1999 Porsche 911 GT3 (996 Mk1) Review: Is The First GT3 Still THAT GOOD?

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Today I drive the first member of an iconic family - the original GT3. Launched in 1999 as a genuine homologation car, the GT3 combined the all-new 996's chassis with an evolution of the legendary Mezger engine. 25 years later, what is it like?

#Porsche #911 #GT3

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[JayEmmOnCars]

CarVertical: The History Checking Service
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[geoffclarke]

Brilliant cars. I owned a 996.1 GT3 Club Sport (in Speed Yellow) for 12 years and has been by far the best car I've owned. I found it a little under powered in stock form so had the Manthey K400 upgrade (re-map, exhaust cup air filter) giving around 400 horsepower and upgraded brakes from the 996.2 GT3. I took it to well known Porsche specialist, Parr Garage who did the suspension set up and was just brilliant fun on track. I prefer the 996 GT3 to the 997 and my dream GT3 is a 996 version (either Gen1, 2 or RS) with the 4 litre engine from the 997.2RS.

[maximravinet]

The more time goes on, the more I'm convinced that cars from the 90's and 2000's were the peak we won't ever beat. Every new release these days is more powerful, heavy and numb than the previous one, basically going towards being completely impossible to push on normal roads

[Inazuma]

Brilliant. I drive a 996.2 GT3 Clubsport. Wonderful car on Swiss mountain roads. I did a test drive and immediately bought the car. Like your friend no plans to sell it. Nowadays I even like the design which I didn‘t when the car was new. But it aged really well

[darrenlangeveld]

996.2 owner here, just back from a 4K km euro trip. GT3’s are epic cars, no question!

[RarivMorben]

As a kid, I wasn't a particularly big fan of Porsche. The 930 was for me the most recognizable model from pop-culture, but I always looked at them and saw "old cars". In circa 97, the PS1 videogame Porsche Challenge came out, featuring only the Boxster, and I fell in love with it. It was a modern look for a 90s car, and clicked all my buttons, and I sarted to like Porsches. In the year 2000, as a 15 year old, I used to work on my vacations to pay for stuff (videogames and upgrades to my PC), and in one of those vacations, I was helping my father building a small roof in a rich guy's house, and something from the guy's garage was needed. He opened the door, and bam! a red F355. Drop dead gorgeous, beautiful sound. The guy reverses the car, and takes a left turn to a part of the house I was unaware of. As I follow that F355, bam! a silver GT3. Coincidentally, at that time, I was playing NFS: Porsche 2000/Unleashed, and that was one of the cars in the game. I was hooked, and to this day, the 986 and 996 GT3 are my favorite Porsches. I currently own a 986, but with the asking price of nearly 100k for a GT3 in Portugal, it's probably nothing more than a pipe-dream. Funny story, when I asked the owner about the cars, his response was: "The GT3 is a girl's car, the 355 is a man's car."

[WarriorsPhoto]

I remembered going to a dealer in 2002.
They were almost trying to give their GT3 away. They let me drive it and I was blown away. I had already driven an older Turbo Porsche but this N/A engine was way more fun. 7500 RPM is music to the ears and an 😊adrenaline rush.

Jay, thank you for sharing your experience with this wonderful car. 😊😮😊

[NightfallDrives]

15:21, the best description I’ve heard of how a great sports car should feel, similar to how the best bicycle saddle should feel (you just forget it’s there). Fantastic video 👍

[wil]

One of my favorite cars as a teenager. A guy who owned an exotic car shop near me had one. Supposedly he crashed it at the track and then tried to fake an accident to collect insurance. It sat broken for years in front of his shop. 😢

[eggplantandpeach]

Great review. It has successfully persuaded me to go out and purchase a Porsche GT3



Matchbox car 😂

[purple-porker-productions]

Big fan of these, the 996 has been the only obtainable 911 for me. Glad to see it getting some love. For now I have a 986 Boxster which is a riot too.

[deaks]

The fact is, 360bhp is still a LOT. Sure plenty of 'normal' cars churn out that kind of number, but they're all quick cars. And with the 996 being a lightweight compared to modern cars, it will definitely go in the 'bloody quick' category. It's more than enough power to have a lot of fun with and get into a lot of trouble.
I have a big soft spot for the 996, it was the current 911 when I really got into cars and I've always like the looks, especially the GT3 and Turbo.

[cctoronto]

Canadian owner of a JDM Euro Spec 996.1 GT3 here.
I love the fact that I love this car because every time I get in to drive it I am reminded of how fortunate I am to drive it. It gets a bit of attention, it has a hell of stance
un-modified, people sense that it is something special, the noise of the motor is something even at idle. For the most part it goes unnoticed beyond the usual bit of attention a basic old white 911 gets.
This car for me reminds me of the racing bicycles I used to ride in city streets you feel every little bit of the road’s nuances. When I realized that was my experience I suddenly understood how seriously sublime the ‘3 is.
I drive it like it’s stolen Honda, it does everything I ask of it!
Bumped the motor to 3.8 for an added 50-60 NA power.
I have not received a ticket in it either, knock on wood.

[KyleBrightman]

6:38 The US never got the the road going 996.1 at all. There were a handful of track-only GT3 cars campaigned in Grand Am and American Le Mans in the US, but until they hit 25 years and start getting imported, you won’t see any on the street.

The closest we got were Carreras with the factory Aerokit and Sport Design wheels. The 996.1 GT3 is definitely one of the best looking water-cooled 911

[oggie]

Oh my James, the growl of that GT3 on full chat is absolutely awesome! Nice one!👍👏👏👏♥️

[rustys]

I've restored over 50 early 911 bodies so have driven a fair number of cars. I can honestly say that my favourite, by far, was a 996 GT3. Abosutely epic in every way, and chalk n cheese compared to my (then) normal 3.4 manual 996 C2. That said, my C2 was 1/4 of the value to be fair!

[andyirwin]

Speed Yellow 996.1 GT3 Manthey owner here....you describe the feeling of driving these cars perfectly 👏

[Steven-pj]

Very definitely the loveliest spoiler I have ever seen.

[christame]

Another great video, reminds me why I love old porsches!

[ShedLifeUK]

I picked up the cheapest (to my knowledge) 996.2 GT3 back in March... best car I've ever driven and I was never previously a Porsche fan, always an old school Ferrari fan. If it wasn't priced so well, I wouldn't have considered it as all the other example are much too expensive for me. I was hoping I'd get there and not like it but I went to have a look, jumped in and within 0.2 secs of moving the steering wheel and it having THAT feel... SOLD. A truely epic car I can't to put thousands more miles on.