Porsche 997 Carrera
Discussion
Well as it always seems I only ever get some decent shots of my cars when they are going up for sale so before its gone thought I would post up some pics. Its a 997 Carrera 3.6 with a few options ticked.
porsche9 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche8 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche7 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche6 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche5 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche4 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche3 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche2 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche 1 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]
porsche9 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche8 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche7 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche6 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche5 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche4 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche3 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche2 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]porsche 1 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/134668541@N05/]Edited by identity_crisis on Saturday 11th July 20:11
Well sold the car now so thought I would do abit of a write up of my experience. I had the car for 6 months and did 3000 miles in the car. I bought it for a very good price and was always planning on selling on.
The car has just over 100,000 miles and found it easily the hardest car to sell. Had the car on autotrader for 3 months and had nothing but dreamers and timewasters. I had over 30 calls about the car with people even getting my address and arranging a time to view then never turning up. A friend recommended putting it on ebay. 4 days later it was sold, first person to actually view the car.
Anyway although a great car thought I would share some thoughts on ownership.
Exterior:
Great looking car, never been a fan of the 996 but the 997 just looks right, rear overhang is a little long and the carrera sits a little high but was a car that grew on me and the more I looked at it the better it looked. I also painted the calipers red and stuck some porsche logos on there. The rears were also fitted with some 10mm spacers with longer bolts which really helped fill the arches, they look quite sunk in as standard.
Interior:
Very nice place to sit, My car had the sports seats which helped make the interior that bit more special and the leather was midnight blue with silver stiching and deff helped make the interior feel that bit lighter without to much in your face. The drivers side bolster was worn so touched it up with some leather colourant. The car also has the most interior rattles of any car I have owned. I tried to fix as many as possible but couldnt believe a near £70k car could rattle and squeak so much. Parts of the interior also seem to break easily. Things that were broke on my car include:
One cupholder stuck in. Opened it up and a plastic clip had broken. replaced with second hand one from ebay for £75 (£250 brand new) which worked but then developed a loud rattle.
Ashtray was broken and wouldnt close properly, New one cost £58. Another cheap plastic lug broken.
Drivers side window switch broke off in my hand the second time I drove it. New one £68. You guessed it plastic lug broken.
The sports chrono button didnt work. Replacement button was £100.
The satnav is also pretty poor, wont even let you input postcodes. Had to use my £100 tomtom a couple of times because I couldnt find the address I wanted.
Peformance:
The engine pulls very well. Really starts to pull hard above 4000rpm all the way to the redline. Sounds nice in the cabin with the windows up but really wasnt a fan with the windows down and from the outside. Sounds like a bag of nails at low revs in my opinion.
Mine had the tiptronic gearbox which I didnt like. rubbish in auto and unresponsive in manual mode.
The car drove like a normal car most of the time, didnt feel anything really special and blended in with traffic with no real reaction from other drivers other than people trying to race you occasionally or try to block you from an overtake.
I went for a couple of early morning drives over some great drivers roads and this is when the car came alive. When pushing on the car wraps around you and really eats up the road. Its a car you cant just get in and grab by the scruff of the neck, you have to build up to it but the car soaks up everthing you can throw at it, I never got anywhere near the limit and drove faster than anything else Ive owned. Its reluctant to turn it at first, has a wierd floaty feeling at first with the front end bobbing around alittle but once you get the front end to bite you can straight away bring in the throttle and start accelerating out of the corner. When you nail it you get a slingshot effect and the car just fires out of the corner and really feels like its attacking the tarmac. The car just eats up fast sweepers which seems to suit it best like nothing else Ive driven and where I might be abit cautious usually found myself hitting some serious speed very quickly.
The other thing that both impressed me and unsettled me at the same time was its high speed performance. Ive never owned something that builds speed so quickly, get over 100mph and where most cars start to slow down the Porsche just keeps going and before you know it your doing 135. Unfortunetly high speed stability was poor, the car starts to feel light at the front and really starts to unerve you feeling like your going to end up in the barrier. After abit of research the carrera and carrera s both have this problem due to the lack of weight at the front and can be cured with a front splitter but still not what you expect from a car capable of nearly 180mph.
Overall they are a great car and I would love to have a carrera s with a manual box one day but certainly have their flaws.
The car has just over 100,000 miles and found it easily the hardest car to sell. Had the car on autotrader for 3 months and had nothing but dreamers and timewasters. I had over 30 calls about the car with people even getting my address and arranging a time to view then never turning up. A friend recommended putting it on ebay. 4 days later it was sold, first person to actually view the car.
Anyway although a great car thought I would share some thoughts on ownership.
Exterior:
Great looking car, never been a fan of the 996 but the 997 just looks right, rear overhang is a little long and the carrera sits a little high but was a car that grew on me and the more I looked at it the better it looked. I also painted the calipers red and stuck some porsche logos on there. The rears were also fitted with some 10mm spacers with longer bolts which really helped fill the arches, they look quite sunk in as standard.
Interior:
Very nice place to sit, My car had the sports seats which helped make the interior that bit more special and the leather was midnight blue with silver stiching and deff helped make the interior feel that bit lighter without to much in your face. The drivers side bolster was worn so touched it up with some leather colourant. The car also has the most interior rattles of any car I have owned. I tried to fix as many as possible but couldnt believe a near £70k car could rattle and squeak so much. Parts of the interior also seem to break easily. Things that were broke on my car include:
One cupholder stuck in. Opened it up and a plastic clip had broken. replaced with second hand one from ebay for £75 (£250 brand new) which worked but then developed a loud rattle.
Ashtray was broken and wouldnt close properly, New one cost £58. Another cheap plastic lug broken.
Drivers side window switch broke off in my hand the second time I drove it. New one £68. You guessed it plastic lug broken.
