NAIAS 2014: Porsche 911 Targa

The 1965 Porsche 911 Targa has always been a bit unloved by the Porsche purist. The higher roofline of the Targa compromised the slick silhouette of the 911 that made it so iconic. It was something of a knee-jerk reaction to impending safety regulations by the NHTSA. Porsche thought that convertibles were soon to be made illegal, so the Targa offered a steel roll bar and removable roof section to fill the gap.

Fortunately, that fearful day for Porsche never came, and the targa departed the lineup in 1989, having been vastly supplanted in popularity by the full-droptop 911. This doesn’t stop Porsche from occasionally playing with its history.

As a supporter of the original Targa, at heart, I really enjoy the look and attention to detail here. Unlike the half-hearted Targa remakes (which can be best described as an oversized sunroof), this one retains the steel roll bar look (with surface details, like the vertical “slots”) and wrap around rear windshield — something that’s so rarely pulled off now days. I can imagine the visibility out of the back of this 911 is pretty fantastic. In typical German fashion, it is overly complex. Where as the Corvette has used a manual targa roof for ages, Porsche has the mind to motorize it:

The rear hatch and glass lift up, and the roof tucks into the rear. It is neat, and given most of the buyers of this particular variant probably won’t be track-junkies, but I would like to see a less top-heavy solution to this.

Otherwise, this is standard 991 Porsche 911. There’s two motors available: the standard 3.4L 350 hp flat-six engine which will hit sixty in 4.8 seconds, and the Targa 4S grabs the 3.8L flat six engine which makes 400 hp and sprints to sixty in 4.4 seconds. Sadly, only Porsche’s PDK transmission is available.

Pricing starts at $101,600 while the 911 Targa 4S model will sell for $116,200 (not including $995 destination). Deliveries of the 911 Targa in the U.S. are scheduled to begin this summer.