LemmingJames Porsche 996 GT3
Discussion
Hello there,
Chunty has asked me to do a Readers Car thread on here with my GT3, so i decided to do it, along the way ill hopefully scan in and post up the servicing costs so people can see what running costs could typically be (disclaimer, some owners are more fastidious than others/me and will do more or some will do less in maintenance)
But before we start down that road, here is my car history (i could write ineligible paragraphs on each one but ill try and keep it short);
1st Car - Fiat Seicento Sporting
Great little car, kept it for 7ish years and then sold it to get the Honda Integra (more on that in a moment)
Ended up upgrading the brakes, side exit exhaust, bucket seats then chipped and cams done.
Clocked in an unofficial 10.6 seconds to 60 (oem is 13).
Was great around the mean streets of London and being able to nip in and out of tight gaps.
Sold it just as the indicators started to play up (wouldnt work sometimes)
2nd Car - Honda Integra Type R
Luckily for me, when GT-Culture (now Linney Motorsport) used to import cars, they had my ideal spec DC5 coming over on a boat; Arctic Blue Pearl C-Pack and low miles. Not sure if it was an ex-demo as it had 4.5k on the clock and sold after 6 months, either way though it was in great condition with only, in the 70k odd miles i owned go wrong was the clutch bearing dried up in the teen mileage. It never touched the oil except when i took it to Chamonix one year for skiing, which was surprising as it never touched any track.
The Honda had lots of cosmetic modifications if you like and some performance (cai/exhaust/suspension/baffled sump/uprated strut brace).
I just wrote out a really long paragraph, lots of waffle so decided to delete it but basically, decided to take the 'next step up', considered various F-Cars (potential money pits), Audi wouldnt let me test drive a R8 or get back to me (several garages) so i looked at the Cayman originally then upped the budget a bit more and looked at the GT3's
Originally i wanted a seal grey one and one was for sale in Warwickshire so took a journey up to see it (friday) but left a bit dejected as the garage wouldnt let me test drive it. Then on Saturday, Warwick Volvo (yeah random place to have it but there you go) put up an add for a Speed Yellow and you could apply online to test drive - f
king result. Wasnt originally keen on yellow but when i got there it said buy me and i did. (had to up the budget again for it though)
So for about 18 months i had both the DC5 and the GT3 in the stable
Similar outlines
However having 2 nice cars in good condition made going to car parks potentially nerve racking and with both being rock hard suspension wise, one had to go, so off went the DC5.
And its replacement was a Subaru Forester 2.5 XT PPP
Picked it up with 102k on the clock and now has 150k or so miles. It used to drink oil like it was water but then had the major service done and the pcv valve swapped over and its stopped. Its ugly and has a few issues i need to resolve but its a great car and i 'love' it
Ill update the thread later on tonight/weekend as ive had the GT3 now for almost 7 years and its undergone and going some changes (mainly cosmetic) but need a break from the PC and didnt realise how long it takes to write these things
Chunty has asked me to do a Readers Car thread on here with my GT3, so i decided to do it, along the way ill hopefully scan in and post up the servicing costs so people can see what running costs could typically be (disclaimer, some owners are more fastidious than others/me and will do more or some will do less in maintenance)
But before we start down that road, here is my car history (i could write ineligible paragraphs on each one but ill try and keep it short);
1st Car - Fiat Seicento Sporting
Great little car, kept it for 7ish years and then sold it to get the Honda Integra (more on that in a moment)
Ended up upgrading the brakes, side exit exhaust, bucket seats then chipped and cams done.
Clocked in an unofficial 10.6 seconds to 60 (oem is 13).
Was great around the mean streets of London and being able to nip in and out of tight gaps.
Sold it just as the indicators started to play up (wouldnt work sometimes)
2nd Car - Honda Integra Type R
Luckily for me, when GT-Culture (now Linney Motorsport) used to import cars, they had my ideal spec DC5 coming over on a boat; Arctic Blue Pearl C-Pack and low miles. Not sure if it was an ex-demo as it had 4.5k on the clock and sold after 6 months, either way though it was in great condition with only, in the 70k odd miles i owned go wrong was the clutch bearing dried up in the teen mileage. It never touched the oil except when i took it to Chamonix one year for skiing, which was surprising as it never touched any track.
