Another introduction

[spyderman]

Hello from a first-time Porsche owner. Have wanted one since I was 14, so this is an achievement of a (mumble)-year ambition; my brother had three 944s, so it must be in the blood. After closely watching the Used Car Locator for a few months, I decided on a 550 Spyder anniversary, which is a tad over four years old. Got it from Porsche Silverstone where salesman Mark has done an excellent job looking after me. They had another, lower-mileage 550 with the more common brown leather, but that had sold when I first visited them. The one I went for instead has the optional grey natural leather and non-painted Carrera 18" wheels.

I test-drove it a couple of weeks back and found it surprisingly easy to drive; nice that you don't get your head blown off with the top down. In fact I haven't driven it with the top up at all yet. Coming home from the dealer last night, the A5 was quite heavily populated with Porsches, I guess who had been to Silverstone - couldn't help waving to them all! Biggest scare was getting it in the garage - I knew the o/a width at the mirrors and I knew it was wider than my other car, but I know now that if I put on any more weight, I'm going to have to sleep in it!

Have been into town this morning to buy a pile of Autoglym to keep it looking respectable.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: spyderman

Have been into town this morning to buy a pile of Autoglym to keep it looking respectable.

Spyderman welcome to the best roadster for the money by far and IMO £ for £ the best Porsche ever hence I'm on my 5th since 1997!

I hope you invested in one of the best kept secrets I ever discovered made by Autoglym a product called "Aquawax" It's simply unbelievable and so cost effective and quick to use I end up doing my daily driver every 2/3 weeks max.

16 Months & 13K miles on it's never been conventionally waxed and people in the know say it looks and feels like it just left the showroom

My 987 is silver so harder for you to see what I mean on here [8D]

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: daro911
I hope you invested in one of the best kept secrets I ever discovered made by Autoglym a product called "Aquawax"...

I think I might have spotted that in a kit with two other bottles, a sponge and a rag, but I was only looking for polish and protector, so didn't pick it up. Thanks for the tip, though - will grab some next weekend.

 

[spyderman]

Have had it a couple of weeks now so here are some early impressions of ownership:

The good bits:
Its a real pleasure to drive; not at all fussy about what gear its in, quite happy to footle along at 30mph in fifth, and standing starts in 2nd are entirely possible should you forget when in a que.

It feels incredibly sure-footed. As my brother says, you'd have to push it pretty hard (or drive like a complete dick) to get it to missbehave. I've not driven a car capable of 0-62 in anything less than a fortnight, so to me it goes like the proverbial brown stuff off a chrome shovel. I haven't booted it much yet, but I really hate to be tailgated and I have enjoyed leaving the odd company car driver as a diminishing spec in my mirrors.

The seats are really comfortable; its good to be able to drive with the top down without getting your head blown off. Visibility isn't too bad with the roof up, providing you don't have a stiff neck! The mirrors give a good view. The heating and aircon work well, although with the aircon off, it seems difficult to get good ventilation without lowering the windows.

My average fuel consumption seems to hover around 29mpg - my commute unavoidably includes traffic jams so that doesn't help. I've got 99 RON Shell V-Power in it now - not certain if that's been responsbile for my improved mpg as it had dropped to 27mpg in the first week.

Minor niggles:
I'm finding I can't get the driver's seat quite back far enough. This might be down to the very high clutch action, combined with wanting the backrest quite reclined. However, I'm not quite 5ft 11ins, so its not that I'm too tall for the car.

The short-throw gear lever is nice but I'd like very slightly stronger springing to the middle and an easier way to get into reverse rather than the "shove as hard as you can to the left" method that takes me too long to achieve.

I tend to use the radio or CD a lot, so I would have liked a volume control either on the steering or as a function of the computer stalk - I think this has been addressed on the 987? I think my PCM 2 is supposed to have some kind of active volume thingy but its either not working or its simply not effective.

Can't hear the indicator pinging with the roof down.

I wish it was slightly narrower - but that's only because my garage just isn't wide enough! With the roof up, I can literally only just get in and out of it.

Conclusion

I could have bought a 987 for just a little more money, but I like the extras I got with this particular 986. Overall, a fantastic car - thoroughly recommended.

 

[daro911]

Minor niggles:
I'm finding I can't get the driver's seat quite back far enough. This might be down to the very high clutch action, combined with wanting the backrest quite reclined. However, I'm not quite 5ft 11ins, so its not that I'm too tall for the car.

This is where the 987 with fewer toys would have been more suited to your height as there is extra legroom to play with [&o]

 

[Rickster]

dont worry, it just needs a bit of getting used to as the car demands an upright driving position!

No where near the legroom i had in my Elise...........

 

[TimEwins]

PCGB Welcomes a fellow 550 Owner :0)

 

[spyderman]

I've sent my details to the Boxster Register head honcho but not heard back yet. I'm keen to learn how many of the 160 sold here had the grey leather option. Saw "the" other local 550 in my village again yesterday - this one has the cocoa leather and roof and the grey wheels.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

ORIGINAL: spyderman

I've sent my details to the Boxster Register head honcho but not heard back yet.

