Update GH Tuesday, 2/17/2026 Episode (Feb 17, 2026) | General Hospital Spoilers

The Pinnacle of German Engineering: A 40-Year Journey Through the Porsche 911 Pantheon It’s hard to fathom that four decades have passed since I first slid behind the wheel of a Porsche 911. I still recall that first encounter vividly: a pristine white 3.0-liter Carrera, riding on classic black Fuchs alloys. Without a rear spoiler, power steering, or a manual gearbox, it felt raw and unadulterated—a pure distillation of what the 911 was always meant to be. It was undeniably fast, but it wasn’t perfect. At the time, in my native Australia, it cost roughly the same as a 944 Turbo. The 944 was faster, easier to drive, and possessed more torque, making the 911 seem, at first glance, like a peculiar choice. Yet, despite its imperfections, I fell in love. “After two days and 600 miles,” I wrote, “I’m certain. The 944 Turbo is the superior car. But if I had to choose, if I were agonizing over how to spend my money, I would bring the 911 Carrera home.” This was not an easy conclusion to reach. “The 944 Turbo is so competent, it can make a bad driver look good,” I admitted. “Its soaring, searing performance is superbly counterbalanced by a chassis of astounding ability.” But the 911 tugged at the heartstrings. “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 have driven dozens of 911s since then. With every iteration—with the conspicuous exception of the 964 in the early 1990s, which briefly suggested the 911 concept was nearing its end—I have marveled at how Porsche has refined its icon, keeping it relevant, thrilling, and engaging. Four decades after my first 911 drive, it remains one of the few new cars I would happily spend my own hard-earned dollars on. Of all the 911 models I have piloted over the past 40 years, here are five that stand out in my memory. The Legend of the Air-Cooled Six-Cylinder: My Top 5 Porsche 911s The Original 911 Turbo (930 Generation) In the era when I first drove the 3.0-liter Carrera, seasoned road-test journalists spoke of the original Porsche 911 Turbo (the 930) in hushed, reverent tones. They described it as a car that demanded absolute respect, a machine where the difference between success and failure was razor-thin. The 911 Turbo, they claimed, forgave no mistakes; it punished sloppiness. Some even called it a “widowmaker.” It took me 35 years to finally get behind the wheel of an original 930 and experience the truth for myself. This particular car was one of the first 30 production Turbos ever built, now part of Porsche’s prized classic collection. Aware of its notorious reputation, I began with extreme caution, gently teasing the throttle, listening to the turbo spool, and mentally charting the power curve. The engine proved remarkably tractable, humming happily at 2,000 rpm in top gear, cruising effortlessly at 45 mph. Once the needle passed 3,500 rpm, however, a noticeable surge of acceleration arrived as the turbocharger pumped 0.8 bar of boost into the intake. But the sledgehammer blow I expected didn’t materialize. I discovered the trick to mastering the original 911 Turbo: keep the 3.0-liter flat-six spinning at 4,000 rpm or more to keep the turbo charged. Yes, there is turbo lag—noticeable by modern standards—but it is manageable. Even though it is more than 50 years old, this 911 remains a seriously fast road car. First gear tops out at 50 mph, second at 90 mph, and third pushes past 130 mph. This means you can tear up most winding back roads using just second and third gears. While it has a modest 256 horsepower, it weighs just 2,513 pounds, making it nimble and responsive through corners. Half a century ago, its performance felt otherworldly. The 993-Generation Porsche 911: The Evolutionary Apex For Porsche purists, the 993 represents the end of an era, the last of the “real” 911s. It is the car where the driver’s knuckles grazed the dashboard, where the metallic snarl of the air-cooled flat-six echoed from behind. But when I first drove it in 1994, the 993 was the future—the first in the lineage to truly engage with the laws of physics. While the front end still demanded careful loading to hit the apex, and the rear end retained its characteristic ‘rhumba’ on rough turns, the 993 possessed far greater synergy between the front and rear. It still felt like a 911, but with significantly better boundaries. The revolution was powered by a new rear suspension. It replaced the trailing arms of old with a sophisticated multilink setup. This provided minimal initial toe-out on corner entry, then progressively increased toe-in as lateral loads rose, all while drastically reducing the camber change that had plagued 911s since 1963. This was combined with a new six-speed manual transmission offering a quicker, 2.5-turn lock-to-lock ratio. The 3.6-liter flat-six felt livelier, thanks to lighter internal components, Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management, and a new dual exhaust system, delivering 268 horsepower at 6,100 rpm. Compared to the 964 it replaced, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering; Ulrich Bez, who later led Aston Martin, oversaw the technical development. The exterior redesign, led by design chief Harm Lagaay, corrected the visual imbalances of the 964, which he felt was too tall at the nose and too low at the rear. The interior was cleaner, too, with fewer buttons scattered randomly. The 993 was faster, more forgiving, and, crucially, more desirable than ever before. The 996-Generation Porsche 911: The Brave New World In its time, the 996 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 trading his acoustic six-string for a Fender Strat at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But the 996—the first clean-sheet redesign of Porsche’s indomitable 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 piece of engineering. It shared 38 percent of its components with an all-new, less expensive mid-engine roadster the world would soon know as the Boxster. Porsche CEO Wendelin Weideking understood that the Boxster was essential to give dealers a secondary product to sell when the aging 928 and 968 models exited production. “We built two cars for the price of one and a half,” design chief Lagaay noted wryly after the company unveiled the 996. While the media fixated on its relationship with the Boxster and the water-cooled engine, the 996’s true significance ran deeper. In 1994, Porsche took 130 hours to build a 993-series 911; the 996 took just 60 hours. The modern 911 had arrived: roomier, equipped with all the features expected of a late 20th-century sports car, yet still undeniably a 911. Most importantly, it still drove like a 911—only better. A new veneer of sophistication masked its inner workings, but the 996 retained the delicious tactility and urgent response that made the 911 a sports car unlike any other. It, along with the original Boxster, pulled Porsche back from the brink. The 991.2-Generation Porsche 911 Carrera: The Heart of the Matter Among all the 911s I have driven, it was a base 991.2 Carrera that truly captured my heart. It captured everyone else’s, too, judging by the feedback I received from colleagues who drove it. Most press fleets are packed with high-spec models loaded with expensive options, presumably because automotive PRs believe we are impressed by such things. Porsche Cars North America’s decision to include a base 911 Carrera among the new 991.2 models available for our 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year testing seemed brave. In truth, it was an inspired move. The 991