997 turbo or 996 turbo - tiptronic
Discussion
I am trying to decide on one of these to treat myself to as my 50th birthday present in April 16. It would be a 'weekend' toy although as I am retired it may get more use then just weekends.
I have a budget of £50k maximum, but am more interested in getting a nice, well kept for car than simply the newest model.
Any comments or hints, feedback would be appreciated.
I have a budget of £50k maximum, but am more interested in getting a nice, well kept for car than simply the newest model.
Any comments or hints, feedback would be appreciated.
Most of the differences are personal taste, I was after a 996 but chose a 997 so am declaring my bias early!
997 slightly quicker, 480 v 420bhp, but both are bloody quick, both easily tuned to stupid fast for reasonable cost
997 much better interior, I found seats are much better in 997 esp. adaptive seats
996 enthusiasts will claim the earlier car is slightly purer drive, like most cars more modern = more refined. I couldn't really feel any difference, both handle very well with massive grip.
Looks are personal, I prefer the 997 especially the front end but both are nice looking cars
both great cars
997 slightly quicker, 480 v 420bhp, but both are bloody quick, both easily tuned to stupid fast for reasonable cost
997 much better interior, I found seats are much better in 997 esp. adaptive seats
996 enthusiasts will claim the earlier car is slightly purer drive, like most cars more modern = more refined. I couldn't really feel any difference, both handle very well with massive grip.
Looks are personal, I prefer the 997 especially the front end but both are nice looking cars
both great cars
I have recently bought a 7t manual. A few years ago I drove a 6t tip and hated it with a passion. The gearbox is a very personal thing, but I really didn't like it (I'm not a die hard manual fan, as I loved the paddle shift on my Aston v8 vantage). I found it clunky, slow and the buttons on the steering wheel aren't fit for the purpose IMO.
The 7t tip is meant to be much better but several of my friends who drove them all disliked them. It is a personal thing and you need to drive them.
If you can get to a gen2 7t pdk then that would be my choice of non-manual cars.
Back to the question ... Having driven both 6t and 7t very close together it was a very easy choice for me; there wasn't anything that I preferred about the 6t. The 7t power delivery was more progressive, it felt better balanced, the sport seats in the 7 are awesome and I massively preferred the 7t front end! However, a friend of mine will be buying a 6t for a lot of the reasons I didn't want it, so it depends what you like!! You really need to drive both pretty close in time.
The 7t tip is meant to be much better but several of my friends who drove them all disliked them. It is a personal thing and you need to drive them.
If you can get to a gen2 7t pdk then that would be my choice of non-manual cars.
Back to the question ... Having driven both 6t and 7t very close together it was a very easy choice for me; there wasn't anything that I preferred about the 6t. The 7t power delivery was more progressive, it felt better balanced, the sport seats in the 7 are awesome and I massively preferred the 7t front end! However, a friend of mine will be buying a 6t for a lot of the reasons I didn't want it, so it depends what you like!! You really need to drive both pretty close in time.
Both the 996 and 997 turbos are lovely. Cannot comment on tip gearbox though.
Just bought a 996tt (manual) so some advice, from what I've gathered:
Just bought a 996tt (manual) so some advice, from what I've gathered:
- Ask yourself; do you have a budget of £50k plus service/running costs, or is it £50k tops? Even good turbos will be pricey to service and you might find that the first service at a decent indy throws up a list of non-essential but ideally recommended jobs. (You can use Google, and the forums like 911uk to get a more specific idea of the sort of things.)
- Be picky. Despite the hype, prices, even if they are rising (debatable) are not rising fast and it's better to get something bang on than a lemon or a car you'll never feel happy with.
- The above leads to another point; test drive.
- And finally - this relates to the first item - get an independent PPI (pre-purchase inspection), no matter who you buy from IMHO. A car that needs minor 'stuff' doing is not necessarily a bad thing, but better to know that in advance and, for a few hundred quid you could dodge some very costly issues. And even then, budget for the running costs.
If it's a weekend car I'd go for a manual coupe. The standard 996 turbo is more than quick enough for UK roads, the 996 turbo X50 is quicker and 997 turbo quicker still. That's before considering tuning.
