Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and 4S
We've just crowned the Porsche 911 Carrera S our 2012 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car, but you can be assured the engineers in Stuttgart (while no doubt delighted) aren't even remotely done. They're busy remixing "the best 911 yet." As with the 997-generation model before it, a parking lot full of 991 series variants are on the way, starting with the all-wheel drive 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and 4S making their world debut at the 2012 Paris auto show. Other than the latest version of Porsche's all-wheel drive system, most of the other mechanical bits of the Carrera 4 and 4S are identical to that of the fantastic new 911, including the suspension, brakes, electromechanical steering, and flat-six engine out back. That means both cars will be powered by the same direct-injected flat-sixes used in the their rear-drive siblings, with the Carrera 4 getting a 3.4-liter engine rated at 350 hp and 287 lb-ft of torque and the 4S fitted with the 3.8-liter mill making 400 hp and 325 lb-ft. A seven-speed manual is standard transmission for both models, with Porsche's PDK seven-speed dual-clutch automatic available as an option. All told, the numbers represent a power boost of 5 and 15 hp respectively over the outgoing 4 and 4S models.
