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2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4: That Roof, That Roof, That Roof is on Fire

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Porsche NAIAS display: 911 Targa 4

Porsche NAIAS display: 911 Targa 4

If there’s one thing that’s particularly annoying about the trend of rebooting superhero movie franchises less than a decade after a sequel, it’s the inevitability of the “origin story movie.”  You know the one: we dip back into the hero’s earlier years and see what made them who they are.  Most of the times, it’s a mishandled, boring mess.

But sometimes, we get the beginning we need and deserve.  Sometimes, we learn interesting details about aspects of a character that cast a new and exciting light on minutiae we may have never given a second thought.  The same can be said, it seems, for Porsche: this week at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Porsche enthusiasts were treated to the 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4, which updates the 1965 classic with a refreshingly modern flair.  Of particular interest: the roof.

No, really.  The roof.  Get a load of this.

Seriously, that teaser should have been called Droptop Begins and scored by Hans Zimmer.

The 2014 Porsche 911 Targa will come in two trim levels: Targa 4 and Targa 4S, both of which will benefit from that fancy bit of roof-retracting you saw above.  While it seems only natural that most of the talk about a new Porsche 911 would center around its performance—particularly when the Targa 4 gets 350 horsepower from a horizontally-opposed 3.4-liter six-cylinder and the Targa 4S gets 400 horsepower from a 3.8-liter six-cylinder—people can’t seem to stop talking about that topWhere does Porsche get those wonderful toys?

A top speed of 175 miles per hour and a zero-to-62 time of 5.0 flat, all with an impressive 32.5 mile per gallon fuel economy (with PDK transmission), and yet the show-stealing aspect of the 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4 and Targa 4S is, indeed, the roof.

2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4

2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4

The 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4 will start with an MSRP of $101,600, and the Targa 4S will begin at $116,200.  Deliveries to the U.S. are scheduled to begin this summer.  There’s nothing quite like a good summer blockbuster, after all.

2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4

2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4