Diary of a new GT2 owner
Discussion
Thought I'd share this as I liked the Diary of the New GT3 owner. It's long.. Apologies in advance.. ;-)
GT2
So I finally went and got my self one of the cars of my dreams, hopefully I will hold on to this one after regretting get rid of my last Porsche 964 3.6 Turbo, presently they are selling for more than twice what I sold mine for some years ago :-(.
Anyway onwards and upwards and after a year of looking, reading and deliberating to the point of obsession and almost living on the internet reading every forum, watching and reading every review I finally decided on a July 2008 997 GT2.
It was always going to be a toss up between a GT2 and GT3 RS, and I would frankly have been happy with either, however a few things swung it for me in favour of the GT2, I had also considered a Ferrari 599 but couldn't really justify the running costs, I was also worried about the reliability of it, I wanted something in the hypercar performance bracket, but also wanted something that was robust, well built, not excessively expensive to run and it had to be rare and stunning like a supermodel, I'll try and explain:-
From much reading it turns out that that GT3 RS is based on the GT2 and the chassis has obviously been tweaked a bit more, I know the GT3 RS has the NA Motor in it, sounds amazing and instant throttle response, I get that, love it and nothing bad to say about it in any way shape or form. However a few things swung me over to the GT2, firstly having owned a couple of sports bikes in the past I'd struggled over the years to find something close to bike performance, I've also had no end of pretty fast super saloons, Merc AMG's, BMW M3's with SMG, BMW 335i, Lexus LS460 SEL, Range Rovers's, couple of Porsche 964 Turbo's, Audi S Cars, in fact I have probably bought, driven, and sold more than 50 cars in the last 25 years.
The ones I've really loved were the BMW M3's, and of course the stunning 1994 964 3.6 Turbo that was one of the last made with its big single laggy Turbo and Sports exhaust that used to set of car alarms just on part throttle driving down the street.
I've also driven some very high performance stuff at Palmer Motorsport and also at Silverstone, Almost bought a Ferrari F512M (rang up the day after looking a the car to put a deposit on it and it had sold.... buggar! was I pissed off!!!, I almost bought a Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition about 15 years ago, but after driving for about 20 mins, it it gave me a cracking headache and the heat coming into the cabin from the engine bay was excessive, I just couldn't live with it! So I got a 1991 964 3.3 Turbo (320 bhp) that I used as my daily driver for over a year, including winter and snow and ice! I was also lucky enough to go to Marinello on a Ferrari Factory Tour and do Fiorano in a 458 for 8 laps, an amazing experience, the 458 was incredible, I wanted something of similar performance without the huge price tag or running costs.
Anyway back to the GT2, after much looking at GT2's (there are so few good ones around that haven't been messed about with or auto aligned!!) and primarily GT3's and GT3 RS's I thought right I'll go for the GT3 RS, the Standard Gen II GT3's were still too expensive and I wasn't 100% comfortable how they'd been driven or how much track time they'd done, same story with the GT3 RS's, also there were quite a lot of GT3's around at the time so when I come to sell it it will amidst a pond full of them, I almost had my fingers burned about 4 years ago when I put a deposit on a 600BHP 996 GT2 that I test drove and loved, however an OPC inspection threw up quite a few issues £25K+ to fix, stealer wouldn't give me the deposit back, had to go to court and it took a year to get it back, some dealer in Harrogate, but no names! He also told me it had never been tracked, however the PCCB brakes were shot and oil leaking from engine and drive shafts, it had only done 25K, I found pics of the car on track going sideways at Silverstone on the web too.
Engines - Normally Aspirated, Twin Turbos and Over Revs.. the dilemma!
So I basically wanted something rare and that had not been tracked either at all or much, having a bad back the car needed to be a bit more compliant than the GT3 RS - simply too stiff for me, I was also worried about the high revs needed to get the performance out of the GT3's in terms of long term longevity, and whilst I know full well they are built with exotic materials in the form of Titanium Conrods etc., its still 8,500+ rpm plus at times and although these things are based on the bullet proof Mezger engine I decided I wanted something that produced the power lower down and Twin Turbos would do the job. As much as I love the high revving GT3 RS engine, it didn't produce anything like the power of the GT2, the torque from the GT2 is incredible without having to wring the neck of the engine constantly, I mean how many miles can you you do in it at 8500 rpm plus on a regular basis before something lets go eventually, it seems to me the NA cars are getting towards their limits in terms of power output at high revs and are probably more prone to earlier failure than a lower revving twin turbo engine, the last thing I want is a Titanium Conrod sticking out of the side of the engine that suddenly let go after 50,000 miles or piston rings wearing due to higher levels of high rev wear, I really don't want to be looking at a new engine or engine rebuild, I can't even contemplate the cost or hassle!
