The Generation Game: Porsche 911

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Porsche 911

  • 1964-1989 Porsche 911 (901 / "Classic")

    Votes: 2 7.1%

  • 1975-1989 Porsche 911 (930)

    Votes: 5 17.9%

  • 1989-1993 Porsche 911 (964)

    Votes: 7 25.0%

  • 1994-1998 Porsche 911 (993)

    Votes: 5 17.9%

  • 1997-2006 Porsche 911 (996)

    Votes: 3 10.7%

  • 2004-2013 Porsche 911 (997)

    Votes: 4 14.3%

  • 2011-2019 Porsche 911 (991)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2019-present Porsche 911 (992)

    Votes: 2 7.1%
  • Total voters
    28
  • Poll closed .
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The Generation Game: Porsche 911

Air-cooled.
Water-cooled.
Every Carrera.
Every Turbo.
Every GT/RS

Everything.

1964-1989 Porsche 911 (901 / "Classic")

Porsche_911E_ca_1969.jpg


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible
Engines: 2.0 - 3.3L H6
Drivetrain: RR
Length: 4.29m / 169in
Weight: ~1,050kg / 2,310lbs

---

1975-1989 Porsche 911 Turbo (930)

Nationale_oldtimerdag_Zandvoort_2010%2C_Red_Porsche.JPG


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible
Engines: 3.0L - 3.3L turbocharged H6
Drivetrain: RR
Length: 4.29m / 169in
Weight: ~1,300kg / 2,860lbs

---

1989 - 1993 Porsche 911 (964)

S19_0426_fine.jpg


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible
Engines: 3.6 - 3.75L H6, 3.3 - 3.6L turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.28m / 168in
Weight: ~1,217kg / 2,677lbs

---

1994 - 1998 Porsche 911 (993)

thumbnail.cgi


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible, 2-door speedster
Engines: 3.6 - 3.8L H6, 3.6L twin-turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.26m / 167in
Weight: 1,390kg / 3,064lbs (Base coupe)

---

1997-2006 Porsche 911 (996)

Porsche-911-996.png


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible
Engines: 3.4 - 3.6L twin-turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.43 / 175in
Weight: 1,317kg / 2,904lbs

---

2004-2013 Porsche 911 (997)

porsche_911_997_front_three_quarter_0.jpg


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible, 2-door speedster
Engines: 3.6 - 4.0L H6, 3.6L - 3.8L twin-turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.39m / 175in
Weight: 1,370kg / 3,020lbs

---

2011-2019 Porsche 911 (991)

IMG_18781-large.jpg


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible, 2-door speedster
Engines: 3.4 - 4.0L H6, 3.0 - 3.8L twin-turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.52m / 178in
Weight: ~1,520kg / 3,344lbs

---

2019-present Porsche 911 (992)

porsche-911-992-5.jpg


Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 2-door targa, 2-door convertible
Engines: 4.0L H6, 3.0 - 3.7L twin-turbocharged H6
Drivetrains: RR, R4
Length: 4.52m / 178in
Weight: ~1,520kg / 3,344lbs

---

The 930 Turbo was treated as a separate model inside Porsche until the 964 merged the two together into a single gen.

Given the sheer number of different models and permutations, in no way is this post a comprehensive catalogue of all 911 generations over the years. If you have more information about anything, please post and tell us more. That's what this thread is about. The more discussion, the better.

Previous Results Thread
 
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Love the 930 for its shape. Love the 964 for its modern lightness. Love the 993 for being compact.
 
The 996 had some kind of nostalgia for me even when I don't remember seeing it too much. The turbo models looks cool
The 997 felt like the most balanced of the 911 designs (IMO), and yet looks perfectly wild under its GT3 RS-guise
The 991 felt more like an update of the 997, to put it in the modern times. 992s? Maybe it would grow on me soon.
 
I'm torn. The 993 Turbo is the best one, but the 997 GT3RS is also the best one. Decisions, decisions...
 
