Don't be tempted to dismiss the '95 Porsche 911 as just another version of the familiar sports car. It would be far too easy - and also dead wrong - to label the car as a basic re-skin, tagged onto an illustrious 31-year history of supreme performance and exquisite styling.

This latest 911 is completely new, incorporating the most sweeping changes in the model's long run. It is, without a doubt - at least in our eyes - the best 911 ever to come down the line.

The classic 911 badge now comes with two different drive systems, and in either coupe or cabriolet body styles.

The Porsche 911 Carrerra features conventional rear-wheel drive; the 911 Carrerra 4 is driven by all four wheels for optimum power delivery and traction. In any guise, however, the 1995 version of the Porsche 911 is one of those singular automobiles that boasts the newest technology yet retains distinctive, gratifying ties to the generations of cars that preceded it.

For our test we drove a Carrerra coupe, with no options attached, that came in at a price of $60,625 - a pretty good deal, as we'll discuss later.