Senna
New member
Thought I'd start a new thread for this seeing as it's a review of sorts.
A few things to note before you read on. My new 997.2 PDK is my first Porsche. For what it's worth though, while I don't have long term ownership experience with these wonderful cars, over the years I've driven just about every Porsche there is (old and new) save for the GT2 thanks to a handful of friends who simply don't buy anything else.
Model choice
Why the 997.2 C2? From a purely personal point of view, I think it's the purest and most understated 911. I wanted the purest driving experience and wanted to avoid the extra weight the C4 and Cab models bring to the equation. In its most basic form, the new C2 is the lightest 911 around save for the GT3 which is only 20kg heavier making it an extremely nimble and point-able device. This is partly due to the UK spec C2's weight reducing aluminium doors from the 911 Turbo which are partly responsible for helping the car hit the magic road tax figure of 225 g/km (£210), not that a saving of £190 per year is going to tip the scales against for a £70k purchase but reduced weight is always welcome.
Build quality and overall styling.
Call me bias but I really like the subtle styling tweaks of the 997.2. Brings the car bang up to date without taking away any of the iconic lines we have all come to love.
I've read many negative comments about the new LED rear light cluster but in my opinion I think it looks modern and a lot neater than the old arrangement. Not convinced? Just watch the sales of after market light clusters fly once these things become widely available. Likewise I think the front LED daytime lights are perfect too. I would have been unhappy if they went all Christmas tree on us like Audi with the R8 and A5 which are a little OTT in my view where as the 997.2's LED lighting is spot-on in IMO.
I still don't have an opinion on the larger mirrors. Part of me likes the fact they are larger from a safety aspect and part of me thinks BIG EARS. Mind you when I compare them to the bathroom mirrors we have on our Audi Q7 they look minuscule lol.
Overall build quality is excellent as is the exterior and interior fit and finish and trim which is pretty much spot on. I bought mine with the 19" sport design wheels. They look great but boy are they difficult to clean properly. I think the design of the interior is as wonderful as the cars exterior. I like black interiors in cars and the black surround of the new PCM looks a lot more classy than the old silver surround of the unit and has added a stealth look to the black and white display imaging of the colour display. The screen offers just a hint of colour when highlighting tracks/stations or other items which again is absolutely spot on! Not being a lover of white dial instruments (or other colours), mine are the boring black and white and go with the general look of the interior switchgear and screen superbly. Further, as a watch collector, my daily beater an IWC big pilot just goes with the whole look perfectly. Zuffenhausen meets Schaffhausen!
Negatives? Porsche should consider allowing deletion of the large eyesore they call a stopwatch when buying the sports chrono package (which is a must with PDK). This horrible wart of an object is thrown slap bang in the middle of the dashboard. It really is unnecessary in my view and spoils an almost perfect interior. It's not like the timing info doesn't come up on the PCM display so why not get rid of it for folks that don't like it (a fair chunk of prospective buyers IMO). Thankfully if you have black instrumentation rather than white dials it helps to make the eyesore melt away a little (another reason for choosing black dial instruments)
Performance and handling
Porsche has the 997.2 C2 PDK with Sports Chrono down to 4.5 seconds 0-62 (and the C2S PDK at 4.3). Whatever way you cut it, this is quick. Although I've just hit the 1700 mile mark, I'm still taking it fairly easy and will refrain from my inevitable meeting with the red-line till I hit the 2500 mile mark moving up the rev range only when the oil temp is fully warm and limiting myself to around the 4500 rpm mark only on occasion. Having said that, even keeping it to 4500 rpm, this thing moves! Most drivers respect 911's and they simply don't want to mess around with the pointless exercise of taking on cars at this level. There is always an exception and one brand driven by the same type of driver always seems to enjoy having a go. Mercedes drivers! They just don't seem to get how quick 911's are. Maybe they believe in Clarksons souped up VW Beetle rubbish, or maybe they're just plain ignorant. I was driving down the M4 last week at 75mph in the middle lane with the engine barely awake at around 2k revs and PDK in its obligatory 7th gear, looked in my mirror and "˜oh god here comes another one'. A Merc 320 diesel inches from my tail flashing me to move to the slow lane. What is it with these idiots? Having enough mileage under my belt now I thought a brief meeting with the 5000 rpm mark would be fine. I proceeded with a couple of PDK clicks down from 7th to 5th gear and gently squeezed the trigger. Within 10 seconds or so the Merc was a spec in my mirror. Oh he was trying to play catch-up alright as there was diesel smoke billowing out of his tailpipe, unfortunately for him by the time his 'kick-down' had taken effect I was in another county. I let him catch up 5 minutes or so later and he was too embarrassed to overtake and simply sat at a respectable distance behind me. The words "˜ear to ear' and "˜grinning' come to mind.