Drive both, look at both and decide if it's worth paying more for a 997 turbo over a 996 turbo.
It's a personal thing, only you will know what's right for you.
Drive both, look at both and decide if it's worth paying more for a 997 turbo over a 996 turbo.
It's a personal thing, only you will know what's right for you.
I am a 996T owner so that's the bias chat but I did drive both the 996 and 997 before buying. It will really come down to personal tastes. The 997 is the better "Car", more refined, modern, faster etc.. but I thought the 996 was more fun and had better feel (for me anyway) and that was why I bought it. The 997 is also better built but if you are just going to use as a weekend toy, do you need it to tick all those boxes? Tiptronic box suits the cars really well in reality but felt sharper on the 997, it worked better there though robbed even more of the involvement. I know some people that run around in their manuals everyday and others that have a tiptronic as the weekend car - go figure. As ever, my 2p.
Costs wise, I would echo the comment above. I bought a car with fully OPC history but the inspection picked up on over £1500 worth of work that needed done excluding serviceable items, so would allow yourself a few big ones there. Good luck.
Had a 996t for four years and now in a 997t. Both manual coupes, remapped and short-shift. It's not really that clear cut for me which is the better car. I found the standard 996 seats pretty poor and the 997 adaptive sports seats much better. I prefer the interior of the 7 and it's definitely quicker but maybe the 6 was a slightly more involving drive. I'd quite like to drive them both back to back for a proper comparison. I don't either are as much fun as my Elise which has just over a third of the power.
If it was my 50k for a weekend toy, I'd buy a Lotus and stick 35k in the bank....
If it was my 50k for a weekend toy, I'd buy a Lotus and stick 35k in the bank....
I've had this for six months now, it's a tip, it would be fair to say that I haven't bonded with it yet.
However it is brilliant at pootling around the city and just eats motorways, but I find it is still a challenge to drive down my favourite twisty having to rely more on the brakes than I would like as it's difficult to get the engine braking with the auto box. Holding it in manual kind of works but it has so much torque it's easy to forget where you are in the box....went through several miles of "average speed cameras" before I realised I'd been holding it in 3rd gear! Still bettered my M3's fuel consumption despite this.
Ranman said:
I've had this for six months now, it's a tip, it would be fair to say that I haven't bonded with it yet.
However it is brilliant at pootling around the city and just eats motorways, but I find it is still a challenge to drive down my favourite twisty having to rely more on the brakes than I would like as it's difficult to get the engine braking with the auto box. Holding it in manual kind of works but it has so much torque it's easy to forget where you are in the box....went through several miles of "average speed cameras" before I realised I'd been holding it in 3rd gear! Still bettered my M3's fuel consumption despite this.
Lovely car!However it is brilliant at pootling around the city and just eats motorways, but I find it is still a challenge to drive down my favourite twisty having to rely more on the brakes than I would like as it's difficult to get the engine braking with the auto box. Holding it in manual kind of works but it has so much torque it's easy to forget where you are in the box....went through several miles of "average speed cameras" before I realised I'd been holding it in 3rd gear! Still bettered my M3's fuel consumption despite this.
FWIW, if it helps you feel better about the tip, there's not much engine braking in the manual either - this is often a characteristic of turbo engines and, in my short experience, does make it much more forgiving on heel & toe downshifts than my TVR Griffiths of past which hd vey high compression NA engines and had a well-earned reputation for locking back axles and hurling people through hedges. (Legend has it the Griffith 500 enjoyed the dubious honour of highest death-rate in Europe when it was released.)
Also, even though it is a manual, 3rd is gear in the 996t, by reputation, a do-it-all gear on the road. So you can drive it almost without shifting, in the same way as you describe.
For the OP, here is a truly excellent comparison on the 911uk forum, from someone who's owned both at the same time: http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=105026
jkh112 said:
I thought the tiptronic boxes in the 996t and the 997t were the same, but the views above seem to indicate otherwise. Can anyone confirm if the tip boxes are different?
same boxes but 997 tip has circa 250,000 different software maps to suit any particular driver/conditions so far more sophisticated than 996 tip which may have something like only a few hundred software maps Gassing Station | 911/Carrera GT | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff