22: Porsche 911 – Still the benchmark for sports car fun

When the word came down the pipe that the Porsche 911 was going to get a turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six engine to replace its beloved 3.4 and 3.8-litre naturally aspirated units, you could hear Porsche enthusiasts across the world having a fit of the vapours.

They needn’t have worried – the new turbo (small ‘t’) engine is deeply impressive, exceptionally economical (this is a 911 that will crack 35mpg pretty easily), powerful, and still makes that hair raising crackle at 4,000rpm as long as you spec it with the sports exhaust.

Handling and steering are about as close to perfect as you can get, and if the interior is still a touch messy in its layout, it’s certainly well-made and surprisingly practical.

Ultimate hardcore GT3 version can now be had without the big rear wing and with a manual gearbox in a ‘Touring’ model, while Targa model is probably the best-looking 911 of all. 580hp Turbo S (big ‘T’) is staggeringly fast, and makes a mockery of cars costing twice as much.