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Porsche drops the top on 911
Turbo Cabriolet is an all-season thrill ride
By Richard Russell
Thursday, October 16, 2003
BAGNAIA, Italy - As summer turns into fall and we look at the ugly weather ahead, perhaps a bit of summer therapy is in order. How about a $187,500 sports car to cure your autumn blues? That's the suggested retail price of the 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet - and it's worth every penny.
That's easy to say when you don't have the money. But for the few who do, it's a relative bargain. This is the most sophisticated, domesticated, exotic sports car in the world, equally capable of 275 km/h cruising or dawdling around town. Top down in summer sun or digging through snowdrifts, this is one performance car you don't have to put away for the winter, thanks to a sophisticated all-wheel drive system.
Porsche sold 34 Turbo coupes in Canada last year so this is not exactly a high volume product. Other than removing the top, additional strengthening and a $17,500 price boost, the 2004 911 Turbo Cabriolet is the same car, so we can assume only a few Canadians, perhaps a dozen or more, will own one.
What they will enjoy is a remarkable blend of civility and jaw-dropping performance. Driven in a normal, sedate manner, you would never know what lurks a few millimetres of throttle travel away. During our day-long flog in the Tuscany district with the top down, we blasted down the A2 Autostrada between Sienna and Florence at speeds up to 260 km/h. A few minutes later we idled through the narrow, cobblestone streets of Firenze, ogling buildings dating back more than a 1,000 years.
The Porsche 911 Turbo coupe is widely respected as one of the world's fastest and most capable sports cars. The Cabriolet's development guru Erhard Mossle said nothing less would be acceptable for the open-air version. The numbers speak for themselves: the same 420 horsepower, 413 lb-ft of torque and 305 km/h top speed (top up). Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h takes a mere 4.3 seconds, which is within a tenth of the hardtop. With twin turbos, four valves per cylinder and dry-sump lubrication, the water-cooled, 3.6-litre flat-6 beneath the rear lid is a masterpiece of high technology. With peak torque available from only 2,600 rpm and all that horsepower distributed among four fat contact patches, acceleration is breathtaking at all speeds and conditions. From rest, 160 km/h is reached in 9.5 seconds, the same amount of time a fairly quick family car needs to get to 100 km/h. Pull out to pass and it's over almost before you begin. Drop down into third and thanks to the amazing flexibility allowed by turbocharging, this single gear vaults you from 60 to 160 km/h in the blink of an eye. Suffice it to say, exposure time in the passing lane is minimal!
Want more? The X50 horsepower package is available, increasing output to 444 horsepower.
Credit for the ability to use all that power goes to a very light, viscous, multiple-plate coupling integrated in a front differential that sends five per cent of engine output to the front wheels on a good road surface with firm grip. If conditions demand, up to 40 per cent goes to the front. This system was designed for fast, dry road motoring, not winter conditions. This is a high performance sports car. Its purpose is to allow full enjoyment of the 420 horsepower without the intrusion of traction control, which only kicks in at the much higher limits of traction.
An offshoot of course is superior grip on slippery surfaces, making this a year-round supercar.
A 6-speed manual gearbox is standard with short, crisp throws and well-spaced gates. Porsche's 5-speed TipTronic S automatic is optional. With gearshift buttons on each side of the steering wheel, this version of TipTronic benefits from specific and highly dynamic shift control maps.
Brakes, as you'd expect from Porsche, are nothing short of phenomenal. Red, monobloc, 4-piston fixed calipers clamp 330-mm cross-drilled discs that erase speed like a delete button. The internally-slotted discs are a whopping 34 mm thick in front and 28 mm in the rear! Should you plan on stopping from ridiculous speeds more often or have a schedule of racetrack appearances on your daytimer, the optional Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake System weighs 50 per cent less and is virtually impervious to the amazing heat generated by massive sticky tires slowing from triple digits.
The Turbo Cabriolet comes with 18-inch, hollow-spoke alloy wheels at all four corners. The eight-inch wide fronts are wrapped with 225/40ZR18 rubber and the 11-inch wide rears by specially developed 295/30ZR18 gumballs.
The Cabriolet's wheel wells extend 60 mm further than the normal 911 to accommodate the huge rubber and a plethora of cooling devices. This Porsche's "thirst" for fresh air is obvious. Three huge openings in front feed three radiators, one in each wheel well and one in the centre. There are charge air outlets on the trailing edge of the rear wheels and intake openings for the intercoolers on the rear side panels.
Porsche's Stability Management System is also included. Never intrusive, it allows a driver to enjoy a bit of over-the-edge motoring and tire slippage but reins things in when it senses imminent loss of direction.
The three-piece top is a mechanical marvel, operating even while rolling along at speeds up to 50 km/h and folding completely within the body. Hit and hold the top-down button for 20 seconds and you get to enjoy the delicious concert of sound unique to Porsche. An aluminum hardtop is also standard, weighing only 32 kg, including the glass window and electric defrost, just like the soft top.
Winter - bah!
Immediate competition:
Aston Martin DB7,
BMW Z8, Maserati Spyder,
Mercedes SL55 AMG
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