The Honda had lots of cosmetic modifications if you like and some performance (cai/exhaust/suspension/baffled sump/uprated strut brace).
I just wrote out a really long paragraph, lots of waffle so decided to delete it but basically, decided to take the 'next step up', considered various F-Cars (potential money pits), Audi wouldnt let me test drive a R8 or get back to me (several garages) so i looked at the Cayman originally then upped the budget a bit more and looked at the GT3's
Originally i wanted a seal grey one and one was for sale in Warwickshire so took a journey up to see it (friday) but left a bit dejected as the garage wouldnt let me test drive it. Then on Saturday, Warwick Volvo (yeah random place to have it but there you go) put up an add for a Speed Yellow and you could apply online to test drive - f
king result. Wasnt originally keen on yellow but when i got there it said buy me and i did. (had to up the budget again for it though)So for about 18 months i had both the DC5 and the GT3 in the stable
Similar outlines
However having 2 nice cars in good condition made going to car parks potentially nerve racking and with both being rock hard suspension wise, one had to go, so off went the DC5.
And its replacement was a Subaru Forester 2.5 XT PPP
Picked it up with 102k on the clock and now has 150k or so miles. It used to drink oil like it was water but then had the major service done and the pcv valve swapped over and its stopped. Its ugly and has a few issues i need to resolve but its a great car and i 'love' it
Ill update the thread later on tonight/weekend as ive had the GT3 now for almost 7 years and its undergone and going some changes (mainly cosmetic) but need a break from the PC and didnt realise how long it takes to write these things
Edited by lemmingjames on Saturday 1st April 10:06
Ok, so it would appear i dont have many photos of the GT3 before it got modded and i cant find the 'spec' but basically its a 'comfort' car with embossed leather bucket seats and as a former Porsche showcar, it had a few more extras thrown at it. Where it was displayed, i dont know and not looked into it either tbh.
Picked it up with roughly 13.5k on the clock and as it was 6 years ago, still depreciating!
Anyway, heres some pictures, strangely i dont seem to have many of it 'pre-modded' so heres what ive got - pictures start of 'rubbish' but with time my camera skills improved;
Interior
Engine Bay
Picked it up with roughly 13.5k on the clock and as it was 6 years ago, still depreciating!
Anyway, heres some pictures, strangely i dont seem to have many of it 'pre-modded' so heres what ive got - pictures start of 'rubbish' but with time my camera skills improved;
Interior
Engine Bay
supercommuter said:
Looks nice.
Why could you not test drive anything/need to book it online? Do you look like a hooligan or something?
Dont know, but it went as follows;Why could you not test drive anything/need to book it online? Do you look like a hooligan or something?
- BHP Motorsport (Aylesbury) - had no issues with me looking at the cars and spent alot of time with me going over their stock, cant remember if i did test drive one or not with them (would have been an F360). Ironically they had a GT3 in which i dismissed originally for being boring (think it was silver)
- The 'dodgy' Ferrari specialist in West London, forgot about me booking 2 weeks in advance to td a yellow 355 spider they had on a SORN, turned up and they had to wait half an hour or so for them to move the cars, but go to td it in the end. Had a capristo exhaust, it was sunny and the roof was down - was epic. Also got to TD a 360 there and then as well but had fked front ball joints so didnt get too much of a drive but i liked it.
