Porsche 911 991

After a busy few ‘car’ months, my Porsche excursions of late have been limited by my own availability – work travel and the school summer holidays have meant some significant time away from the cars. My wife will say this was long overdue, but it has resulted in me longing for some extended seat time and a chance to attend some of the many events that have been running over the summer.

That said, I’ve still managed some memorable long drives over the past month, notably in the 50th Anniversary Edition, which has largely been the chariot of choice due to its all-round comfort and usability. By that, I mean that when I’ve needed to take a passenger it provides the perfect solution with rear seats that my children still just about fit in. It provides a level of practicality that the GT3 cannot match. The car is such a pleasure to own and drive, and I’ve really enjoyed the past 12 months of ownership. A couple of annoying jobs need sorting though: an error message regarding the high-level brake light dominates the dash at start up (an LED bulb appears to be defective) and a stone has pierced the PPF on the front apron. The latter isn’t a catastrophe and that’s the purpose of the protection film in the first instance, but something that will need a visit to local specialists Max Protect to remedy.

I’ve been considering the car’s long-term future in my garage, and it’s a difficult decision to balance. I really do rate the 991 platform very highly, and the 50th AE is such a special model, but are there one or two ‘missing’ items on the spec that might enhance the car further still? Could I find another one that has a few more option boxes ticked and in such complete condition? Probably, but given the way the market has gone over the past few months will the financial outlay (despite my best Man Maths) justify thechange for such marginal gains? As of now, I’m inclined to stick rather than twist, but the mere fact that I’m thinking about its possible substitution could prove to be the devil on my shoulder…

Otherwise, the past few weeks have seen some further progress with the enhancements to the 996 Carrera, which is now close to my envisaged version of the car and therefore almost ready to enjoy. I’ll document the full list of works carried out once the car is back with me, but from the photos I’ve been sent from the workshop I can already tell the wait will have been worthwhile. A few subtle modifications to both the appearance and comfort of the car were the focus, since I was already happy with the overall performance.

Readers may recall that the brief when searching for a 996 Coupe was to acquire a well-cared for early example with a ‘light’ spec, so as to enjoy the stripped-back nature of these cars without driver aids or interventions. Given that’s what I bought, not radically changing the performance of the car was important and I do feel that’s what I will have achieved. When I have spent time driving the car, I’ve really enjoyed its stature, road presence (for example, it’s not 992-wide!) and simplicity so I have a few autumn outings planned to fully embrace those attributes along with the personal mods I’ve overseen.

Just before submitting this month’s column, a break in the poor UK summer weather afforded a couple of consecutive evening opportunities to fire up the GT3 after work. An excuse to ‘get the car up to temperature’ one particularly fine evening soon turned into a 90-mile A and B road excursion – exactly the type of driving for pleasure I’ve not done enough of recently but a good reminder of just how amazing this generation of GT 911 is. With autumn in sight and a number of events planned with our independent Porsche owners club, the GT3 seems to be the nailed-on ride for at least one or two of the longer trips we will embark upon.

• James Bullen Hertfordshire, UK
• Model 911 991 50 JAHRE
• Year 2014
• Acquired 2022
• Model 992 GT3
• Year 2022
• Acquired 2022
• Model 996.1 CARRERA
• Year 1999
• Acquired 2023