My new purchase (911 content) *final update p9*

[ChrisS]

I know the A5 like the back of my hand now, and despite traffic and police it's still a really good road to drive down,

As always, our little group takes the scenic route back which includes a drive of the Evo Triangle.

 

I would have made you a cuppa as you must have driven past my house. (on the A5)

 

Glad you're loving it,long may it carry on.

[Ekona]

I'm going to remember that next time, always handy to know a friendly pit stop

[ChrisS]

I'm going to remember that next time, always handy to know a friendly pit stop

Only 4.5 miles from Cerrigydrydion. 1 mile past Country Cooks.

Gis a shout next time.

[CaptainSensible]

So have you even thought about the Zed once since you picked up the porker? How does it compare?

[Ekona]

Sorry, missed that question first time round.

 

 

Tbh I'm not missing the Zed one little bit right now, but then I'm still in WOW-NEW-CAR mode so that's not entirely surprising. What I am surprised about is that I'm not missing top-down driving at all, which is very weird for me coming from 7 years of only owning convertible cars. In all fairness it wouldn't even be right to compare the Zed to the 911 as the costs are just night and day unless buying a brand new Zed and an early 997. That said, you asked...!

 

The 911 is in every single way better than the Zed. It makes a better noise, it stops better, it goes better, it corners better, it's more comfortable, it's better on fuel, the dealer network is fantastic, and it gets more attention than the Zed did which is a bit surprising. Normally when you get into a car you can kinda work out where you want/need to spend money to get it to where you want it to be, but that's just not the case here. Maybe I'd like more exhaust noise in the future, but for now the flat-six is glorious. If I wanted more power/better handling there's the GT3, but then I'd lose the extra cosseting a vanilla 911 gives you over long distance and also the wonderful PDK box. Outright more power could come from a Turbo, but then you lose the purity of the NA engine. The brakes just don't give up in the same way the brakes on the Zed do so I see no reason at all to touch them, and that's usually the first place I change things.

 

If I could change just one thing on the 911 it would be to swap the RE050As to MPS2s, but that's just because I have more faith and experience in them: There's nothing at all wrong with the Bridgestones. And I'm still waiting for my flappy paddle wheel to turn up, so I've got that to look forward to as well!

[Ekona]

Although there is one thing that owning a Nissan over a Porsche gives you: People actually letting you out at junctions!

 

Oh I wish I was just kidding, but on numerous occasions now I've seen people clock that I'm in a 911 and all bunch up to not let me out. In the 350Z that was never a problem at all, the car just didn't have that aura of "I'm a flash w*nker so you should let me in, you peasants!" that the 911 has. It's irritating as I'm a pretty courteous driver myself and always make the effort not to drive like a typical Porsche-owning ****, but that's their failing not mine.

[ATTAK Z]

Although there is one thing that owning a Nissan over a Porsche gives you: People actually letting you out at junctions!

 

Oh I wish I was just kidding, but on numerous occasions now I've seen people clock that I'm in a 911 and all bunch up to not let me out. In the 350Z that was never a problem at all, the car just didn't have that aura of "I'm a flash w*nker so you should let me in, you peasants!" that the 911 has. It's irritating as I'm a pretty courteous driver myself and always make the effort not to drive like a typical Porsche-owning ****, but that's their failing not mine.

 

I'm also expecting to have to be a bit less of a hooligan than I am in the Zed lol

[Stew]

Great write up Dan.

 

It's nice to see that you are enjoying the 911. It's my 'realistic dream car' in almost any age series from the 'almost a beetle' right to the 997.

 

As you say, the Zed and a 911 aren't comparable at all. A Primera isn't comparable to a Panamera either.....

 

 

I do think we need more pics though!

[Chris`I]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the new motor Dan

 

I found the same with you on the track, the Zed has more character than 911/Caymans, the Porkers are almost too good at what they do. Supprised you managed to keep up with GTRs though, were they the R35? They should have walked away from you given equal drivers, purely because they are 4WD. In the dry with bundles of grip fair enough you keeping up, but in the wet they should have had it easy. Still shows you were driving properly

 

Look forward to more piccies and follow ups.

[rtbiscuit]

i'm looking forward to my passenger ride

[Ekona]

Pics you say...?

 

 

 

 

 

I really must stop driving Anglesey in the pissing rain!

[shire350Z]

looks great dan even in the weather

[CaptainSensible]

Interesting to read your views on the 911 vs the 350z. As I suspected in a different league!! I've always quite fancied a 911, but found it hard to justify the leap in cost when to my mind the Zed is perhaps 8/10 compared to a 911. An extra £30k+ for the final 2/10 is a lot, but I'm sure you'd disagree!!

