The 2006 911 benefits from functional improvements that make it a fast seller, tightening the availability of new models and thereby driving up their value when they're resold.
With the exception of a few disparate models scattered over the decades, Porsche has built its fame and fortune on a single rear-engine sports car, the 911. From rather humble beginnings, the Porsche 911 has gone on to be one of the most influential and most recognizable vehicles in the world. Today's version of the car provides stunning levels of performance without sacrificing much in terms of day-to-day usability, and many Porsche purists still consider the 911 the only "real" Porsche.
The history of the Porsche 911 dates back to the 1960s. In 1965, it superseded the 356, Porsche's first production sports car. Like the 356, the 911 had a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine. This basic layout can be attributed to Ferdinand Porsche's original design for the VW Beetle (from which the 356 had its mechanical roots) and offered the practical economy-car benefits of tight packaging and enhanced traction.
Alas, what might have worked on a 24-horsepower Bug suddenly became somewhat of a problem on a 160-hp sports car. In short, having that much mass at the rear of the 911 made it susceptible to massive oversteer. There are countless stories of drivers of earlier Porsche 911s entering a turn too hot, intuitively lifting off the throttle and being left hapless as their shiny Porsches pirouetted off into the bushes. Or worse.
Surprisingly, this basic configuration of a horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine driving and hanging over the rear wheels has held true through each one of the 911's 10 generations. Thankfully, Porsche's engineers have been making continual improvements to quell the car's peculiarities while keeping its distinctive attributes of lightness, responsiveness and power. The 911 has also had enormous success as a racecar and spawned many iconic variants, such as the Turbo, Carrera RS and GT3.