The other issues I was worried about was over revs, this one has no such problems, just 228 in Range 1, 24 in Range 2 and ZERO in Ranges, 3, 4, 5 and 6 according to the man maths and various web sites / forums that explain this as revolutions / time spent in each range as follows:-
228 ignitions Range 1 - 228 div 6 Cylinders = 38 revolutions in the 6800 to 7000 rpm range or around 0.3 seconds in Range 1.
24 ignitions Range 2 - 24 div 6 Cylinders = 4 revolutions in the 7000 rpm to 7200 range, time spent in range not even work working out!
I can see how this happens, and noticed that even when you change up as soon as the upshift light illuminates, as soon as the clutch is depressed the revs appear fly up a little on the rev counter with a sudden whoosh, its as thought the 20psi of boost and the disconnect from the engine and gearbox pushes the engine speed up for a fraction of a second. But at those over rev figures its basically been driven to the shops and back and this may have only happened once and may be a single event and nothing to worry about.
Turbo Consideration
I also considered the 997 Turbo but ruled this out fairly early on due to a number of reasons, firstly yes its a great car that can also do the daily stuff, but I didn't want a daily driver and for me felt it was too soft, I also didn't want 4 wheel drive or an Automatic (PDK) and there are quite a few of then out there, but they make an amazing second hand bargain, I also wanted one with a fixed high level spoiler, the GT car spoilers just look so much better in IMHO due to body kit, but i know thats subjective, also the GT cars are generally lower and somewhat more special in how they are setup, Maybe GT cars are just rarer and feel more special.
I wanted something that I could drive and feel like I was driving the car, not the car driving me, I already have a sensible company car, I wanted a clutch that felt like I was pressing it, and a gear lever that needs some precision and effort to change gear, I wanted the steering to be pin sharp, the GT3s had that, but to be honest I couldn't find an massive difference in the GT3 / GT2 steering at the speeds I was driving at, and the GT2 / GT3 RS clutches were fine as far as I was concerned, even in traffic - at least for a while. :-)
I also wanted an element of rawness in the car and boy did I get that, it needed to feel more like a racing car but be pliable on road and still practical with the ability to drive to the South of France. the GT2 met these requirements. I've had manuals and autos, my present company car is a diesel and has a AMT flappy paddle box, its fit for purpose in its own way but not brilliant.
The 997 Turbo and Turbo S are amazing but as I said, too soft, for me the PDK box takes away from the control and the driving experience and is just dull even though they go really really fast and change gear faster than I can think, at this rate the 997 Turbos, and now the 991 with PDK which again is an amazing piece of kit will be doing 190mph+ but the experience for me is getting so detached (electric steering and gears -whats left to do except point and press accelerator!, apparently left foot braking is the new Black ;-) from reality that all the fun and excitement is being drained out of owning a car like this, I won't be going the 991 route... at least for now anyway, sure they may make super hero drivers out of all of us but for me no thanks, I like changing gear and like being in control over as many aspects of the car as possible, I buy cars for me and me alone to enjoy, I'm really not bothered if I'm passed by other cars so long as I'm enjoying myself, I'm not a professional racing driver and don't care If I can't extract 10 tenths out of the car and run rings round everyone on the road or track, its exciting enough for me to run at 7 tenths in this as I probably need it to be without the risk of crashing it or breaking it. I may not even track it at present as getting track day insurance is getting increasingly difficult to obtain and due to the 10% value of the car excess, Im not sure I wan't a Damaged Repairable car with a £8k bill attached to it, especially if someone runs out of talent trying to drive at 10 tenth into me, For me a track day will be a rare but probably fairly gentle and enjoyable event. For me I want to keep this car a very long time for me its a keeper. If I want to rag the hell out one of these ill consider the Porsche GT day at Silverstone, its their car, tyres, engine and brakes for £400 with no risk or wear on my own car!