[JetSet]

Interesting to read your views on the 911 vs the 350z. As I suspected in a different league!! I've always quite fancied a 911, but found it hard to justify the leap in cost when to my mind the Zed is perhaps 8/10 compared to a 911. An extra £30k+ for the final 2/10 is a lot, but I'm sure you'd disagree!!

 

Yeah, goes to show what good value the Zed is, the £'s graph takes a steep curve upwards to get anything better. 911's are fantastic cars the only problem is the constant waving you have to do .

 

Pete

[choptop]

Hell of a motor! Enjoy

[Ekona]

Update times!

 

 

So I'm now 3 months-ish into 911 ownership so I thought it might be worth putting a few words up to say how I'm getting on. I'll answer the obvious question now: No, I don't regret buying it at all.

 

 

Sadly I'm still waiting for Porsche in Germany to finish their quality control on the PDK paddle shifter wheel, and as such I'm still waiting for mine which means I'm left with a car that isn't exactly what I want, and yet really it's just given me more time to learn the car before the fun really begins. The more I drive with the PDK the more I'm convinced I made the right choice for me, as it really does suit me perfectly. It's easily as good as an auto 'box in traffic, pootling around and saving fuel by the bucket (it'll be in 7th gear at 40mph) but still happy to drop up to five cogs in one go if you decide you want a bit more go. There's a bit of mechanical shove when it drops that many gears which I believe was engineered into the system for feel, as there's none otherwise when shifting normally. Being able to change gear mid-corner knowing the car won't unbalance itself is a godsend at times when the conditions are bad and you've under-estimated a corner ( ), although clearly you shouldn't be in that position anyway. Put the shifter into manual mode and it simply devours each shift with aplomb, going down through the 'box a particular delight. It totally changes the car from GT cruiser to hard edged sports car, which was exactly what I was after.

 

 

And yes, it really does move when you're on it. I've had to use the fantastically feel-some brakes very hard more than once too

 

 

The interior is a genuinely great place to be as well. I was worried after the slightly basic but sufficient interiors of my last two cars that I might find the 911 a bit too good, a bit too complete. I'm glad I was wrong though, and that the passion of the car isn't smothered by all the thick carpet and leather everywhere. The seats are absolutely fantastic, and were I ever to purchase brand-new I'd definitely put the adaptive seats down as an option. Having the ability to not only adjust up and down and back and forth as you please but also to make the side and leg bolsters inflate or deflate at will again reinforces the GT-to-sport, Jekyll-&-Hyde nature of the car. All programmable to buttons as well so just one touch gives you all the support you need or as soft and comfy to relax in. The suspension itself is a gem in that regard, as in normal mode (my car's got the PASM as it's an S) it's as at home on B-roads as it is wallowing on the motorway, and shows just how right Porsche got it when sorting the settings out. It also shows that they got it very wrong for the UK market, as the sport setting is just too jittery and fidgety for anything other than the smoothest of race tracks. Great for Europe and the US, not so for us, and I leave mine in normal mode 95% of the time.

 

The iPhone connects wonderfully with the PCM control unit, and the stereo isn't half bad either (I'd love to hear what the optional Bose sounds like though, it's supposed to be incredible) which makes a nice change. I also had no idea the rear seat bases are just velcroed in either, which made it a tad easier to remove them for weight saving purposes! The car does need some more volume to it though as the stock exhaust is just too quiet for me, so that's something I'm going to need to sort out at some point. Truth be told though I've yet to fully bond with it as I haven't had the chances to drive it in anger in decent weather yet, but that just means I've got a good excuse to take some pointless trips in the coming 12 months. Currently getting around 28mpg too, compared with 23mpg I used to get in my old Zed.

 

 

 

In short, it's slowly becoming the car I always hoped it would be, and I look forward to learning it as much as I have anything I've ever owned.

[Sarnie]

Stop posting this stuff, it just sends me back to the classifieds....

[Ekona]

DO IT DO IT DO IT

 

DO IT

[R35LEE]

Sounds like someone is in love with their car

[Ekona]

What was that? You wanted a quick update? Oh, go on then!

 

 

So I'm now (counts on fingers) 10 months into 911 ownership, and I'm just about getting a feel for Porker ownership now. Let me start with the not-so-good stuff.

