With exceptional late air-cooled Porsche 911s making headline figures at auctions – by those I mean low-mileage, fully historied examples of the most extreme performance models – the first watercooled Turbos look good value.

The 2003 example that we test in the latest issue of Classic Cars is up for £60k, which is at the upper end of the price spectrum for these. But when you discover that it’s only done just over 28,000 miles from new and is fresh from restoration by Porsche Centre West London as part of the annual Porsche dealership restoration competition, it seems good value. Oh, and I didn’t mention that it gives you 400bhp to play with.

If you’re happy to buy one with 50-70k on the odometer, prices are more like £40k-50k. That’s tremendous performance for the money, with the added reassurance that the Turbo used a variant of the tough Mezger-designed flat six, which is free from the notorious intermediate shaft bearing and cylinder wall failures that can afflict the mainstream watercooled flat sixes.

Buying advice and market analysis is part of 18 pages of buying information in every issue of Classic Cars magazine, including Quentin Willson’s Smart Buys, Russ Smith’s Market Watch, in-depth buying guides and Ads on Test.

Phil Bell

Editor, Classic Cars magazine

For more details of the latest issue, visit www.classiccarsmagazine.co.uk