The 911 Turbo has a long and interesting history, it is a car with an unlikely origin story that has gone on to become a global performance car icon, setting benchmarks at every turn.While US automakers struggled to figure out how to sell their big, inefficient muscle cars during a global oil crisis, Porsche capitalized on a market hungry for more efficient performance cars. The 911 was selling better than ever, but they had already boldly invested in a new turbo car that would knock the socks off the competition. It was, however, still up to the buying public to show if this was the right direction for them to go in, as it was an unproven technology at the time.
10 Oil Crisis Debut
Not many sports cars were being developed in the 70s. With not one but two oil crises during the decade, it became something of an automotive wasteland.
Porsche pretty much laughed in the face of all that, launching the very first 911 Turbo, known as the 930 in 1975, slap bang in the middle of the decade. It would go on to become one of their most successful models, being sold right up until 1989.
9 Widowmaker Reputation
Although it set a new benchmark for what a performance car should be, by 1978 the 930 was making as much as 300 horsepower, and raised several questions around safety.
Frankly speaking, in the wrong hands, or just in the wrong conditions, these old turbo cars are extremely dangerous. With most of the weight at the back hanging over the rear axle they were prone to snap oversteer, a number of fatal accidents led to the car being coined “The Widowmaker.”
8 964 Sets The Tone For The 90s
For a few short years, the 964 got to wear the coveted turbo crown, making only a little more power than the old 930; this was never going to be the long-term replacement.
As a result, sales for the 964 were fairly slow by Porsche standards as most people anticipated the release of the upcoming 993, making it a fairly rare 911 turbo.
7 993 Gets AWD And An Extra Turbo
As good a car as the 964 was, the 993 really was the upgrade many had anticipated, bringing AWD to a mass market Porsche for the first time and switching over to a less lag prone twin-turbo setup.
It was a remarkable evolution for the brand, essentially bringing the limited edition 959 hypercar back to life with this model.
6 996 GT2 Takes It Up A Notch
Although the 996 is still widely criticized as the worst 911 in history (this much is debatable) the GT2 was an incredible performance car for the time.
Making as much as 480 horsepower back in the early 00s, it was in a very elite club purely based on power figures. It was also lighter than the standard turbo and was one of the first road going cars to come with race oriented carbon-ceramic brakes.
5 GT2 RS Breaks 700 Horsepower
The latest GT2 is an absolute monster, with the previous GT2 making in excess of 600 horsepower the benchmark was set high, yet they found a way of surpassing that.
It is by some distance the most powerful 911 to don the badge that has since become more of a marketing tool than a physical representation of mechanical performance.
4 Turbo Branding
The 911 has been the poster child for Porsche for several decades now, but as we see more and more manufacturers pivot towards electrification, Porsche, too, have had to rethink their range, at least to some extent.
Obviously the turbo moniker has never been exclusively limited to the 911, it has long since been a representation of power and speed in their lineup. However, when they launched their first EV, the Taycan, with a turbo variant, it just felt like a pure branding exercise, leaving a bad taste in most fans' mouths.
3 The Manual Transmission
Another big part of the 911 experience has always been the manual transmission, so it stirred up some controversy when they dropped it in favor of the smooth shifting PDK transmission not long ago. However, they were actually forced to bring it back almost immediately.
A 911 can still be had with the PDK transmission, and it will more than likely shift faster than any human, but we are all happy that the manual lives on, at least for now.
2 Exclusive Price Tag
The latest version of the famous Turbo (the one that actually has a turbo) is the most exclusively priced to date.
Coming in at over $170,000 this is certainly not the go to sports car of yesteryear. It has graduated somewhat, taking on the most powerful hypercars money can buy. More often than not, it comes out on top, proving that it is worth every penny.
1 Ultimate Everyday Supercar
One thing the 570 horsepower monster does not have in common with its hypercar rivals is reliability, or rather their infamous lack thereof.
Over the years, Porsche has proven to not only be the most reliable premium brand, but one of the most reliable automotive brands, period. They truly live up to their everyday sports car mantra.