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40 Years of the 911: The 5 Porsches That Left Their Mark on Me It’s hard to believe I’ve been testing Porsches for 40 years now. I still remember that first 911 I ever drove, a white 3.0-liter Carrera. It had black Fuchs alloys, no rear wing, no power steering, and a five-speed manual. It was as pure a 911 as Porsche has ever built. Back then, it cost about the same as a 944 Turbo—a car that was faster and more powerful, with less effort, on any road. But even though I knew the 944 Turbo was the better car, I fell in love with the 911 anyway. I wrote, “After two days and 600 miles, I’m certain. I know the 944 Turbo is the better car. But I also know that if it came to the crunch, that if it were me agonizing over how to spend my money, I’d take the 911 Carrera home.” It wasn’t an easy decision. The 944 Turbo was so competent, it could make a bad driver look good. But the 911 tugged at the emotions. “The gloriously imperfect 911 Carrera is a sports car of a different age and reflects different values. It’s not tailored to meet the needs of most drivers. It demands understanding and respect. That’s why I’d take it home.” I’ve driven dozens of 911s since then, and with every iteration—apart from the 964, which suggested the 911 idea was past its expiration date—I’ve marveled at how Porsche has kept its icon relevant, exciting, and engaging. Four decades later, it’s still one of the few new cars I’d spend my own money on. Of all the 911s I’ve driven over the past 40 years, here are five of the most memorable. The Original 911 Turbo When I drove that 3.0-liter Carrera, veteran road-test journalists spoke of the original Porsche 911 Turbo in awed tones. It was a car that demanded respect, with binary boost states that made the traditional 911 tightrope between corner-entry understeer and corner-exit oversteer a job for quick hands and nerve. The 911 Turbo didn’t forgive mistakes. It took me 35 years to get behind the wheel of an original 911 Turbo and discover the truth for myself. The car I drove was one of the first 30 production Turbos ever built, now part of Porsche’s classic fleet. Aware of its reputation, I took it easy at first, feeling the boost come in and trying to map out the power and torque curves. The engine was remarkably tractable, happy to murmur at 2,000 rpm in top gear. Once the engine hit 3,500 rpm, though, there was a noticeable acceleration surge as the turbocharger forced 0.8 bar into the induction. But the sledgehammer blow I expected wasn’t there. I learned the trick to smooth progress in the original 911 Turbo was to keep the 3.0-liter flat-six spinning at 4,000 rpm or more to keep the turbocharger energized. Yes, there’s turbo lag—very noticeable by modern standards—but it’s manageable. Even today, this 911 is impressively fast. First gear runs to 50 mph, second to 90 mph, and third to almost 130 mph, which means it will destroy most two-lanes using only second and third. And while it has a mere 256 hp, it weighs just 2,513 pounds, which means it gets into and out of corners readily. Half a century ago, its performance would have seemed otherworldly. 993-Generation Porsche 911 For Porsche purists, this is the last of the line—the last of the real 911s. It’s the Porsche you drive with your knuckles grazing the dash and the snarling metallic clatter of an air-cooled flat-six behind you. But back in 1994, when I first drove it, the 993 was the 911 of the future, the first to challenge Isaac Newton’s laws of physics. Oh sure, the 993 still had that pat-pat-pattery front end that demanded to be loaded on corner entry, and the rear end still rhumbaed through rough turns, but there was much more simpatico between them. The 993 still did 911 things, but with a much better margin of error. Key to it all was a new rear suspension that replaced the semi-trailing arms with a new multilink setup that allowed very slight initial toe-out on corner entry and then progressive toe-in as lateral loads increased, all while reducing the camber change that had plagued 911s since 1963. This was combined with steering that at 2.5 turns lock-to-lock was 16 percent quicker and made the front end feel much more decisive, plus a new six-speed manual transmission that made the most of the 3.6-liter flat-six. The engine zinged harder to its 268-hp power peak at 6,100 rpm thanks to lighter internals, a Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management system, and a new dual exhaust system. Compared with the 964 model it replaced, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering upgrades under Ulrich Bez, later the head of Aston Martin: The exterior redesign by Harm Lagaay corrected visual problems with the 964, a car he thought was too tall at the front and too pulled down at the rear. The interior was cleaner, too, with fewer buttons in random locations. The 993 was a 911 that was faster and more forgiving than ever. And, most important, it was more desirable, too. 996-Generation Porsche 911 At the time, it was heresy. Porsche’s decision to install a water-cooled flat-six in the tail of the 996-series 911 was, to the aficionados, the automotive equivalent of Bob Dylan ditching his acoustic guitar for a Fender Strat at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But the 996, the first clean-sheet redesign of Porsche’s indefatigable sports car in 34 years, was a hero car to me. It was the 911 that saved Porsche. Engineered and developed under the direction of Porsche R&D chief Horst Marchart, the 996 was a clever 911, not least because it shared 38 percent of its parts with an all-new, less expensive mid-engine roadster the world would come to know as the Boxster. Iconoclastic Porsche boss Wendelin Weideking knew the Boxster was needed to give dealers something else to sell when the aging 928 and 968 models went out of production. “We did two cars for the price of one-and-a-half,” design boss Lagaay said with a smile after the company unveiled the 996. But while media attention focused on its relationship with the Boxster and the water-cooled engine, the 996’s real story ran much deeper. In 1994, it had taken Porsche 130 hours to build a 993-series 911; the 996 took just 60 hours to build. The modern 911 had arrived: roomier and equipped with all the features expected of a late 20th-century sports car but still recognizably Porsche’s icon. Most important, it still drove like a 911. Only better. Yes, there was a new veneer of sophistication to the way it went about its business, but the 996 retained the delicious tactility and urgent response that had made the 911 a sports car like no other. And along with that original Boxster, it saved Porsche from extinction. 991.2-Generation Porsche 911 Carrera Of all the 911s I’ve driven, it was a base 991.2 Carrera that truly stole my heart. It stole everyone else’s too, judging from the feedback I got at the time from colleagues who drove it. Most press fleets tend to be stacked with high-spec vehicles loaded with options, presumably because automotive PRs think we’re impressed by such things. So Porsche Cars North America’s decision to include a base 911 Carrera among the roster of then-new 991.2 models available for our 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year testing seemed brave. In truth, though, it was an inspired move. The 991.2 bowed a new 3.4-liter turbocharged engine, available with 370 hp in the base Carrera or 420 hp in the Carrera S. Even in 370-hp trim, it delivered a broad band of torque and impressive efficiency. This Carrera also showed that even on the base wheel/tire combo the chassis was staggeringly communicative and adjustable. Visually, the 991