Still Special
I heard some baloney recently tossed around about how “older” Porsches (anything before and including the 993 and 968) have a distinct sense of occasion, whereas the cars since the 996 really do not.
That is simply an untrue, biased statement. Sure, there’s something very special about older Porsches, but there’s also certainly a memorable aspect to their modern creations as well. I would contend that slipping behind the wheel of a new 981 Boxster or 991 Carrera is as much of an occasion as a 944 or an air-cooled 911–just in a completely different way.
A manual transmission definitely goes a long way in that respect, however–at least for me. As nice as PDK’s are, it’s hard for me to get super excited about driving an automatic Porsche. Maybe that’s how the diehard “Porsche died when the 996 came out” crew feels about the modern wave of Porsches.