My vote's going to change over the week. I love the 930 so much; it and the 964 have a brutish look that I can't quite explain but absolutely adore. The 993 GT2 with the ridiculous wing is ridiculousness at its finest.
 
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There's aspects of all of the 911 generations that are great (before they made it huge and ungainly after the 997), so this one is going to be pretty hard. The only one I vehemently don't like of the 911 generations are the pre-impact bumper ones.
 
This is a difficult one for me between 964, 993, 996, and 997. I went with 964 because it seems like the most distilled 911 of them all...and I love how they look. The 993 also looks great but is maybe a little edgeless. The 996 is very pretty and the 997 is probably the best of the lot, but both lack a little charm compared to the air cooled cars. A 964 on Cup2s is near perfect.
 
A dark green 996 with that peanut butter tan interior is on my short list for cars I'd want in my garage.
 
Picking a favorite gen 911 to me is like picking a favorite kid, can there be an "all of the above" option 😂

I'd have a hard time picking from 964, 993 and 996 since those are the gens I grew up and became obsessed with, but 997 is hard to exclude.

I honestly can't decide, so I'll revisit this later.
 
I like the 964.

I can't pretend I'm a petrol head but it looks pretty and if I could choose to have any based on looks alone, it'd be that one.
 
ElectricNaz
I like the 964.

I can't pretend I'm a petrol head but it looks pretty and if I could choose to have any based on looks alone, it'd be that one.
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I only voted for 993 having driven 964's. we had a 964 turbo in (shop i work at) and it was one of the best looking porsches i had ever seen. but Oh my god, i will gladly try to park anything else.... i should not have to do a 8-point turn just because i went into a narrow spaced parking lot, in a sports car. they have horrible parking lot manners.

because that's why you would buy a porsche, parking lot manners. :D
 
They're all great to be honest, i'd find a home for any version from any era like a shot.

For me the 964 is the pinnacle. Keeps the original, classic, compact 911 shape but managed to modernise it from just the bumper line down. I know purists may turn their noses up at it, but the Carrera 4 which debuted with the 964 turned it into an accesable all-weather daily, shaping the direction of the 911 we have today.
 
When I think about the name 911, I think almost always of the 964. It's the perfect blend of classic 911 size and modernizing it just enough. I have always been a fan of the 911, especially as a kid. The 996 would come next for me, solely because it's the one I grew up with. After the 997, they just got too big for my tastes. The 964 RS is just simple driving perfection.
 
One of my most impactful automotive experiences was paging through (over and over and over and...) the 1992 Autokatalog from Motor Presse Stuttgart. In the Porsche section the most prominent picture was of a Guards Red 964 Turbo from behind. It looked like a fist ready to hit anything. So yeah, 964 all the way. Obviously, I could mention specific models from any generation but I can't afford any of the 911s anyway, so it's all theoretic. Well, I could get maybe a manual 996 but I'm not sure I'd be ready for the maintenance costs.

Finally, 2 pictures from the 2003 sport auto Tuner GP at the Hockenheimring (taken with a barebones film compact camera and scanned from paper maybe around 2005/2006):

1748534417337.png


1748534445872.png
 
Ummed and aaahed and switched to the 930. Magnificent and as someone mentioned, it's a fantastic poster car.
 
Tied things up with my vote for the 930. From first seeing one on screen as Jeff Goldblum's ride in Thank God It's Friday to being the featured car to steal by Charlie Sheen in No Man's Land to seeing one(perfect spec'd in green with gold BBS RS and a loud Kenwood sound system playing Sade's Your love if king) up close at the NY Auto Show back in the day. It's the ultimate frog.
 
This might be a semantics thing, but I don't see "930" as a generation of 911, but rather a specific model - the original 911 Turbo. I think everyone gets it, but shouldn't it be 911 G or G Body for the intermediate years (1974-1989) cars and the 901/classic being the 1964-1973 cars?
 
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Eunos_Cosmo
This might be a semantics thing, but I don't see "930" as a generation of 911, but rather a specific model - the original 911 Turbo. I think everyone gets it, but shouldn't it be 911 G or G Body for the intermediate years (1974-1989) cars and the 901/classic being the 1964-1973 cars?
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My thoughts too when I saw the poll, 930 only refers to the 3.0 and 3.3 Turbo from 75 to 89. I've never considered the 930 to be separate from the other 911s of the era, it's just the only Turbo road car to get it's own code.

