Is this the most beautiful generation of the Porsche 911? Much of the Top Gear office would say yes. The classic nine-eleven silhouette – still with relatively delicate proportions – covered with subtle details. No fried egg shapes or crisp LED patterns for the lights, and a few simple, silver wheels in a size that won’t allow you to collapse in every hole. It is a delight to see.
Especially in the Turbo form, with its dramatic ventilated wing that can be robust in size, but elegant in the way it is delicately draped on the rear deck. Fainting.
This is the Porsche 911 in its 993 generation, the last of the air-cooled 911s (if you’re a good anorak user) and produced between 1994 and 1998. The Turbo version was launched in 1995 and it was a big deal: this was the first 911 Turbo with all-wheel drive. The shimmering version of a car often known as a ‘widow maker’ suddenly pulled on its socks and matured.
The 402bhp and 398lb ft produced by its 3.6-liter twin turbo engine, therefore, did not look as scary as they could be in the era of rear-wheel turbos. AWD’s performance was still in its relative infancy; Porsche was among the pioneers, but until now it had offered it only as an option on the 964-gen 911 or as a standard on the powerful 959 hypercar.
We are sure that the purists of the day will have found time to smell this, as much as they did about the introduction of stability control, PDK transmissions and electronic power steering in the decades that followed. The 993 dispenses with that, its gearbox is a six-speed manual with an awkward clutch pedal and a shift that requires a bold wrist action, while the steering is … well, almost perfect.
We also won a 993 Turbo S, launched in 1998. Where it is now a staple of the line – the current, 992-gen 911 Turbo appeared as the first S (carrying our Performance Car of the Year trophy in the process) – it was actually, a special run-out for the 993 and 911s air-cooled as a whole, produced by Porsche’s Exclusive department and beneficiary of larger turbos – for a total of 450bhp – and an exclusive body kit, including a larger rear wing. And today, it has an even higher price.
Photography: Jonny Fleetwood