So having convinced my self that the GT2 met all my requirements, ie, its very rare, very very fast, low mileage, not tracked and in mint condition, it was also cheaper than the GT3 RS but based on the same chassis, I went out looking in earnest and end up with this one, Carrera White with Black Wheels, for me it looks the Dog's Doodaa's. I've got the original bill of sale at just over £160K with nearly £30K of extras, its well specified, carbon bits, BOSE, NAV, Seat Heating, Seats are the Sports seats with complete adjustability including lumbar and bolster adjustment which is idea for my dodgy back, and no issues after a 4 hour drive home in it. So far I've put about 1400 miles on it since Feb, and the car has now done just over 13k, its also a 1 owner car which is also rare for these cars.
So down to the driving experience, well its frankly dangerously fast for any inexperienced driver, raw and precise, even at speed it feels completely flat through corners and very rewarding, the tire noise is quite intrusive as sound deadening is really minimal, but the steering feels almost telepathic, its just goes exactly where you point it.
The Anti Matter Warp Drive power plant in the rear is a snarling beast that just keeps on producing an excess of power, the revs build so quickly towards the redline that you have to be on your toes with just a couple of seconds between gear changes, every movement in the car requires you to be prepared ahead of time and ready to react before the car has chance to get out of control or away from you. On a slightly inclined damp road it still wants to wheel spin in 3rd, the traction control though isn't intrusive and allows some significant fun before it starts to intervene, so far I have left all the buttons ON, I haven't even tried the sport suspension mode as for me on public roads I can't see as it will be much fun unless you are into self harm and like being really uncomfortable.
Leading up to getting this car I've had a couple of fairly comfortable daily drivers and not spent anytime driving at any speed for a while, so for the few of weeks leading up to getting the car I was basically increasing my higher speed driving experiences to get used to some level of performance driving again. To be honest nothing really prepared me for the first time I put my foot down a little in 2nd and 3rd, Turbo Lag is almost none existent as to make no difference, even off turbo the car still makes quite a bit of power, I had to back off the throttle quite quickly as my brain had not re-calibrated, it felt like the moment on the starship Enterprise when warp drive is engaged and all the stars suddenly disappear past in a blur, the horizon arrives so fast and scenery moves past so quickly its quite disconcerting at first, after a few more drives out on the road my brain is going through the re-calibration exercise and everything is starting to feel much more comfortable again. It simply does not matter what speed or gear you are in, it simply pulls like a train.
I grew up driving sideways in a Ford Capri and other RWD cars, I used to love a little gentle power sliding the 964 3.6 Turbo around bends and roundabouts where space and conditions where suitable and safe to do so, so I'm very comfortable with driving with opposite lock and turbo lag and the issues it creates mid corner, at the moment I'm probably driving the car at just 3 or 4 tenths, it will be a while before I get to 7 tenths and longer still before I get to 8 or 9, I may never drive this car at 10 tenths, but who cares, I'd probably be risking too much at this level and anything above 5 tenths will be on private Tarmac.
The car is surprisingly economical on a run, at a steady 70mph on the motorway back from London it did 32mpg (WTH), how is that even possible, it was throwing it down and torrential at times, not something I recommend on a first long drive with those super wide Michelin Cup Sport Tyres, I wasn't risking it. It was a fantastic ride back though, I had 2 other 911's (C4S, and GT3RS) both pull up alongside, wave, smile, give me the thumbs up and then shoot off.
For me the car is perfect, it offers bike levels of performance, and little else with a number plate will touch it, the build quality appears to be rock solid, it handles like its on rails.
So a few months on and I have gotten much more used to the car and I feel much more at ease opening it up a little, it's been back to the OPC in Leeds for a Coolant Hose recall, always had great service too, free bacon sandwich on every visit when dropping the car off, but an engine out job none the less, 30 hours of labour but no cost to me, I also had an issue with the TPMS system so it had to go back in, basically some tyre fitter had crushed one of the sensors taking a tyre off and caused an intermittent fault, because I had to go back again, on the last visit they even covered the cost of the fuel and filled up an almost empty tank... Can't complain with that level of service from Leeds OPC.
Each visit I was given a brand new Boxer, lovely car inside and out, although I've never liked convertibles and having tried to drive this one in decent warm weather I decided I still don't like convertibles, at least not in the UK, too much noise, blustery at speed and I don't like the sun burning my head off! Everyone to their own though.
