1995-1997 Porsche 911 Turbo

by Gregory Von Dare

Above the tree line, where the air is crisp and cool, where mountain roads run riot with their roller-coaster vectors, the new Porsche 911 Turbo is in its natural element. Like a fighter plane, it attacks the blacktop, diving and climbing, banking hard and harder. Rotating into sharp turns under precise control of the astonished and delighted driver.

After several hours of absorbing high G-forces the mind and body are purified, wiped clean of petty cares and worries. And exhausted. More than any Porsche in recent memory, this new 911 Turbo is a car that to park and walk away from bruises the soul. What higher praise is there?

Yet this robust, 400 horsepower twin-turbo coupe is not a rampaging, barely controllable, fire-breathing T-Rex of brutal performance. While it is fully capable of acceleration that resembles a jump to light speed and cornering that appears to defy the very laws of physics, Porsche's amazing and delightful Turbo is also comfortable on long drives, docile in rush hour traffic and offers good side and rear visibility. The new 911 Turbo is an automotive unicorn, a genre of one, an endlessly unique experience. It is the civilized supercar.

All this impressive power would be wasted if the car could not corner in the Porsche tradition. Past versions of the Turbo were awesome, exhilarating and perhaps too much car for the inexperienced or non-expert driver. The new 911 Turbo is well balanced, stable, almost ordinary to drive, until you glance at the speedometer and realize you just turned a corner at THREE TIMES the legal speed limit.

The Turbo uses essentially the same suspension as the new Carrera: struts, coil springs and stabilizer bar in front, with Porsche's Lightweight-Stable-Agile (LSA) system of multiple links, coil springs and roll bar, mounted to an aluminum subframe at the rear. The four links at each rear wheel emulate A-arms while providing the "Weissach" effect to toe-in the outside wheel under hard cornering for more stability.

Big, shiny four-wheel disc brakes with cross-drilled rotors and four-piston fixed calipers at each corner provide the Turbo with fearsome stopping power. A good driver can halt this car in 2.5 seconds from 60 mph. Power goes to the ground through five spoke, hollow, friction-welded aluminum wheels - 8x18 inch in front and 10x18 at the rear. Standard tires are obese, Z-rated Pirelli P Zero: 225/40 in front and 285/30 aft.

Inside, the Turbo is familiar to every 911 driver. The rear seat is still too small for adults. The tach is still in the middle. Dual air-bags are standard as is automatic climate control, a Becker 10-speaker audio system, power seats and an electric sunroof. A new, optional infra-red security system helps keep the car yours.

Back in 1972 when Porsche first applied turbocharging, it was for the exalted 917, Porsche's Can-Am rocket. The success of forced induction on the 917/10 and 917/30 led to the milestone slant-nose 934/935 series, production-based cars so powerful and fast one of them collected an overall win at the 24 Hours of LeMans.

Then, in 1985, Porsche created the 959, a 911 based twin-turbo all-wheel-drive sports car for the Group B Rally formula. When Group B collapsed, Porsche offered a limited production run of the 959 to a worldwide market, excluding the USA, because the car could not comply with American safety and smog regulations. Racing variants of the 959 known as 961 were successful in long distance rallying, winning the Paris-Dakar and competing honorably at LeMans against prototype racers. The 911 Turbo proudly inherits this tradition of success and technical innovation.

Porsche 911 Turbo
Engine	twin-turbo air-cooled sohc flat-6
Displacement	3600 cc
Horsepower	400 @ 5750 rpm
Chassis	steel unibody + rear sub-frame
Weight	3307 lbs.
Base price	$105,000 USD