When Both Chase & Willow Are Convicted, They Can Secretly Leave The (PC) Together! GH Spoilers

The 5 Porsches That Changed Everything: A 40-Year Driver’s Perspective After four decades behind the wheel, chasing the elusive 911 perfection, I’ve come to realize that some cars just stay with you. They don’t have to be the fastest or the most expensive, but they must possess something special, a magic that transforms a drive into a core memory. For the last 40 years, I’ve been tracking the evolution of the Porsche 911, that iconic rear-engine sports car, and it’s been an incredible journey. I still vividly recall my first 911 test. It was a white 3.0-liter Carrera, a pure machine with no spoilers and a manual gearbox. Driving it felt pure, raw, and deeply connected to the road. It wasn’t the most powerful car on the block—I tested it alongside a 944 Turbo that boasted more horsepower and torque, and in terms of raw speed on a backroad, the 944 was undeniably the superior machine. But the 911 tugged at my heartstrings in a way the 944 never could. I remember writing back then, “The 944 Turbo is the better car, technically speaking. Its performance is stunning and it makes a bad driver look good. But the 911… the 911 is something different. It’s a car that demands understanding and respect. If it came down to it, I’d take the 911 Carrera home.” It wasn’t an easy decision, but I knew the 911 was more than just a car; it was an experience. Since that day, I’ve driven dozens of 911s, each iteration pushing the boundaries further. Except for one—the 964 in the early 90s felt like the idea was running out of steam. But that was a blip. The 911 has always found its way back, adapting and evolving while somehow remaining the same fundamental icon. Four decades on, it’s still the only new car I’d spend my own hard-earned cash on. Out of all the 911s I’ve had the privilege of driving, these are the five that truly stand out. The 1975 Porsche 930 Turbo: The Original Widowmaker For decades, veteran road testers spoke in hushed tones about the original Porsche 911 Turbo—the 930. They called it a beast, a car that punished mistakes and demanded the utmost respect. It was a legendary “widowmaker,” a name that struck fear into the hearts of even the most experienced drivers. They said its power delivery was binary—a sudden, brutal surge of boost that would snap the rear end out if you weren’t careful. I finally got behind the wheel of one after 35 years of waiting. It was one of the first 30 production Turbos ever built, a museum piece now housed in Porsche’s stunning classic fleet. Climbing into the seat, I was acutely aware of its fearsome reputation. I took it easy at first, teasing the throttle, feeling how the boost came in, trying to understand the limits of that 3.0-liter flat-six. To my surprise, the engine was remarkably tractable. It purred happily at 2,000 rpm in top gear, cruising comfortably at 45 mph. But once I hit 3,500 rpm, the magic happened. A noticeable surge of acceleration kicked in as the turbocharger forced 0.8 bar of boost into the intake. It wasn’t the sudden sledgehammer blow I expected, though. It was powerful, yes, but controlled. I discovered the trick to taming the original 930 was to keep that flat-six spinning above 4,000 rpm. You have to work for the power. Yes, there’s significant turbo lag by modern standards, but it’s manageable if you know the rhythm. It might be over 50 years old, but this car is still brutally fast on the road. First gear reaches 50 mph, second hits 90 mph, and third cracks 130 mph. You can destroy a winding two-lane using only second and third. And while it only had 256 horsepower, weighing in at just 2,513 pounds, it was nimble and responsive. Back then, this performance would have seemed otherworldly. The 1996 Porsche 993: The Last of the Air-Cooled Legends For Porsche purists, the 993 generation is the peak of the line—the last of the true, air-cooled 911s. It’s the car you drive with your knuckles grazing the dash, the snarling, metallic clatter of that air-cooled flat-six roaring behind your head. But when I first drove the 993 in 1994, it felt like the 911 of the future, a car that dared to argue with Isaac Newton about the laws of physics. Sure, the 993 still had that iconic 911 front end that demanded to be loaded on corner entry to hit the apex, and the rear end could still dance through rough turns. But there was a harmony between the front and rear that was unprecedented. The 993 still felt like a 911, but within a much safer margin. The secret to its brilliance was a completely redesigned rear suspension. They replaced the aging semi-trailing arms with a new multilink setup. This allowed for slight initial toe-out on corner entry, followed by a progressive toe-in as lateral loads increased. This dramatically reduced the camber change that had plagued 911s since 1963. They also improved the steering, reducing the lock-to-lock from 3.0 to 2.5 turns, making the front end feel much more decisive. Under the hood, the 993 got a new six-speed manual transmission and a revised 3.6-liter flat-six. It sang harder to its 268 hp peak at 6,100 rpm, thanks to lighter internals, a Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management system, and a new dual exhaust. Compared to the 964 it replaced, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering, led by Ulrich Bez (later the head of Aston Martin); the exterior redesign by Harm Lagaay corrected the visual flaws of the 964, a car he thought was too tall in the front and too pulled down in the rear. The interior was cleaner, too, with fewer buttons scattered randomly. The 993 was faster, more forgiving, and most importantly, even more desirable. The 1996 Porsche 996: The Game Changer That Saved Porsche When Porsche decided to install a water-cooled flat-six in the tail of the 996-series 911, the purists were aghast. It was seen as automotive heresy. But the 996 was the first clean-sheet redesign of the 911 in 34 years, and to me, it was a hero. It was the car that saved Porsche. Engineered and developed under the direction of R&D chief Horst Marchart, the 996 was a masterpiece of engineering efficiency. It shared 38 percent of its parts with an all-new, lower-cost, mid-engine roadster that would become the Boxster. Porsche boss Wendelin Weideking knew the Boxster was essential to give dealerships something else to sell once the aging 928 and 968 models were retired. “We built two cars for the price of one and a half,” design chief Lagaay famously quipped after the launch. While the media fixated on the water-cooled engine and the Boxster connection, the 996’s true genius lay in its production engineering. In 1994, it took 130 hours to build a 993. The 996? Just 60 hours. The modern 911 had arrived. It was roomier and equipped with all the features expected of a late 20th-century sports car, yet it was still unmistakably a 911. Most importantly, it drove like a 911—only better. It possessed a new veneer of sophistication, but the 996 retained that delicious tactility and urgent response that made the 911 a sports car like no other. And together with the original Boxster, it pulled Porsche back from the brink of extinction. The 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera (991.2): The One That Stole My Heart Of all the 911s I’ve driven, it was a base 991.2 Carrera that truly stole my heart. It must have stolen everyone else’s too, judging by the feedback I got from colleagues at the time. Press fleets are usually filled with high-spec cars, loaded with expensive options, as if we journalists are impressed by such things. Porsche Cars North America’s decision to include a base 911 Carrera in the 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year testing was a bold move, but in hindsight, it was inspired. The 991.2 generation debuted a new