2016 Porsche 911 Targa Spied with Different Exhaust

Porsche has been working for an extremely long time on the mid-life facelift of the 911 range. Rumors about the whole engine range going turbo are so frequent that we can almost see the downsizing with our mind's eye. However, this might not be a turbo.

As you may have noticed, this prototype has a different-looking exhaust. Since the days of the 996 generation, the sportscar has always had two oval exhaust tips on the Carrera and four circular ones for the Carrera S/4S. However, this one has two small pipes in the middle of the body.

Reports from Germany suggest the Carrera models will get downsized turbo engines, but a new type of 911 will be added to the range. It will be a back-to-basics car, the only one to keep the old 3.8-liter flat-six.

We think this is what we have here, especially since the throaty exhaust sounds like it's coming from a naturally aspirated engine. However, the Targa doesn't match the back-to-basics ideology, since it's heavier, more expensive and comes as standard with all-wheel drive. Who knows, maybe this will be the first 991-generation Targa without all-wheel drive. That wouldn't be a bad thing, now would it?

We almost forgot to tell you about the design changes that will come with the facelift. Naturally, tweaks will be made to the headlights and taillights. On this particular prototype the bumper is similar to that of the GTS, but that could be specific to the new model and not the whole 911 range.

Let's not forget that the 911 range includes cabrio, coupe, and Targa body styles with derivates that include the GTS, GT3 or GT3 RS. Yeah, it's getting really tricky to remember the whole range.