- Audi Hitchin had just sold the blue R8 they had in,
- Audi in Barnet or somewhere took my details but never called me back (probably didnt help that i turned up in the DC5)
- Audi Milton Keynes, went with Step-dad as they had a new Jag at the time, salesman just wanted to talk about figures first - knocked 10k off without even asking but then told me the spec i wanted was st and that i should go with the basic spec car they had (think i wanted magna-ride, B&O stereo and manual), didnt even get near the keys
- The Seal Grey was on a SORN at a garage near Coventry, didnt want me test driving it as he feared itd get muddy (garage was on a farm) and therefore itd need cleaning again. Spent ages chatting to him about his stock and the DC5
- Volvo Warwick put up the ad and i viewed it the following weekend. Got the salesman spiel about how another person is coming to view it tomorrow etc so got sucked in but they was able to sort out the finance that day so it was a done deal.
supercommuter said:
Hate car sales showrooms. I went to look at an F Type with full intention of going for it but never got a call back or anything. BMW were the complete opposite. Super helpful and let me take the M4 cab out without question, so that is where my money is going to go!
I looked at an F-Type and had a salesman come with me, found it abit gutless compared to my GT3 due to lack of initial throttle response also the route wasnt great. A supplier i know had a totally different at the same dealership in that he was allowed to go where he wanted etc.On the day of the F-Type i was booked into Porsche to td the then latest Boxster (was just pre GT4 and was trying to get a feel for the car), they just gave me the keys and gave me the option of having an accompanied ride or go by myself. It probably did help that i turned up in the GT3 and they sort of know me.
Test drove 2 years ago the latest civic type r and even though it was accompanied, the guy was like go wherever you want, we just need to be back in 90 minutes. Found it to be a grown up version on the DC5 so quite liked it but wouldnt want to spend 30k or so on one unless it was being used as a daily or as the only weekend car. Found the dash abit fussy and abit too much information overload but then my cars are quite old in that sense.
Ill update with more photos and 'build' (all cosmetic in the main) later on
Lovely GT3 you have there. I've recently bought myself a 996 C4 which I love, I can only imagine how nice a GT3 is to drive.
I also test drove an F-Type and it was clear the salesman thought I was just wasting his time (I maybe look younger than I am). Though in fairness they did let me out in it. I told him if they couldn't make the sums work for me I'd buy a second hand V8 Vantage instead and received a look of 'yeah right'... took my V8 Vantage back there for a service a few months later!
I also test drove an F-Type and it was clear the salesman thought I was just wasting his time (I maybe look younger than I am). Though in fairness they did let me out in it. I told him if they couldn't make the sums work for me I'd buy a second hand V8 Vantage instead and received a look of 'yeah right'... took my V8 Vantage back there for a service a few months later!
supercommuter said:
Hate car sales showrooms. I went to look at an F Type with full intention of going for it but never got a call back or anything. BMW were the complete opposite. Super helpful and let me take the M4 cab out without question, so that is where my money is going to go!
Yeah, step-dad had trouble with Porsche and some Range Rover dealerships, think he wanted a Cayenne GTS before they swapped to turbos but so many gave him the run around. Some RR dealers never came back to him. Then theres a guy i know who went to work for a LR dealership in South Herts and the salesman there never chased leads, he ended up hoovering up their work (or so im lead to believe).Ah well, at the moment i have no plans to change/cant afford the car i want really due to the current market so luckily i wont have this s
t to deal withJS1500 said:
Lovely GT3 you have there. I've recently bought myself a 996 C4 which I love, I can only imagine how nice a GT3 is to drive.
I also test drove an F-Type and it was clear the salesman thought I was just wasting his time (I maybe look younger than I am). Though in fairness they did let me out in it. I told him if they couldn't make the sums work for me I'd buy a second hand V8 Vantage instead and received a look of 'yeah right'... took my V8 Vantage back there for a service a few months later!
How are you finding the C4? Would you be tempted to do the front shaft delete thing and turn it into rwd?I also test drove an F-Type and it was clear the salesman thought I was just wasting his time (I maybe look younger than I am). Though in fairness they did let me out in it. I told him if they couldn't make the sums work for me I'd buy a second hand V8 Vantage instead and received a look of 'yeah right'... took my V8 Vantage back there for a service a few months later!
