Boxster 2.9 to 997 Turbo - Notes log
Discussion
2000 miles completed now, ecstatic with the car over-all, perfect in a quirky-911-kinda-way. Waking up to the car and opening the door to see it puts me in dream-land.
Remain not convinced by the Bridgestones or the Ceramics in cold weather. The Ceramics are especially bad when there is standing water involved. Pulling out of the car wash and braking onto the main road is especially trecherous and requires you to pump the brakes.
Been in a few hairy situations with the ceramics and they can also be a liability on long fast runs in the cold where the brakes are rarely touched, steels are definatley more predictable in this sense and I now understand why they are an option and not standard.
I will need to wait a while to give a definative like/dislike on either as when both are warm they are excellent and the weight benefits of the ceramics are noticable to me in terms of increased lightness of foot.
Where the car and boots were a revelation was in the snow, only going up a decent gradient forced the PSM system to intervene, overall I was very impressed with the Turbo's traction in snow in comparison to the Boxster and completed family duties with little drama.
While the rear wiper on the 911 gets some stick, on my car the body-kit helps hide the lines that would have otherwise been affected by this option. No complaints from me, it has been dead useful in the weather we have had but I can understand why it is not desirable on a Carrera.
The bucket seats continue to gain plaudits from the most unlikely sources namely, my passengers. Most comment that they expected the seats to be uncomfortable and to be very surprised to discover the opposite. Going back to the sport seats of the Boxster would be tough although, having them heated and ventilated in a convertible would swing it. No contest in a coupe, buckets everytime.
The Xenon lights are also very impressive and draw gasps when I point out that they rotate as you corner. woooo.
The MPG gauge is reading 23.8MPG and I completed a run to Birmingham city centre and back to Bromley on one full tank. Not bad and re-inforces that my driving style in the turbo is more laid back and calm whereas the driving style in my boxster was to rag it, with the corresponding loss in motorway MPG.
Car is registered for the Silverstone Classis 911 parade and will hopefully also making an appearance at the next sunday service.
Remain not convinced by the Bridgestones or the Ceramics in cold weather. The Ceramics are especially bad when there is standing water involved. Pulling out of the car wash and braking onto the main road is especially trecherous and requires you to pump the brakes.
Been in a few hairy situations with the ceramics and they can also be a liability on long fast runs in the cold where the brakes are rarely touched, steels are definatley more predictable in this sense and I now understand why they are an option and not standard.
I will need to wait a while to give a definative like/dislike on either as when both are warm they are excellent and the weight benefits of the ceramics are noticable to me in terms of increased lightness of foot.
Where the car and boots were a revelation was in the snow, only going up a decent gradient forced the PSM system to intervene, overall I was very impressed with the Turbo's traction in snow in comparison to the Boxster and completed family duties with little drama.
While the rear wiper on the 911 gets some stick, on my car the body-kit helps hide the lines that would have otherwise been affected by this option. No complaints from me, it has been dead useful in the weather we have had but I can understand why it is not desirable on a Carrera.
The bucket seats continue to gain plaudits from the most unlikely sources namely, my passengers. Most comment that they expected the seats to be uncomfortable and to be very surprised to discover the opposite. Going back to the sport seats of the Boxster would be tough although, having them heated and ventilated in a convertible would swing it. No contest in a coupe, buckets everytime.
The Xenon lights are also very impressive and draw gasps when I point out that they rotate as you corner. woooo.
The MPG gauge is reading 23.8MPG and I completed a run to Birmingham city centre and back to Bromley on one full tank. Not bad and re-inforces that my driving style in the turbo is more laid back and calm whereas the driving style in my boxster was to rag it, with the corresponding loss in motorway MPG.
Car is registered for the Silverstone Classis 911 parade and will hopefully also making an appearance at the next sunday service.
Carl_Docklands said:
2000 miles completed now, ecstatic with the car over-all, perfect in a quirky-911-kinda-way. Waking up to the car and opening the door to see it puts me in dream-land.
Remain not convinced by the Bridgestones or the Ceramics in cold weather. The Ceramics are especially bad when there is standing water involved. Pulling out of the car wash and braking onto the main road is especially trecherous and requires you to pump the brakes.
Been in a few hairy situations with the ceramics and they can also be a liability on long fast runs in the cold where the brakes are rarely touched, steels are definatley more predictable in this sense and I now understand why they are an option and not standard.
I will need to wait a while to give a definative like/dislike on either as when both are warm they are excellent and the weight benefits of the ceramics are noticable to me in terms of increased lightness of foot.
Where the car and boots were a revelation was in the snow, only going up a decent gradient forced the PSM system to intervene, overall I was very impressed with the Turbo's traction in snow in comparison to the Boxster and completed family duties with little drama.
While the rear wiper on the 911 gets some stick, on my car the body-kit helps hide the lines that would have otherwise been affected by this option. No complaints from me, it has been dead useful in the weather we have had but I can understand why it is not desirable on a Carrera.
The bucket seats continue to gain plaudits from the most unlikely sources namely, my passengers. Most comment that they expected the seats to be uncomfortable and to be very surprised to discover the opposite. Going back to the sport seats of the Boxster would be tough although, having them heated and ventilated in a convertible would swing it. No contest in a coupe, buckets everytime.
