Porsche 911 Carrera 4S car review

What is it?

It’s a four-wheel drive version of the newest Porsche 911 which, for around £5,000 more than a rear-wheel drive model, offers marginally quicker acceleration, far more composed handling and a crucial bit of all-weather ability.

This particular car is the Porsche 911 4S, which gets a 394bhp 3.8-litre flat-six engine rather than the 345bhp 3.4-litre flat-six in the standard 4. Our test car is also fitted with the fantastic seven-speed PDK double-clutch gearbox.

What’s hot?

• By going for the Carrera 4S you get the legendary Porsche styling with the addition of a few subtle clues that this is a four-wheel drive model. That means the slightly wider rear wheelarches, the strip of red lighting across the engine cover and the ‘4’ badging.
• Performance is seriously impressive, with our PDK-equipped model launching from 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds. That kind of acceleration is accessible in all sorts of conditions thanks to the excellent four-wheel-drive system.
  

  

• The way the system works is so smooth that you’ll never be able to criticize it for getting in the way of the driving experience.
• You’ll be thankful of it in the corners, though, when the 911 4S feels much more predictable and easy to drive than a rear-wheel drive S. Where that car has a tendency to oversteer, the 4S is much more inclined to safely understeer.
• The 911 works well as a long-distance car, too, with a ride that’s not too firm and a cabin that’s impressively quiet until those big tyres begin to roar away at motorway speeds.

What’s not?

• Imagine paying £91,001 for your new Porsche and then being told you have to shell out for a rear windscreen wiper and Bluetooth – these types of things come standard on a £10,000 car but not on the Porsche.
• There is an argument to be made that the four-wheel drive 911 is less pure than a rear-wheel drive version. It is a valid point but for 99 per cent of drivers the 4S is more usable.
  

  

• The four-wheel-drive system does its part to increase the 911’s CO₂ emissions  and, as a result, the 4S is in one of the highest tax bands. In fact, high-rate tax payers will have to shell out around £12,000 a year in the unlikely event they get a Porsche as a company car.
• This latest Porsche is the most spacious ever but there’s still barely any storage space and the rear seats are extremely cramped.

Business Car Manager Verdict

The 911 remains one of the most rounded sports cars on the market and if you can stretch to the extra for four-wheel drive then we’d definitely recommend it. The performance is accessible in a way that it never has been before in a Porsche 911, with wet and slippery roads seemingly transformed into high grip surfaces.

The only thing that may stop you opting for this is that a rear-wheel drive Carrera  feels almost just as fast but costs around £14,000 less. If you don’t need the extra 50bhp and you don’t need four-wheel drive that’s a huge saving and one that’s definitely worth thinking about.

Either way, for the successful business owner the 911 remains the supercar that’s still sufficiently practical to make a very acceptable business car.

The Low Down…

…and what it costs