The 993-series Porsche 911 is an intriguing mix of old and new Porsches. While it's air-cooled and curvy, this era of 911 saw the extended development of the kind of features now taken as granted on modern 911s.
The Tiptronic gearbox introduced with the 964 was further developed, and the iconic Turbo was now four-wheel drive. The age of the super-scary 911 had gone, but that doesn't stop the 993 Turbo from being highly prized, especially in super-rare 'S' format. The one we've pictured above is an eye-curdling £299,995. It's probably the finest example on sale today, and it is a very rare car – but what if there was a way to go just as fast but for a third of the price? Say hello to the Ruf CTR2 – which this year celebrates its 20th birthday.
Just 23 right-hand drive examples of the Turbo S were built, but the Ruf is much rarer. Just five were made in RHD, out of 18 ever made. But surely the Turbo S is faster?
Well, it's certainly no slouch. With 450bhp and 454lb ft of torque to play with from its six-cylinder power plant, you'll be somewhere else before you've even considered how to get there, should your foot slip. Sixty comes along in a shade under four seconds and you'll be knocking on the door of 184mph at the top end. More entertainingly you'll be going 100mph in nine seconds – a figure some 'hot' hatches struggle to achieve trying to get 60mph.
Impressive stuff. But if you've had a look at our pictures of the Ruf's interior then you'll have noticed a simple, yet rather telling, picture. Yes – the 300km/h (186mph) marker is only three-quarters of the way around the speedometer. The Ruf CTR2 can carry on to 217mph, having waved goodbye to 60mph from a standing start in 3.6 seconds. You'll be doing 100mph – and holding on tightly, we presume – just four seconds later. The engine – it seems slightly underestimating it to call it that – is a race-derived 3.6-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six that is closely related to the Porsche 962 Group C Le Mans car. That means a hefty 520-580bhp and a more-than-pleasing 506lb ft of torque.
But the best part of it all? The Ruf is a third of the price of the 911 993 Turbo S. Admittedly £105,000 is a still a phenomenal amount of money for most people – myself included – but if you consider new 911s with around half the power cost a similar amount of money once you even just glance at the options list, then it represents amazing value. And while it's hard to imagine the Ruf being totally tractable for daily use, it does represent a chance to drive a properly hardcore 911 with a manual gearbox – something Porsche doesn't offer these days – for a lot less than you might imagine.
But the question is – would you go for the Ruf or the Turbo S? For most of us it's a hypothetical question, but we can all dream...