THE CAYMAN GT4 IS SIMPLY MORE FUN THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER PORSCHE EVER BUILT

4.

959

Year one for the supercar

Built: 1986 1993 I Engine: 2849cc lat-six, 444bhp I Top speed: 195mph

Designed for a Tarmac Group B championship that never happened, the 959’s adjustable suspension and four-wheel-drive system, near-200mph pace and Civic-like drivability made it seem like a military jet compared to the creaky supercar opposition. Unfortunately the development costs were military-grade too: each 959 is rumoured to have cost Porsche twice the £155k it cost customers. Its only real competition success was a Paris-Dakar win in ’86 (it recorded a one-two, with Jacky Ickx – the man who’d badgered Porsche to build the car – in second place) but its impact is still being felt in modern supercars.

3.

918 Spyder

Ushering in the un-Prius hybrid era

Built: 2013 2015 I Engine: 4600cc V8 hybrid, 875bhp I Top speed: 211mph

Along with the £1m+ McLaren P1 and LaFerrari, the comparatively budget £650k 918 Spyder rescued hybrid cars from the vegan aisle of whole-food stores. Before these three the concept of lugging around an engine, electric motors and a battery pack seemed fundamentally at odds with driving fun. In the Porsche power comes from a 608bhp V8 augmented by a pair of electric motors generating 279bhp. Waft through town for 18 miles in EV mode, or summon all 875bhp and rip to 60mph in 2.5sec. A one-time Nürburgring record holder (6 minutes and 57 seconds) and the only of the three brave enough to declare a ‡igure.