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IT WAS A Sunday afternoon in the middle of an uncertain spring. Virginia’s back roads were empty, perhaps in deference to the chilly rain and translucent light. No one wanted to be out in such disagreeable weather, except me — or so it seemed.

Anyway, I was delighted. I had many roads to myself, and it didn’t matter that all of them were wet and some were muddy. I was driving the 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, which is equipped with the same all-wheel-drive found on the Porsche 911 Turbo and Carrera 4.

That means the car was something of a mudder — not in the manner of a rugged sport-utility vehicle, but certainly more competent in the slop than most sportmobiles. Still I kept the Carrera 4S on regular pavement as much as possible.

The weather never improved, but the afternoon was enjoyable. There is something satisfying deep-down about being alone in a beautiful car on long, deserted stretches. My friend, Kathleen Hunter, summarized the feeling in one of her poems, “Southfield Expressway, 7 a.m.”

There is a moment of privacy . . .

A moment to ask questions too hard to consider anywhere else.

Here, you know exactly where you have to be right now

and where you are going,

what it means

and why you are doing it . . .

It was a moment of certainty. On a day when it was cold and wet, who could have asked for anything more?

Background: The Porsche 911’s body is a classic — an upside-down, flying-bathtub that’s been around, give or take some modifications, for 32 years. It’s amazing that it retains currency. But it does — in a big way.

The test car attracted so much favorable attention, it made me feel self-conscious. I mean, it’s hard to ignore people who are waving at you, giving thumbs-up signs, or who are shouting words of approval.

Previous Porsches, such as the 968 and 928, both of which have disappeared from the U.S. market, were received differently. The hand salutes I got in those models tended more toward the middle finger than the upraised thumb. There was something nouveau riche about them, something bogus, which is probably why they’re no longer here.

But the Porsche 911? Well, it’s something else. It is simple, beautiful, purposeful and unpretentious — even with the whackily flared rear wheel wells on the tested 911 Carrera 4S model.

Those wheel wells cover lots of rubber — 18-inch diameter, speed-rated Pirelli tires. You can zoom in this car, even though it’s more than about going fast. It’s about handling, such as the wonderful way it behaves on wet dirt roads. And it’s about security, the sense that you can do anything within the bounds of common sense in this car and come out okay.

But for throttle jockeys, there’s muscle enough in the Carrera 4S’s 3.6-liter, air-cooled, horizontally opposed, six-cylinder, single overhead-cam engine rated 282 horsepower at 6,300 rpm. Torque is rated 250 pound-feet at 5,250 rpm.

A six-speed manual gearbox is standard on the Carrera 4S, as are power-assisted disc brakes (cross-drilled discs mated with four-piston, aluminum alloy fixed calipers). Anti-lock brakes are standard, as are dual front air bags. Seven different models of the Porsche 911 are sold in the United States. All are rear-engine, essentially two-seat cars available as hardtop coupes or convertibles with rear-wheel or all-wheel-drive systems.

Complaints: Marginally effective windshield wipers. I swear, I’ve never been in a Porsche whose wipers cleared glass as well as those, say, in a Toyota Corolla. The wipers on the test car upheld that sorry legacy.

Praise: An overall joy to drive in any weather. The Carrera 4S and the rest of the 911 family are what driving is all about. And when it comes to sports cars, well, there’s the 911 — and everything else.

Head-turning quotient: Top wowmobile.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Triple aces. You’ve got to do something really dumb to lose control of this car. Superior braking.

Mileage: About 21 miles er gallon (19.4-gallon tank, estimated 393-mile range on usable volume of required premium unleaded), combined city-highway, running driver only with no cargo.

Sound: Optional 10-speaker AM/FM stereo radio and cassette with remote compact disc changer, installed by Porsche. Excellent.

Price: Base price on the tested 911 Carrera 4S (w/AWD) is $73,000. Dealer invoice on base car is $62,962. Price as tested is $80,308, including $1,416 in options, an estimated $4,142 federal “luxury tax” penalty, a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax and a $750 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: If you want a Porsche 911, buy a Porsche 911. There is no substitute.