Porsche reveals 911 Carrera 4

Attention, awed masses - this is the fifth generation 911 Carrera 4, which Porsche is showing off ahead of its premiere at the Paris motor show next month.

What news? In the grand tradition of every Porsche in the history of ever (with the possible exception of the first one), the 4 is a lot like its predecessor. It has four-wheel drive, it's more expensive than a cooking variety 911, it's a bit wider and it's lighter than its forerunner.

Now have some numbers. There's 22mm of extra girth - which accommodates 10mm wider wheels - and 65kg less mass than the outgoing 997 thanks to aluminium-steel composite body panels.

Engines are lifted from the straight-up 911's boot; there's a 345bhp 3.4-litre flat six in the Carrera 4 and a 395bhp 3.8-litre in the Carrera 4S. With a hard-top and dual-clutch PDK ‘box, that means 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds (4.1 in the C4S) and a 177mph top whack (186mph in the C4S). That's 0.2 seconds faster than the fastest 997, if you were wondering. Extra lightness also means fuel consumption's been whittled down by per cent.

Porsche has also rolled out an exciting new acronym, presumably to test our maturity when somebody gets the letters in the wrong order. PTM stands for Porsche Traction Management, and it's very clever, working out the best ways to serving up torque between the front and rear axles. You can even see it working on one of the car's new digital displays.

So, the rag-top. It'll be available at the same time as the fixed-head C4/C4S and it's got the same body extensions, all-wheel drivery and potentially amusing acronym if you're a semi-spoonerist. 0-62mph takes fractionally longer in the C4 (4.7sec and a top whack of 175mph) but the C4S cab gets an extra 50bhp, dragging 0-62mph down to 4.3 secs and top speed up to 184mph.

Other news? Porsche's adaptive cruise control makes its debut across the 911 Carrera 4. Oh, and it's expensive. Basic-spec C4s start from £77,924, rising to a massive £96,619 for a C4S convertible - and that's before you've optioned it.

Anybody waiting to sign the order book?

Now click on for more pics of the new 911 Carrera 4