My First Porsche….
Discussion
I've always loved the Porsche 911 and yesterday (after much excitement) I picked up my first…. It's a 996 911 C2 Manual in Lapis Blue and I think it's brilliant. The car has some good options including 18" 'Carrera' wheels, Litronic (Xenon) headlights, hard backed sports seats, CD auto changer, PSM and a sunroof.
This morning I took it for a decent drive into the Peak District; my first thought was how flexible the engine is. The 3.6L has good low down torque meaning the car pulls easily from low revs and continues to pull throughout the range - sounds great too!! Secondly how clear and easy to read the clocks are. I love the centre position rev counter around which the other clocks fan out; really simple to use. The handling is great, although the brakes have taken a little getting used to - they don't seem to have the same servo assistance as my previous car (a BMW) although the actual stopping power is fine. All in all, a fantastic first drive; so good I treated it to a wash when I got home!
Anyway….enough of my waffle, here are some pictures….
This morning I took it for a decent drive into the Peak District; my first thought was how flexible the engine is. The 3.6L has good low down torque meaning the car pulls easily from low revs and continues to pull throughout the range - sounds great too!! Secondly how clear and easy to read the clocks are. I love the centre position rev counter around which the other clocks fan out; really simple to use. The handling is great, although the brakes have taken a little getting used to - they don't seem to have the same servo assistance as my previous car (a BMW) although the actual stopping power is fine. All in all, a fantastic first drive; so good I treated it to a wash when I got home!
Anyway….enough of my waffle, here are some pictures….
Nice colour as well, the 996 has long been seriously underrated as a drivers car and proper 911 but that is all starting to change of late, the 996 is the new 993 it seems. Three members on 911UK picked up 996.1 aero kitted cars this weekend alone.
Congratulations on the car, I've recently got a 996 C4S and i'm really pleased with it, though my wife hates the brakes, but she does drive a heavily servoed RR Sport so she would. Which is good because she won't be taking it out.
Congratulations on the car, I've recently got a 996 C4S and i'm really pleased with it, though my wife hates the brakes, but she does drive a heavily servoed RR Sport so she would. Which is good because she won't be taking it out.
Thanks all for the kind comments. 2 days into ownership and all is still going well - drove to work in the dark this morning; the Xenon lights are pretty good, certainly a step up over halogens. I'm intending to use the car as my daily driver for a while so little things like this make a difference as does a decent climate control system and heated seats!
Only one small issue so far - there's a creaking noise coming from the suspension which after doing some online research seems to be reasonably common; new lower control arms should sort it I believe…. Hopefully it's OK to still drive it with this issue as I won't be able to sort it for a couple of weeks.
I'll post some more pics over the next few days.
Only one small issue so far - there's a creaking noise coming from the suspension which after doing some online research seems to be reasonably common; new lower control arms should sort it I believe…. Hopefully it's OK to still drive it with this issue as I won't be able to sort it for a couple of weeks.
I'll post some more pics over the next few days.
So, after nearly 4 weeks of ownership and about 700 miles thought I'd post my thoughts….
Looks:
The 996 has definitely grown on me in terms of looks - I remember a few years ago really not liking the way they look and always preferring the 993 or 997. Now however I think that my 'narrow body' C2 looks fantastic…and dare I say it the shape harks back to the classic 70's narrow body cars better than the 997 and 991. I also believe that the Generation II 996 with the turbo headlights and revised wings looks better than the Generation I, although that is of course personal preference!
Also, compared with 'modern' cars the 996 911 is quite a small car so very easy to position on the road, especially on some of the lanes I drive along to work.
Interior:
As I use the car as my daily driver, a nice environment is important to me and I'm pleased so say after a few weeks ownership I really like the 996 interior. Again, like the exterior I think it has aged well over the years; ergonomically it's quite good and is plenty comfy enough. I like the optional hard backed sports seats I have too, they grip you in all the right places; being heated helps in the recent cold snap! Boring stuff like heating, air conditioning, radio and demist all work well which helps make the experience good for a 'daily.'
Driving:
What can I say, after coming from a BMW 320d the performance is fantastic, although the brakes took a while to get used to; the BMW had far heavier servo assistance. The handling is great and traction off the line is fantastic due to the weight of the engine over the rear axle. The 996 is also really quite comfy on a longer journey too.
So, in summary, so far a fantastic experience and I'm bonding well with the car.
What does the future hold? It's booked in for a major service and check over with Sports & Classic in early March. I'm looking forward to having this done and I'll feel a lot more confident knowing it's been serviced by Porsche experts.
In the summer I hope to take it on a couple of longer road trips and maybe onto the continent late summer, early autumn. I'll keep you all posted with more updates…..and some pictures!
Looks:
The 996 has definitely grown on me in terms of looks - I remember a few years ago really not liking the way they look and always preferring the 993 or 997. Now however I think that my 'narrow body' C2 looks fantastic…and dare I say it the shape harks back to the classic 70's narrow body cars better than the 997 and 991. I also believe that the Generation II 996 with the turbo headlights and revised wings looks better than the Generation I, although that is of course personal preference!
Also, compared with 'modern' cars the 996 911 is quite a small car so very easy to position on the road, especially on some of the lanes I drive along to work.
Interior:
As I use the car as my daily driver, a nice environment is important to me and I'm pleased so say after a few weeks ownership I really like the 996 interior. Again, like the exterior I think it has aged well over the years; ergonomically it's quite good and is plenty comfy enough. I like the optional hard backed sports seats I have too, they grip you in all the right places; being heated helps in the recent cold snap! Boring stuff like heating, air conditioning, radio and demist all work well which helps make the experience good for a 'daily.'
Driving:
What can I say, after coming from a BMW 320d the performance is fantastic, although the brakes took a while to get used to; the BMW had far heavier servo assistance. The handling is great and traction off the line is fantastic due to the weight of the engine over the rear axle. The 996 is also really quite comfy on a longer journey too.
So, in summary, so far a fantastic experience and I'm bonding well with the car.
What does the future hold? It's booked in for a major service and check over with Sports & Classic in early March. I'm looking forward to having this done and I'll feel a lot more confident knowing it's been serviced by Porsche experts.
In the summer I hope to take it on a couple of longer road trips and maybe onto the continent late summer, early autumn. I'll keep you all posted with more updates…..and some pictures!
OP car looks lovely and the 996 is undervalued IMO. Book yourself on one of these tours - http://petrolhead.tours and when you get back you will fall in love with your car even more!
These cars really excel on tours like this, supremely comfortable on the long autoroutes to get to the Alps and then simply amazing when you are 'on it' on the hairpins and long sweeping roads through Germany and Switzerland and France etc
These cars really excel on tours like this, supremely comfortable on the long autoroutes to get to the Alps and then simply amazing when you are 'on it' on the hairpins and long sweeping roads through Germany and Switzerland and France etc
Dr S said:
Congratulations! Agree that the 996 is a massively underrated car. I have caught myself already a couple of times browsing the classifieds for a clean manual C2 already. A pity most of them have been abused and not seen much TLC
How about this one...http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff