Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS

FIRST UK DRIVE With its neat folding top, this is the priciest 911 GTS. Is it the best? We try it in UK

- Sam Naylor

WE love the Porsche 911 GTS – it’s a superb compromise between the usability of the entry-level car and the driving thrills of the harder, more focused GT3. But how does the Targa version fare?

A clever folding mechanism drops the middle section of the roof down – and with that beautiful curved glass rear screen in place the Targa certainly looks classier than a 911 Convertible. It’s just a shame you can’t operate it on the move; the complex roof system only folds when the car is stationary, and takes nearly 20 seconds to complete its transformation.

But the price you pay for the fun in the sun is that the Targa is the heaviest GTS model. At 1,605kg it’s significantly chunkier than the svelte 1,470kg of the hard-top model. Combined with the PDK gearbox and four-wheel drive, that means our test car is the least focused 911 GTS in the range.