The Porsche 959 is the Porsche that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 450 PS from 2849 cc twin-turbocharged flat-6. It was built from 1986 to 1993, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Its designer of record is Helmuth Bott.
How it came about
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 200 units be produced. The twin-turbocharged 959 was the world's fastest street-legal production car when introduced, achieving a top speed of 317 km/h (197 mph), with some variants even capable of achieving 339 km/h (211 mph) in testing. Combining race-car performance with luxury-sedan comfort and everyday drivability in dry, wet and snowy conditions, many consider it the most technologically advanced road car of its time.
After the successful introduction of all-wheel drive on more rally-specific cars like the Audi Quattro, the 959 was one of the first pure high-performance sports-cars with all-wheel drive, providing the basis for Porsche's first all-wheel drive 911 Carrera 4 model. Its performance convinced Porsche executives to make all-wheel drive standard on all turbocharged versions of the 911 starting with the 993. The twin-turbo system used on the 959 also made its way to future turbocharged Porsche sports cars. In 2004, Sports Car International named the 959 number one on its list of Top Sports Cars of the 1980s.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 2849 cc twin-turbocharged flat-6; it is rated at 450 PS. Kerb weight is 1450 kg. Power-to-weight lands near 310 horsepower per tonne, which is genuine supercar pace. The gearbox is a 6-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine hangs behind the rear axle, a layout that gives ferocious traction out of a corner and a reputation to match on the way in. The wheelbase is 2272 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Porsche's history is not in doubt: it was built at Stuttgart (Karosserie Baur), Germany. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Ferrari F40, the Lexus LS, the Mazda 767. Its Porsche stablemates include the Porsche P1 and the Porsche Type 12.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Porsche 959 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.