Porsche 911 GT3 (991.2) | Cars under the hammer

"One step closer to perfection" is how Andreas Preuninger described the 991.2 GT3. He had a point...

You still can’t buy a brand-new 911 GT3. Unless, of course, you’ve spent your life savings on Macans, Taycans and Cayennes to buddy up with the manager of your local Porsche dealer. And if you haven’t, there’s always the option of picking up a ‘lightly used’ 992 for a decent premium. Obviously the drawn-out, delicate subject of purchasing a new GT3 is old news on PH, but until you can stroll into a Porsche dealership and blithely hand over the list price, it’s going to continue being an issue for many would-be buyers.

Alternatively, you could save yourself a few quid by picking up the preceding 991.2 generation GT3 with a few miles on the clock. It’s not like you’re getting the rough end of the stick by going for the older car. Far from it. While the 992 might have earned racy double wishbone front suspension and a styling makeover, they’re actually very similar offerings. Just as the 992 was lauded as one of the all-time great 911s, so too was the 991.2 a few years prior.

And though there may be no such thing as a bad GT3, the 991 was comfortably the most controversial of the lot. Radical changes such as the move away from the Mezger engine and the ditching of the six-speed manual gearbox had Porsche loyalists reaching for their pitchforks, not helped by the decision to switch from hydraulic to electric power steering, either. It’d still launch to rave reviews, but Porsche knew it had work to do with the 'Gen 2'. That included a new, 4.0-litre flat-six that was nearly identical to the Cup car, the return of the manual gearbox and tweaks to the steering software to claw back some of that signature 911 feel.

What makes the car we have for auction here a little different is the JCR titanium exhaust poking out the back, so it practically sounds like the Cup car - which is to say utterly spectacular. Adding to the Cup car feel is the seven-speed PDK, which might not be the 991.2-defining manual but the level of urgency it brings (and dare I say some extra usability) suits the racier 991 and 992 generations of GT3 just as well. The rest of the car is surprisingly understated, so much so that it’s easy to look past the yellow callipers denoting carbon ceramic brakes. GT Silver is always a winner, as is the combination of black leather and carbon fibre trim, while the comfy standard sports seats are perfect for grand touring.

The only thing is the 991.2 is so mesmerising on a twisty road that you’ll never want to take it on a motorway. The steering is so precise and intuitive that you’d never suspect it was an electrically-assisted rack. Surface nuance is continually flowing back through the Alcantara (sorry, RaceTex) wrapped wheel. It's hard to miss the 992's firmer chassis settings either; on UK roads the 991.2 GT3 flows stupendously well even with its adaptive dampers in their most stringent setting. It gives up maybe a fraction of control to its replacement, but the trade-off is that it never seems overwrought or belligerent. Above all, though, there's the spellbinding sound of that 4.0-litre engine doing its thing. Which you don't ever forget.

“One step closer to perfection” is how Andreas Preuninger described the 991.2 GT3 in an interview with PH. Hard to argue with that, really, and while he and the Porsche GT team would take another step with the 992, the resulting sub-seven-minute Nurburgring lap time did come with its disadvantages. The 991.2 GT3 feels a little more forgiving and, in the case of this 15,500-mile car, kinder on the wallet too. It’s guided at £117,500 to £122,500, which when you consider the spec (freer-flowing exhaust, PCCBs, front-axle lift and much more) seems like an awful lot of GT3 goodness for the money. I for one will be immensely jealous of whoever the triumphant bidder turns out to be. The auction kicks off this Sunday.

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