A 997.1 911 Turbo with the Mezger engine and three pedals.

This is a 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo (997.1) — and, crucially, one of the examples fitted with the six-speed manual gearbox rather than the Tiptronic automatic that the majority left the factory with. That single detail is much of what makes it special. The 997.1 Turbo is built around the legendary “Mezger” 3.6-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six — a dry-sumped, race-derived engine whose architecture traces directly back to Porsche’s 911 GT1 Le Mans and GT3 programmes. It is an over-engineered, motorsport-grade unit famous for its strength, its appetite for boost and its tuning headroom, and it is the last generation of 911 Turbo to use it.

The 997 Turbo was also the first petrol production car to adopt variable-turbine-geometry (VTG) turbochargers, all but eliminating lag and delivering roughly 480 horsepower with the all-wheel-drive traction and all-weather composure that define the Turbo. Pair that bullet-proof Mezger engine with a true manual transmission and you have the enthusiast’s holy grail of modern 911 Turbos: an increasingly collectible combination, since later Turbos moved to PDK and a different engine family. The result is a genuine supercar that stays engaging, usable and rewarding to drive every single day.