996 Carrera vs 997 Carrera S. Power!!!

[mollytherocker]

Gmund said:

I recently had a straight line race against my mate, me in my Boxster 3.4S, him in his MK6 GTI Edition 35. I stayed in 3rd at about 40mph thinking I was going to tear past him. He must have been in 2nd, and left me out there!!! I know he had the advantage of turbo, but I really struggled to pull back what I lost.

Thats not surprising really, you were in the wrong gear! He must have left you for dead!

[Sine Metu]

This link provides an interesting summary of multiple road test between the different 996/997 models.

The Autocar 10.5 to 100mph looks a bit anomalous. But some striking numbers in there. Bottom line, the base 3.4 996 was/is a much faster car than Porsche themselves claimed. It would still stay very very close to a 991. And feel a lot nicer doing it.

http://www.weissach.net/996-997_RoadTestSummary.ht...

[steve singh]

Sine Metu said:

This link provides an interesting summary of multiple road test between the different 996/997 models.

The Autocar 10.5 to 100mph looks a bit anomalous. But some striking numbers in there. Bottom line, the base 3.4 996 was/is a much faster car than Porsche themselves claimed. It would still stay very very close to a 991. And feel a lot nicer doing it.

http://www.weissach.net/996-997_RoadTestSummary.ht...

BMW apparently do the same - talk down 0-100mph performance vs. reality.

I wonder if it's the marketing department hand in this?

[Sine Metu]

steve singh said:

Sine Metu said:

This link provides an interesting summary of multiple road test between the different 996/997 models.

The Autocar 10.5 to 100mph looks a bit anomalous. But some striking numbers in there. Bottom line, the base 3.4 996 was/is a much faster car than Porsche themselves claimed. It would still stay very very close to a 991. And feel a lot nicer doing it.

http://www.weissach.net/996-997_RoadTestSummary.ht...

BMW apparently do the same - talk down 0-100mph performance vs. reality.

I wonder if it's the marketing department hand in this?

I can't really think of a marketing benefit in talking down performance levels. Maybe it is a way of covering ones ass in case one or two cars in any batch don't quite hit the numbers for whatever reason. Maybe it's a worst case scenario performance figure they use so that every one who buys the car will hit the number. Perhaps they actually are a little bit gentle with their cars during testing !! I honestly can't think why. All I do know is that any 996 will comfortably crack 60mph in under five seconds.

[Gmund]

mollytherocker said:

Thats not surprising really, you were in the wrong gear! He must have left you for dead!

I'm well aware that I was in the wrong the gear, my car will do around 80 in 2nd, and well over 100 in 3rd. The point I was trying to make is that I'd completely underestimated how close the 2 cars actually are on a straight stretch of road. Even had I been in 2nd, I would've only slowly pulled away from him. And you are absolutely correct MTR, he was gone!!!

[Hungrymc]

Gmund said:

I'm well aware that I was in the wrong the gear, my car will do around 80 in 2nd, and well over 100 in 3rd. The point I was trying to make is that I'd completely underestimated how close the 2 cars actually are on a straight stretch of road. Even had I been in 2nd, I would've only slowly pulled away from him. And you are absolutely correct MTR, he was gone!!!

Back to the point from earlier, once you're into this window of performance (I reckon around 6 secs to 60) and you're going to be staying very close to everything except the most exotic. It's fine margins that make the difference and these are harder to expose on the road.

[steve singh]

Hungrymc said:

Gmund said:

I'm well aware that I was in the wrong the gear, my car will do around 80 in 2nd, and well over 100 in 3rd. The point I was trying to make is that I'd completely underestimated how close the 2 cars actually are on a straight stretch of road. Even had I been in 2nd, I would've only slowly pulled away from him. And you are absolutely correct MTR, he was gone!!!

Back to the point from earlier, once you're into this window of performance (I reckon around 6 secs to 60) and you're going to be staying very close to everything except the most exotic. It's fine margins that make the difference and these are harder to expose on the road.

I agree re exposing the difference on the road, but i'd be more inclined to say c5 secs and c10 secs to 100mph.

I do think there is another step change, but for that we're talking 997 turbo or GTR or Noble territory etc.

[Shep911]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Porsche have been suggested many times by the motoring press as understating 0-60 times - many magazines have been able to comfortably beat the times stated by Porsche

[Hungrymc]

steve singh said:

I agree re exposing the difference on the road, but i'd be more inclined to say c5 secs and c10 secs to 100mph.

I do think there is another step change, but for that we're talking 997 turbo or GTR or Noble territory etc.

I wouldn't disagree. Two friends cars that I regularly play with in my 996 - a 240hp Leon which I can always get away from but not in a way that embarrasses it (I often think this is the moral victor when we play, it being a FWD hatchback).... and a GTR which is always opening yards to me on the power but never enough to actually get away due to the confines of the road (I feel the moral victor against this thing)..... I'm sure that a very hard driven one would sort me out good and proper though and I know I wouldn't get near it on track.