Porsche 911, Carrera 4:
Would suit: Porsche completists.
Price (as tested):
£69 960 (R920 000 in South Africa).
Maximum speed:
280km/h, 0-100km/h 5.1sec.
Combined fuel economy:
8.45 litres/100km.
Excuse me, I have my mouth full. Just eating a few words. Won't be a minute... A few weeks ago, I drove the Porsche Cayman S and, overcome with the excitement of it all, essentially claimed that Porsche had no need for its "pimped-up Beetle" flagship, by which I meant the 911. I was wrong.
The new 911 Carrera 4 is a thunderously great sports car, in another league from the hard-top Boxster altogether.
Rarely has a car felt so planted, so explosive off the line, so thoroughly well engineered and so precise - from its delicate, thin steering-wheel to its finicky stereo buttons - as the Carrera 4.
This is a car that offers all of its power, all of the time, right there for your pleasure at the twitch of a foot. The question then becomes, is the new four-wheel drive Carrera 4 better than the standard, rear-wheel drive 911 Carrera I tried 18 months ago?
I do know that the Carrera 4 has better traction thanks to its all-wheel drive and, although most of the time only five percent of its power is transmitted through the front wheels, when the going gets slippery - exiting corners or on wet roundabouts, for instance - that can change to a 40/60 split front and rear.
That makes a major difference in a car that is still a tad tail-heavy, a difference you can sense even at sensible speeds on public roads.
The other major difference is the brakes. I was once lucky enough to drive a Formula 1 car on a track and, aside from the colly-wobbling noise and Top Gun acceleration, the one thing that has always stuck with me about the experience was that car's otherworldly braking power.
It was like participating in a horizontal bungee jump. One minute, the thing was travelling at 241,4km/h, the next, I was counting blades of grass as I trundled by. I don't think I have ever driven a road car with such a powerful, effective and reassuring middle pedal, all thanks, apparently, to a reworked stability system that improves brake response.
Like a flawed diamond, the standard 911 will always turn heads and impress, but if you stuck it in front of a magnifying glass you know you'd see a smudge of imperfection, you'd always know there was a better 911 to be had.
Of course, Porsche relies on this paranoia to niggle its notoriously perfectionist clientele just enough to fork out the extra cash. And then, just as they are wallowing in the delights of Carrera 4 ownership, it will launch the 911 Turbo, which will be quicker, beefier and even pricier.
It will go on sale late in 2006 when I guess, I'll have to start eating my words again. - The Independent, London