Driving Real History: How Every Generation of Porsche 911 Compares to Each Other

I was probably the wrong guy to take this assignment. Porsche was celebrating the 911's 60th anniversary by lining up examples from every generation for a scenic drive through Germany's Palatinate region. It was a perfect assignment for a Porschephile like my long-suffering boss Mac Morrison, but me? By comparison, I'm 911-illiterate. Don't get me wrong; I love 911s, most of them, at least, even if the engine is in the wrong place. But when people start talking about 901s, 993s, and 964s, and expect me to know the 997 is newer than the 996 but older than the 991, I'm the guy who says, "Just tell me what year your glorified Volkswagen is."

Morrison, however, was buried with editing work—my fault, perhaps, for turning in a comparison test with tenses so tortured they took him days to unravel—so off to Germany I went.

Well, friends, I have returned to America a changed man. No, I'm not ready to lecture on the finer points of retrofitting one's M96-engine IMS bearing, but I had a chance to see how the 911 originated, changed, and grew, and it's a fascinating arc. Ride along with me and let's experience the 911's story through its steering wheel and pedals.

1970 Porsche 911 (901) S 2.2 Targa: Almost the Original Porsche 911

What we know today as the 911 was called 901 until Peugeot cried trademark infringement. Porsche has an original 901 in its collection, which we recently drove; for this outing, the first-generation car is represented by the original Targa, the first hesitant step toward a 911 convertible.

To sit in a first-gen 911 is to be overwhelmed by history: You are looking at the dawn of one of autodom's great dynasties. At first glance, the interior looks about as much like that of a modern 911 as it does an upright piano—and yet there they are, five round gauges under a browed dash topped by a rounded windshield, and an ignition-key slot on the left. Honey, I'm home.

I turn that key and the 911 settles into the gentle chugging idle only a boxer engine can produce. It takes me a few tries to find the dog-leg first gear; turns out it's in the exact spot as my right knee. The engine is noisy, but oh, what noise! The 2.2-liter boxer struggles in the hills but really starts to boogie when revved past 5,000 rpm. I'm told the 911's original 2.0-liter was even pokier, which I have a hard time believing.

The non-assisted steering is outstanding—not too heavy, not too light, loading up with the g-forces to communicate exactly what the car is doing. You must shove the brake pedal a few inches before it bites, but it does so with such precision that I feel like I've got my feet directly on the backside of the brake pads. Even the turn-signal lever feels magnificent, a tactile aria of levers and springs. Were it not for the 911, Germany's mechanical magicians might still be best known for their cuckoo clocks.

The 901 is primitive by modern standards. The engine's a plodder, the thin-rim steering wheel is difficult to grasp, and the dog-leg shifter is a confounding contraption. But this is the beginning of something phenomenal, the tip of a common thread that will run through 60 years of automotive greatness.

1983 Porsche 911 (G-Series) Cabrio Turbo-Look: From Sports Car to Supercar

Before you fire up your email apps, Porschephiles, yes, I know: There was no Turbo-look option for '83, at least not for you commoners. This is a one-off built for Porsche's then-CEO Peter Schutz, and it shows the direction the 911 was going—not just the 930 Turbo's muscular bodywork, but sport-lux touches like 16-inch rims, power windows, deeply bolstered seats, and enough leather to trigger a PETA protest. This is the 911 of the 1980s: What was once a lonely long-hair picking at its acoustic guitar is now a rock star thrashing its Fender Stratocaster to arena-sized crowds, but it hasn't let the substance abuse and the groupies get the best of it.

The car drives like a Greatest Hits album. The shifter (dog-leg action gone!) is snappy and precise. The engine—3.2 liters, 228 hp—pulls hard, its trademark whine accompanied by an angry snarl as the tach swings past 3,000 rpm. The steering has been refined to perfection, providing telepathic precision with great load-up. My SOP with old cars is to ramp up my speed as long as things feel good. On an open stretch of road, with no Porsche minders in sight, I let the 911 run—150 kph, then 160, then 175. Just before the speedo touches 180, I back off for a curve. That's just more than 110 mph indicated—at least 100, allowing for speedo error—and the old gal feels rock-solid. How could this car possibly be a tail-happy killer?

Driving the '83 Turbo-look fills me with optimism, like a newly minted Wall Street millionaire seeing the roaring '80s stretching into the future. This is the turning point, the 911's transition from sports car to supercar. I want to drive it forever.

1992 Porsche 911 (964) Carrera RS: Dancing on the Ceiling

I'm cheating: The 964-series Porsche 911 was not part of this drive, but rather a 911 RS drive I did in 2022 celebrating the ducktail's 50th anniversary. But it's worthy of inclusion, because with the 964, Porsche seemed to hit the ceiling of what the original platform, now armed with heavy revisions, could do.

