The 2021 Porsche 911 Targa 4S has a 443-horsepower flat-six turbo engine bolted between its rear wheels, comes with AWD, features a signature motorized Targa top, and comes with a full arsenal of performance car toys for full customization of the driving experience. There’s so much technology inside the Porsche 911, it’s hard to imagine the vast miles of wiring and circuitry that make this slick coupe tick. It even has four-wheel steering, for heaven’s sake.
But beneath its retractable roof and surrounded by all manner of advanced displays and tech is a nod to the past: a manual transmission. My tester has a 7-speed stick popping up from the centre console with the telltale round knob, printed gate pattern, and leather sleeve. It’s springy, with a firm and precise throw. Just above sit controls for the sports exhaust system, chassis modes, and a central command screen that can detect your approaching fingertip and respond before you even touch the screen. A computer system is used entirely for the purpose of optimizing all systems around the current G-forces being exerted on the car.
But in the footwell, if you like, it’s 3 pedals — a mechanical nod to the driving enthusiasts this car is built for. The sort of drivers that love to jump in with both feet. The one percent.
Okay, it’s not actually one percent. On units where the manual gearbox is offered, Porsche says the install rate is under 14 per cent. That’s a lot when compared to cars in general, but also, not very much, at the same time.
The point is, the manual transmission remains an option for those who want it.
But why?
When I was a kid, my Aunt Pam would let me shift gears in hear Eagle Talon TSi while cruising down Riverside Drive in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario. From the passenger seat, I learned to left-hand shift before I could even see over the dashboard. Working Aunt Pam’s shifter with my left hand was one of my first motoring memories. My face may have never worn a bigger smile to this day.
So, a long time ago, my Aunt and her sports car became the key reasons I’d peek into car windows as a kid, to see if I could spot a stick shift. They’re the reason I’ve never owned an automatic car.
Shifting gears are some of my formative motoring memories, and remain some of my fondest memories of Aunt Pam, who is no longer with us.
Look: having to use your arm and leg muscles to shift gears in a modern sports car is outdated. The 911’s PDK transmission uses space-age race-car technology to complete a gearshift faster than my leg could even squish the Targa 4S’s clutch pedal to the floor. Going with 2 pedals is faster, smoother, and easier on fuel.
So, why the relatively primitive contraption in the middle of all of this cutting edge tech? It’s a nod to the past, and for some of us, for various reasons, it can be a pretty significant one.
Learning to even use a manual transmission is, after all, often an experience had with someone you care about, and one you’ll remember for the rest of your life — and maybe even pass on to someone else.
And sitting in the latest 911, surrounded by the latest stuff and driving with both arms and both legs, it doesn’t really matter that it’s not quite as quick or efficient, or that there’s enormous hang-time between the gears that the PDK-equipped cars deal away with. To me, the joy of manually driving a car like this one isn’t about numbers or logic or even the sensation and sounds: it’s about recalling the mood and the memories of some of your favourite motoring moments, and the people who were there for them.
The Targa designation, by the way, refers to my tester’s unique open-topped configuration, dubbed the Targa top. The rear glass and hips open like a clamshell, and the fabric roof folds itself away beneath it. Then, the clamshell closes, but the roll-bar remains. The result is an open-topped drive, while maintaining the signature swoopy hips and curvaceous silhouette of a coupe.
Top down, revs up, and sports-exhaust breathing fully, there’s a wonderful flat-six orchestra behind you. Drivers get over 7,000 revs to play with, complete with twin-turbocharged torque to fill in the high-revving power-band. The result is a building surge of power, with pleasing low and mid-range response. The turbocharging feels like it’s enhancing — not flattening — the engine’s natural power curve, and the exhaust sound is melodious, morphing and evolving as the revs climb.
The shifter and clutch are a setup many enthusiasts love: firm and demanding, but comfortable enough to use in traffic. Both the clutch and shifter have a proper, meaty, high-performance feel — but also feel fine-tuned to keep you from getting worn out in traffic.
If you like, there’s even automated downshift rev matching which makes for some spectacular fun. Specifically, the system’s ability to telepathically pre-rev the engine as you slip the shifter down through the gate is a giggle every time. Even when a fast 3 to 2 downshift sends the revs for the redline, the rev-matching is so perfect, you don’t feel any axle drag on the driveline.
If you prefer to handle the footwork yourself, the system can be turned off.
Elsewhere, it’s the typical 911 driving feel: light and leisurely in normal mode, hardly firmer than a sporty sedan. There’s lightweight but locked-in steering for laid-back highway cruising, and just enough engine noise to keep you engaged.
Dial in Sport or Sport Plus, and it’s firmer shocks, more exhaust volume, and both steering and throttle switched to ‘hair trigger’ for maximum thrills.
You can even customize your own drive mode — you’re totally the boss of how your Targa drives. And as most 911’s are, this one’s happy to drop the kids at school, do the groceries, head out for a weekend road trip, or visit the track. The 911 is one of the most chilled out sports cars there is. It’s down for whatever, and it’s an engaging and entertaining drive, no matter how you’re driving it.
And in the middle of all of that, the magic, to some, of shifting your own gears.
There’s some urgency to this car’s availability, I think.
Right now, almost nobody buys a car with a manual transmission. Electric cars are coming and they don’t even have gears to shift.
Today, as the manual transmission nears extinction, and as electric cars are starting to rapidly join the market, a car like this is a great way to keep those motoring memories alive. Here’s a car designed to stay true to its roots, and to help its lucky drivers recall their favourite moments at the wheel (or from the passenger seat), to help them pass those memories along, and to make some new ones along the way.
