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Angus MacKenzie’s Top 5 Porsche 911s: A 40-Year Automotive Journey It’s hard to believe, but it’s been forty years since I first drove a Porsche 911. I recall the test vividly: a white 3.0-liter Carrera with black Fuchs wheels. It was lean, wingless, and manual-only, a purebred 911 that felt both fast and flawed at the time. At the same price point in Australia, I had a 944 Turbo, which, despite being quicker and smoother, couldn’t match the spiritual pull of the 911. “After two days and 600 miles,” I wrote, “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 choice. The 944 Turbo’s competence could make a bad driver look good, but the 911—even with its imperfections—spoke to something deeper. It demanded respect and understanding. That’s why I’d take it home. Over the past four decades, I’ve driven dozens of 911s. With every iteration, except perhaps the 964 which seemed to suggest the 911 concept had reached its expiry date, I’ve been amazed at how Porsche has refined this icon, keeping it relevant, exciting, and engaging. Forty years later, the 911 remains one of the few new cars I’d happily buy with my own money. From the fifty-plus models I’ve tested, these five Porsche 911s have left the deepest impression. The Original 911 Turbo: A Widowmaker or Misunderstood Legend? When I started, seasoned journalists spoke of the first Porsche 911 Turbo in hushed, fearful tones. They warned of a car that demanded absolute precision, where the abrupt power delivery made the classic 911 tightrope walk between corner-entry understeer and corner-exit oversteer a task for only the bravest. They called it a widowmaker—a car that tolerated no mistakes. It took me thirty-five years to finally get behind the wheel of one and discover the truth. I tested one of the first thirty production Turbos ever built, now part of Porsche’s enviable classic collection. Aware of its fearsome reputation, I drove conservatively at first. I eased into the throttle, felt the turbo kick in, and tried to map the power band. The 3.0-liter flat-six was surprisingly tractable, happy to purr along at 2,000 rpm in top gear at 45 mph. But once the engine hit 3,500 rpm, the 0.8 bar of boost hit like a sledgehammer. I braced for the expected violence, but it didn’t come. The secret to smooth progress in the original 911 Turbo, I discovered, is to keep the engine spinning at 4,000 rpm or higher to keep the turbocharger awake. Yes, there’s significant turbo lag by modern standards, but it’s manageable. Despite being over fifty years old, this 911 is still incredibly fast on the road. First gear hits 50 mph, second 90 mph, and third nearly 130 mph—meaning you can devastate any winding back road using just second and third gear. While its 256 hp output seems modest now, its 2,513-pound weight ensures it rockets into and out of corners with ease. In its day, this car’s performance was almost otherworldly. The 993-Generation 911: The End of an Era For purists, the 993 is the last true 911. It’s the car where the rubber still meets the road through hydraulically assisted steering, where you feel the road surface through your fingertips, and where the snarling metallic clatter of an air-cooled flat-six sits right behind your head. Yet, back in 1994, the 993 felt like the 911 of the future, a car that finally started arguing with Isaac Newton about physics. The 993 still had the traditional 911 front-end behavior that demanded precise loading on corner entry and a playful rear end that danced through rough turns, but the relationship between the front and rear felt far more harmonious. It still behaved like a 911, but within a much wider margin of error. The game-changer was a new rear suspension system. Replacing the old semi-trailing arms with a multilink setup allowed for subtle initial toe-out on corner entry, progressive toe-in as lateral loads increased, and crucially, significantly reduced camber change—which had been the Achilles heel of the 911 since its inception in 1963. Coupled with steering that was 16% quicker at 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, the front end felt sharper and more decisive. The new six-speed manual transmission made the most of the 3.6-liter flat-six, which sang to its 268 hp power peak at 6,100 rpm thanks to lighter internals, Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management, and a new dual exhaust system. Compared to its predecessor, the 964, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering advancements, overseen by Ulrich Bez (who later became the head of Aston Martin). The exterior redesign, under design chief Harm Lagaay, corrected the visual problems of the 964, which Lagaay considered too tall at the front and too squat at the rear. The interior was cleaner, too, with fewer buttons scattered randomly. The 993 was faster, more forgiving, and—most important—more desirable than ever. The 996-Generation 911: The 911 That Saved Porsche At the time, it was heresy. Porsche’s decision to switch to a water-cooled flat-six in the rear of the 996-series 911 was, in the eyes of the purists, the automotive equivalent of Bob Dylan abandoning his acoustic guitar for a Fender Strat at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But the 996, the first ground-up redesign of Porsche’s legendary sports car in thirty-four years, was nothing short of heroic. This was the 911 that saved Porsche. Engineered and developed under the leadership of Porsche R&D chief Horst Marchart, the 996 was a masterstroke of clever engineering. It shared 38% of its components with the all-new, mid-engine Boxster, which was developed concurrently. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking knew the Boxster was essential to give the company something else to sell once the aging 928 and 968 models were discontinued. “We built two cars for the price of one-and-a-half,” design director Harm Lagaay said with a smile after the company unveiled the 996. But while the media focused on its kinship with the Boxster and the revolutionary water-cooling, the 996’s true significance went much deeper. In 1994, it took Porsche 130 hours to build a 993-series 911; the 996 took just 60 hours. The modern 911 had arrived: it was roomier, equipped with all the features expected of a late 20th-century sports car, yet still instantly recognizable as a 911. Most importantly, it still drove like a 911—only better. Yes, there was a new layer of sophistication to its performance, but the 996 retained the delicious tactility and urgent response that made the 911 unique. Alongside the original Boxster, it rescued Porsche from potential extinction. The 991.2-Generation 911 Carrera: The Benchmark of the Modern Era Of all the 911s I’ve driven, it was a base 991.2 Carrera that truly stole my heart. Judging by the feedback I received from colleagues at the time, it stole everyone else’s too. Press fleets tend to be overflowing with high-spec, option-loaded vehicles, presumably because PR departments think we’re more impressed by expensive extras. So Porsche Cars North America’s decision to include a base 911 Carrera among the lineup of then-new 991.2 models for our 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year testing seemed a gamble. In reality, it was an inspired move. The 991.2 introduced a new 3.4-liter turbocharged engine, offering 370 hp in the base Carrera or 420 hp in the Carrera S. Even in base trim, it delivered a broad torque curve and impressive efficiency. This Carrera demonstrated that even on the base wheel and tire package, the chassis was staggeringly communicative and adjustable. Visually, the 991.2 was a subtle refresh of the larger, skillfully reproportioned 991.1—a superb execution of classic 911 themes, modern and beautiful. Inside was a new infotainment interface that looked great and performed well.