Granted, the Carrera RS is the extreme, a stripped-down light-weight racer built for speed over comfort and delivering plenty of the former at the expense of the latter. Its 260 hp sounds tame, but the 964 RS is ferociously quick, and not just in acceleration: Brakes, suspension, and non-assisted steering all respond instantly and decisively, giving the car a twitchy feel that makes you wonder if maybe the drugs are getting to it, after all. Outside of the RS model, the 964 was the first 911 to offer a true automatic transmission (we can debate the '68 Sportomatic some other time), 959-derived all-wheel drive, a revised suspension, and (heavens, no!) power steering.

But here, in its most potent form, the 911 feels frustrated. No—it feels trapped, hemmed in by its aging roots, a debt to history and Porsche's reluctance to creep too far from a successful formula. Critics raved about the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4, which eased those snap-oversteer tendencies, and some even had nice things to say about Tiptronic. But the unleashed RS is an angry machine, one that encourages its driver to push hard, experience the limits of the old chassis, and not think about consequences until you're heading ass-first into the bushes.

1998 Porsche 911 (993) Turbo S: We Can Change Without Changing

The 993 of 1994 ('95 for us 'Muricans) was the closest thing to a redesigned 911 yet. All but a few body bits were brand-new, which is why I'm surprised to find myself facing a dashboard that, at first glance, is identical to previous-gen 911s. It's as if Porsche was carefully reminding its ever-growing band of loyalists thatplus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Some say the 993 is the best air-cooled 911, and that the Turbo S is arguably the best of that lot. And you know what? It'smagnificent. So much of the feel emulates the older Porsches, and I don't just mean the long-throw shifter and pedals jutting up from the floor. The ride is hard, but not abusive. Steering, brakes, and even clutch are power-assisted, and yet they exhibit the same just-right feel of the first-gen 901. Just like the non-assisted 911s, the steering loads up with increasing g's, helping the driver gauge where the limits are. That's not software, son; it's good old mechanical miracle-working, just like the original 911. You can imagine the sigh of relief from loyalists as they took their first drives in a 993.

In contrast to the 964, cranking the 993 Turbo S up to the nth degree shows not constraints but unlimited promise. Power from the 3.6-liter boxer builds quickly but progressively, picking up sharply at 3,500 rpm and rocketing to redline. The turbochargers' whistle is the perfect accompaniment to the familiar air-cooled whine. The chassis feels confident and planted, and all-wheel drive means the danger zone may as well be on another planet. My only frustration is the lack of adjectives in the English language to describe how utterly perfect this 911 feels to drive.

2001 Porsche 911 (996) Carrera 4 Cabriolet: Have We Gone Too Far?

Overreach is, sadly, a natural fact of life, and I think it's happened here. Porsche got away with a lot of changes to the 993, so maybe the company figured it could go a little farther—or maybe it felt that if the 911 was letting go of the air-cooled engine, it could let go of a lot more.

Let's start with the dash. Sure, there are still those five gauge pods, now bunched together so they aren't blocked by the steering wheel. But the beam dash is gone, replaced by a 21st-century T-layout, with the vents, stereo, and climate controls arranged neatly on the center stack, just like in a Chevrolet Malibu rental car. The pedals hang from beneath the dash rather than jutting up from the floor. For the first time, I feel like I'm in a car, not a Porsche.

Oh, there's nothing wrong with the way it drives. This particular 996, a Carrera 4 Cabriolet with a 316-hp engine and all-wheel drive, is delightful: Light clutch, precise shifter, and lovely light steering like a modern-day Audi. Still, the steering doesn't load up the way the older 911s do. It doesn't telegraph the need to be cautious, perhaps because this is an all-wheel-drive 911 with that new-fangled Porsche Stability Management. Who needs to be cautious?

It's great to drive, sure, but it's so different from the older Porsches—all except the braking. The pedal is stiff, but when you get into the brakes at higher speed, it's oh-so-easy to modulate. It's the only real reminder of that old Porsche magic.

I'm disappointed in the 996, but maybe I'm the problem. This is a 20-odd-year-old car, and for an old fogie like me, that makes it modern—but for my younger colleagues, this is a classic old Porsche 911, and (rightfully) a benchmark for the way German cars should drive. Is my age getting in the way of a fair evaluation? After a long and entertaining drive in the 996, I don't know quite what to think of it.

2008 Porsche 911 (997) Targa 4S: Dialing Back

The 997 helps me clarify my thoughts on the 996. This is largely a continuation of the previous-gen car, with mechanical improvements and styling changes, most notably the elimination of the much-maligned "fried-egg" headlights. The 997 has proper stand-up headlights like a 911 should. Did Porsche, like me, realize it strayed too far with the 996? From the way the 997 drives, it sure seems that way. Gone is the Audi-esque feel to the steering; the 997 builds effort as wheel angle and cornering speeds increase, just like the pre-996 models—and just like a 911 ought to.