 

I've spent a fair bit of time in my local OPC in the last couple of months as the old girl has been a tad temperamental, i.e. she keeps breaking down! The first time was absolutely horrendous, as it was completely unexpected. I'd left my mate's house in Welwyn where we'd been working on the race car all day and was about to hit the fun twisty country roads, so I got myself settled and started to open her up. Upon nailing the the throttle the whole car lurched like buggery, couldn't find a gear and practically gave up on me. On a set of blind corners wasn't the best place to stop so I managed to baby her to the next village on what felt like 3 cylinders and 27bhp, where she settled into an incredibly rough idle with all kinds of flashy warning lights on the dash. I took a breath, stopped the engine, waited for a minute, and then re-started. She struggled to fire but eventually did so and drove perfectly the hour drive back home, although it still felt slightly down on power. Spoke to Porsche the next morning who arranged (via Porsche Assist, their own European-wide breakdown service) for the RAC to come out and pick the car up from my house within the hour and drop it off at Colchester for them to have a look at it. They did so, and couldn't find a fault with it at all. Their conclusion was that some coking from within the cylinders had dropped off and temporarily blocked either the injector or the spark, which was why it was running rough and why it sorted itself out when I restarted it. Fairy nuff.

 

Fast forward a couple of months later. On my way to Welwyn to see the same mate to work on the same race car (there's definitely a pattern emerging here), I'm cruising along down a hill to a roundabout at the bottom I know well, when I get a message on the OBC saying that I have 'Reduced Engine Power'. Ah. Reduced engine power I can live with, however if it had told me that it had actually stalled and I had no power at all I probably would've stopped before the roundabout, rather than coasting onto it and finding I had no shove to get me up the steep hill the other side. I got some funny hand gestures from the cars behind when I was stopping... Anyhoo, I restarted (as before) and carried on my journey, and I was almost at my destination when it happened again. However I was in a better stopping place this time so pulled over and restarted, and prayed it would get me to my mate's house. It did, and I promptly rang Porsche Assist again. This was Saturday at 9:30am. By 11:30am the 911 had been collected by the RAC, taken to Colchester and I was picking up a brand-new Merc C220 CDi as a courtesy car at the local Enterprise car hire place in Hatfield, which is where I'd been taken after being collected by one of their drivers. Seriously impressive stuff.

 

I spoke to Porsche on the Monday who diagnosed a faulty High Pressure Fuel Pump, which I was already aware that was probably going to be the cause as there is a recall out for them right now, although my car was made a month before the recall dates so that explains how it slipped through the net. Two days later the car was ready, so I dropped the Merc off in Colchester and made my way back home in my newly-fixed 911. Okay, so it broke down twice, but given how awesome the Porsche Assist people are I actually didn't mind that much. By the way, Porsche Assist is an option you can take out with the warranty for about £300 PA and covers you for all breakdowns and courtesy cars across all of Europe, so it's certainly something I'll be getting again when my warranty expires next year.

 

 

I did spend one more time at the OPC Colchester though, and I've mentioned it elsewhere but I'll still bring it back up here. I've had the PSE (sports exhaust) and Sport Plus modes retrofitted to the car too now, which were the only other things missing from the spec when I first saw the car on the forecourt back in October last year. Frightfully expensive, but frankly amazing.

 

The exhaust is switchable from loud mode to normal mode on the fly via a button inside the cabin, however I can't believe that anyone would bother having it on anything other than loud all the time as it's perfectly acceptable on the motorway: Think Nismo exhaust on a 350Z and you're there. There's a lovely little growl as you pull away from standstill, through a shallow whine as the revs build, then finally a fully metallic bark as you wind it up past 6K toward the redline. It's beautiful, and certainly gives some character back to the slightly soulless DFI engine. The PSE replaces not only the two side boxes behind each wheel, but also the centre silencer too which I suspect was a major cause of noise removal on the original exhaust. It's only going to get better with age too, once the cans have a little more carbon through them.

 

The Sport Plus mode is specific to the PDK cars, and gives you a bonkers auto setting for track or when you're really on it. In short, it won't change up until the redline so 60mph in 2nd gear cruising along a NSL road is perfectly happy for the car! It's a bit over the top for me though, which is why I leave it in the more friendly Sport mode 90% of the time now. You get a sharper throttle response and a doubling of the PSM leeway before it starts bringing everything back in line, which means that as I'm now far more comfortable with the car I can really get the boot in early when coming out of a corner. If it swings out I'm happy catching it myself, but if I do balls it up then the PSM catches it smoothly for me without me looking an arse or being in serious danger of putting the car into a ditch. Now I've got both the PSE and the Sport Plus mode on there she feels far more sports car than GT now, and until they bring out a PDK GT3 it's as close as I'll get to one. It's rorty and stupidly quick and above all else, fun.