The Xenon lights are also very impressive and draw gasps when I point out that they rotate as you corner. woooo.
The MPG gauge is reading 23.8MPG and I completed a run to Birmingham city centre and back to Bromley on one full tank. Not bad and re-inforces that my driving style in the turbo is more laid back and calm whereas the driving style in my boxster was to rag it, with the corresponding loss in motorway MPG.
Car is registered for the Silverstone Classis 911 parade and will hopefully also making an appearance at the next sunday service.
Good write up. I'm with you on the brakes. I had the same on a wet M42 about a year ago. Loads of standing water, foot on the brakes and.....nothing...... it was quite un-nerving but they do recover pretty quickly. Otherwise, upsides are no brake dust and no nasty graunching of the brakes if you have left the car standing for a few days. That used to bug me even though it only lasted a few seconds!Remain not convinced by the Bridgestones or the Ceramics in cold weather. The Ceramics are especially bad when there is standing water involved. Pulling out of the car wash and braking onto the main road is especially trecherous and requires you to pump the brakes.
Been in a few hairy situations with the ceramics and they can also be a liability on long fast runs in the cold where the brakes are rarely touched, steels are definatley more predictable in this sense and I now understand why they are an option and not standard.
I will need to wait a while to give a definative like/dislike on either as when both are warm they are excellent and the weight benefits of the ceramics are noticable to me in terms of increased lightness of foot.
Where the car and boots were a revelation was in the snow, only going up a decent gradient forced the PSM system to intervene, overall I was very impressed with the Turbo's traction in snow in comparison to the Boxster and completed family duties with little drama.
While the rear wiper on the 911 gets some stick, on my car the body-kit helps hide the lines that would have otherwise been affected by this option. No complaints from me, it has been dead useful in the weather we have had but I can understand why it is not desirable on a Carrera.
The bucket seats continue to gain plaudits from the most unlikely sources namely, my passengers. Most comment that they expected the seats to be uncomfortable and to be very surprised to discover the opposite. Going back to the sport seats of the Boxster would be tough although, having them heated and ventilated in a convertible would swing it. No contest in a coupe, buckets everytime.
The Xenon lights are also very impressive and draw gasps when I point out that they rotate as you corner. woooo.
The MPG gauge is reading 23.8MPG and I completed a run to Birmingham city centre and back to Bromley on one full tank. Not bad and re-inforces that my driving style in the turbo is more laid back and calm whereas the driving style in my boxster was to rag it, with the corresponding loss in motorway MPG.
Car is registered for the Silverstone Classis 911 parade and will hopefully also making an appearance at the next sunday service.
3black said:
Carl_Docklands said:
3black said:
what road in sevenoaks was it? i live just outside sevenoaks so would like to find this road if i haven't already!
Hi mate, hope you got the PM i sent you a while back with the route.
Maybe you guys don't brake as hard as me
Now the temperatures have risen a little, the issues with the PCCB's are gone, apart from dead pedal immediatley after going into a car wash. Takes about 5 pedal pumps to get the brakes back.
Anyone know what this is on the lower rear? It looks like damage from driving over gravel, is it normal ?
It is worse on the right hand side than on the left.
Camera Roll-325 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-326 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-327 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-328 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
ds where we live, and they cause havoc. They will bite/gnaw lots of things... and those 'chips' remind me of bite marks. Either smear your rear vents with lion dung 
or find a fox control marksman... just tell them to watch out for the paintwork 
Busy times for White buffalo, before the car was due to go in for the rear bumper re-spray, it was time for Sunday Service at Mercedes World. The event was very impressive, unfortunatley I was just pulling in when the 911 Sports Classic was driving out, a friendly wave goodbye and she was gone.
That said, there were plenty of cars which took my eye including this epic beastie:
Camera Roll-345 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
So, with SS out of the way, the Turbo was low-loaded away to be fixed by Tonbridge coachworks for £600exc. The conensus is that it was either a fox or a pack of stray cats which caused the damage.
Being without a car for a few days always gives you pause to reflect on how much you miss not having the car on your driveway and if the amount of money it costs is worth it. No mean feat for a mini-supercar.
The Turbo passed this test of concience and I was relieved when the call came back to collect the car.
I decided to pick the car up myself and walked from Tonbridge station, I was not expecting much from the walk, as TCW are located on an industrial estate, to my surprise came I across an aladdins cave of cars which included some nice pork; a Gen 2 3.8 RS wearing OZ wheels, a 993 Turbo, a 997 Turbo S and 997 Turbo.
That aside, there were some serious classics in there including, this dodge charger 440R:
Camera Roll-393 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
And some assorted E-types (you can see the RS in the background):
Camera Roll-392 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-387 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-388 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
With the rear bumper work completed, it was time to fix a few other niggles....
That said, there were plenty of cars which took my eye including this epic beastie:
Camera Roll-345 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
So, with SS out of the way, the Turbo was low-loaded away to be fixed by Tonbridge coachworks for £600exc. The conensus is that it was either a fox or a pack of stray cats which caused the damage.