Of course, there are some things we aren't going to get back, like an air-cooled engine's irreplaceable whine. The 997 also pushed on us the reality of the automatic transmission. This was the first car with PDK, Porsche's dual-clutch gearbox and the first automatic that—objectively, at least—was demonstrably better than a manual trans. (I'll still take a clutch pedal, thank you very much, but PDK forced us three-pedalers to accept we'd be slower.) I remember, when PDK was new, marveling at how smooth it was; this 997 reminds me how much better PDK has gotten. The shift action of this lovely old Porsche feels rough-edged compared to the modern PDK.

Oh, and the Great Targa Debate? Normally I leave that to the Porsche nerds, but today I'm one of them, so I say it's just an overgrown sunroof.

2013 Porsche 911 (991) Carrera S 50th Anniversary Edition: What if We Started Over?

I was pretty sure the 991 would be the 911 I'd enjoy the least. An almost-modern-day Porsche with an automatic transmission? Fiddlesticks. I'm here to explore Porsche's history. A 10-year-old 911 is not history, it's a used car.

What an idiot I am. I loved the 991.Lovedit. Automatic transmission and all.

Set aside history for a moment—the 996 prepared me for that—and the 991 is a splendid automobile, extraordinarily quick and exceptionally well-sorted. Comfortable, too. Brilliant steering, once again, with a light feel and delectable feedback. A chassis that chats. Magnificent brakes. This is a bigger car than older 911s, and yet you can ramp up your speed in the curves and put it right where you want it. You don't drive the 991 so much as partner with it.

Is it anything like the classic Porsches? No. And yes. It doesn't feel the same as an air-cooled 911—but, more so than the other 21st-century 911s I've driven on this magical day,it does the same things, just in its own way. It has its own version of flawless steering, good body control, comfortable ride, easy-to-modulate brakes. And if you consider the purpose of a transmission rather than the experience of using it, yes, even PDK is excellent (and beats the daylights out of the 901's dog-leg first). Bonus: The 991 even brings back a bit of that old air-cooled whine. If humankind somehow lost its collective memory, I could see the 991 picking up the mantle of the first-ever Porsche 911. It sets the same pattern in its own unique way. What a car!

2023 Porsche 911 (992) Carrera T: Coming Full Circle

And here we are, back to the present with today's Porsche 911. How far we've come in 60 years: The 911 now is not so much a car as an industry, with everything from entry level models priced to hook new addicts up to ready-made collector editions for the man who has everything (or at least every 911).

Personally? I'm not the biggest 992 fan. Sure, it's a magnificent car, and by the numbers it's superior to the 991. Porsche even brought back the beam-style dash! But it's a wider car now, and you really feel those extra 2 inches. It's a bit more unwieldy, a compromise, perhaps, for its aging demographic's expanding waistline. Compared to the 991, it feels to me like a faster Porsche 911 for people who are ready to slow down a bit.

But I'll tell you the very first thing I noticed, before I even turned the pseudo-key, still positioned to the left of the steering wheel: The new five-gauge layout. Sure, every one of them but the center gauge is digital—but in a strikingly un-German blooper, the outer gauges are blocked by the steering wheel. Just like in the original 901.

And that's when it hits me: The modern-day Porsche 911 is a slightly flawed gem—just like the original Porsche 911. In 60 years, it seems the iconic sports car has come full circle.

1970 Porsche 911 S 2.2 Targa Specifications

• Engine: 2.2L OHC 12-valve flat-6, air-cooled
• Horsepower: 180
• Curb weight: 2,250 lb
• 0-62 mph (mfr): 7.5 sec
• Top speed: 143 mph

1983 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet Turbo-Look Specifications

• Engine: 3.2L OHC 12-valve flat-6, air-cooled
• Horsepower: 231
• Curb weight: 2,670 lb
• 0-62 mph (est): 6.0 sec
• Top speed: 152 mph

1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Specifications

• Engine: 3.6L OHC 12-valve flat-6, air-cooled
• Horsepower: 260
• Curb weight: 2,850 lb
• 0-62 mph (mfr): 5.4 sec
• Top speed: 162 mph

1998 Porsche 911 Turbo S Specifications

• Engine: 3.6L OHC 12-valve flat-6, air-cooled
• Horsepower: 450
• Curb weight: 3,310 lb
• 0-62 mph (mfr): 4.1 sec
• Top speed: 186 mph

2001 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet Specifications

• Engine: 3.6L DOHC 24-valve flat-6, water-cooled
• Horsepower: 320
• Curb weight: 3,395 lb
• 0-62 mph (mfr): 5.7 sec
• Top speed: 174 mph

2013 Porsche 911 S 50th Anniversary Specifications

• Engine: 3.8L DOHC 24-valve flat-6, water-cooled
• Horsepower: 430
• Curb weight: 3,130 lb

• 0-60 mph (MT): 3.9 sec
• Top speed: 185 mph

2023 Porsche 911 Carrera T Specifications

• Engine: 3.0L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve flat-6, water-cooled
• Horsepower: 379
• Curb weight: 3,280 lb

• 0-60 mph (MT): 3.9 sec
• Top speed: 180 mph