Due to the two visits I found it interesting to drive the new Boxster, one a Manual, one a PDK, to be honest I wasn't keen on either, but also recognised the merits of each, both shared a common problem as far as I was concerned, but more about that a bit.
The manual car had a very nice 6 speed box, it was accurate, but for me it was too light in terms of its shift mechanism, the clutch was also incredibly light but also easy and progressive, the car made a great noise though, handled very neutrally and had this been a Cayman I'd have been e en more impressed, fit and finish were excellent, took me two days to find the electronic handbrake though.
The second visit I was given a new Boxster, blue one this time with sports exhaust and PDK box, initially I was quite excited about the prospect of one of these cars and having read the endless debate over these boxes I couldn't wait to try it out, my first impressions were that it was quite amazing, instant changes up and down, however this changed after a while to a little frustration.... I'll try and explain......
Whilst the gear box did a great job of changing I found that pulling on the paddles required too much movement on each of the beautifully engineered paddles to initiate a gear change, too go down 3 gears I found it took longer than if I had to change from 6th to 3rd in my GT2 in one go, or at least there wasn't much in it!
Also due to the relatively low torque and revvy nature of the engine even when just a moderate increase in speed was required the box would seem to drop too many gears and leave you at high revs as though it thought I needed to accelerate at full speed, the only way to cure this was to put it in full manual mode which I found quite infuriating as it does not seem possible to use engine torque to accelerate without it dropping loads of gears and massive revs all the time. The kick down on WOT was instantaneous and superb though and very impressive with instant power.
So back to the other issue I had with both these cars, firstly they both sounded brilliant... No question about that, however for me the gears were simply toooooo long legged, it just seemed to take forever to get anywhere in each gear. I'm now pretty sure this must be one of the reasons that people love the sound of these cars, it has to sound good to relieve the boredom of waiting for it to change up. They both handled superbly.
Once the initial newness had worn off I basically drove it like an Auto and simply forgot to do anything much with the gears at all, overall I found it boring and uninvolving and certainly not something I would buy personally, it made me very lazy and took away having to think about the process of actually driving.
My GT2 doesn't sound anything like one of these, it's more of a deeper sound and cuts out at 6,750rpm but the noise is not something you are able to concentrate on, especially when pressing on a litttle, typically you get just 2 or 3 seconds in each gear and all your sensors are focused on holding on and preparing for what's happening way down the road, its as though your brain just shuts everything else out including all none important noises, don't get me wrong it still sounds great and is very loud under throttle, but nothing like a GT3. I just wonder if its down to the spare time you have in a GT3 to think about it between gear changes that makes it all the more important with high revving engines and overly long gears. It's very easy to hit the redline due to the incredibly rapid rise of revs and you have to be constantly prepared for the next gear, the box is chunky and precise and the clutch nicely weighted in my opinion. I wouldn't change it in any way!
I love driving the car, Ive now become accustomed to the huge power and torque, I must admit when I first got this car I wondered if I had taken on too much car such is the brutality of the performance, in hindsight I'm glad I bought it, it's amazing how quickly you recalibrate your senses and get used to it, I can't imagine going back to a NA engine, maybe it would feel a bit flat due to lack of torque, but again that's just my opinion. It's certainly a car that I will cherish, drive carefully and enjoy for many years to come, I mean what do you replace it with? It's taken Porsche 5 years to develop the 991 GT3 and even after 13 miles round the ring it's still only a handful of seconds faster, and personally I don't like the PDK! Just my own personal opinion though!
For me there is nothing better than having an hour around some great Yorkshire roads and just enjoying the drive.
GT2
So I finally went and got my self one of the cars of my dreams, hopefully I will hold on to this one after regretting get rid of my last Porsche 964 3.6 Turbo, presently they are selling for more than twice what I sold mine for some years ago :-(.
Anyway onwards and upwards and after a year of looking, reading and deliberating to the point of obsession and almost living on the internet reading every forum, watching and reading every review I finally decided on a July 2008 997 GT2.
