CARRERA 4S 993 VS 996

A wide-bodied Porsche isn’t anything new. All 992-generation 911s are ‘wide-bodied’ these days, and you can go right back to the 1980s to discover the first use of Zuffenhausen’s M491 option code, which back then meant ‘Turbo look’.

This option code for the 3.2 Carrera gave you a 911 Turbo appearance, though not the turbocharger. A wide-bodied 964 followed, albeit as standard spec rather than being an option with the 964 Anniversary and Works Turbo-look Cabriolet. By the turn of the 993 a Turbo-spec wide body was assigned to the special 992 Carrera S and 4S models. A wide-bodied 911 Carrera had arrived, starting a trend that remained for the 996 (in 4S form only), as well as the 997, 991 and 992 generations that followed. We’ve gathered the first two generations of Carrera 4S today, and we can’t wait to climb behind the wheel of them both.

At first glance the 996 C4S, just like the 993 predecessor which debuted that C4S moniker, is ‘simply’ a Turbo-bodied, normally aspirated model devoid of the side intakes. But then you stroll round the 996 and view it from the rear three-quarter, where the detail that makes the 996 C4S so desirable reveals itself. If the idea behind that lovely strip of red between the rear lights was to hark back to the