This increases both durability and load capacity, and it also allows for a more accurate adjustment of clutch force. The clutch and differential are now water-cooled, and it features reinforced clutches. Porsche claims to have improved the front axle drive componentry for the 992. Taking advantage of this model’s all-wheel-drive system is the first thing on our minds. The whirring and raw mechanical goodness is there at idle, and it only gets better as the revs climb. Other Porsches with a V8 or V6 sound good, but this flat-six lets you know it’s a different kind of animal right away. Nothing else in the automotive world sounds like a 911.
This may be a base Carrera 4, but it’s special from the second you twist the fob to the left of the steering wheel. It tops out at 180 mph, which is enough to leave most of the Autobahn in the rearview mirror. Our internal stopwatch says that number is high, but that’s Porsche for you. With the Sport Chrono Package (as ours is equipped), it’s scheduled to hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. Porsche claims 379 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque from the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six out back, which is 9 hp more than the previous-generation Carrera 4. That’s where the Carrera 4 starts making sense on paper, but in practice, it also makes sense the rest of the time.
Basically, it’s the 911 you'd want on a snowy winter day, geared up with winter tires and heated seats. It has the lowest power output, and it's saddled with all-wheel drive, adding unnecessary weight (106 pounds more than a rear-drive Carrera) to a car that isn't some lurid, uncontrollable mess when power goes only to the rear. This time, it’s the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4.įrom a layout and specs perspective, it could be argued this 911 configuration is the most boring of the bunch.
Yet, that fact is hard to care about when in the driver’s seat of any variant on the performance ladder, because every single one of them is enchanting to drive. There is always going to be a better Porsche 911.