 

I also now have launch control. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IT'S AMAZING WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

As far as slightly more dull ownership stuff goes, I'm getting roughly 28mpg out of it split 50/50 motorway and fun roads. It actually works out at about 38mpg when cruising at 70mph and about 16mpg when I'm nailing the arse off it, both reasonably accurate numbers I've been able to pinch off the OBC. Everything is holding up nicely inside too in terms of quality, which is good to see. There's no marking or anything on the seats or dash or plastics, and this is a 26000 mile car now which might not seem a lot (and in truth it isn't), but stuff like that will be expensive to fix and I do want to try and keep some kind of value to the car if possible! Tyres are still looking good, and I reckon there's probably another 5000 mile worth in the rears at least, which will bring them up to 9K on my ownership alone. Fronts still look brand new, which is the benefit of no weight in the nose I guess.

 

 

 

Am I still happy with the car? Very much so, and the little things I've done have made it feel more like my own 911 rather than just another 911. That said, looking at other fast cars available I'm not sure that financially it was a very wise decision especially with the imminent introduction of the 991, and I suspect I might have other priorities in the future that will make this my last silly-fast car for a while. That said, when I get in it and drive and hear the flat-six roar away behind me, and nail the perfect corner in a way I could never do in the Zed or any other car I've owned, it still feels worth every penny. I do still get embarrassed when people ask me what I drive though, as you get one of three reactions:

 

1. "HAHAHAH NO WAY seriously what do you really drive?"

2. "Oh. Right. A Porsche. Anyway, talking about something more interesting like paint drying..."

3. "Oh cool, what one?" [i give details] "Oh brilliant, let's have a look then!"

 

Number 1 is the very common one, like about 70% or so. Number 2 comes second with 25%, and only a mere 5% of people actually give you a positive response. In that respect, I got far more positive reactions over the Zed, even if most people didn't know what it was. That said, I've had more random people come up to me in the street and pass nice comment than I did in the Zed, so that's a nice thing. The other trouble I find is not knowing when to stop describing the car: It's easy with a Zed, you just say "It's a Nissan 350Z". Piece of cake. Not so with mine, as technically it's a Porsche 911 997 Carrera S PDK. Trust me, you sound an utter c*nt if you say that our loud, so I kinda stop after Porsche 911, and then wait for either the conversation to go elsewhere, of (if it's a petrolhead I'm conversing with) the slightly patronising "Yeah, but which one?!" Honestly, it's a social minefield this ownership malarky!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, it's still good and you should sell a kidney for one. Apologies for waffling too!

[DavidS14]

Thanks very much for the update, been looking at 996 C4S's and Caymen S's the last few weeks but can't decide if I can live with having something high profile where I live.

[R35LEE]

Good magazine style write up / update. They really are a great product I'm off to collect a white GT3 tonight

[choptop]

Glad you are still enjoying it despite the breakdowns. Have to say if a 58 car kept on breaking down like that on me it would have gone by now.

[Ekona]

To be fair it's only been twice and it was fixed so quickly both times and without any fuss to me at all, really can't fault them in that regard. Stuff like that can happen to anything, it's how you get treated as a customer that really counts in my book.

 

 

@Lee: Jammy sod, I'd love one in white on black centre lock wheels

[Sarnie]

The social aspect is oh so familiar. When I had the G, it's reputation proceeded it. Most people that you were introduced to would already have heard about what you drive. Some would ask you about it pretending not to know, waiting to gauge whether you were gonna be a smug arsehole about it. But when you answer the question 'What do you drive?' its almost impossible to say the words Lamborghini, Gallardo or Lambo humbly! It just doesn't work!

 

The thing that used to annoy me was that as soon as the car was brought up, people seemed to think it was then ok to ask me:

 

How much did that cost?

Where did you get it?

How did you afford it?

What do you do for a job?

How much do you earn?

 

A lot of people I knew would introduce me to people as 'The guy with the Lambo', which can be a bit wearing. Even three years on, people still want to talk about it! I can hardly go a week, even now, without someone bring it up, usually with tales such as seeing it on the road somewhere, seeing me at the petrol station, over taking them etc etc. Someone from football even showed me a pic on their phone of it parked up outside my office, THREE YEARS AGO!! It's hard to comprehend, but the car became a local celebrity in it's ownright!

 

Definitely not a car for shrinking violets. Good job I'm not