Its taken me a long time to learn how to drive the Porker as i used to drive it more like a fwd car due to the amount of seat time i had in a fwd car. So while i didnt get into trouble as such, i didnt extract the performance its capable of and tbh, i never will be able to extract the cars capabilities over my own capabilities if you know what i mean. Though after so long of having it, it always leave me a smile when you come out of a corner and then throttle down and feel the rear end 'squat' and off we go. Ive not driven it now in 8 weeks (shoulder surgery and the spoiler is off at a company helping them with something at the moment) so cant wait to experience it all over again.
Also, i think ive only ever had the back end step out a couple of times on me but luckily its snapped back inline, either through my skill or luck (definitely luck) but thats been interesting, especially with curbs and stuff nearby.
As for the test drive experiences, yeah i guess people are still judgmental but with the rise of youtube stars, footballers etc, you can never tell nowadays
So car was purchased on the 26/6/10 and it didnt take me long to go against the no-modding rule i have...
I cant remember what order everything come in but first up i think it was the lights. Feeling that the rear end was feeling abit 'dated' i decided to try and make it abit more modern and so order the LED lights you get off of Ebay (came from Singapore i think);
Then after seeing Sundeeps GT3 (owner of 911uk), i liked the look of his wheels so had mine done the same;
(Sundeeps rim)
Then i decided to get the tail pipes coated black (before it became a common thing) but not wanting to damage the OEM's, i managed to source a pair from JZM for half the price of what everyone else was wanting = result.
And it was all sorted for Dads Day Out 2011;
shiny
Next up is the 1st year service + running costs
I cant remember what order everything come in but first up i think it was the lights. Feeling that the rear end was feeling abit 'dated' i decided to try and make it abit more modern and so order the LED lights you get off of Ebay (came from Singapore i think);
Then after seeing Sundeeps GT3 (owner of 911uk), i liked the look of his wheels so had mine done the same;
(Sundeeps rim)
Then i decided to get the tail pipes coated black (before it became a common thing) but not wanting to damage the OEM's, i managed to source a pair from JZM for half the price of what everyone else was wanting = result.
And it was all sorted for Dads Day Out 2011;
shiny
Next up is the 1st year service + running costs
lemmingjames said:
Martin_Hx said:
Looks good James, as others have said i love the seats! #Racecar 
Youll love what happens 5 years later thenLad at work bought a 911 4s (2002 i think, im not up to spec with the 99 #'s) a few years ago and has just traded it in for a 2010 one, looking forward to him taking me a spin
Martin_Hx said:
Well i started with a crap Fiat Panda as my first car, daily is an EP3 now so must be due a 911 next!
Lad at work bought a 911 4s (2002 i think, im not up to spec with the 99 #'s) a few years ago and has just traded it in for a 2010 one, looking forward to him taking me a spin
You must have had that EP3 now for a decade or so? Im trying to get andyfruity to buy BF1 but hes not having it. Sorry i didnt or havent joined your games yet, will do soon!Lad at work bought a 911 4s (2002 i think, im not up to spec with the 99 #'s) a few years ago and has just traded it in for a 2010 one, looking forward to him taking me a spin
1st year running costs;
Also, 2 weeks into ownership and on brand new tyres allround (Pirelli PZero Neros), i drove over something that sliced the sidewall on the drivers side rear @ 70 mph. Car remained stable but there was an almighty bang so pulled over. The way the car behaved id never have guessed something was wrong but alas there was so, add another £250 to the bill.
Also i had the exhaust tips realigned £120 + the black ones fitted + £100. But these costs where more of a vanity thing than actual running costs
Also, 2 weeks into ownership and on brand new tyres allround (Pirelli PZero Neros), i drove over something that sliced the sidewall on the drivers side rear @ 70 mph. Car remained stable but there was an almighty bang so pulled over. The way the car behaved id never have guessed something was wrong but alas there was so, add another £250 to the bill.
Also i had the exhaust tips realigned £120 + the black ones fitted + £100. But these costs where more of a vanity thing than actual running costs
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