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The Legends of Weissach: My Five Most Unforgettable Porsche 911 Experiences After four decades behind the wheel of the 911, these are the models that truly stood the test of time. It’s difficult to believe that 40 years have passed since I first drove a Porsche 911. I remember it clearly: a white 3.0-liter Carrera with black Fuchs alloys, no rear wing, no power steering, and a five-speed manual. It was about as pure as a 911 could get. Back then, I was testing it alongside the 944 Turbo, a car that cost roughly the same amount in Australia at the time. The 944 Turbo had more power, more torque, and was faster with far less effort on any road. But I still fell for the 911. As I wrote in my original review, “After two days and 600 miles, I’m certain. The 944 Turbo is the better car. But I also know that if it came to the crunch, if I had to decide how to spend my money, I’d take the 911 Carrera home.” It wasn’t an easy conclusion. I said, “The 944 Turbo is so competent, it can make a bad driver look good. Its soaring, searing performance is superbly counterbalanced by a chassis of astounding ability.” But the 911 called to 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—except perhaps the 964, which in the early 90s hinted that the 911 idea might be past its expiration date—I’ve marveled at how Porsche has polished its icon, keeping it relevant, exciting, and engaging. Four decades after my first drive, it remains one of the few new cars I’d buy with my own hard-earned money. From all the 911s I’ve driven over the past 40 years, here are five of the most memorable. The Original 911 Turbo: A Legend Worth the Fear When I first drove the 3.0-liter Carrera, veteran journalists spoke of the original Porsche 911 Turbo with awe. They said it demanded respect when driven with intent, a car whose binary boost states made navigating the traditional 911 tightrope between corner-entry understeer and corner-exit oversteer a task for quick hands and pure guts. The 911 Turbo did not forgive mistakes or tolerate sloppiness; they called it a “widowmaker.” It took me 35 years to get behind the wheel of an original 911 Turbo and see for myself. I drove one of the first 30 production Turbos ever built, now part of Porsche’s coveted classic fleet. Aware of its legendary reputation, I started cautiously, feathering the throttle, feeling the boost engage, and watching the tachometer, trying to map out the power and torque curves in my mind. The engine was surprisingly tractable, happy to hum along at 2,000 rpm in top gear, cruising at 45 mph. But once the engine hit 3,500 rpm, there was a noticeable surge of acceleration as the turbocharger pumped 0.8 bar into the intake. Still, the sledgehammer impact I expected wasn’t there. I discovered the trick to smooth and fast progress in the original 911 Turbo was keeping 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 on the road. First gear tops out at 50 mph, second at 90 mph, and third at nearly 130 mph, meaning it will destroy most winding two-lanes using just second and third. And while it only has 256 hp, it weighs just 2,513 pounds, allowing it to attack corners readily. Half a century ago, its performance would have seemed otherworldly. The 993-Generation 911: The Air-Cooled Zenith For Porsche purists, this is the last of its kind, the last of the “real” 911s. It’s the Porsche you drive with your knuckles brushing the dash and the snarling metallic chatter of an air-cooled flat-six behind you. But when I first drove it in 1994, the 993 was the 911 of the future, the first to challenge Isaac Newton’s laws. Oh, sure, the 993 still had that pat-pat-pattery front end that demanded loading for corner entry to hit the apex, and the rear end still swayed in the rougher turns, but there was much more simpatico between them. The 993 still did 911 things, but with a much better margin for error. The key was a new rear suspension that replaced the old semi-trailing arms with a new multilink setup. It allowed very slight initial toe-out on corner entry, then progressive toe-in as lateral loads increased, all while reducing the camber change that had been the 911’s Achilles’ heel since 1963. This was combined with steering that, at 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, was 16 percent quicker, making the front end feel far more decisive. There was also a new six-speed manual transmission that capitalized on the 3.6-liter flat-six, which revved harder to its 268-hp peak at 6,100 rpm thanks to lighter internals, Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management, and a new dual exhaust system. Compared to the 964 it replaced, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering upgrades, led by Ulrich Bez, later the head of Aston Martin; the exterior redesign, directed by design chief Harm Lagaay, corrected the visual issues of the 964, which he felt 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 importantly, it was more desirable. The 996-Generation 911: Saving the Icon 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 purists, the automotive equivalent of Bob Dylan ditching his acoustic six-string for a Fender Stratocaster 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 in my eyes. 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 necessary to give dealers something else to sell after 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 took 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, yet still recognizably Porsche’s icon. Most importantly, it still drove like a 911. Only better. Yes, there was a new veneer of sophistication, but the 996 retained the delicious tactility and urgent response that had made the 911 a sports car like no other. And along with the original Boxster, it saved Porsche from extinction. The 991.2-Generation 911 Carrera: The Everyday Hero 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 by the feedback I received from colleagues who drove it. Most press fleets are stacked with high-spec vehicles loaded with options, presumably because automotive PR teams think we’re impressed by such things. So Porsche Cars North America’s decision to include a base 911 Carrera among the new 991.2 models for our 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year testing seemed brave. In truth, though, it was an