Whenever you feel the need to relax, you can head over to Porsche’s website and configure a 911. We’ve done this so many times, we lost count. With the 2017 911, the technical zone of the optional features area has welcomed the rear-axle steering. And you simply have to tick that box.
We’ve decided to bring you a number of reasons for which grabbing a 911 Carrera S simply can’t be done without this choice that allow the car to steer on all fours.
When you buy a Carrera S, you’ll want to feel better than you would in a standard Carrera, right? Well, the all-round steering is only offered on the S model.
This is a feature borrowed from the 911 Turbo S and the 911 GT3, and the association with those two ends of the Neunelfer line-up isn’t something you want to skip.
The playful rear end is part of the systems that deserve credit for allowing the revamped 911 Carrera S to lap the Nurburgring in 7:30. For the record, that’s Carrera GT territory in your daily driver. As for the price of this technical delicacy, Porsche will charge you about $2,000 for it.
We might have gotten a bit carried away with the arguments above, as we actually wanted to discuss the technical aspects of the ZF-supplied system.
Up to 31 mph (50 km/h), the rear wheels steer in the opposite direction of the front one. This offers a virtual shortening of the wheelbase by around 150 mm (15.9 inches), which brings increases agility.
Go past the speed mentioned above, and the rear wheels will steer in the same direction as those up front. As a result, the wheelbase is virtually extended by 500 mm (19.7 inches). The move allows the car to be more stable during high speed cornering. The Porsche-provided footage below comes to show the system in action.
But what if you refuse to add the rear-axle steering? That would be a shame, as the second video below suggests. Spoiler alert - the clip contains explicit images of a rear-axle steering gifted Renault topping a Porsche in a handling test.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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