1989 Porche 928 S4

Porsche Magazine (now Excellence), July/August 1987

by David Colman

Everything about the 928S4 is larger than life.It is faster than anything you’ve ever driven on the street.It is better looking than anything you’ve ever been seen in.It is quicker than a cat and sturdier than a tank.It is deliciously appointed and fabulously expensive.In a world of Lilliputian flotsam and jetsam, this Porsche is Brobdingnagian brawn incarnate.

From its massive controls to its laser handling, from its wrenching acceleration to its throbbing deceleration, this latest fourth version of the 928 design brief, so far surpasses the performance envelope of other road machinery that it creates a league of its own.With revamped bodywork front and rear, refined aerodynamics, and newly fattened 32 valve V-8 power curve, Porsche has reassembled its flagship sportscar in a form that defines today’s ultimate road weapon.The 928S4 is so fast, capable and comfortable that it creates a new mythology for the German marque.The S4 is the Paul Bunyan of the Autobahn.Able to stop as quickly as it goes (0 to 60 to 0 in 9 seconds), it wields its wicked double-edged axe with awesome zeal.

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The extraordinary 32 valve, 316 hp, 303 cubic inch V-8 is what the S4 is really all about.Crush the accelerator in any gear, and this 3507 lb. German bazooka shell launches itself into orbit with neck snapping authority.Nail first gear and you are pinned in the creases of the burgundy leather.Snap a cross-gate shift to second gear, and the big motor really begins to unwind as the revolutions soar effortlessly to the 6000 rpm redline ignition cut-out.Snatch third gear at 73 miles per hour, and the fun really begins.Traffic recedes in clumps and you dare not look at the tach for fear of collecting the doddering, mirrorless idiots in front of you.

Keeping a wary eye on traffic patterns and not your dashboard, you bang home fourth gear as the engine stutters in third.For the first time now, at 102 mph, you notice some wind noise building at the A-pillars as this ethereal rocketship slices through the air at a drag coefficient of .34.As the revolutions build inexorably once more, the whine of the many accessory belts reaches a crescendo as your speed nears 140 mph in fourth cog.We had the opportunity to carry this gear to redline down a long grade, with the speedo showing an indicated 144 mph, with one more gear to go!Touching 156 in fifth, we shut down before the CHP could shut us down.Extrapolating top speed from this experiment, we will be the first to acknowledge that the S4 will achieve 165 mph at 5100 rpm in the direct drive (1:1) fifth gear of the manual transmission model.With some seam taping, and a change in final drive ratio, Al Holbert coaxes 171 mph out of the S4 at Bonneville Salt Flats.

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Should you question whether any means of ground transportation, no matter how fast or awesome looking, is worth nearly $70,000, your answer will come from two sources.One is the amount of satisfaction you derive from piloting this snarky vehicle.The other is the undisguised adulation of the traveling public.In both areas, the S4 scores highly indeed.

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This ultimate Porsche will afford its owner (provided he can afford it) the security of knowing he has purchased the world’s most competent and dependable high speed tourer.If he drives it with restraint and cautious enthusiasm, he will never approach the limits of its potential.If, however, he presses the outer envelope of those limits, he had best be very good and very quick.