Background
The Porsche 911 first broke cover in 1963, morphing over the years from the svelte, elfin Audrey Hepburn of the sportscar world into the current swollen-hipped, muscular Serena Williams-esque ballistic bruiser beloved of city traders, nouveau riche entrepreneurs, and mid-life crisis divorcees.
While the early cars were slow and fragile, the later cars are very fast and almost indestructible, which makes them the model of choice for the discerning enthusiast who cares more about driving than polishing.
While the 996 of 1997 onwards is the first of what many consider to be the ‘new’ 911 it is also the first of the water-cooled models, which leads many to deride it as not being a ‘proper’ 911. This is, of course, utter nonsense.
But, the fact remains that the market doesn’t value them as highly as either the older or the newer models like the 997 you see here. By the time the 997 arrived Porsche had got its eye after eight years of water cooled production, rattling out the hugely powerful and efficient new engines by the tens of thousands.
The base model Carrera is a great introduction to the range but the Carrera S with a larger engine, more power, and a sports suspension and exhaust, marked a new marketing strategy for Porsche, one based on trying to move buyers up from the base model whenever possible.
There was, you might remember, a little unpleasantness around the tendency of the first generation of 997 to score the bores of the Carrera’s 321bhp, 3.6-litre or the Carrera S’s 355bhp, 3.8-litre flat-six engine.
However, IMS bearing failure was a problem, as was the engine’s dislike of being over-revved. It was a good start – and a much better car than the 996 it replaced – but more work was needed.
This work was completed in 2007, with the introduction of the second generation 997. The engine was now as bomb-proof as any that Porsche had ever built (which is to say that it is very reliable indeed…) and the car was now available with the company’s brilliant PDK twin-clutch gearbox.
(Previously only the Tiptronic had been offered to customers who didn’t want to change gear themselves.)
The retuned four-wheel-drive system now featured torque vectoring, which helped turn-in and meant that enthusiast drivers who needed all-weather mobility were no longer being punished by a somewhat inert and unresponsive chassis.
Performance was strong with the turbo-charged model capable of hitting 62mph in around three seconds when fitted with four-wheel-drive and the PDK gearbox; analogue it may be, but the second generation 997 started to mark the time from which the driver’s inputs were less efficient and slower than those the car could conjure up when left to its own devices…
The interior is as bombproof as any 911’s, which helps you forgive its sometimes wayward ergonomics. It’s comfortable too, with supportive seats and one of the best driving positions in the business. It even offers four-up motoring, although the rear seat is best occupied by pre-teen children rather than fully fledged adults.