But also 901 should only refer to the earliest 1964 models.

I'd say the poll would be more accurate with the first 2 gens being "classic 911 1964-73" and "G model 1974-89". Or lump all pre-964 into "classic 911" maybe to make it easy.
 
May be an unpopular opinion here but for me, it's 992 all the way. I know they are bigger and quite different then your "classic" 911...at least that's what I hear from some owners, but there's just something about them that just leaves me salivating everytime I see one 😅. While I love all the different generations of 911 the most iconic for me was the 964 Turbo after seeing it in the first Bad Boys movie growing up. That car was such a stunner and that's really what got me interested in Porsches.

In any case, I think the interesting thing would be to see how people would rank the different generations 😆.
 
As a life-long Porsche nerd I also have to point out that the F-model (64-73) is its own generation (aka early 911, ”longhood”, with SWB and LWB), and after that came the G-model (74-89).
I guess one could find argument for splitting the F-model into SWB and LWB as well, but then I guess you need to split up the G-model into three different generations as well and that might be a bit too nerdy I guess!

And how sweet it is, but the 930 is just the G-model turbo. But the different generations of the 911 turbo is also a generation game worth having!
 
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AshenGraey
May be an unpopular opinion here but for me, it's 992 all the way. I know they are bigger and quite different then your "classic" 911...at least that's what I hear from some owners, but there's just something about them that just leaves me salivating everytime I see one 😅. While I love all the different generations of 911 the most iconic for me was the 964 Turbo after seeing it in the first Bad Boys movie growing up. That car was such a stunner and that's really what got me interested in Porsches.

In any case, I think the interesting thing would be to see how people would rank the different generations 😆.
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I agree as in all new cars are going to perform better than anything from the past. A TRD Camry would probably embarrass a 930 around a track. But new cars lack a certain amount of soul. They are way more capable but way less engaging all at the same time. Also. To get the max out of any Porsche after 2006. You better have a private track and an instructor right seat. Sports cars these days are wild. See 1000hp ‘25 corvette zr1
 
I feel that I need to post my opinion this time round, because this is, after all, the Porsche 911, the most distilled sports car.

I went with the first-gen 911, not because it looks the best in all its iterations overall (that’d go to the 997.2), not because it looks the coolest (such a badass title can only be reserved for the 964 Carrera RS 3.6 to me), but because a certain rendition of it struck a chord inside me. A few months ago I’ve been diving into the cosmetic differences between the dozens of models that form the original 911, and while I have completely forgotten what the differences are since then, one particular trim stood out. The 911 F, if I’m not mistaken, especially in its earlier guises, has a lot of chrome-plated parts, from the horn grilles to the taillight housing, and these together with the smooth front bumper that doesn’t have the creased lip spoiler just make it look much more svelte than other 911s that came after. When combined with a good-looking colour and the instrument cluster with those green-lit lettering, it now has a certain sense of sportiness added to it. Add to it the black-over-chrome Fuchs wheels, and it’s pretty much the perfectly-specced 911 to me. :drool: Just a backstory to my own choice. The G-model looks a bit “average”, and lacks the understated elegance to me.

When equipped with the chrome headlight casings that wrap around the lens though, this generation of 911 looks terrible. I’d take the 964 over that any day, with the 997 a close third but still higher than that F-model configuration.

As a digression, taillight lens running the entire width of a car’s rear almost always ruins it to me, and Porsche 911s particularly so; the 992 may look okay, but it’s still a step backwards from the base 991.1’s styling.
 
I voted 2019-present Porsche 911 (992) never been a fan of the 911 till this gen of the 911 the 911 GT3 RS the one added to GT7 is one of the best cars I driving a little under power but fun as hell to drive.
 
The 997.2 was the peak, for me. Not too big, just enough power, endless editions for every mood. And the prettiest design.
 

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