1998 Porsche 911 Carrera

The 996 is the 911 that divides opinion, and we understand why — but we loved ours without reservation. A 1998 Carrera in black, one of the early production cars of the water-cooled era, and we drove it across two continents. It spent time on UK plates and saw everything from the south of France to the mountain passes of northern Spain, and then it came to California and found a whole new set of roads to explore. The M96 3.4-litre flat-six is smoother and quieter than the air-cooled engines that preceded it, and the six-speed manual gearbox made every shift feel deliberate and mechanical. On a fast B-road or a mountain pass, the 996 felt planted and eager in a way that rewarded committed driving. Yes, the fried-egg headlights were controversial. But behind the wheel, the car spoke for itself, and what it said was that Porsche had not lost the plot — they had simply moved it to a new chapter.