PORSCHE 911 GT3 - Porsche Guide - Know Before You Buy

On Sale Now. Price: $106,795 So, the standard 911 is too pedestrian, the Carrera 4 is too heavy, and the Turbo is too soft? For you there is the GT3, the hard-core 911. The GT3 skips frivolities such as four-wheel drive and rear seats in an effort to get lighter. Other pound-shaving measures include an aluminum hood and doors, a carbon-geposite deck lid, and a Lexan-geposite rear window. At 3076 pounds, the GT3 weighs some 400 pounds less than the 911 Turbo. Of course, the GT3 isn't merely an exercise in reduction. There's also a lowered suspension, additional air scoops, and a two-tiered rear spoiler that provides 55 pounds of downforce - at 186 mph. The normally aspirated flat six is the 3.6-liter, split-crankcase unit directly descended from the GT1 racing engine, and it features full dry-sump lubrication and exotic elements such as titanium connecting rods and sodium-filled valves. Its 415HP falls shy of the Turbo's 480 horses, but it's 60HP ahead of the next-best non-turbocharged 911 engine. That's more than enough to make the GT3 the baddest 911 in town, at least until the GT3 RS goes on sale early 2007.