Watch A Porsche 911 Targa Imitate A Snowmobile

Watch A Porsche 911 Targa Imitate A Snowmobile

The Porsche 911 Targa poses an interesting question: Why have your whole roof fold away when, for the same money, you could have just part of your roof fold away?

There are, by my count, 21 distinct Porsche 911 models. That might change at any time, of course, as Porsche regularly conceives new and inventive ways of slicing the 911 pie just a little bit thinner. Within the subset of 911s that feature motorized retractable roofs, there are now two choices: the trusty cabriolet and the reconceived Targa.

I drove a Targa 4S from Denver to Vail, which is a town that’s a little more egalitarian than its reputation suggests. Yes, there was a Ferrari FF in one of the parking lots, but there were also plenty of battered Subarus clicking around on studded snows. In this setting, an AWD 911 gets respect, especially when you head up out of town toward the snowmobile trails that snake into the surrounding mountains. And at 10,000 feet, you understand the wisdom of a partially retractable roof—the Targa was warm with the top down, letting in sun but not wind. The snowmobilers dug it.

Yes, in the name of getting as close as possible to the sun, I followed the road until it turned into a snowmobile trail. And then I got yelled at by a gentleman who suddenly developed the strong opinion that Porsche 911s should not drive on snowmobile trails, even if said Porsches are equipped with winter tires and all-wheel-drive and are having no problem whatsoever motoring up the side of a mountain. Fair enough. I repaired to a lower turnaround spot to check out the roof, which is a really impressive piece of hardware. Porsche calls it “a complex and extremely robust technical solution.” It’s certainly complex. Let’s hope it’s robust.