It was always going to be a toss up between a GT2 and GT3 RS, and I would frankly have been happy with either, however a few things swung it for me in favour of the GT2, I had also considered a Ferrari 599 but couldn't really justify the running costs, I was also worried about the reliability of it, I wanted something in the hypercar performance bracket, but also wanted something that was robust, well built, not excessively expensive to run and it had to be rare and stunning like a supermodel, I'll try and explain:-
From much reading it turns out that that GT3 RS is based on the GT2 and the chassis has obviously been tweaked a bit more, I know the GT3 RS has the NA Motor in it, sounds amazing and instant throttle response, I get that, love it and nothing bad to say about it in any way shape or form. However a few things swung me over to the GT2, firstly having owned a couple of sports bikes in the past I'd struggled over the years to find something close to bike performance, I've also had no end of pretty fast super saloons, Merc AMG's, BMW M3's with SMG, BMW 335i, Lexus LS460 SEL, Range Rovers's, couple of Porsche 964 Turbo's, Audi S Cars, in fact I have probably bought, driven, and sold more than 50 cars in the last 25 years.
The ones I've really loved were the BMW M3's, and of course the stunning 1994 964 3.6 Turbo that was one of the last made with its big single laggy Turbo and Sports exhaust that used to set of car alarms just on part throttle driving down the street.
I've also driven some very high performance stuff at Palmer Motorsport and also at Silverstone, Almost bought a Ferrari F512M (rang up the day after looking a the car to put a deposit on it and it had sold.... buggar! was I pissed off!!!, I almost bought a Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition about 15 years ago, but after driving for about 20 mins, it it gave me a cracking headache and the heat coming into the cabin from the engine bay was excessive, I just couldn't live with it! So I got a 1991 964 3.3 Turbo (320 bhp) that I used as my daily driver for over a year, including winter and snow and ice! I was also lucky enough to go to Marinello on a Ferrari Factory Tour and do Fiorano in a 458 for 8 laps, an amazing experience, the 458 was incredible, I wanted something of similar performance without the huge price tag or running costs.
Anyway back to the GT2, after much looking at GT2's (there are so few good ones around that haven't been messed about with or auto aligned!!) and primarily GT3's and GT3 RS's I thought right I'll go for the GT3 RS, the Standard Gen II GT3's were still too expensive and I wasn't 100% comfortable how they'd been driven or how much track time they'd done, same story with the GT3 RS's, also there were quite a lot of GT3's around at the time so when I come to sell it it will amidst a pond full of them, I almost had my fingers burned about 4 years ago when I put a deposit on a 600BHP 996 GT2 that I test drove and loved, however an OPC inspection threw up quite a few issues £25K+ to fix, stealer wouldn't give me the deposit back, had to go to court and it took a year to get it back, some dealer in Harrogate, but no names! He also told me it had never been tracked, however the PCCB brakes were shot and oil leaking from engine and drive shafts, it had only done 25K, I found pics of the car on track going sideways at Silverstone on the web too.
Engines - Normally Aspirated, Twin Turbos and Over Revs.. the dilemma!
So I basically wanted something rare and that had not been tracked either at all or much, having a bad back the car needed to be a bit more compliant than the GT3 RS - simply too stiff for me, I was also worried about the high revs needed to get the performance out of the GT3's in terms of long term longevity, and whilst I know full well they are built with exotic materials in the form of Titanium Conrods etc., its still 8,500+ rpm plus at times and although these things are based on the bullet proof Mezger engine I decided I wanted something that produced the power lower down and Twin Turbos would do the job. As much as I love the high revving GT3 RS engine, it didn't produce anything like the power of the GT2, the torque from the GT2 is incredible without having to wring the neck of the engine constantly, I mean how many miles can you you do in it at 8500 rpm plus on a regular basis before something lets go eventually, it seems to me the NA cars are getting towards their limits in terms of power output at high revs and are probably more prone to earlier failure than a lower revving twin turbo engine, the last thing I want is a Titanium Conrod sticking out of the side of the engine that suddenly let go after 50,000 miles or piston rings wearing due to higher levels of high rev wear, I really don't want to be looking at a new engine or engine rebuild, I can't even contemplate the cost or hassle!
The other issues I was worried about was over revs, this one has no such problems, just 228 in Range 1, 24 in Range 2 and ZERO in Ranges, 3, 4, 5 and 6 according to the man maths and various web sites / forums that explain this as revolutions / time spent in each range as follows:-
228 ignitions Range 1 - 228 div 6 Cylinders = 38 revolutions in the 6800 to 7000 rpm range or around 0.3 seconds in Range 1.
