RE: You Know You Want To: £20K Porsche 996 Turbo

[monthefish]

Crimp a Length! said:

GT2 would wipe the floor of the 6T

Not sure about "wipe the floor". The GT2 is definitely a quicker car (in the right hands, and in the right conditions) but the difference isn't night and day.

Crimp a Length! said:

they also look a lot better than the turbo.

Absolutely.

[GreigM]

Garlick said:

Not sure why so many say a 911 is soulless. OK, I can't argue against a persons opinion, but I can strongly disagree with it.

One of my favourite cars, with plenty of soul to get under your skin. Don't confuse effectiveness with a lack of character.

Its opinion over experience unfortunately.

[monthefish]

J4CKO said:

cjb1 said:

So that's how poor people live is it?

J4CKO said:

I love the fact all those posting would love this 911 but the 996 is "unloved", whilst the Porsche beards get all misty eyed and spend 40 grand on a 993 I think the 996 Turbo is good value and comes with proper water cooling, like big boys cars do !

I suspect for most of us the air cooled thing and the hallowed versions of 911 is a bit Emperors New Clothes for most of us who would sell a kidney for this 996 and love it to bits, must be terrible for the cognoscenti to be so jaded that a 996 turbo is boring so we will leave them to their 300k RS models which must be fantastic but for the average PHer this is a very desirable car, hell I even enjoy my four grand 944 Cabriolet, it is just different markets, I am just glad there is some poverty Pork out there for us bottom feeders.

Yep, I think in any realm, you tend to live vicariously through others postings and miss out on your own path to deciding you need a 911 2.7 RS or whatever, really we need to go through the levels ourselves. It is like a guy at work who knows everything about cycling, every part, every tip yet rarely actually throws a leg over a bicycle.

Good post(s) Jacko.

[Moosh]

BarbaricAvatar said:

I like the 996, to me it shows Porsche's bravery in trying to modernise the 911 and explore new designs, rather than constantly cloning the 964 with updates.
Sadly the 996 was where this philosophy started and stopped. They chickened out with the 997 and the 991 is just yuck.
Sadly i can't even afford this bargain, but if i had the money i'd seek-out a 996 over all the other 911 models.

+1 I even prefer the 996 lights, but then I would

[monthefish]

GreigM said:

Garlick said:

Not sure why so many say a 911 is soulless. OK, I can't argue against a persons opinion, but I can strongly disagree with it.

One of my favourite cars, with plenty of soul to get under your skin. Don't confuse effectiveness with a lack of character.

Its opinion over experience unfortunately.

[Stu R]

While they're a superb bargain and one of my favourites, I can't help but be more excited about the fact that early 997s are just about dropping into the 30's now. Doesn't seem like 2 minutes ago since they were firmly over £50k even at the bottom end of the market.

We're spoiled for choice when it comes to bargain pork!

[mercfunder]

cjb1 said:

As a PCGB member I've owned various 911's for a total of 13+ years so have a bit of experience in them but all said this is only my opinion. The 996 was possibly Porsche's best selling 911 and subsequently flooded the market, there's gazillions of them for sale, it's is generally recognised as being one of the most unloved 911's of all times, the 964 being second to it. beauty is the eye of the beholder and for someone looking for outright performance for less money they are a fantastic bargain. Someone looking for a proper 911 they are not the one to buy. As has already been said on this thread, I went to the launch of the 996 at the motor show

Numbers, numbers,numbers....to the vast majority of the population that shape of Porsche is a 911,whatever the model number is, and most people would either be envious or admiring of anybody who owned one.

[TameRacingDriver]

Garlick said:

Not sure why so many say a 911 is soulless. OK, I can't argue against a persons opinion, but I can strongly disagree with it.

One of my favourite cars, with plenty of soul to get under your skin. Don't confuse effectiveness with a lack of character.

IMO

Probably described as soul-less by people who expect their cars to be absolute pigs to use every day - loud, unreliable and difficult to live with.

I can't really see how anyone could describe a Porsche as soul-less, but I suspect maybe its a matter of perception - in my "normal", working class environment, pretty much nobody drivers Porsches! Want soul-less? Try a Vauxhall Corsa or a Toyota Avensis!!

[thewheelman]

TameRacingDriver said:

Garlick said:

Not sure why so many say a 911 is soulless. OK, I can't argue against a persons opinion, but I can strongly disagree with it.

One of my favourite cars, with plenty of soul to get under your skin. Don't confuse effectiveness with a lack of character.

IMO

Probably described as soul-less by people who expect their cars to be absolute pigs to use every day - loud, unreliable and difficult to live with.

I can't really see how anyone could describe a Porsche as soul-less, but I suspect maybe its a matter of perception - in my "normal", working class environment, pretty much nobody drivers Porsches! Want soul-less? Try a Vauxhall Corsa or a Toyota Avensis!!

