Porsche Mezger Engines: Which Are They, And Why Does It Matter?

Hanz Mezger (1928 - 2020) was the engineer responsible for all Porsche's road and race engines from the early 1960's to his retirement in 1994. His original design for the horizontally opposed 6 cylinder Porsche powerplant was used in the 2011 GT3 RS 4.0, and still lives on today in the Ruf Yellowbird. This engine has won over 20,000 races in 50 years, making one of the most successful sports car engines ever designed. It is a particularly interesting story as it made the transition from air-cooled to water cooled, from SOHC to DOHC, and from normally aspirated to Turbo.
Lawrence Romanosky shows a couple of relatively late model Porsches; a 2005 996 GT3 and a 2007 Turbo Coupe 6-speed, that both have examples of the Mezger engine, and describes why the engine makes the cars collectible.
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[@wernerengel4919]

Absolutely brilliant video. Thanks for your explanation. I have a 997.1 Turbo and will keep it in the family.

[@patryan8065]

Great job. I always wanted to understand the Metzger engine mystique and you did a very good job outlining it's history. Thanks!

[@williamwilson5125]

Great explanation of the Metzger engines. Ive been trying to describe these same sentiments in hopes the people that care to listen fully understand the beauty of engeneering that went into a Mezger. No other motor has this type of heritage and pedigree. Currently own a 997.1 turbo tiptronic in Gt Silver which I will never get rid of. The smile it puts on my face everytime I get behind the wheel is unexplainable.

[@mak23997]

I own the same generation and transmission but in black with beige interior. I've owned it for 13 years and have had it since 7000 miles and now almost 90K. I will never get rid of it either. I've had all the known problems and failures with it (coolant pipes, transmission seal leaking, spun chamshaft, etc). But despite that, like you said, still puts a big smile on my face every time I drive it. That and the fact that with the tip, I'm still hanging or even beating modern day sports cars. Can't say enough about the overall engineering.

[@johnracciatti3180]

Love it great explaining it , Well done putting this info all together

[@realyield]

Great video, thanks Lawrence

[@nicholasjackson5237]

Brilliant! So informative, thank you for the history of this engine!

[@FreshdriveGeoff]

Thanks for the vid!

[@russojerry]

Awesome! And thank you! Looking to pick up my first P car on Monday, 02' 996tt. I've been researching for months and have struggled w what to get. Too many nice 911's to choose from 🙂 This excellent explanation just helped to confirm what I thought I knew. Just get a well cared for low mileage turbo mezger and don't look back 👍

[@GMCJay_lly]

Commenting for support!

[@deagle666]

Thx! Excellent video!

[@Royalflushness]

That was great thank you

[@mrevans7708]

The wind noise is bad

[@rwcannon]

Is the gt3 still available?

[@slrroman]

It sold pretty quickly...

[@t.s.3025]

Also simply because the 996/997 Carrera engines didn't age well and suffered premature deaths at an unusually high rate, while the (Mezger-) Turbos lasted.

[@TheJediJoker]

Oof, that pronunciation... It's "METS-ger" and "PEE-ech."

[@voyageurdeux9922]

Great video, but I cringe every time you pronounce Piëch as "peck". It's more like "pee-ush or pee-ehsh".

[@Rushwind100]

At 14min 15 seconds into this video, you create your assumption that 997.1 are going to be worth more than the 997.2, on the assertion that the 997.2 is a DFI engine (you actually mistakenly said "DFE", but I think you meant DFI). But this is NOT true for the 2nd gen 997.2 Mezger GT3, which has PORT INJECTION. Thus I do not agree with your assertion that a 997.1 GT3 or Turbo, will be worth more than a 997.2 GT3 or Turbo.

[@slrroman]

"The DFI flat six seen in 997.2 and 991 models (including Turbos and, latterly, the new GT3) is codenamed the 9A1." This is from Total 911, though the info is widespread... The .2 Turbo engine has more power, but not the robustness of the Mezger. That's why Ruf continues to use the 3.6 Mezger as its base, and why Porsche used it for the 2011 GT2RS instead of the new 3.8. We will have to see about the values!

[@slrroman]

I may not have been very clear; I believe that the 1. 911 Turbo with the Mezger engine will be worth more than the .2 Turbo which has a DFI engine. the .1's are the last of the Mezger engines in the 911 Turbo. The Mezger engine did live on with the GT2 RS and the GT3.

[@billwoods9534]

I just watched this video, and I thought the same thing. How can you quantify that the .2 mezger will not be as sought after as the .1 or be worth less? There were several changes made to the .2 to help squeeze more naturally aspirated power. I understand that they did use a 3.6 litter mezger for the GT2. I'd always assumed it was for reliability since it's getting boosted, but didn't they also change the compression? Obviously, they lowered RPM. When you were referring to the heritage it couldn't have been the motor displacement. It must've been the architecture. I just don't understand what exactly ties the 997.1 mezger gt3 to the 956/962, especially when you said it was the 3.6 litre displacement. I hope you can explain that. I have a 997.2 GT3, and currently it's worth 60K more than the .1 and of course the 997.2 gt3rs 4.0 is $500K. I'm hoping to get some clarification. Or at least explain it to me like I'm a 5 year old. Other than that part, I loved your video and all the details.