24 ignitions Range 2 - 24 div 6 Cylinders = 4 revolutions in the 7000 rpm to 7200 range, time spent in range not even work working out!
I can see how this happens, and noticed that even when you change up as soon as the upshift light illuminates, as soon as the clutch is depressed the revs appear fly up a little on the rev counter with a sudden whoosh, its as thought the 20psi of boost and the disconnect from the engine and gearbox pushes the engine speed up for a fraction of a second. But at those over rev figures its basically been driven to the shops and back and this may have only happened once and may be a single event and nothing to worry about.
Turbo Consideration
I also considered the 997 Turbo but ruled this out fairly early on due to a number of reasons, firstly yes its a great car that can also do the daily stuff, but I didn't want a daily driver and for me felt it was too soft, I also didn't want 4 wheel drive or an Automatic (PDK) and there are quite a few of then out there, but they make an amazing second hand bargain, I also wanted one with a fixed high level spoiler, the GT car spoilers just look so much better in IMHO due to body kit, but i know thats subjective, also the GT cars are generally lower and somewhat more special in how they are setup, Maybe GT cars are just rarer and feel more special.
I wanted something that I could drive and feel like I was driving the car, not the car driving me, I already have a sensible company car, I wanted a clutch that felt like I was pressing it, and a gear lever that needs some precision and effort to change gear, I wanted the steering to be pin sharp, the GT3s had that, but to be honest I couldn't find an massive difference in the GT3 / GT2 steering at the speeds I was driving at, and the GT2 / GT3 RS clutches were fine as far as I was concerned, even in traffic - at least for a while. :-)
I also wanted an element of rawness in the car and boy did I get that, it needed to feel more like a racing car but be pliable on road and still practical with the ability to drive to the South of France. the GT2 met these requirements. I've had manuals and autos, my present company car is a diesel and has a AMT flappy paddle box, its fit for purpose in its own way but not brilliant.
The 997 Turbo and Turbo S are amazing but as I said, too soft, for me the PDK box takes away from the control and the driving experience and is just dull even though they go really really fast and change gear faster than I can think, at this rate the 997 Turbos, and now the 991 with PDK which again is an amazing piece of kit will be doing 190mph+ but the experience for me is getting so detached (electric steering and gears -whats left to do except point and press accelerator!, apparently left foot braking is the new Black ;-) from reality that all the fun and excitement is being drained out of owning a car like this, I won't be going the 991 route... at least for now anyway, sure they may make super hero drivers out of all of us but for me no thanks, I like changing gear and like being in control over as many aspects of the car as possible, I buy cars for me and me alone to enjoy, I'm really not bothered if I'm passed by other cars so long as I'm enjoying myself, I'm not a professional racing driver and don't care If I can't extract 10 tenths out of the car and run rings round everyone on the road or track, its exciting enough for me to run at 7 tenths in this as I probably need it to be without the risk of crashing it or breaking it. I may not even track it at present as getting track day insurance is getting increasingly difficult to obtain and due to the 10% value of the car excess, Im not sure I wan't a Damaged Repairable car with a £8k bill attached to it, especially if someone runs out of talent trying to drive at 10 tenth into me, For me a track day will be a rare but probably fairly gentle and enjoyable event. For me I want to keep this car a very long time for me its a keeper. If I want to rag the hell out one of these ill consider the Porsche GT day at Silverstone, its their car, tyres, engine and brakes for £400 with no risk or wear on my own car!
So having convinced my self that the GT2 met all my requirements, ie, its very rare, very very fast, low mileage, not tracked and in mint condition, it was also cheaper than the GT3 RS but based on the same chassis, I went out looking in earnest and end up with this one, Carrera White with Black Wheels, for me it looks the Dog's Doodaa's. I've got the original bill of sale at just over £160K with nearly £30K of extras, its well specified, carbon bits, BOSE, NAV, Seat Heating, Seats are the Sports seats with complete adjustability including lumbar and bolster adjustment which is idea for my dodgy back, and no issues after a 4 hour drive home in it. So far I've put about 1400 miles on it since Feb, and the car has now done just over 13k, its also a 1 owner car which is also rare for these cars.
