1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6

This car, Lot 69461, sold for $475,000, including buyer’s premium, in Bring a Trailer’s online auction on April 4, 2022.

The 964-based Turbo 3.6 was a couple years late in arriving. Porsche had hoped to have a new turbocharged engine — based on the 964’s normally aspirated 3.6-liter flat-6 — available sooner, but financial and engineering problems delayed the project. By the early 1990s, the turbocharged 3.3-liter 930 engine was dated, having supplanted the 3.0-liter unit way back in 1978. It was a fine, long-lived powerplant, but enthusiasts were looking for improvements in power and torque.

When the Turbo 3.6 was introduced in October 1992 at the Paris Auto Show, its specifications delivered. The new 3.6-liter turbocharged flat-6 had 301-cc greater displacement, which helped boost horsepower to 355, a gain of 40, while torque grew by 52 lb-ft, to 384. The new M64/50 engine used the case, crankshaft, connecting rods and cylinders of the 964’s non-turbo 3.6-liter. All new were the camshafts, pistons and heads. The K27 Turbo was carried over from the 3.3-liter engine.

The G50/72 5-speed gearbox had a new dual-disc clutch and a variable-rate limited-slip differential. Brakes were the four-pot red calipers on cross-drilled discs brought over from the 3.3-liter Turbo S Leichtbau.

Performance followed suit

Road testers noted the increased power and midrange torque, and its smoother application. Zero-to-60 mph acceleration time dropped to 4.7 seconds, from 5.4 for the 3.3-liter Turbo, and top speed climbed from 169 mph to 180. The larger wheels helped handling, too — eight-by-18-inches with 225/40ZR18 tires in front, and 10-by-18-inches with 265/35ZR18s in the rear. With “Speedline for Porsche” etched into the rims, these three-piece modulars are popular with enthusiasts.

With all that “news,” what didn’t change was the essential driving experience. It remained old-school: Floor the loud pedal, wait for it, wait a little longer, then “ka-boom.” As long as you were either driving in a straight line or skilled, all was good. Taming that syndrome would have to wait for the first all-wheel-drive 911 Turbo, the upcoming Type 993.

The Turbo 3.6 was still a luxury car, not a track car. It weighed 3,274 pounds, quite a bit more than the 2,690 of a basic 964 Carrera RS. The Turbo 3.6 came loaded with A/C, full leather, radio, dual airbags and full carpeting/sound insulation/undercoating.

Turbo 3.6 cars are rare, with just 590 built for the 1993 model year and 847 for 1994 — all of which carried 1993 serial numbers. (Of interest, there was an option code 718 for labeling the later cars as 1994 model year.) They were expensive, with a list price of $109,008.

964 specials

Porsche was ailing in the early ’90s, with exchange rates raising the prices of its cars and cutting into both sales and profits. So in 1992, after almost 20 years, it brought back the Carrera RS model in three variants, totaling 2,279 cars. That model was reprised in 1993 with the Carrera RS 3.8-liter, built 55 strong as the homologation base for the normally aspirated RSR race car. Both are collectible, and the 3.8 is very expensive.

To further fill the coffers, Porsche rolled out two special Turbos: The 1993 Turbo S 3.3-liter Leichtbau was produced after the fact to commemorate Porsche’s and Brumos’ Potenza Supercar IMSA Championship. Built in 86 units, it was a road car from Rolf Sprenger’s Exclusive Department, with the S power kit, M030 suspension, aluminum doors and carbon-fiber hood and tail. The car weighed 400 pounds less than a stock Turbo, although options often made it heavier.

The 1994 Turbo S Flachbau (flat nose) came in four variants: 10 X83s for Japan with 944-like covered headlights, 27 X84s for rest-of-world with 928-like unlidded front lamps, and 39 X85s for North America, plus 17 slope-nose deletes now called “Package Cars.” These specials all had the 3.6-liter engine with the Turbo S X88 power kit, good for 385 horsepower.

Collectible? Valuable?

The 1992 Carrera RS and the 1993–94 Turbo 3.6 today are priced in the mid-six-figures, somewhat reflective of their production quantities of 2,276 and 1,437, respectively. The RS 3.8, the Leichtbau, and the Flachbau start in high six figures and are most often over $1,000,000.

Only a few 964 Turbo 3.6s have been sold by the traditional auction houses. Bring a Trailer and PCarMarket have sold many more, 22 in the past seven years. Prices are all over the place and highly dependent on color and mileage. To generalize, Turbo 3.6s were selling in the range of $125k–$325k from 2015 to ’20, but more recently have moved up to $265k–$475k.

A quick study

Our subject car looked to be a nice example, reportedly with original paint plus a lot of protective film. Options included a sunroof, power “sports” seats, rear wiper and fog lights. On the plus side, it had only 25,987 miles, but records dated back just to 2009 and it had multiple owners. The car had some upgrades, such as H&R lowering springs and a Fabspeed exhaust system, although it also came with minor needs.

The prior owner had bought the car in 2018 from Top Gear Imports in New Jersey, where the asking price was $289,888. The seller, who had acquired the car just this year, said he was a novice to BaT. That generated a lot of advice from the omnipresent trolls, mostly useful, and he became a quick study.

Several bidders were still involved when the consignor dropped the reserve at $350k. When bidding hit $400k, there were still two bidders who “had to have it,” driving the final bid to a world-record public sale at $475,000, including premium.

As often happens after a sales record is set online, others sought to cash in. Another 964 Turbo 3.6, in Polar Silver with 33,000 miles, sold 20 days later for $420,000. Yet a third example offered the following month, a Grand Prix White car with 44k miles, stalled at $326k and did not sell. So after a bull rush, the market paused. We’ll have to wait to see whether this is the new normal. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of Bring a Trailer.)