With all of its technology, the Carrera 4 may offer better accident avoidance capabilities than any other car on the road. First of all, it has excellent brakes. Huge brake rotors and one-piece calipers derived from the GT1 racecar, along with ideal weight distribution and massive tire contact patches allow the 911 to generate incredible braking forces. As a result, this car takes off speed in no time. Porsche requires brakes to provide 25 consecutive full-force stops without fade. Its anti-lock brake system is excellent, allowing the driver to steer around the problem while braking at the threshold. These 911s stop quicker than just about any production car built.
While the Carrera 4 offers superior traction on slippery surfaces, Porsche designed the system to offer superior handling on mainly dry surfaces; it's designed for performance, not as an all-weather traction assistant. Though it adds a substantial $5,430 to the price, the four-wheel-drive system improves safety and makes this Porsche even easier to drive. From a standing stop, you can crank the steering wheel over for a 90-degree turn and stand on it without any need for steering corrections. The rear end won't slide out (power oversteer) and the front end won't wash out (understeer); the Carrera 4 simply accelerates away -- very quickly. In the middle of an on-ramp, you can stab the throttle then lift abruptly off the throttle and the car won't do anything nasty. It merely takes a different set on the suspension as weight is being transferred fore and aft.
Sports car enthusiasts can easily recognize a Porsche by its sound. Whether one is driving by on a country road or roaring past at Le Mans, they have a distinctive sound that is legendary. Granted, there is no such thing as too much horsepower, but the Carrera 4 did not leave me longing for a Turbo. Output has been increased to 300 horsepower through a new exhaust system for model year 2000, allowing both models to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about 5.0 seconds.
Our Carrera 4 came with the Tiptronic transmission. In automatic mode, it's possibly the best, smoothest-shifting automatic I've ever driven. Upshifts and downshifts are super smooth in manual or auto mode. The manual mode is fun: By pressing a button on the steering wheel, you can go down through the gears as you brake for an exit ramp. But it's not necessary to shift manually. The automatic mode works superbly. Auto holds it in gear when it senses you are attacking the corners. All in all, the 911's Tiptronic is a fantastic automatic.
In spite of all that, I'd order my Carrera 4 with the manual gearbox for its superior control, superior performance and superior fun.
Pirelli's P-Zero tires offer good grip. In a week's worth of driving through rural Maryland, I never came close to reaching the limit in this car. A race track is needed to fully explore the capabilities of this car. Even so, it is much easier to push this car to the limit than it was with Porsches past. The modern 911 has none of the handling quirks of Porsches past, such as excessive understeer in tight corners or the infamous trailing-throttle oversteer that could cause a spin when an inexperienced driver lifted his foot off the throttle in the middle of a corner. Next Page