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Third Generation 911 (964) — hero photograph

9641988–1994

Third Generation 911

Modernity, all-wheel drive, and the last 911 turbos

When the 964 arrived in late 1988 it looked like a mildly facelifted 911 but was in fact about 85 per cent new, and it quietly introduced features the model line had never had: all-wheel drive, power steering, ABS, an automatically extending rear spoiler, dual ignition with knock control, a three-way catalytic converter and — from 1990 — the Tiptronic automatic gearbox. The drag coefficient fell to 0.32, at the time the most aerodynamic 911 ever built, and coil springs on MacPherson struts front and semi-trailing arms rear replaced the old torsion-bar suspension for the first time in the 911's history.

The engine was the new 3.6-litre M64 flat-six making 250 PS (184 kW) and 310 Nm, with twin-spark ignition technology borrowed from Porsche's aircraft engines. The first car was the 250 PS all-wheel-drive Carrera 4, launched at DM 114,500 in August 1988; the mechanically near-identical rear-wheel-drive Carrera 2 followed a year later from DM 103,500. Coupé, Targa and Cabriolet bodies were all offered, and the 964 Targa was the last 911 built with a genuinely removable roof panel — a layout that would not return until the 991.

All 21 variants

Generation summary figures

Production

63,7621988–1994)

Engine

3.6air-cooled flat-six, 250 PS (184 kW)

New content

≈85% of the car was new vs the Carrera 3.2

Aerodynamics

cd 0.32 — the most aerodynamic 911 to date

911 firsts

All-wheel drive, power steering, ABS, Tiptronic

Rarest

Turbo S 3.6 Flachbau: 76 built in 1994

The range

21 variants

964 · every entry linked

Watch

4 films on the 964

Curated from the 21 variants of the 964. Nothing is downloaded from YouTube — each player is an embed that only loads when you press play.

  • Generation · MotorWeek

    1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 | Retro Review

    Jay Leno-era retrospective drive of the first AWD 911

  • Generation · Number 27

    From Most Hated to Most Loved, Is Porsche's 964 Now Overhyped?

    balanced verdict on whether the 964 deserved its reputation

  • Generation · Petrolicious

    1992 Porsche 964 Carrera RS: Rituals of Rennsport

    92 RS 3.8 in period trim, and what 'Rennsport' meant

  • Generation · MotorWeek

    1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6 | Retro Review

    the 3.6 turbo that made air-cooled Porsches mainstream

What the sources do not settle (12)

  • Generation total conflicts across sources: 63,762 (Porsche Newsroom, Porsche Classic, Wikipedia, Stuttcars, 9werks), 62,172 (the Eberhard Kittler production table reproduced in Wikipedia, which is the sum of its own line items), 66,571 (supercars.net, by year and model) and 62,172 (Design911). The Porsche Classic figure of 63,762 is used for the headline stat; all alternatives are recorded here.
  • Porsche Newsroom dates the Carrera 4 launch to August 1988 (DM 114,500) and the 964 span to 1988–1994, while Porsche Classic, Wikipedia and Stuttcars use model years 1989–1994. generation yearsStart uses 1988 per the task brief and the Newsroom press-kit title.
  • Roster naming conflict (needs lead attention): data/roster.json and the task brief list “911 Carrera 4S” and “911 Carrera 2S” for this generation. Porsche never badged a 964 either name — the wide-body 964 Carreras were the Carrera 4 and Carrera 2 “Turbo-Look”, and the “4S”/“S” designations first appeared on the 993 in model years 1996 and 1997 (PCA). Roster ids are unchanged per contract; the display names in this file were corrected to “Turbo-Look” and the deviation is repeated in each affected variant's missing[].
  • Roster gap: the 964 Cabriolet (15,815 cars) has no roster id. Appended as “cabriolet”.
  • Roster gap: appended variants added beyond the 14 roster ids — cabriolet, rs-america, turbo-s-3.3, turbo-s-3.6-package, carrera-4-leichtbau, turbo-s-lm-gt. The 1989 Speedster (800 built, 641 Turbo-Look) is a 930-based car and deliberately excluded as it belongs to the G-series chapter.
  • The 964 Carrera 4 Lightweight (1991, ~20–22 built) is listed in Elferspot as part of the 13,353 Carrera 4 coupés and is not separated in Wikipedia's table; its production count is therefore approximate.
  • The 964 Carrera RS N/GT and the 45-car “Carrera Cup US Edition” US import are documented in the sources but not modelled as variants here, as no roster id exists and their inclusion is not requested. The 1992 Carrera RS breakdown (1,916 base + 73 Touring M002 + 290 Clubsport M003) is recorded in radicalmag but no separate variant entries were created.
  • The 964 Turbo 3.6 S “Flachbau” total is variously given as 75, 76, 90 and 93 across sources; 76 is used because it itemises by market. See the turbo-s-3.6 entry.
  • Porsche's consumer page “What is the Porsche 964?” states “a 30-strong run of 911 Jubilee models”, contradicting the 911 units quoted by Porsche Newsroom, Wikipedia, Stuttcars and jtcars. 911 is used; flagged for the lead.
  • The brief's “glass Targa” description is incorrect for the 964: it retained the removable steel targa panel, the last 911 to do so until the 991. The fixed glass-roof Targa arrived with the 993. Verified against Wikipedia, Porsche Classic and Stuttcars.
  • Media fields (heroImage, timelineImage, model3d, videos, credits) are intentionally empty — they are owned by the ASSET-IMAGES, ASSET-3D and ASSET-VIDEO agents and merged by the lead's scripts/merge-assets.ts.
  • 964 Carrera RS 'Lightweight' and 'Touring' (code M002) remain unmodelled: they are RS specification packages with no roster id, and no Porsche documentation for either was found (RS America is modelled separately as rs-america)