Porsche heathens have been moaning about the general design and handling pitfalls of the car for over 45 years. Even today the uninformed still like to take pot shots at the latest cars. Pendulum like engine placement yada yada, we've heard it all before. I reserve two letters of the alphabet for the anti marketing hyperbole regarding this nonsense, BS.
This is quite simply the most rewarding car I've ever driving in terms of handling. No disrespect to mid-engine lovers. I've owned a mid-engined car, albeit a car of its time (a Lotus Europa Special) and driven the new Cayman. They are brilliant, especially the Cayman. Is it as rewarding to drive quickly as the 911. Sorry but not in my opinion. The Cayman will let you drive it quickly, no skill needed but just doesn't involve the driver like the 911 does. I'm sure it is possible to lose control of the car (or any other car for that matter), but truth be told, most of us will have run out of talent long before this car will run out of grip. Much has been published about the new PDK gearbox and having 1700 miles under my belt and a good deal of use out of it I'd like to chime in too.
First off we have a lot of experience via several cars with tiptronic box (including my wifes current car the Audi Q7). Let me start by saying the PDK and Tiptronic boxes are worlds apart. The gear changes via PDK are so finely executed that apart from the change in engine tone as the gears moved up or down they are very difficult to make out. In normal auto mode the box/drivetrain definitely needs a minute or two to warm up before changes become fluid. Once warm however, the whole exercise is akin to witchcraft. In normal auto mode (I call this eco mode) the whole thing works superbly save for a niggle which I will come too shortly. I say eco because the software has been designed to take the car up to the highest gearing as soon as possible (without labouring the engine as such) which means the car will spend much of its time in the lower rev range and return the sort of MPG as I get with my run-around Ford Focus 1.8 zetec. Very cool and keeps tree huggers extremely happy. Now here comes the niggle. Because the car spends the majority of its time in acceleration sapping high gears, it denies the driver the supreme point and squirt ability of the car and sort of goes against the very grain of a 911. Simply planting your foot down and waiting for the change down is just too time consuming and boring (might as well have a Merc 320 diesel auto).
Yes for a temporary fix you can tap the infamous paddles/buttons and shift down manually at will but unfortunately the car will very quickly revert to auto mode (hence top gear) if the paddles are untouched for 30 seconds or so. Consequently we are left with 2 options. Option 1, just go manual which is exactly what I do much of the time apart from heavy traffic situations where quite frankly the best bet is to leave it in auto. In manual mode the paddles which have come under much criticism are very easy to get used to and use. Alternatively there is the stick shift, not my thing but many PDK drivers seem to like using it. Option 2, can only be implemented if you opted for the sports chrono pack. Just hit the sports button leave it in auto and you are good to go. A further slight niggle is that auto in sports mode can sometimes be a little on the manic side for normal driving and it would have been great if Porsche came up with something in the middle of boring "˜eco' auto and sports auto. How about normal auto? Or get rid the horrible "˜eco' high gear auto, just give us normal and sports modes and forget the eco crap!
Oil consumption Around 0.5 litres of Mobile 1. That's pretty much as good as it gets for a brand new engine. My Audi's drank way more than that and they use full synthetic oil too.
Fuel Consumption I've not reset the computer since day one and my total average (mostly town driving) has been an incredible 24.7 mph. Am I happy with my purchase? You bet! My saving fund for the next model has already begun so roll on 2011-2012.