So down to the driving experience, well its frankly dangerously fast for any inexperienced driver, raw and precise, even at speed it feels completely flat through corners and very rewarding, the tire noise is quite intrusive as sound deadening is really minimal, but the steering feels almost telepathic, its just goes exactly where you point it.
The Anti Matter Warp Drive power plant in the rear is a snarling beast that just keeps on producing an excess of power, the revs build so quickly towards the redline that you have to be on your toes with just a couple of seconds between gear changes, every movement in the car requires you to be prepared ahead of time and ready to react before the car has chance to get out of control or away from you. On a slightly inclined damp road it still wants to wheel spin in 3rd, the traction control though isn't intrusive and allows some significant fun before it starts to intervene, so far I have left all the buttons ON, I haven't even tried the sport suspension mode as for me on public roads I can't see as it will be much fun unless you are into self harm and like being really uncomfortable.
Leading up to getting this car I've had a couple of fairly comfortable daily drivers and not spent anytime driving at any speed for a while, so for the few of weeks leading up to getting the car I was basically increasing my higher speed driving experiences to get used to some level of performance driving again. To be honest nothing really prepared me for the first time I put my foot down a little in 2nd and 3rd, Turbo Lag is almost none existent as to make no difference, even off turbo the car still makes quite a bit of power, I had to back off the throttle quite quickly as my brain had not re-calibrated, it felt like the moment on the starship Enterprise when warp drive is engaged and all the stars suddenly disappear past in a blur, the horizon arrives so fast and scenery moves past so quickly its quite disconcerting at first, after a few more drives out on the road my brain is going through the re-calibration exercise and everything is starting to feel much more comfortable again. It simply does not matter what speed or gear you are in, it simply pulls like a train.
I grew up driving sideways in a Ford Capri and other RWD cars, I used to love a little gentle power sliding the 964 3.6 Turbo around bends and roundabouts where space and conditions where suitable and safe to do so, so I'm very comfortable with driving with opposite lock and turbo lag and the issues it creates mid corner, at the moment I'm probably driving the car at just 3 or 4 tenths, it will be a while before I get to 7 tenths and longer still before I get to 8 or 9, I may never drive this car at 10 tenths, but who cares, I'd probably be risking too much at this level and anything above 5 tenths will be on private Tarmac.
The car is surprisingly economical on a run, at a steady 70mph on the motorway back from London it did 32mpg (WTH), how is that even possible, it was throwing it down and torrential at times, not something I recommend on a first long drive with those super wide Michelin Cup Sport Tyres, I wasn't risking it. It was a fantastic ride back though, I had 2 other 911's (C4S, and GT3RS) both pull up alongside, wave, smile, give me the thumbs up and then shoot off.
For me the car is perfect, it offers bike levels of performance, and little else with a number plate will touch it, the build quality appears to be rock solid, it handles like its on rails.
So a few months on and I have gotten much more used to the car and I feel much more at ease opening it up a little, it's been back to the OPC in Leeds for a Coolant Hose recall, always had great service too, free bacon sandwich on every visit when dropping the car off, but an engine out job none the less, 30 hours of labour but no cost to me, I also had an issue with the TPMS system so it had to go back in, basically some tyre fitter had crushed one of the sensors taking a tyre off and caused an intermittent fault, because I had to go back again, on the last visit they even covered the cost of the fuel and filled up an almost empty tank... Can't complain with that level of service from Leeds OPC.
Each visit I was given a brand new Boxer, lovely car inside and out, although I've never liked convertibles and having tried to drive this one in decent warm weather I decided I still don't like convertibles, at least not in the UK, too much noise, blustery at speed and I don't like the sun burning my head off! Everyone to their own though.
Due to the two visits I found it interesting to drive the new Boxster, one a Manual, one a PDK, to be honest I wasn't keen on either, but also recognised the merits of each, both shared a common problem as far as I was concerned, but more about that a bit.
The manual car had a very nice 6 speed box, it was accurate, but for me it was too light in terms of its shift mechanism, the clutch was also incredibly light but also easy and progressive, the car made a great noise though, handled very neutrally and had this been a Cayman I'd have been e en more impressed, fit and finish were excellent, took me two days to find the electronic handbrake though.
The second visit I was given a new Boxster, blue one this time with sports exhaust and PDK box, initially I was quite excited about the prospect of one of these cars and having read the endless debate over these boxes I couldn't wait to try it out, my first impressions were that it was quite amazing, instant changes up and down, however this changed after a while to a little frustration.... I'll try and explain......