Soulless as no car or mechanical object has a soul. I think people confuse "soul" with driving/handling characteristics of the car. Also it seems desirability is often confused with "soul" when talking about cars.

[Homer J]

J4CKO said:

cjb1 said:

So that's how poor people live is it?

J4CKO said:

I love the fact all those posting would love this 911 but the 996 is "unloved", whilst the Porsche beards get all misty eyed and spend 40 grand on a 993 I think the 996 Turbo is good value and comes with proper water cooling, like big boys cars do !

I suspect for most of us the air cooled thing and the hallowed versions of 911 is a bit Emperors New Clothes for most of us who would sell a kidney for this 996 and love it to bits, must be terrible for the cognoscenti to be so jaded that a 996 turbo is boring so we will leave them to their 300k RS models which must be fantastic but for the average PHer this is a very desirable car, hell I even enjoy my four grand 944 Cabriolet, it is just different markets, I am just glad there is some poverty Pork out there for us bottom feeders.

Yep, I think in any realm, you tend to live vicariously through others postings and miss out on your own path to deciding you need a 911 2.7 RS or whatever, really we need to go through the levels ourselves. It is like a guy at work who knows everything about cycling, every part, every tip yet rarely actually throws a leg over a bicycle.

Good posts Jacko.

Nicely summed up.

[El Shafto]

Porkie said:

TonyHetherington said:

"Bro, I've just bought a Porsche too. Yeah, well no, well yeah...the headlights are the same. But it's got "TURBO" on the back"

Headlights arent the same

I had both at same time for years. Thought the Boxster was more fun on the road for 99% of the time. My Turbo had DMS map and exhaust and KW suspension. Certainly gave it some character that the std one lacked. Still very fast cars. 420bhp doesnt sound alot these days but I drove a std car few months ago and it still felt brutally quick.

'Percy' and 'bertie' and yes naming cars is VERY sad and gay

Forget the Porkers...major bonus points for the Skyline. And in the right colour too!

There I was, casually browsing a Porsche thread, and all of a sudden, BAM, a picture of a Skyline causes me to pretty much cream myself at my desk.....

[Harry Flashman]

Denver09 said:

Harry Flashman said:

Denver09 said:

Hahah great post.

I am considering purchasing:

Mint E46 M3 2005
Mint CL55
Mint SL500
Good 996 C4S

Cannot decide. Anyone wanna help me out??

C4S every time - preferably in that tasty dark blue they came in, and with the sports exhaust. Great looking car, far more special than your alternatives IMHO.

would it be considered bad form to put the BBS LMS alloys on a C4S

Not by me! Great looking wheel, great looking car. A Seal Grey one with those alloys in black would lokk fabulous.

[Frimley111R]

DanDC5 said:

That is a bargain of a car. But I think I'd have a T350/Exige S instead.

But those are quite different. You're not comparing a 3 Series with a C Class, more a 3 Series with a Focus RS and S2000.

[Hellbound]

After a couple of years these cars pay for themselves.

Think of all the money you save on hookers!

[Caractacus]

Not 20k...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-PORSCHE-911-996-TUR...

but would you?

[laingy]

I drove a 996 turbo around thruxton on one of those experience days. The other cars i drove included a lamborghini murci, ferrari 360, mg track car thing and mercedes slk 350.

For me the 996 turbo was utterley amazing, far superior to the lambo or the 360. The 360 was too twitchy and the lambo just wasnt as good as i expected. But the 911 turbo just left be wanting one.

[ninjacost]

monthefish said:

Crimp a Length! said:

GT2 would wipe the floor of the 6T

Not sure about "wipe the floor". The GT2 is definitely a quicker car (in the right hands, and in the right conditions) but the difference isn't night and day.

i think you may find that a remapped 996t would be a very close match to a gt2 and less likely to put you in a field when pushing on ! :-)

Crimp a Length! said:

they also look a lot better than the turbo.

Absolutely.

to the uninitiated they look very similar imho

[Contigo]

I think I'd like one eventually when the kids leave home and I've had that mid life crisis. I'm not sure after sitting in a 993 how I would get in one though as I nearly crippled myself getting into that and couldn't turn the steering wheel. I'm 6ft 4+ and my long legs mean that the seat has to be in the furthest position and i'm not sure even the 996 would be big enough. I think the 991 is a much bigger car than the 993 and 996 based on it's brand new chassis/subframe. And the next thing is the performance, I want it to be quick and I'm comparing it to my M5 performance here. I want something that truly makes your eyes bleed.

[BERGS2]

Am i right in recalling that the 996 Turbo's shared the block with the '97 Le Mans GT1 cars?

or did i just make that up?

[pSyCoSiS]

Caractacus said:

Not 20k...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-PORSCHE-911-996-TUR...

but would you?

I would, but probably not with those wheels...

Perhaps some original BBS or some nice RUF wheels would set it off better.