Beauty of the Base

Here at Total 911 we believe there is no such thing as a poor 911. We admire them all, and as motoring journalists we get particularly excited when new models are released. Porsche has spoiled us with many different model iterations – S, 4S GTS – and as owners we’ve become addicted to upgrading and going as high up the chain as possible, thereby moving away from the entry-level 911 Carrera. But, and this may surprise you, we sometimes think that less is more, and if you are undecided on which model of your chosen generation to buy, then this feature just might save you some money.

Back in 1964 the only 911 available was the ‘0’ Series 911. If the 130bhp on offer wasn’t enough you would have to get out your own spanners and try to coax a few more horses out of it. Over 9,000 were sold, and it wasn’t until three years later that Porsche would offer 4,000 lucky owners the heady 160bhp of the 911S. And this was pretty much the pattern from the ’70s to the ’90s – new models would be offered with a basic horsepower level, and more powerful versions would follow, often several years later.

The 993 arrived in 1993, and a total of over 40,000 base models were sold. An ‘S’ version offering an extra 13bhp came two years later, with sales of a further 7,000 cars. The 996 that followed in 1998 sold 120,000 base models, with the 4S released in