My Top 5 Porsche 911s: Four Decades of Driving Icon Status
For over 40 years, I’ve been behind the wheel of Porsche’s most legendary sports car. From the raw, analog experiences of the past to the hyper-focused engineering of today, here are the models that have left the deepest impression.
It’s hard to believe that four decades have passed since I first drove a Porsche 911. The car was a clean, white 3.0-liter Carrera, sitting on black Fuchs wheels. It had a narrow body, no rear wing, and no power steering—just a five-speed manual. By purebred standards, it was as essential as the 911 could be. At the time, it was incredibly fast, but it also had its quirks. Perhaps that’s because I was testing it alongside a 944 Turbo, a car that cost nearly the same as the 911 in my native Australia. The 944 Turbo offered more power and torque and handled nearly any road with significantly less effort than its famous sibling. Despite that, I still fell head over heels for the 911.
As I wrote at the time, “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 is so competent, it can make a bad driver look good. Its soaring, searing performance is superbly counterbalanced by a chassis of astounding ability.” Yet, the 911 commanded my emotional commitment. “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 911 models since then. With every generation, except perhaps the 964, which at the start of the 1990s suggested the 911 concept was starting to wear thin, I’ve been amazed at how Porsche has refined its icon, keeping it relevant, exciting, and engaging. Four decades after that first drive, it remains one of the few new cars I would spend my own hard-earned money on. Of all the 911s I’ve driven over the years, here are the five that stand out most vividly.
The Original 911 Turbo: The Widowmaker Revealed
Back in the day, veteran road-test journalists spoke of the original Porsche 911 Turbo in near-religious terms. They described it as a car that demanded the utmost respect when driven hard—a vehicle whose binary boost stages turned the traditional 911 tightrope walk between corner-entry understeer and corner-exit oversteer into a high-stakes challenge requiring quick hands and nerve. The original 911 Turbo did not forgive mistakes or tolerate sloppiness. In whispered tones, it was called the “widowmaker.” It took me 35 years to finally get behind the wheel of one and discover the truth for myself.
The car I drove was among the first 30 production Turbos ever built, now part of Porsche’s legendary classic fleet. Aware of its fearsome reputation, I took it very easy at first, gently teasing the throttle and monitoring the boost gauges as I tried to build a mental map of the power and torque curves. The engine was remarkably tractable, content to hum along at 2,000 rpm in top gear, cruising at 45 mph. However, once the engine hit 3,500 rpm, there was a noticeable surge in acceleration as the turbocharger pushed 0.8 bar into the induction system. But the sledgehammer blow I expected never materialized.
What I discovered is that the trick to smooth, quick progress in the original 911 Turbo is keeping the 3.0-liter flat-six spinning above 4,000 rpm to keep the turbocharger energized. Yes, there is significant turbo lag—by modern standards, very noticeable turbo lag—but it is manageable. Even with over 50 years on the clock, this 911 is still impressively fast on the road. First gear reaches 50 mph, second gear hits 90 mph, and third gear climbs to nearly 130 mph. This means you can tear through most winding two-lane roads using just second and third gears. And while it only has 256 hp, its weight of just 2,513 pounds allows it to accelerate and decelerate in corners with ease. Half a century ago, its performance would have felt absolutely otherworldly.
The 993-Generation: The Last of the Air-Cooled Purity
For Porsche purists, this is the pinnacle, the last of the “true” 911s. It’s the Porsche that demands your attention, the one where your knuckles brush the dash, and the metallic roar of an air-cooled flat-six echoes behind you. But back in 1994, when I first drove it, the 993 represented the 911 of the future, the first generation to genuinely challenge the limits of physics. While the 993 still had that distinctive pat-pat-pattery front end that required deliberate weighting to find the apex and a rear end that danced through rough corners, there was a new level of harmony between the front and rear. The 993 still did 911 things, but within a much more manageable envelope.
The key to this transformation was a revolutionary rear suspension. It replaced the outdated semi-trailing arms with a new multilink setup. This design allowed for slight initial toe-out on corner entry and then progressive toe-in as lateral forces increased, all while dramatically reducing the camber change that had been the Achilles’ heel of the 911 since its introduction in 1963. This engineering advancement was paired with a new six-speed manual transmission and a faster steering rack—2.5 turns lock-to-lock, 16 percent quicker than before, making the front end feel much more decisive. The 3.6-liter flat-six was also revised, revving harder to its 268-hp peak at 6,100 rpm thanks to lighter internals, Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management, and a dual-exhaust system.
Compared to its predecessor, the 964, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering upgrades, led by Ulrich Bez (who later headed Aston Martin): the exterior redesign, overseen by design chief Harm Lagaay, fixed the visual flaws of the 964, a car he believed was too tall at the front and too squat at the rear. The interior was cleaner too, with better button placement. The 993 was a 911 that was faster, more forgiving, and ultimately, far more desirable.
The 996-Generation: Saving Porsche with Water Cooling
At the time, it felt like sacrilege. 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 guitar 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 to me. It was the 911 that saved the company.
Engineered and developed under the leadership of Porsche R&D chief Horst Marchart, the 996 was a clever piece of engineering. Not least because it shared 38 percent of its components with an all-new, more affordable mid-engine roadster that the world would come to know as the Boxster. Iconoclastic Porsche boss Wendelin Weideking knew the Boxster was essential to give dealers something else to sell after the aging 928 and 968 models were discontinued. “We did two cars for the price of one-and-a-half,” design boss Lagaay recalled with a smile after the company unveiled the 996.
But while the media focused on the Boxster relationship and the switch to water cooling, the 996’s true significance ran 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: roomier and equipped with all the features expected of a late 20th-century sports car, but still unmistakably Porsche’s icon. Most importantly, it still drove like a 911. Only better. Yes, the 996 had a new veneer of sophistication, but it retained the delicious tactility and urgent response that had made the 911 a sports car like no other. Along with the original Boxster, it saved Porsche from extinction.
The 991.2-Generation: Pure Driving Bliss
Of all the 911s I’ve driven, it was a base 991.2 Carrera that truly captured my heart. And judging by the feedback from my colleagues who tested it at the same time, it
