Any Porsche fans out there?

A huge fan of their 70's and 80's era Le Mans cars, the experience of seeing and hearing the 917's and 956/962's at full chat down the Mulsanne at the Le Mans Classic will stay with me for ever, yet I have never really been a fan of their road going efforts. I should like them, I know I should, I have driven a few over the years and some are impressive, but for me they lack that certain something that I cant put my finger on.
Anyway, I have just found this link on another forum (hopefully not a repost) and there are some interesting cars and concepts kept in the archive shed round the back of Porsche! Enjoy...

https://jalopnik.com/going-inside-porsch...dium=socialflow

Great cars, but they leave me a bit cold to be honest. If I had to have one it would be a Carrera 4S, Boxster S or Cayman S.

Generally, I'd probably have something else given the choice.

Do they lack soul maybe?

I certainly wouldn't argue if someone gave me one !

MarkS will give us the lowdown.....

I had a Boxster for a year and loved it. Great car to drive and a lovely 6pot soundtrack too.

My best mate Ed had a 964 for a couple of years - it was so much fun and did indeed sound awesome

The only Porsche I've ever liked, past or present, is the Carrera GT

I was a Porsche guy long before I bought a Coupé. Still am. Mine were all variants of the 944 though …

I’ve driven a lot over the years, highlights being an original, unrestored, 356 coupé and the second generation 997 GT3RS, which I got to test around Silverstone at night. I’m a fan, and suspect I always will be.

I had a 944 turbo. 1990 higher power version. It handled and drove like a dream. Super fast, super agile, I loved it. Only bought it to make money, ended up regretting selling it.

My last (and favourite) was a late-model 944 Turbo too. Absolutely the perfect car, in my opinion. Reliable daily driver, fast, perfectly balanced, four seats and a massive boot. I’ve driven all sorts of exotic machinery since and nothing has matched how comfortable and confident that car made me feel.

I lost an absolute packet on mine. Well, sort of. I sold because I was skint – had to sell, couldn’t afford the insurance, tax, MOT that were due – at the knockdown price of £2,350. Same car sold on a few months ago for £12,500.

I like a car to be fast, look good and to interest me. The Coupe met all of these criteria, especially as I carefully and progressively modified it over the years. It was also quite a bit of fun that people had no idea what the hell it was or how fast it could go. I value acceleration over cornering speed or top/high speeds.

I sold my Coupe after I purchased a 997 C4S manual car. I reasoned that this was to be a keeper being the new (non self destruct engine), largest and most powerful regular NA engine and manual; all of which should appeal to keen drivers in the future turbo, electric, autobox world. I think I may have posted before it was taking me some time to bond with the Porsche.

The cliche is that I knew within 50 yards of driving the car (my first and only 911 experience) how magical and impressive the steering feel of the car was. It truly was a step above anything else I'd driven and it remains so. Its ability is way above my driving ability and my wish to even test its limits. However, I found myself having no interest in the mechanical side of how it achieves and delivers its performance (unlike the Coupe), plus while you can mod them, I don't see the point, whereas I did with the Coupe. So I liked it but did not love it in its dark blue colour, just a supremely capable machine that did not tug on my heart strings.

Changing the colour to bright yellow (wrap) elevated the car above the thousands of safe (black, silver, grey etc.) 911s on the road. I have also come to appreciate that the 997 shape and size is, IMHO and that of some others, the sweet-spot of the whole 911 range.

So to conclude I now love my 997, I feel good driving it at any speed and I look back at it after I park up, just like the Coupe. I think this last point is the acid test.

NB. Only criticism of the 997 is high levels of tyre noise in cabin.