TBM, I suspect you hit the nail on the head... (-:
As I have typed many times, if not too many times, I had given up with Porsche after many years of owning restoring, and repairing a series of three air cooled Porsches, of which I was very fond, given the build quality compared to my decades of restoring my old Brit sports cars, and LR`s too, the engineering and build quality of which I had grown up with... Porsche was so very different, although right up to circa 1977when Porsche started galvanising the body shells, they too could rot much in the way of Brit cars.
The last Porsche I really enjoyed driving was my 82 SC, 204 horses which demanded a degree of control on any interesting ribbon of Tarmac, of which there are a few in my locality. That Porsche was a real sports car any time I wanted it to be, track days included, though it also behaved it`s self in any traffic situation, and was perfect to transport my good lady dressed in her finest to any social occasion. The 911 was and still is an automotive icon that can induce emotions of pride in terms of achieving ownership of such a wonderful machine.
Things changed a bit by the time the 964 then 993 arrived on the market, it seems Porsche like most were forced to evolve with the increasing expectations of their customer base, such as power steering servo brakes ABS whole new suspension design, more comfort and of course easier to drive even faster.. Given the number of changes, I wonder if that might be why the nomenclature was changed to 964, 993, 996, but it seems as is to be expected the faithful and of course the marketing men were determined to hang on to 911, as regardless of whatever digits might determine the actual model, few outside Porsche circles would know what a 964, 993,996, 997, 991 or 992 might be, whereas it seems the majority of folk seem to think they know what a 911 is...?
When I drove the 993, at the time of owning my 911 SC, I thought it a wonderfully competent machine with loads more power and the ability to handle it in any kind of corner wonderfully well, I even drove it over my very favourite local road , amazing performance.... BUT exactly as you typed TBM you could easily find yourself driving much faster over interesting roads than ever before, and with ease... Hmm..?
That was when I decided a change in direction was worth considering, (mid 90`s) and which led me to contemplate on, and finally come to own my Morgan, which again as you type TBM, does indeed require driver input on a much higher level than the 996 you drove, and importantly at less than ballistic speeds, while providing huge driver satisfaction in the process of getting it just right, having allowed for every aspect of the road surface on each corner as it presents it`s self.....well OK, so not every corner every time... (-:
I still maintain my Mog myself. The then 9 year old 991.1 C4S I bought a couple of years back is looked after by the main dealer, it has circa 400 horses... nuts or what... ? It provides push-button select-ability in terms of handling, performance and much else, thus my C4S is as comfortable as any modern high end saloon when cruising, and yet if I decide to blow the cobwebs off, I can take it over the same wonderful road I have enjoyed over many decades, while making use of all the gizmology of which there is huge amounts available, and it reverts to providing a degree of sports car enjoyment, all be it a tad more sophisticated than the old Mog and likewise my former old 911 SC while doing so.
As ever each to their own.... Enjoy what you can and while you can seems a reasonable plan..? (-:
