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Sometimes I think about those very fortunate people, and probably deservingly so, that every few years would swap out their Porsche 911 Turbo for the newest model year and be happy. Going from a 930 to a 964 Turbo was probably nice, and then going to the 993 Turbo must have felt like heaven. So why would you question your friendly salesperson who only likes you because you spend lots of money with them when the new 996 Turbo showed up on lots and was promised to be the best 911 Turbo yet? I can imagine the disappointment, but then again those same people are probably driving a 992 Turbo S this very day. Not exactly a tragic story.
Still, the 993 Turbo is somehow beating father time and getting more and more desirable every year. What once was a really fun 911 Turbo under $100,000 is now two or three times that, and the really prime examples, like the one we have today, have some mind-blowing asks. How does Iris Blue Metallic with 10,000 miles sound?
The 996 Porsche 911 Turbo market seems to have a little something for everyone. If you want a sub-$40,000 example that you can drive and enjoy, there are plenty out there. Want a super-low mileage Turbo S? $90,000 will do it. Thanks to Porsche for cranking out a ton of these, a little over 22,000 to be exact. Compare that to just 6,200 993 Turbos, so chances are the 996 Turbo will be around for a while and maybe not at crazy prices. This 2002 up for sale in Miami has a few special touches, but seems to be on the higher end of the price range. Worth it?
If you want to understand why Ruf managed to achieve its own status as a manufacturer in Germany, it can at least partly be explained by considering the R Turbo. Not satisfied with Porsche’s own twin-turbocharged variant of the 996, Ruf made their own. They completely disassembled the 3.6 liter flat-6, reworked a fair amount of the internals including the Variocam system and turbochargers, then revised the electronics by remapping the Bosch ECU. Then they fit this upgraded engine, in keeping with their history, into the narrow-body of the normal 911 Carrera. In order to do this, it required utilizing both GT2 and GT3 parts to make the package come together. You could opt for different states of tune starting with 520 horsepower – some 100 more than the standard Turbo, making the R Turbo one of the fastest cars on the planet. Take a look at the speedometer, for example, which sweeps well past 200 m.p.h.. Yes, the R Turbo could get there, too – with a reported 217 m.p.h. terminal velocity. 0-60 was achieved in under 4 seconds and in between, very little could stay with the thin Ruf. To deal with all of this speed, of course Ruf fit their own suspension coupled with bespoke Speedline wheels and some pretty giant Brembo brakes. On top of all that, you could select new R Turbo as a Cabriolet – something Porsche themselves wouldn’t offer until 2004. And as they always have, the modifications Ruf made were as seamless as the factory bits with accompanying reliability. It made for one quite special package:
