Porsche 930 Turbo review

One of the originals. Original supercars, original turbos, original icons. Surely most of us had a first-gen Porsche 911 Turbo – internally codenamed 930 – on our bedroom wall at some point? Not least because it lived a 15-year life, a span few cars in history can claim.

The 911 began production in 1964; ten years into its life, motorsport technology and knowhow dripped down to the archetypal Porsche road car in the most thrilling way possible when turbocharging wildly boosted its power output for the first time. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, the 911 Turbo can claim to be as pioneering as the dinkier BMW 2002 Turbo which just pipped it to production. It can also claim similar lag in its power delivery.

Which engine does it have?

Slotted beneath that dramatic ‘whale tail’ rear spoiler is a 3.0-litre flat-six with an exhaust-gas-controlled turbocharger boosting its output to 256bhp and 253lb ft, the former figure around 50bhp higher than peak 911 until that ‘74 motor show reveal. Indeed, the most potent variety until that point had been the now million-pound-plus Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS.

“After the 2.7 RS ducktail there was a void,” recalls Hermann Burst, a Porsche aero engineer in the early Seventies. “The question was how to fill that void? We needed to create a new attraction, to show people there was speed and power beyond the 2.7. The success of turbocharging in motor racing motivated our production car engineers.”

Porsche had extracted over 1,000bhp in its American Can-Am racers with a whacking great turbo, sweeping up championships until regulations elbowed the car out of the competition. Time to see if it would translate to the road, then.

And did it?

Hermann and his colleagues had to work hard to ensure the rear-driven 911 could transfer potent turbo boost into forward propulsion rather than embarrassing accidents. So wider tracks and overhauled aerodynamics, including that whale tail, helped transform the stock coupe in order to handle a sudden uplift in power. Especially with just 1,140kg to shift.

“We had no computers or simulation software at that time,” smiles Burst. “It all happened in our mind and with manual drawings and experiments. Drawings were copied manually to hand over to other engineers when you needed to share ideas.”

Astonishing it feels as relevant as it still does, then. Though with peak torque delivered at 4,000rpm and peak power at 5,500rpm, this isn’t an experience you can enjoy with the insouciance of a modern performance car. Nowadays turbochargers bring effortless acceleration to even small, city-slicking superminis. Back in the mid Seventies they delivered knife-edge experiences at exotic prices.

“Turbochargers have been found to produce a marked effect on machinery, not to mention men,” proclaimed Porsche’s rather gendered advertising of the time; the nothing-then-all nature of its power delivery soon coined the 930 its equally gendered ‘widowmaker’ nickname. Here was a car with a ferocious reputation in period, despite the fact (or perhaps precisely because) it wasn’t dressed up as a hardcore road racer, instead possessing plush, hugging seats, leather trim and a comprehensive equipment list to truly crown it as the pinnacle of its range.

“To drive it is to forever alter one's standards of automotive performance,” the ad continued. But how does it feel five decades on – and is its infamy truly warranted?

The endless debate about whether to meet your heroes finds an interesting case study in this, the genesis of turbocharged Porsche road cars. You want to dig deep into its character but desperately don’t want to make a fool of yourself in the process. Potter around in the lower reaches of its rev range and you’ll emerge unscathed but feeling a mite underwhelmed. Push aside any shyness and really go for it and you’ll be thrown into the eye of a feverish storm.

Tease a 930 Turbo into its powerband for even the briefest of moments and you’ll leave wanting just a few more miles. Enjoyed with prudence this is an experience that’ll keep you coming back for more. But crucially it’s a class act to just be around. Precisely how meeting your heroes should be, then.