Stuttgart’s Finest: The Hunt for the ‘Porsche Model Year of the Century’
Joe Kucinski
Porsche has recently been turning out amazing vehicles year after year, which makes choosing the single best model year this century quite an adventure.
On January 1, 2001, a new century was born. We are now roughly twenty years into it. So, it is a good time to ask a simple question. What is the single best model year Porsche produced between 2001 and 2022? Actually, it is not a simple question at all. Porsche has been on a serious roll the last twenty years. It is hard to eliminate any year as a dud.
With so many spectacular vehicles to chose from, selecting a single model year as the best requires some tough choices. It is simple to make a case for the most recent model year. It of course includes the most advanced cars yet. The new GT3, 911 Turbo S, Taycan Turbo S, and so on all make for a formidable lineup of all-stars. But I wanted to look deeper than that.
I entered the selection process with this thought in my head. If I had unlimited funds but could only fill my garage with Porsches. And those Porsches all had to be from the same model year, what year would I pick? What year would give me the greatest, and most historically significant garage? I am including U.S. market cars only. I am not looking for simply the fastest or the greenest. Understanding that any year can make a case for itself, but only one can be crowned the greatest Porsche model year of the century.
Best Model Year Honorable Mention – Multiple Years
This is what makes selecting a single model year as best such a challenge. Here are some vehicles form this century that almost single handedly can make a case for the greatest model year. In reverse chronological order are the honorable mention choices.
2020 – Porsche Taycan
Tough to ignore the launch of the Taycan for what it means not just to Porsche but the automotive world overall. For the first all-electric Porsche, it is a fine effort and brings the quality and performance that you would expect from Porsche.
Joe Kucinski
2018 – Porsche 911 GT2 RS
Six minutes and forty-seven seconds. That is how fast a stock GT2 RS can lap the Nürburgring. Recently, a modified version cut another seven seconds off that time. The car is blindingly fast. In addition, 2018 marked the return of the manual transmission in the GT3 and the introduction of the GT3 Touring. Not a bad year at all. But not the best.
2015 – 918 Spyder
If you have the means, you can put a 2015 model year Porsche 918 in your garage. The 918 was a game changing car for Porsche. A hybrid hyper car of the first order. It was expensive when new, and prices have only been climbing since. Arguments can be made that a Porsche is not a true exotic car, but that argument falls apart when you are talking about the 918 Spyder.
That is an exotic without question.
Joe Kucinski
2011 – Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0
For many this remains the greatest 911 GT3 ever produced. Considering the overall excellence of every GT3, that is a strong statement. This car deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the revered 1973 Carrera RS.
The GT3 RS 4.0 was only available for the 2011 model year and that alone makes 2011 a landmark year for Porsche in this century.
Joe Kucinski
2003 – Porsche Cayenne
A 2003 Porsche Cayenne may not be the greatest vehicle Porsche ever produced but it might be the most important. The success of this SUV and the subsequent Macan are key to Porsche having the means to develop and give us cars like the GT3 and Turbo S.
The Cayenne is still made today, but 2003 was the first model year and the SUV that really started the whole luxury SUV segment.
Joe Kucinski
