Reviving A Tradition Porsche Has Cleverly Fused The
Classic Elements Of The Original Targa Concept With Cutting-Edge Technology In
The Latest-Generation Of The 911
When it was first revealed at the 1965 Frankfurt Motor Show,
it was the world’s first safety-engineered cabriolet with its fixed roll-over protection
bar, removable folding roof, which had to be manually taken off and folded into
the boot, and a downward folding rear window.
The body of the
911 Targa is based on the convertible but the bar adds additional stiffness
With every passing generation of the 911, the concept of the
original Targa was further developed and refined. In 1996, Porsche completely
revised the Targa concept and presented a car in which the entire roof was designed
as a continuous glass panel, with the front glass sun-roof being lowered and
stored under the folding glass rear window when the person driving the car
wanted the roof down.
However, exactly 20 years after Porsche discontinued the
classic Targa with a roll-over protection bar based on the Type 964, we are in
the perfect settings — classic and rustic — to witness the re-birth of a
classic. For the new-generation of the Targa carries forward the tradition of
the original.
As with the other
AWD models of the 911 range, the rear wheel arches are flared slightly and
increase the width at the rear by 44mm giving all of them, including the Targa,
a distinctive look.
Ironic though it may be, that a German company takes the
name of a classic Italian endurance race to be its own, it most fits the 911
Targa, because it is definitely a work of art, a very different sort of a car,
which is elegant and yet eye-catching, with a definitive personality. No
wonder, about 13 per cent of all 911s sold since 1965 have been Targas. Now,
the latest generation Targa combines the exact same features of the original
with convenience and automation, which is the very cutting edge of technology
and some of the things that may not have been possible to conceive and execute
before due to the lack of technical knowhow and materials that are available
today.
The IP is the same
as on the other cars
The new model has the same wide bar, now elegant and
stately, instead of the B-pillars, with the same three gills and the Targa
badge reminiscent of the original classic. The roof top above the seats and
between the front windscreen and the aluminium bar is moveable and behind the
bar is a wrap around rear window without the C-pillars.
The beauty of the new Targa is that it can be turned into
the roof-down version at the touch of a button. And the process is spectacular.
The roof-top lifts up, the wrap-around rear glass window goes all the way back
behind the car infact, to make space for the roof top to go into the boot (well
actually there is no boot so we should just say that it is stowed behind the
rear seats) and then the rear window comes back into place. And all this can
happen while the car is on the move. German precision on an Italian-named
beauty.
Porsche 911 Targa
4 On Road
The roof mechanism is engineered using materials and
technology that is nearly as spectacular as the operating mechanism itself.
Since the rear glass window goes behind the car, the park-assist system
monitors the space behind the car to ensure that there are no obstacles. The
roof itself is made of fabric but is stretched on a magnesium frame. At its
rear edge it fits in between the inner high-tensile steel and outer diecast
aluminium elements of the bar to prevent any noise when the car is on the move.
While the body itself is based on the 911 convertible and
includes all the technological advances of the latest-generation 911, the Targa
is available only as an all-wheel drive (AWD) variant and can be identified as
such because of the extra flare of the rear wheel arches, a characteristic of
the AWD models of the 911.
It is not only on the esthetics and styling front that the
Targa scores over the cabrio. The sporty intent of the car is evident from the
time the 3.5-litre flat-six engine purrs to life. The roll-over bar provides
the body with more stiffness, adding about 30 per cent additional body
rigidity, something essential for a sports car. In keeping with the additional
torsional rigidity, the suspension has been tuned to be more sporty and that
changes the characteristics of the car, making it a totally different beast
from the cabriolet.If it’s the Targa 4S that one is choosing, the 3.8-litre
flat-six engine churns out an impressive 30bhp of max horsepower extra.
Both the 4 and the 4S put the power to all four wheels
through Porsche’s seven speed doubleclutch (PDK) transmission. The car can get
up to a top speed of 280kmph and to 100kmph from zero in 4.8 seconds.
The interiors of
the 911 Targa are similar to the other 911s and of a high quality
The Puglian roads are narrow, but devoid of traffic and that
gives us an opportunity to put the Targa through its paces. Precise steering
and oceanfuls of grip, the differences in handling between the three 911 body
types may be very difficult to tell on public roads, but the Targa does feel
more planted on public roads and sounds the part of a sportscar.
If the looks don’t catch the attention of the passersby, the
sound definitely does and then we get the friendly Puglian wave as we pass
through some villages on the drive route. It could very well have been the
Targa Florio with the rugged countryside around me, and a car that could be
passed off as a trueblue racing car under me, but my thoughts are drifting with
the music blowing to me from the 800w Burmester sound system with 12
individually controlled speakers and an active 300w subwoofer. And if you don’t
like any of the specified equipment list including the music system, there are
lots of options available to make the car perfect for your taste.
