WHAT ARE THESE CARS?

What I mean is what are these cars referred to. A grand touring? a sports car? A touring? OR WHAT? I just wonder what you guys think and why. Also whats the difference of each category? What did the factory refer to them as? I realize its all irrelevant.

IMO any 911 is a sports car - regardless of #of seats (if you can call the rear things "seats") or creature comforts included...

The non-turbo cars are in the same category as an M3, IMO.

Sports car. Whether it has a turbo or not is irrelevant. Cars such as the Lotus Elan, Austin Healey 3000, and the first 911's are all considered true sports cars, to name just a few. Alan

The 911 series of cars are referred to as "sports coupes" in many places.

Our Nissan Altima was a "4-door Sports Coupe". Had the decal right on the back door window to prove it.

It's a 911 Sportscar. 911 being the operative word for the car. There is no substitute.

No no no they're time bombs!

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LOL!!!

I think it might have to much luxury stuff to be a sports car, especially if it has a TIP transmission. I know it handles like a sports car but......... I always thought sports cars had the bare essentials, two seats, no power windows or steering, a manual transmission, good brakes but not anti lock, no AC, no power seats etc. I thought cars like our 996 were more Grand Touring even though they handle better than most anything else. I mean they have plush leather interiors, thermostat controlled heat and air, power steering and power windows, power seats of which some are even heated, back seats even if they're only good for kids. Computers that monitor and control a million things of which only some are necessary. Mine tells me how far I've went, how far I can go, how hot it is outside, how many miles to the gallon I'm getting. Another thing it has is Cruise Control, I don't think of sports cars as having cruise control or solenoids that lock the gas cap door along with more solenoids to lock other stuff. Also an alarm system that would make a bank proud. I think they might be more of a Grand Touring car. Just to qualify my opinion as nothing more than an opinion I have no idea what the official criterior is for the different categories. I had a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 once and it was considered a Grand Touring car back then and it had no extra stuff so I'm confused but its nothing serious anyway.

There is an interesting editorial in this month's car & driver that asks the question about weather the sports car is dying. The author was trying to point out that the sports car was originally intended to be a vehicle that was singular purposed. It was intended to be used purely for the pleasure of driving. In that sense the 911 while not as practical as an SUV, etc. is not entirely impractical for daily driving. My take on your question is this. The 911 is a poor design engineered to perfection. It is the pinnacle car of one of the most storied car marks in history. It is a car whose purpose is focused on the pleasure of driving but is reliable enough to get the pleasure every day.

easy fix....pull all the fuses and remove the rear seat cushions, voila a two seat no electronic gizmo sports car.

I call it a "Luxury grand saloon" aka "Oberklasse" in Germany. Of course, however, I am wrong.

Grand Touring Car: One with sufficient creature comforts to make an all day high speed trip enjoyable. Sports Car: Few creature comforts (think MGA or Triumph TR6), harsh ride, and you wouldn't want to take an all day 600 mile trip in one. When you look at modern cars such as an M3 or M5, an AMG Mercedes (doesn't really matter which one), or an "S" model Audi, you have all the creature comforts of a grand touring car, the handling of a sports car (probably better), and often room for 4 and all your luggage

The definitions of the 50s and 60s became blurred in the 70s and 80s, then were obscured in the 90s and by the new century the old definitions were as obsolete as the cars they once described. For the 911, the 996 is the last and the first...first of the watercooled 911s, last of the drive it yourself 911s. Next is the day of the hybrid/turbo/self-driving trans/pods. You will not have a choice. Your pods will go as fast as the government decides to let you. Your route will be chosen by computers buried in the road. The interior of the pod will be a simulator that allows you to pretend you are in control of your life. We are all Montag.

John Sometimes i wish i was as old as you so i wouldnt see the day you described in your reply. Everything has become waaaaay too controled. To the OP our 996's are probably the last true sports cars built.

"996 Turbo is fifteen years old. Porsche's 'everyday supercar' was a key landmark along the 911 evolutionary timeline" Simon Jackson editor GT Porsche.

If the 911 isn't a sports car, then I don't know what is a sports car. Sure, it has cruise control and nice leather seats. I feel that a sports car is more about the driving experience than about using a crank vs. a button to roll down the window. Almost all modern sports cars have modern features. Most people would consider a Ferrari 458 Italia to be a sports car, but it is even more "modernized" than the 996 or 997. A 996 May not fit the 1950s definition of a sports car, but that's okay. We're living in 2015, not the 1950s.

