The Best Year For The Porsche 911
Porsche 992 Carrera by Alexander Migl — CC BY-SA 4.0
Although the 2017 models brought the update for the twin-turbocharged engine, it took til 2018 to come up with the best year for the Porsche 911. As with a lot of new designs and setups, it takes a while to get all the bugs worked out.
For the 2018 year, you get a lot of choices including 14 different trim models, 22 different configurations, and 6 different engine choices, all of which will come mated up to a 6-speed manual or 7-speed dual-clutch automatic.
2018 Porsche 911 Competition
The Porsche 911 really doesn’t have any competition. Usually, you’re either a Porsche enthusiast or your not; you can either afford one or can’t. But for the sake of argument, the Porsche 911 would most likely be pitted up against the Audi R8, Mercedes-AMG GT, Lexus LC, and the Jaguar F-Type.
NOT JUST FOR CAR SHOPPING
The CoPilot app isn’t just for buying a car - our new CoPilot for Owning tool will help you keep track of recalls and gives you advice on which scheduled maintenance tasks are most important.
[](<>)2018 Porsche 911 Trim Models
There are many different trim models and choices, because when you have the money to buy a Porsche 911 brand new, you usually order it the way you want from the front office.
2018 Porsche 911 Engine and Transmission Options
There are six different engine choices which all could be paired with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic or a seven-speed manual. Which transmission will be paired with which engine will all depend on how it was ordered from the factory.
The first engine comes on the 911 Carrera, 911 Carrea Cabriolet, 911 Carrera 4, 911 Carrea 4 Cabriolet, and Targa 4. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six puts out 370 horsepower and 331 lb.-ft. of torque. Fuel mileage has an average EPA-Estimated 20 city / 29 hwy mpg for the manual and 22 city / 29 hwy mpg for the automatic.
The second engine comes on the 911 S, 911 S Cabriolet, 911 4S, 911 4S Cabritolet, 911 Tagra 4S. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six puts out 420 horsepower and 368 lb.-ft. of torque. Fuel mileage has an average EPA-Estimated 20 city / 29 hwy mpg for the manual and 22 city / 29 hwy mpg for the automatic.
THE BEST USED LUXURY CARS ON THE MARKET
Buying a used or CPO luxury car is one of the smartest buys you can make - you can get a lot of car for not much money. You can pick up a three-year-old luxury car for about half of what you’d pay new. Check out this list of the best used luxury cars on the market to find the best deals.
The third engine comes on the 911 GTS, 911 GTS Cabriolet, 911 GTS 4 / 911 GTS 4 Cabriolet, and the Targa 4 GTS. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six puts out 450 horsepower and 405 lb.-ft. of torque. Fuel mileage has an average EPA-Estimated 18 city / 26 hwy mpg for the manual and 20 city / 26 hwy mpg for the automatic.
The fourth engine comes on the 911 Turbo, 911 Turbo Cabriolet, 911 Turbo S, 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, and the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. This engine is bumped up to a 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six that makes 540 horsepower and 486 lb.-ft. of torque.
For the Turbo S and S Cabriolet, they use the same engine but boosts horsepower to 580 and 516 lb.-ft. of torque. The Turbo S Exclusive Series gets another bump in power to 607 horsepower and 553 lb.-ft. of torque. Fuel economy comes in at an EPA-Estimated 19 city / 21 hwy mpg for all the Turbo models and an EPA-Estimated 17 city / 23 hwy mpg for the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.
There are also two separate engines for the 911 GT3 and 911 GT2 RS. The GT3 gets a 4.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine that makes approximately 500 horsepower and 339 lb.-ft. of torque. The 911 GT2 RS gets a 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six with a standard 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and makes 700 horsepower and 553 lb.-ft. of torque. Neither engine is rated for gas mileage.
2018 Porsche 911 Standard Features
Standard features for the best year for the Porsche 911 are much stronger than the previous year. 2017 models were missing simple things like standard keyless remote entry, and as far as we can tell it’s still missing Android Auto - but it does come with Apple CarPlay.
Also standard on the 2018 Porsche 911 is a 7.0-inch touchscreen, navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, rearview camera and front/rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, and a 4.6-inch multi-informational center.
Other amenities get you an 8-speaker auto system from Bose or Burmester, heated and ventilated front seats, a front-axle lift system, LED lighting on the interior and exterior, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, 19 or 20-ich wheels, adaptive sport suspension with custom drive modes, and much more.
THE BEST USED SUVS UNDER $10,000
We looked into price, reliability, features, and more to create this list of the best used SUVs under $10k on the market today. Take a look - some of the best used SUVs have gone mostly overlooked or forgotten.
How Much Will You Save by buying a Used 2018 Porsche 911?
Not much! These cars rarely get that many miles on them and even if they did, they’re pampered miles. And it doesn’t really matter if you go older or newer, getting a good deal on these best years for the Porsche 911 is just going to come down to how much you want to shop around and possibly travel to purchase the one you want the most.
2018 Porsche 911 Safety Features
Although the Porsche 911 does seat up to 4 passengers, it’s really just a two-seater. And if you make it anything more than that its safety abilities drop dramatically. They do however have some nice driving assist safety features that are only included with the 7-speed automatic. Those features include Forward Collision Warning and Automatic Braking, and as an option, the 2018 Purchase 911 could come with Lane Change Assist.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute Highway Safety (IIHS) doesn’t spend a lot of time testing these vehicles, because these vehicles usually don’t spend a lot of time on the road, so there are no test results available.
Which Porsche 911 is Best For You?
That answer really comes down to two different categories: which one can you afford and which one out of the 22 different configurations do you like and want to shop for. Our pick for the best year for the Porsche 911 really comes down to the want of the consumer.
There are other options out there that fall into this class, but y don’t think any of them offer the same mix of efficient power and handling. The iconic name and look along pretty much tells you everything.
Get a Curated List of the Best Used Porsche 911s Near You
The CoPilot car shopping app is the easiest way to buy a car. Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll search the inventories of every dealership in your area to make you a personalized list of the best car listings in your area.
Only looking for newer models? CoPilot Compare is the search engine for nearly-new cars. Only see cars five years or newer with low mileage — CoPilot Compare is the best way to find off-lease, early trade-in, and CPO cars.
The best part? CoPilot is built using the same technology that dealerships use to buy and sell their inventories, so we have more info on each vehicle than competitors. CoPilot doesn’t work with dealerships, so there are no sponsored posts or other shady practices — just the most info on the best cars. Check out our About Us page to see how CoPilot works.