A few things to note before you read on. My new 997.2 PDK is my first Porsche. For what it's worth though, while I don't have long term ownership experience with these wonderful cars, over the years I've driven just about every Porsche there is (old and new) save for the GT2 thanks to a handful of friends who simply don't buy anything else.
Model choice
Why the 997.2 C2? From a purely personal point of view, I think it's the purest and most understated 911. I wanted the purest driving experience and wanted to avoid the extra weight the C4 and Cab models bring to the equation. In its most basic form, the new C2 is the lightest 911 around save for the GT3 which is only 20kg heavier making it an extremely nimble and point-able device. This is partly due to the UK spec C2's weight reducing aluminium doors from the 911 Turbo which are partly responsible for helping the car hit the magic road tax figure of 225 g/km (£210), not that a saving of £190 per year is going to tip the scales against for a £70k purchase but reduced weight is always welcome.
Build quality and overall styling.
Call me bias but I really like the subtle styling tweaks of the 997.2. Brings the car bang up to date without taking away any of the iconic lines we have all come to love.
I've read many negative comments about the new LED rear light cluster but in my opinion I think it looks modern and a lot neater than the old arrangement. Not convinced? Just watch the sales of after market light clusters fly once these things become widely available. Likewise I think the front LED daytime lights are perfect too. I would have been unhappy if they went all Christmas tree on us like Audi with the R8 and A5 which are a little OTT in my view where as the 997.2's LED lighting is spot-on in IMO.
I still don't have an opinion on the larger mirrors. Part of me likes the fact they are larger from a safety aspect and part of me thinks BIG EARS. Mind you when I compare them to the bathroom mirrors we have on our Audi Q7 they look minuscule lol.
Overall build quality is excellent as is the exterior and interior fit and finish and trim which is pretty much spot on. I bought mine with the 19" sport design wheels. They look great but boy are they difficult to clean properly. I think the design of the interior is as wonderful as the cars exterior. I like black interiors in cars and the black surround of the new PCM looks a lot more classy than the old silver surround of the unit and has added a stealth look to the black and white display imaging of the colour display. The screen offers just a hint of colour when highlighting tracks/stations or other items which again is absolutely spot on! Not being a lover of white dial instruments (or other colours), mine are the boring black and white and go with the general look of the interior switchgear and screen superbly. Further, as a watch collector, my daily beater an IWC big pilot just goes with the whole look perfectly. Zuffenhausen meets Schaffhausen!
Negatives? Porsche should consider allowing deletion of the large eyesore they call a stopwatch when buying the sports chrono package (which is a must with PDK). This horrible wart of an object is thrown slap bang in the middle of the dashboard. It really is unnecessary in my view and spoils an almost perfect interior. It's not like the timing info doesn't come up on the PCM display so why not get rid of it for folks that don't like it (a fair chunk of prospective buyers IMO). Thankfully if you have black instrumentation rather than white dials it helps to make the eyesore melt away a little (another reason for choosing black dial instruments)
Performance and handling
Porsche has the 997.2 C2 PDK with Sports Chrono down to 4.5 seconds 0-62 (and the C2S PDK at 4.3). Whatever way you cut it, this is quick. Although I've just hit the 1700 mile mark, I'm still taking it fairly easy and will refrain from my inevitable meeting with the red-line till I hit the 2500 mile mark moving up the rev range only when the oil temp is fully warm and limiting myself to around the 4500 rpm mark only on occasion. Having said that, even keeping it to 4500 rpm, this thing moves! Most drivers respect 911's and they simply don't want to mess around with the pointless exercise of taking on cars at this level. There is always an exception and one brand driven by the same type of driver always seems to enjoy having a go. Mercedes drivers! They just don't seem to get how quick 911's are. Maybe they believe in Clarksons souped up VW Beetle rubbish, or maybe they're just plain ignorant. I was driving down the M4 last week at 75mph in the middle lane with the engine barely awake at around 2k revs and PDK in its obligatory 7th gear, looked in my mirror and "˜oh god here comes another one'. A Merc 320 diesel inches from my tail flashing me to move to the slow lane. What is it with these idiots? Having enough mileage under my belt now I thought a brief meeting with the 5000 rpm mark would be fine. I proceeded with a couple of PDK clicks down from 7th to 5th gear and gently squeezed the trigger. Within 10 seconds or so the Merc was a spec in my mirror. Oh he was trying to play catch-up alright as there was diesel smoke billowing out of his tailpipe, unfortunately for him by the time his 'kick-down' had taken effect I was in another county. I let him catch up 5 minutes or so later and he was too embarrassed to overtake and simply sat at a respectable distance behind me. The words "˜ear to ear' and "˜grinning' come to mind.
