blown one degree of extra curve across the snout and tail. The Targa shares its coupé body with the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 and 4S, with wider hips than the rear-wheel-drive 911s. And actually, I’m really pleased the shape hasn’t evolved too much because its simple arcs aren’t just good to look at, they are also a pleasure to lather up. No other car has me reaching so keenly for the chamois.

Read more: timesonline