Who's that then...? []

Replied.

 

[TimEwins]

My 550 has the Natural Leather (grey) option as well .... didn't like the Cocoa Brown much

Seems Porsche Alloys don't last long :0( I think all the 550's came with the two tone wheels as standard, its just when they get refurbished its easier, and cheaper to have then painted one colour

Mine are the original two tone colour, but they have been refurbished if you look close

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: TimEwins
I think all the 550's came with the two tone wheels as standard...

As you can see, mine has unpainted plain wheels - which look almost pristine - and Pirelli Rossas that look incredibly new, certainly not what I'd expect for 17000 miles, so perhaps the dealership replaced the whole lot at some stage. I've bought Autoglym wheel cleaner and am washing them regularly to get the brake dust off, but obviously that's only cleaning the bits I can see.

Hello to all the other Porsche owners I waved at on my trip to Northampton today to change my number plates.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Unpainted* wheels were a no-cost option for the 550


*of course they are all painted, but non-2-tone is what we mean here...[]

 

[CPU]

ORIGINAL: spyderman

ORIGINAL: TimEwins
I think all the 550's came with the two tone wheels as standard...

As you can see, mine has unpainted plain wheels - which look almost pristine - and Pirelli Rossas that look incredibly new, certainly not what I'd expect for 17000 miles, so perhaps the dealership replaced the whole lot at some stage. I've bought Autoglym wheel cleaner and am washing them regularly to get the brake dust off, but obviously that's only cleaning the bits I can see.

Hello to all the other Porsche owners I waved at on my trip to Northampton today to change my number plates.

Spyderman, they are great cars. Mine has the black/grey leather interior and the grey alloy wheels. It only has 7600 miles on the clock and is a 2004. They are great cars, i love mine. Here are a few pics.

Enjoy your car.

Dave

 

[TimEwins]

All the Dealers clean up their secondhand cars... oops I mean pre-owned cars :0)

I assume they refurb alloys as well as re-paint front ends (they told us they do that) .... this makes the cars look like new ... which makes a dealer a good place to buy from, but not to sell to ... as they will always knock you down to cover they expense of that makeover.

When I bought the car, I was told that it wasn't possible to refurb the wheels in the two tone paint, and if I ever needed it done, I would have to go for the 'one' colour, but a local paintshop, of good repute says that they can be redone in two tone, but it just costs more (~£150 a wheel) which on the whole didn't sound too bad.

BTW the coloured wheel centres on the two tone wheels are, and I quote my dealer 'the most expensive Porsche sell', got a set for ~£130 including our discount ! One centre has already fallen off ... but the dealer gave me another one (2 year warranty on parts)

I saw another 550 Spyder down at Porsche Reading this weekend ... in the MOT bay .... wasn't yours was it ?

Tim

 

[Mark_Bennett]

As Tim says, the 2-tone wheels can be refurbed. It's just a little extra to mask the wheel up and paint another couple of coats of the dark colour!

Hadn't thought about the coloured centres (well, the coloured background to the centre!) until Tim mentioned it. Given the frequency of the badges falling off the centres, this could work out expensive over the years...

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: TimEwins
I saw another 550 Spyder down at Porsche Reading this weekend ... in the MOT bay .... wasn't yours was it ?

No - mine was sheltering in the garage Saturday and then at Pulloxhill Sunday. Not been to Reading since I was photographing their football team earn promotion.

I really cannot understand why those centres can't be fixed by an allen key or Torx - chuffin' stupid that £130 quids worth of pretties can be swiped with a bent coathanger. Or shouldn't I have mentioned that?

 

[E_Parry]

Hello Syderman & Welcome,
My 987 is normally safely tucked up in the garage on days like this but had to come to work in it AND it got rained on[]
But the drive over to Cambridge from Bedford was[] and I'm now looking forward to the drive home[][]
Got my Boxster(first Porsche) in March - it's a Sept 2007 reg vehicle and it has been very well behaved. The only thing I have to be careful with is like you - getting it in & out of the garage; there is approx 1" either side spare! Still the good thing about this is that SWMBO has said there is no way she would attempt getting the car out = more driving time for me[]
Enjoy
Edward

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: E Parry
Still the good thing about this is that SWMBO has said there is no way she would attempt getting the car out = more driving time for me[]

Famous last words. Better take a note of the mileage - especially if said other half finds out how much fun it is to drive!

 

[TimEwins]

ORIGINAL: spyderman

I really cannot understand why those centres can't be fixed by an allen key or Torx - chuffin' stupid that £130 quids worth of pretties can be swiped with a bent coathanger. Or shouldn't I have mentioned that?

Thats the official removal tool you're talking about there :0)

Porsche do a bent coat hanger removal tool for about £20 apparently

 

[CPU]

The centre caps are a complete rip off, i'm on my second set. At least they now come with a 2 year guarantee. Porsche said "They are the most expensive centre caps we sell sir". Why can't engineers that make such superb cars work out a way of making centre caps stay on then. []

Ah well at least the car is fantastic.........