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oh give me a ****ing break. a modern day miata is a true sports car. More so than a 996 will ever be. Hell they even made the newer generation lighter. This "my car is the last of x,y,or z" is just ridiculous.

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This has been going on ever since the 356 was replaced by the 911. Every new iteration of the 911 leaves the owners of the former generation proclaiming that their car is the last true Porsche, the last true sports car, the last blah blah blah... It's quite common on the 997 boards when comparing the 997 to the 991. I'm sure the 991 guys will say the same thing when the 992 launches.

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Could not have responded any better. This is not 1963, the modern interpretation of the sports car has changed. It doesn't have to just have the amenities of a Turkish prison to be a sports car. I would say that the C2 and C2S are the very upper echelon of the sports car world and the turbo is a super car.

To me there a sliding scale from sport -> luxury. Each new generation slides it was up to luxury. I do think we are at a point that with these new automatic 911's, even though can be fitted with a manual gearbox that the cockpit is designed for an automatic car and they don't even have an emergency brake handle now. Gone are many things of what makes a sports car a sports car, they are not raw anymore, can't feel the road through your hands or butt, there seems to be no sport left in them other then heritage.

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+1

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+996 Cars with tons of leather, blind spot monitoring, electronic e-brake, electric steering, non-defeatable electronic nanny gadgets, fake noise generators, collision avoidance systems, etc. are not considered "Sports Cars" in my books.

Personally I don't really care what it's called, or what others call it - I have one (finally) and it's a blast to drive, and I'm happy. If anything I lean more towards Grand Touring, and I call it that myself, for no other reason than it seems (to me) to fit that criteria a bit better, that's how I intend to use it this summer (more trips rather than track days), and it sounds more pompous and arrogant. =)

Next, we'll be on to the differences in roadster, convertible, drophead, fixed head, landaulet, cabriolet, dual cowl, phaeton, town car, 2+2, touring car, grand touring, gran turismo, etc.. Each "coachwork" class of car bodies are named specifically for the seating number and layout, and there are real differences in what makes one a roadster, and another a cabrio. Terms change across the globe and through time, but I'm pretty sure a Porsche 911 is a sports car.

I have owned a few 996C2's, a few gen2 Viper GTS's, a C5 FRC Corvette and an E36 M3. From a performance prospective, the 996 is nowhere near the Viper or C5. The Corvette makes about 150ft-lb of torque more than the 996 and the Viper makes about DOUBLE the torque of the 996. In stock form, the 996 reminds me of the e36; comfortable, decent power, basic amenities, decent mpg, etc. Like the E36, the 996 requires you to really ring the car out to get the most performance out of it (correct gear, on power earlier out of turn, etc), which makes it very fun to drive. But even rung out, it will still be left behind by a 4 door Subaru. Now with coilovers, turbo wheels and 15mm front spacers, the 996C2 has the best turn-in feel of ANY car that I've ever driven (Lambo's, Ferrari's, GTR's, Viper's, Corvettes, Lotus', etc.). Combined with the LS swap, the 996 felt like a great overall car to run with other high performance vehicles where it would have been left in the dust in stock form. I use the Viper/Corvette as my sports car base line and they are on a totally different level performance wise than the 996 n/a. The 996T/GT3/GT2 are direct competitors, performance wise, to the Viper/Corvette and 996 n/a seems comparable to the E36/E46 M3. So based off of my contentions of a sports car, the turbo/GT3/GT2 are the 911 variant of it and the 996 n/a is not.

Yet the viper is not considered nor called a "sports car". It is considered a "supercar" ,as are most Ferrari's,Lambo's and my Lotus Esprit. As to the Vette , it is classed as a sports car, and the 996 will out handle a Vette in stock form. Torque has never been a bench mark for a sports car. As examples , look at any classic sports car ,Triumph,MG, Lotus elan or super seven. None of the above was or is big on torque. It would seem you're confusing the terms sports car with super car. Alan

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I own an LP640. Viper isn't a supercar, not even close. The 996 is down between 25-109hp on the C5 chassis and down 130-164hp on gen2 Viper. **the 25hp difference is between the 3.6 996 and '97-'00 C5**

