The 996 styling shared its front end with Porsche's mid engine entry-level Boxster. The Type 996 spawned over a dozen variations, including an all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S (the latter which had a 'Turbo look' in facelift form) models, the club racing-oriented GT3 and GT3 RS instead of a Carrera RS variant and the forced-induction 996 Turbo and GT2.

There are 3 different head unit types on this vehicle.