The sports chrono button didnt work. Replacement button was £100.
The satnav is also pretty poor, wont even let you input postcodes. Had to use my £100 tomtom a couple of times because I couldnt find the address I wanted.
Peformance:
The engine pulls very well. Really starts to pull hard above 4000rpm all the way to the redline. Sounds nice in the cabin with the windows up but really wasnt a fan with the windows down and from the outside. Sounds like a bag of nails at low revs in my opinion.
Mine had the tiptronic gearbox which I didnt like. rubbish in auto and unresponsive in manual mode.
The car drove like a normal car most of the time, didnt feel anything really special and blended in with traffic with no real reaction from other drivers other than people trying to race you occasionally or try to block you from an overtake.
I went for a couple of early morning drives over some great drivers roads and this is when the car came alive. When pushing on the car wraps around you and really eats up the road. Its a car you cant just get in and grab by the scruff of the neck, you have to build up to it but the car soaks up everthing you can throw at it, I never got anywhere near the limit and drove faster than anything else Ive owned. Its reluctant to turn it at first, has a wierd floaty feeling at first with the front end bobbing around alittle but once you get the front end to bite you can straight away bring in the throttle and start accelerating out of the corner. When you nail it you get a slingshot effect and the car just fires out of the corner and really feels like its attacking the tarmac. The car just eats up fast sweepers which seems to suit it best like nothing else Ive driven and where I might be abit cautious usually found myself hitting some serious speed very quickly.
The other thing that both impressed me and unsettled me at the same time was its high speed performance. Ive never owned something that builds speed so quickly, get over 100mph and where most cars start to slow down the Porsche just keeps going and before you know it your doing 135. Unfortunetly high speed stability was poor, the car starts to feel light at the front and really starts to unerve you feeling like your going to end up in the barrier. After abit of research the carrera and carrera s both have this problem due to the lack of weight at the front and can be cured with a front splitter but still not what you expect from a car capable of nearly 180mph.
Overall they are a great car and I would love to have a carrera s with a manual box one day but certainly have their flaws.
Err, it's a 911. The engine is way out the back. There isn't a huge amount of weight (relatively) over the front. Of course the front bobs around a bit. Yep, they feel a bit light a higher speeds. But there's phenomenal traction available and mega-communicative steering feedback. Ok, a 997 is easier to get to grips with than, say, an old 3.2 but they still take a bit of time to learn and to gel with.
Interior quality is spot-on in my 997...
Interior quality is spot-on in my 997...
FarQue said:
Err, it's a 911. The engine is way out the back. There isn't a huge amount of weight (relatively) over the front. Of course the front bobs around a bit. Yep, they feel a bit light a higher speeds. But there's phenomenal traction available and mega-communicative steering feedback. Ok, a 997 is easier to get to grips with than, say, an old 3.2 but they still take a bit of time to learn and to gel with.
Interior quality is spot-on in my 997...
I gelled with the car relatively quickly to be fair. Gave me alot of confidence to push on and as mentioned never reached its limits. The front end is reluctant to turn in because of the weight at the back end.Interior quality is spot-on in my 997...
It was a great car but wanted to give my honest feedback as an owner. The car doesnt have super sharp turn in, it does feel reluctant to turn in at first bobbing around alittle and you have to let the front end settle and bite before you can start to push the car through the corner. Great traction and grip though, really was a level above anything else ive owned.
I had a mk5 golf gti before which was running over 300bhp and although it didnt pull as hard at high speed I had it upto 140 a couple of times and it felt rock solid. Was expecting the same from the 911 so was surprised when the front end when light when over 100mph.
The interior had a nice quality feel about it but the gubbins inside seem a bit low rent plastic due to the amount of things that broke on mine and the rattles were insane. I did a google about it and found alot of complaints about noisy interiors especially around the instrument panel.
Why did you own it for 3months before wanting shot and literally zero additional miles?
How much did you lose in flipping it as an extra owner for a short period of time to me would question there must be a big issue that he cannot fix or doesn't want to do I would walk /possibly why you had so many.
How much did you lose in flipping it as an extra owner for a short period of time to me would question there must be a big issue that he cannot fix or doesn't want to do I would walk /possibly why you had so many.
Welshbeef said:
Why did you own it for 3months before wanting shot and literally zero additional miles?
How much did you lose in flipping it as an extra owner for a short period of time to me would question there must be a big issue that he cannot fix or doesn't want to do I would walk /possibly why you had so many.
You could be right. I bought the car with the intention of selling on and made a little bit on it but not as much as I wanted. It was a good car and the guy who bought it said that the advert was spot on and he couldnt fault it. Just a case of wary buyers maybe because of the short ownership and highish miles. I wouldnt buy another Porsche with over 100,000 miles again purely because of how difficult it was to sell on.How much did you lose in flipping it as an extra owner for a short period of time to me would question there must be a big issue that he cannot fix or doesn't want to do I would walk /possibly why you had so many.
5potTurbo said:
Nice car, interesting write-up and more interesting it was so hard to sell - oh, and the lack of interior plastics quality is a surprise, too.
The interior plastics surprised me aswell. The car has a nice quality feel to the interior but the internal plastics seem to break easily. Have a google for 997 dash rattle. Quite a few threads on various forums of people complaining about it. Even low mileage cars.I wouldnt let it put people off buying one just make sure everything works and test drive on some rough tarmac to make sure you can hear any rattles. They are fixable but takes time and potentially money if you arent any good with the spanners.
The car was difficult to sell but could have been a combination of the mileage and low ownership period that put people off, especially with the engine problems these cars can develop.
Overall they are a very nice car and would own one again but would want something with lower mileage next time just to make life easier when I want to sell on.
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