Were 986/996 headlights stylish back in the day?

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by patssle

It seems everybody hates on the 996 and 986 headlights whenever these cars get mentioned but the numbers speak for themselves. Porsche was near death with the 993 and the 986/996 drastically turned the company around.

So did people just care less about the headlights back in the day or were they just fashionable at the time and have slowly fallen out of being stylish as time goes on?

I believe you are right on all points. The 1st "modular" light assemblies I saw were on a 2000 996 & I had never liked Porsches other than 928s.
I loved the "modular" light assemblies because they disrupted the body & paint less being all in one unit. Making for more uninterrupted spans of paint, especially important on a small convertible.

[CHRISP357]

Still are stylish! Especially when modded with projectors...

[hancock1701]

Originally Posted by CHRISP357

Still are stylish! Especially when modded with projectors...

Very true. That was the first mod I did when I got the car, And love that sharp white cutoff too! But the amber really didn't (and still doesn't) help though.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

I believe you are right on all points. The 1st "modular" light assemblies I saw were on a 2000 996 & I had never liked Porsches other than 928s.
I loved the "modular" light assemblies because they disrupted the body & paint less being all in one unit. Making for more uninterrupted spans of paint, especially important on a small convertible.

The design of the 996 had a drag coefficient of 30, the 993 is 34, thats a big improvement & the 996 is wider! I'm sure the headlights are a big contributer to the improvement.