991 S Cabriolet
Discussion
Went out with a friend for an hours test ride in a 991 S Cabriolet this morning, mainly to try out the new roof, as we had both had rides in the coupe before. And the answer we both came up with was fantastic.
The looks are (subjectively) much better than the 997 cab, as the arse is less bulbous and the roof is very flat and sloped down similar to the coupe. The roof itself is very stiff, from inside it feels a lot like a tin top, as the magnesium panels feel a lot like a normal roof with thick headlining. Driving at national speed limit on motorway with roof up it was considerably quieter than my old Boxster 987.1 and quieter than other 997 cabs I've been in.
I would say that there is very little penalty now to having the cab over the coupe, apart from the extra £8K cost (minus cost of possible sunroof, I guess).
The electric wind deflector was very nice as well, basically folds into the rear seat space and folds away again as you close the roof. It was a little harder to see through, perhaps.
Also had a play with the coasting function and the auto stop/start. Both were quite controlable by slight lifting of the brake or throttle, but the coasting meant that down hill you tended to pick up speed quickly with no engine breaking and then you had to brake anyway, at which point the gears kicked back in again. The Auto stop/start was disconcerting at first, every time you stopped with the brake pedal pressed it killed the engine, but lifting off the brake slightly, still holding it just a little, would start it again. This made it easy to start the engine just before you were expecting to pull away, if you wanted to. If you wanted a racing start, going straight from the brake to the throttle meant the slight delay while the engine restarted was a bit clumsy, but in relaxed mode it would be fine.
Other observations: Without Power Steering Plus the 991 was quite heavy to do three point turns in, my friend then tried one with PS+ back to back and said he would much prefer the lighter steering at low speed. I decided to leave it off my 981 S spec anyway, not sure if that will be as heavy to steer as the 991 at such low mph but I didn't want the light steering at 20-30 mph that I experienced in the PS+ equipped 991.
Don't know if anyone is considering the Agate Grey/Pebble grey interior, but in the test car the agate grey was basically brown, and the pebble grey was very light, almost ivory, and already showed a little light scuffing. Personally I'd prefer the black/dark grey or just full black. The Agate grey was so close to brown that it showed how the exterior looked a little brown in certain light and certain angles. I decided to change my 981 S order to Platinum Silver, as I was really not sure I liked the Agate Grey. I know silver is considered boring, but there are so few colours to choose if you don't want brown but do want a metallic colour that doesn't need cleaning/polishing constantly.
Cheers,
Geoff
The looks are (subjectively) much better than the 997 cab, as the arse is less bulbous and the roof is very flat and sloped down similar to the coupe. The roof itself is very stiff, from inside it feels a lot like a tin top, as the magnesium panels feel a lot like a normal roof with thick headlining. Driving at national speed limit on motorway with roof up it was considerably quieter than my old Boxster 987.1 and quieter than other 997 cabs I've been in.
I would say that there is very little penalty now to having the cab over the coupe, apart from the extra £8K cost (minus cost of possible sunroof, I guess).
The electric wind deflector was very nice as well, basically folds into the rear seat space and folds away again as you close the roof. It was a little harder to see through, perhaps.
Also had a play with the coasting function and the auto stop/start. Both were quite controlable by slight lifting of the brake or throttle, but the coasting meant that down hill you tended to pick up speed quickly with no engine breaking and then you had to brake anyway, at which point the gears kicked back in again. The Auto stop/start was disconcerting at first, every time you stopped with the brake pedal pressed it killed the engine, but lifting off the brake slightly, still holding it just a little, would start it again. This made it easy to start the engine just before you were expecting to pull away, if you wanted to. If you wanted a racing start, going straight from the brake to the throttle meant the slight delay while the engine restarted was a bit clumsy, but in relaxed mode it would be fine.
Other observations: Without Power Steering Plus the 991 was quite heavy to do three point turns in, my friend then tried one with PS+ back to back and said he would much prefer the lighter steering at low speed. I decided to leave it off my 981 S spec anyway, not sure if that will be as heavy to steer as the 991 at such low mph but I didn't want the light steering at 20-30 mph that I experienced in the PS+ equipped 991.
Don't know if anyone is considering the Agate Grey/Pebble grey interior, but in the test car the agate grey was basically brown, and the pebble grey was very light, almost ivory, and already showed a little light scuffing. Personally I'd prefer the black/dark grey or just full black. The Agate grey was so close to brown that it showed how the exterior looked a little brown in certain light and certain angles. I decided to change my 981 S order to Platinum Silver, as I was really not sure I liked the Agate Grey. I know silver is considered boring, but there are so few colours to choose if you don't want brown but do want a metallic colour that doesn't need cleaning/polishing constantly.
Cheers,
Geoff
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