You're right ,they are down on HP. Does not mean they arent sports cars. I'd be happy to go up against a stock C5 on a mountain road. After all, I could use a smile as much as the next guy. Ever wonder how Lotus won all those races back in it's heyday. The had much less power then the Ferrari's of the day. They lost in the straights, but made it all up in the corners, and then some Handling makes or breaks a sports car. Alan

to my needs the 996 is the ultimate "swiss army knife" or the "universal soldier" I do all kinds of things with it, my work allows to drive it daily, to carry small things here and there and keep my small business going. In my country it is happily a real head turner and eyecather, so 996 ticks the box of individuality for me as well. It is also a really good hooligan and I can always have fun in it, whenever I want, it is also a piece of art for me, I have noticed that I always look back at it, wherever I park it and leave (so definetely a car for me) since I personally love the design of both exterior and interior I enjoy cleaning and washing it and just sometimes simply looking at it or taking pictures discovering new angles. since I am familiar to spanners it also ticks the hobby box. because it is such an unusal layout, it gives real joy and true wish to work on it, discover it and improve it - so on and so forth. and I believe it is a true sports car, light/nimble/agile plenty of power for me, exceptional handling

^Well Said^

Silly thread title is silly. It's a 911 . Everyone this side of Hungry Horse, Montana knows what that means. OHana means: the 911 (in all its' forms) is a badass. /end

I'm sorry but I have owned a C5 corvette as well and it was a complete POS in comparison with the 996. The engineering and fit/finish was enough to convince me let alone the handling and power delivery/sensation. For me it is not the actual speed, it is the sensation of the speed.

It looks to me like there is no DEFINITE answer to this irrelevant question. Some think its a sports car some a grand touring, nobody said what the factory called them, maybe they are just 911's. It also looks like the meaning of the word has changed as the years go by. In my opinion one thing that was never a part of the definition of a sports car was how much power it had, in fact most sports cars didn't have a lot of power. The definition of a sports car was more like how well it handled and how much fun it was to drive, and how the driver could feel the road. As technology got better the power went way up and today with turbo's and overhead cams and fuel injection the power is one of the major reasons for cars to be fun to drive. Many cars have lots of power but they are not sports cars in my mind, they are more what I consider to be muscle cars or GT cars. In the end it doesn't matter and it seems ALL agree that the 911 is a great handling car while some models have a bundle of power, even the NA cars have plenty of power and all have many creature comforts.

The fact is, the 911 checks several boxes. What you want to do is put it in a box by way of a label. That won't work so discontinue your efforts in that regard. It does too many things too well for that...so the simple answer is: It's a 911 . Every Porsche owner knows what that means...and by all measures, so does everyone else. It's a 2-door coupe or cab, with mad handling and superior curb appeal. And it sweats unicorn semen.

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I don't give a damn what box its in or what label it has and I haven't made any effort to do that. You're right about every owner knowing its a 911 and what that means, I doubt everyone else does. You discontinue your efforts to sidestep the question and start another thread about your opinions.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire3/485a5482fa5b860be7a9aa19883b4eee1238355407_full.jpg

Non-Porsche stuff whacked...

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So for somebody who owns both. The c5 and 996 are actually very close in price now. A clean MK2 996 c2 seems to go for around the same money as a clean c5 (post 2001) convertible or z06, and the 2001-2004 hatchbacks go for around the same as the 99-01 Mk1 cars. So my question to you is this. If you had to pick one, which would you pick?

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You just described La Ferrari, 918 and P1! They have most of that modern stuff and are still sports cars in my book. I think the sports car changes with time. I still think all 911s in history are sports cars.

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I'd probably go with a 996 over a C5 Corvette. I like the C4's appearance, but the redesigned C5 looks melted to me...it comes across more like a later-model Trans Am than a Corvette. The base C5 doesn't make a ton of power compared to my '96 C4, and between the two, I prefer the old-school look of the C4. If I needed to choose between a 997 and a C6, though, I'd be all over the MY06 Z06. 7 liters and 500HP sounds OK in my book.

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Honestly, that was kind of what pushed me away from caring about new BMWs. Not that I could afford the F10 M5, but for god's sake, fake noise being piped into the car? Get. Real. Even the base C6 Corvettes are incredible cars. I'm not sure why people don't seem to realize the Vette is a seriously good handling car with more power than most drivers can actually use. I consider myself a pretty good driver, and even I admit I couldn't extract the full potential of my base model, 15 year old, sub-300 HP 911..

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the funny thing is that I am the exact opposite. At $22 ~ $25k a nice clean low mileage C5 Z06, 405hp. I would probably throw a few $$ at making the interior quieter (sound deadoning, a partition and some quality dynomat over the wheel wells) At $40k (the 997 vs. C6 Z06) I would get a 996tt all day long.

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The LaFerrari, 918, and P1 are hyper-cars. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...20sports%20car sports car noun a low-built car designed for performance at high speeds. In other words the 911 qualifies.

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Sell your porsche and buy a miata.