Behind the HYPE: Why the Porsche 911 Is the Quintessential Sports Car

The Porsche 911 is the quintessential sports car. Since 1963, a formula consisting of a small, lightweight body, a powerful yet moderately-sized engine placed in the rear, rear-wheel-drive (although, that changed later on with 4S and Turbo variants), and four seats has proved successful for one of Germany’s greatest exports — they’ve shifted over 1,000,000 of them after all.

It’s become the poster child for what makes a sports car — or today, perhaps a supercar — great. From the ‘entry-level’ Carrera to the flagship and highly-coveted GT2 RS, a Porsche 911 is a car that can be used day in, day out. Sure, as you go up the rankings wings get bigger, power becomes more impressive, creature comforts are lost (most notably in the hardcore RS variants) and rear seats are deleted, but for the most part the 911 is the perfect ‘usable super car’ — something few other manufacturers can boast, that being functional performance.

Today, the 911 is a highly collectible machine — no matter which era or guise. For example, air-cooled original 911s from series’ such as 930, 964, and 993 generations are only increasing in price. Earlier this year, a Pablo Escobar-owned 1974 Porsche 911 RSR sold for $2.2m USD, and Diego Maradona’s Porsche 911 964-gen Carrera sold for just under $590,000 USD. You can even buy newer models and ask for much more on the secondary market — the GT3 and GT2 RS models are a good example of this. 

To this day, almost 70-percent of all Porsche 911s ever made are still on the road, no doubt thanks to the level of perfection and precision that goes into making every single one. To find out more about the Porsche 911, watch HYPEBEAST‘s latest episode of Behind the HYPE above.

For more from HYPEBEAST on the Porsche 911, check out the installment of DRIVERS in which Ryo Ishikawa of FR2 talks about his 964-gen 911 Turbo.