Whilst the gear box did a great job of changing I found that pulling on the paddles required too much movement on each of the beautifully engineered paddles to initiate a gear change, too go down 3 gears I found it took longer than if I had to change from 6th to 3rd in my GT2 in one go, or at least there wasn't much in it!
Also due to the relatively low torque and revvy nature of the engine even when just a moderate increase in speed was required the box would seem to drop too many gears and leave you at high revs as though it thought I needed to accelerate at full speed, the only way to cure this was to put it in full manual mode which I found quite infuriating as it does not seem possible to use engine torque to accelerate without it dropping loads of gears and massive revs all the time. The kick down on WOT was instantaneous and superb though and very impressive with instant power.
So back to the other issue I had with both these cars, firstly they both sounded brilliant... No question about that, however for me the gears were simply toooooo long legged, it just seemed to take forever to get anywhere in each gear. I'm now pretty sure this must be one of the reasons that people love the sound of these cars, it has to sound good to relieve the boredom of waiting for it to change up. They both handled superbly.
Once the initial newness had worn off I basically drove it like an Auto and simply forgot to do anything much with the gears at all, overall I found it boring and uninvolving and certainly not something I would buy personally, it made me very lazy and took away having to think about the process of actually driving.
My GT2 doesn't sound anything like one of these, it's more of a deeper sound and cuts out at 6,750rpm but the noise is not something you are able to concentrate on, especially when pressing on a litttle, typically you get just 2 or 3 seconds in each gear and all your sensors are focused on holding on and preparing for what's happening way down the road, its as though your brain just shuts everything else out including all none important noises, don't get me wrong it still sounds great and is very loud under throttle, but nothing like a GT3. I just wonder if its down to the spare time you have in a GT3 to think about it between gear changes that makes it all the more important with high revving engines and overly long gears. It's very easy to hit the redline due to the incredibly rapid rise of revs and you have to be constantly prepared for the next gear, the box is chunky and precise and the clutch nicely weighted in my opinion. I wouldn't change it in any way!
I love driving the car, Ive now become accustomed to the huge power and torque, I must admit when I first got this car I wondered if I had taken on too much car such is the brutality of the performance, in hindsight I'm glad I bought it, it's amazing how quickly you recalibrate your senses and get used to it, I can't imagine going back to a NA engine, maybe it would feel a bit flat due to lack of torque, but again that's just my opinion. It's certainly a car that I will cherish, drive carefully and enjoy for many years to come, I mean what do you replace it with? It's taken Porsche 5 years to develop the 991 GT3 and even after 13 miles round the ring it's still only a handful of seconds faster, and personally I don't like the PDK! Just my own personal opinion though!
For me there is nothing better than having an hour around some great Yorkshire roads and just enjoying the drive.
Aha....perhaps you have just given me an answer to the question I always ask myself....
That being, I have a 997 Turbo (which I love) but what to get next when I do eventually change it ?? Have my heart set on a GenII GT3 having driven one a couple of years ago (the feel, the noise !!). But also crave performance and fear I might miss the massive torque of the Turbo. Hmmmm GT2.....
That being, I have a 997 Turbo (which I love) but what to get next when I do eventually change it ?? Have my heart set on a GenII GT3 having driven one a couple of years ago (the feel, the noise !!). But also crave performance and fear I might miss the massive torque of the Turbo. Hmmmm GT2.....
I think I bought an Amazon Green 964 Turbo off you a few years ago, a LHD car very low miles.
Wished i'd have kept that from a value perspective.
I've just sold a 996 GT2 loved it but having 2 nippers etc just wasn't practical.
Great write up mate.
Edited by slinky on Saturday 29th June 21:49
So actually I don't have any really decent pics, I need a trip out in the country side to take some arty shots, going out in it tomorrow up to Helmsley so will take some proper ones tomorrow:-
The Black wheels make it look lower and more aggressive it previously had white wheels urgh! wasn't keen, even dealer commented that they wished they had done that to the car before I bought it, not to everyone's taste but I like them!
The Black wheels make it look lower and more aggressive it previously had white wheels urgh! wasn't keen, even dealer commented that they wished they had done that to the car before I bought it, not to everyone's taste but I like them!
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