Know Your 911: Part 7 - the 991
Longer, wider, lighter, faster. The 991 911 has been with us for seven years but certainly made its mark.
The 991 launched in 2011, with the usual “how can you tell it’s new” jokes to go with it. Porschephiles don’t care about that stuff and neither do I. They’re not going to change the look and rightly so.
The 991 grew again, both in overall length and in its wheelbase, again to fit bigger humans and more stuff. The wheelbase grew a whopping 10cm making it look longer and lower, aided by a lovely wide track.
I think the kids call this “stance.”
It might have been bigger in every direction, but it got lighter to the tune of 45kg (or thereabouts, depending on the model). The wild GT2 RS smashed the ‘Ring and the post-GFC world couldn’t get enough of them – over 217,000 sold, taking the all-time sales through the one million mark.
During the year after its initial launch in 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show, the Cabriolet joined the coupe and in 2014 came the return of the GTS.
The Turbo and Turbo S pairing launched in 2013, as did the first iteration of the GT3. The GT3 RS replaced it two years later before the mid-life refresh in 2016 threw the cards in the air again.
From 2016, the Carrera and GTS switched to all twin-turbo 3.0-litre power. Shortly afterwards came the new Targa and in 2018 the limited-run Speedster.
Huffy puffy engines
The base engine shrunk again, this time to 3.4-litres but still managing 257 kW (350 PS). The 3.8-litre S upped the ante with 294 kW (400 PS).
The GTS arrived in 2014, this time with 316kW (430PS) and the option of rear- or all-wheel drive.
In 2016 the 3.0-litre twin-turbo found its way into the 911’s rump, with 272kW (370 PS) and a nice fat torque band. The GTS went further on the same engine with 331kW (450 PS).
The Turbo climbed to 397kW (540 PS) from its 3.8-litre twin huffer and the S scored 427kW (580 PS).
And Porsche kept going. The Turbo S Exclusive Series had 446kW (607PS) and finally, the GT2 RS had a whopping 515kW (700PS). If you were happy to restrict yourself to the track, the very limited 935 had the same engine. All of them had whopping great slabs of torque to ruin the rear tyres.
The GT3 kept the sublime naturally-aspirated 4.0-litre from the previous generation, initially with the option of a six-speed manual. With 382kW (520PS), that same engine with 368kW (500PS) found its way into the Speedster, the final edition of the 991.
The manual on the GT3 disappeared in 2017 and you could also get a slightly less hardcore GT3 Touring.
Well. That’s been fun. With Part 7 we draw to a close the countdown to the new 911 to be unveiled at the LA Auto Show.