Porsche heathens have been moaning about the general design and handling pitfalls of the car for over 45 years. Even today the uninformed still like to take pot shots at the latest cars. Pendulum like engine placement yada yada, we've heard it all before. I reserve two letters of the alphabet for the anti marketing hyperbole regarding this nonsense, BS.
This is quite simply the most rewarding car I've ever driving in terms of handling. No disrespect to mid-engine lovers. I've owned a mid-engined car, albeit a car of its time (a Lotus Europa Special) and driven the new Cayman. They are brilliant, especially the Cayman. Is it as rewarding to drive quickly as the 911. Sorry but not in my opinion. The Cayman will let you drive it quickly, no skill needed but just doesn't involve the driver like the 911 does. I'm sure it is possible to lose control of the car (or any other car for that matter), but truth be told, most of us will have run out of talent long before this car will run out of grip. Much has been published about the new PDK gearbox and having 1700 miles under my belt and a good deal of use out of it I'd like to chime in too.
First off we have a lot of experience via several cars with tiptronic box (including my wifes current car the Audi Q7). Let me start by saying the PDK and Tiptronic boxes are worlds apart. The gear changes via PDK are so finely executed that apart from the change in engine tone as the gears moved up or down they are very difficult to make out. In normal auto mode the box/drivetrain definitely needs a minute or two to warm up before changes become fluid. Once warm however, the whole exercise is akin to witchcraft. In normal auto mode (I call this eco mode) the whole thing works superbly save for a niggle which I will come too shortly. I say eco because the software has been designed to take the car up to the highest gearing as soon as possible (without labouring the engine as such) which means the car will spend much of its time in the lower rev range and return the sort of MPG as I get with my run-around Ford Focus 1.8 zetec. Very cool and keeps tree huggers extremely happy. Now here comes the niggle. Because the car spends the majority of its time in acceleration sapping high gears, it denies the driver the supreme point and squirt ability of the car and sort of goes against the very grain of a 911. Simply planting your foot down and waiting for the change down is just too time consuming and boring (might as well have a Merc 320 diesel auto).
Yes for a temporary fix you can tap the infamous paddles/buttons and shift down manually at will but unfortunately the car will very quickly revert to auto mode (hence top gear) if the paddles are untouched for 30 seconds or so. Consequently we are left with 2 options. Option 1, just go manual which is exactly what I do much of the time apart from heavy traffic situations where quite frankly the best bet is to leave it in auto. In manual mode the paddles which have come under much criticism are very easy to get used to and use. Alternatively there is the stick shift, not my thing but many PDK drivers seem to like using it. Option 2, can only be implemented if you opted for the sports chrono pack. Just hit the sports button leave it in auto and you are good to go. A further slight niggle is that auto in sports mode can sometimes be a little on the manic side for normal driving and it would have been great if Porsche came up with something in the middle of boring "˜eco' auto and sports auto. How about normal auto? Or get rid the horrible "˜eco' high gear auto, just give us normal and sports modes and forget the eco crap!
Oil consumption Around 0.5 litres of Mobile 1. That's pretty much as good as it gets for a brand new engine. My Audi's drank way more than that and they use full synthetic oil too.
Fuel Consumption I've not reset the computer since day one and my total average (mostly town driving) has been an incredible 24.7 mph. Am I happy with my purchase? You bet! My saving fund for the next model has already begun so roll on 2011-2012.
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