Being without a car for a few days always gives you pause to reflect on how much you miss not having the car on your driveway and if the amount of money it costs is worth it. No mean feat for a mini-supercar.
The Turbo passed this test of concience and I was relieved when the call came back to collect the car.
I decided to pick the car up myself and walked from Tonbridge station, I was not expecting much from the walk, as TCW are located on an industrial estate, to my surprise came I across an aladdins cave of cars which included some nice pork; a Gen 2 3.8 RS wearing OZ wheels, a 993 Turbo, a 997 Turbo S and 997 Turbo.
That aside, there were some serious classics in there including, this dodge charger 440R:
Camera Roll-393 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
And some assorted E-types (you can see the RS in the background):
Camera Roll-392 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-387 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-388 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
With the rear bumper work completed, it was time to fix a few other niggles....
The PCM on the Turbo and its in-ability to communicate with my IPhone 4S has been a source of angst since the get go. Now, I specced my Boxster specifically without bluetooth and PCM as there is nothing worse than spoiling a decent drive with a damn telephone call.
Having a young daughter now, things are not so simple and the PCM needed to play ball.
I am thankful to other forum posters who pointed out that there is a bug in the PCM software which stops the bluetooth pairing from succeeding if you have the optional SIM card slot installed in the PCM.
OPC Tonbridge helpfully pointed out that this was a recall job and upgraded the PCM software to V2.23....
Camera Roll-434 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
and then this works...
Camera Roll-433 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
So, if you own a PCM3 car and have problems with bluetooth pairing your iphone, make sure your PCM software is upgraded to wipe out the bug.
After the PCM was sorted, it was time to resolve a ceramic brake squeal from the rear drivers side. The squeal was evident at low speeds. One of the technicians needed to remove the wheel and clean down the ceramic brake pad.
I was also informed that looking at my current wear pattern I should not need new pads until I hit at least 50k miles(!).
I was charged for two hours labour.
I was also informed that looking at my current wear pattern I should not need new pads until I hit at least 50k miles(!).
I was charged for two hours labour.
With all the niggles sorted out, it was time to prepare the car for the summer runs to cornwall.
One area where the Boxster excelled was luggage space, it was an excellent touring car. Although the Turbo has plenty of room for two people and a weekends luggage, for longer trips the Boxster holds the advantage.
That said, there is one area where the 911 coupe holds a trump card over the Boxster.
I started to research roof boxes about a month ago and I decided to go down the Thule route. After some reading, it does appear that with their new roof bars, you don't need to buy the tequipment ones.
From roofracks.co.uk (near Sevenoaks), I purchased the following:
1 x Thule WingBar Edge 9594
1 x Fitting Kit 3100
1 x Thule Gopack bag set
Camera Roll-394 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
The instructions for fitting appear to show an actual 911 so i was fairly confident they would fit ok and so on they went:
Camera Roll-395 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-427 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-428 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-430 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-429 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
I have not fitted the roof-box yet so, fingers crossed.
One area where the Boxster excelled was luggage space, it was an excellent touring car. Although the Turbo has plenty of room for two people and a weekends luggage, for longer trips the Boxster holds the advantage.
That said, there is one area where the 911 coupe holds a trump card over the Boxster.
I started to research roof boxes about a month ago and I decided to go down the Thule route. After some reading, it does appear that with their new roof bars, you don't need to buy the tequipment ones.
From roofracks.co.uk (near Sevenoaks), I purchased the following:
1 x Thule WingBar Edge 9594
1 x Fitting Kit 3100
1 x Thule Gopack bag set
Camera Roll-394 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
The instructions for fitting appear to show an actual 911 so i was fairly confident they would fit ok and so on they went:
Camera Roll-395 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-427 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-428 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-430 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
Camera Roll-429 by bestofbritish96, on Flickr
I have not fitted the roof-box yet so, fingers crossed.
Coming up to 1 years ownership now and its time to book the car in for it's 4 year major service.
I have put 10k miles on the clock since I picked her up last November, to bring the mileage up to around 30k.
The service is not due until December but the onboard computer appears to be on its last legs so its going into Porsche Tonbridge early.
Driving home from work tonight and the air-conditioner stopped working and all of the lower control panel. I also had the air-bag warning light flick on a week or so ago and the central locking went pop around the same time. I also have a passenger door light coming and and going off when it damn well pleases. To top it all the car decided that the rear left tyre pressure was 0.3 psi lower than expected.
Camera Roll-224
Car is doing around 23MPG average.
I have put 10k miles on the clock since I picked her up last November, to bring the mileage up to around 30k.
The service is not due until December but the onboard computer appears to be on its last legs so its going into Porsche Tonbridge early.
Driving home from work tonight and the air-conditioner stopped working and all of the lower control panel. I also had the air-bag warning light flick on a week or so ago and the central locking went pop around the same time. I also have a passenger door light coming and and going off when it damn well pleases. To top it all the car decided that the rear left tyre pressure was 0.3 psi lower than expected.
Camera Roll-224
Car is doing around 23MPG average.
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