Palmball
New member
Hi all, I wasn't sure where to introduce myself however I've posted the below in the 911 section. For those local to me and without 911's, I thought I'd also share my story and introduce my journey into Porsche here in the East Midlands regional section. I might pop along to the monthly gathering (next Monday?) and say hello.....
Long thread warning though....I recommend settling down with a drink before starting [
]. Some of you may recognise my name from various other forums (such as Pistonheads) so apologies in advance, as you will see repeated content here. Still, I hope you enjoy the story and pictures.....
I'm actually a returning member, having joined (and lapsed) a number of years ago when I got my first Porsche, a 997.2 Turbo. For various reasons I didn't get on with that car, and I suspect it wasn't a great example to lead me into the brand at that time. I was / am also a big AMG fan and have been lucky to have owned all the ones I wanted to, but I've fallen somewhat out of love with their new design and turbocharged engines. Here's a couple of pictures of my favourites:
I should never have sold this one..... []
More recently however, I've found a new appreciation for the Porsche brand, both in terms of how good the product is (have you ever driven a bad modern Porsche?) and also the service and experience, which is a good step up from the volume brands I'm more accustomed to.
My return to Porsche about a year ago was when replacing my wife's car, a Mercedes E63 AMG. We bought an ex-demo BMW X6 M. It lasted 6 weeks. It was (relatively speaking for such a pricey car) rubbish. We changed it for a 2 year old Cayenne S diesel, which was simply fantastic in comparison, and easily proved to be one of the best cars we've had.
Fast forward to the end of the year and I was faced with the choice of renewing the warranty on it, going without or swapping the car. The Cayenne had lost so little of it's value and my local dealer had an imminent build slot on a Macan Turbo, so knowing the strong Porsche residuals I sold the Cayenne and ordered the Macan. We got the Macan on 4th March and practically drove it out of the showroom and down to Venice, through Switzerland. In its' first week, we did nearly 3000 miles in that car!
At the same time, I was having a nightmare with my own car, a new Audi R8. I was already on my second one after the first proved to be so unreliable, causing me to reject it after a few months. The second one was even worse, and eventually I had to start litigation against the Audi dealer to get my money back. I succeeded getting enough back to 'happily' walk away from it, and I've not looked back since (my first, and last experience of Audi thank you very much). By contrast, the Cayenne and Macan were faultless, endearing me further to the Porsche brand at a time when I was experiencing the opposite from Audi.
My initial reaction post-R8 was to buy a 911 Turbo S, given they are natural competitors with similar levels of performance. However, my dealer didn't have one available for test drive but threw me the keys to a C2S for a weekend so I could see how I'd get on with a 991. I was blown away. Despite coming out of a 610bhp supercar, the C2S was so much more useable and enjoyable. Despite being a N/A fan I still really rated the power delivery and sound of the new 3.0 Turbo Porsche engine, which is something I was not expecting. Sure, it was slower at the top end of the rev range, but I could really 'drive' it rather than always having to show restraint and frustration as with the R8. Yet I still went ahead and ordered a Turbo S. That was until my kind dealer sent me to the PEC at Silverstone to test drive a Turbo S, where it dawned on me that I just didn't find it as enjoyable as the C2S. It just so happened that at this time, Porsche announced the GTS so I promptly swapped my order to a coupe 4 GTS PDK, with one or two options []
THAT car.....has just arrived []
But before we get onto that, the story on my wife Macan takes a twist. Whilst waiting for my GTS (remember the R8 went months ago) I bought an 11 year old Boxster 987 S to tide me over. It was bought privately and locally, from a lovely chap called Colin, who I understand is fellow PCGB member. His old car has seen us well over the last few months and has been an enjoyable throwback to driving a car from an era when things were more....analogue?
The twist comes from the fact my wife drove this 987 more than I did, whilst I rocked around in her Macan. She was enjoying it more than the Macan so it begged the question on why we really 'needed' the Macan. Sure the practicality is useful, but we're still relatively young and with no kids so I can probably count on both hands how many times we needed its' practicality in a year. What she 'really' wanted was a more modern one, like the 718. Personally, I'd have preferred a 981 for the 6-pot howl but she preferred the aesthetics and updated tech in the newer model.
Thanks to the 'for sale' section on this very clubs website, I found a year old Boxster S for sale at Porsche Cambridge that had not yet been advertised on the Porsche website. It had all the kit we'd have spec'd if buying new, and was usefully cheaper than a new one (seems these 718's don't have rock solid residuals of the other models). By a stroke of luck, we took delivery of our Macan just before a significant price rise so this protected the already amazing residuals further, and we lost hardly any money on that too (there's a theme building here with Porsche residuals?). We agreed a deal to swap our Macan, which by three months old had done over 6000 miles, for the 718.
I must admit I'm not a convertible fan, and the 718 does sound a bit odd.....not bad to my ears, just odd for a Porsche if you're expecting the traditional flat-6 howl....but I reckon this looks bloody great! It drives spectacularly well too, but then the 718 does carry certain parts from 911's (brakes and front end set-up from a 911, steering from a 911 Turbo etc).
So, we've gone through three Porsches in the last year, with minimal financial pain, before getting to the point we're at now with a 1 year old 718 Boxster and a brand new 911 GTS. I'm also lucky to have managed to sell the 987 to a friends' brother in law before even needing to advertise it, and have lost nothing on that car.
But onto the 911 GTS, my star of the show. After what seemed like an eternal 5 month wait reading the unanimously positive reviews and watching all and any video I can find, I cannot contain how excited and impressed I am with this car. Again, apologies if you've seen this on other forums as the content here is copied over, but for anyone else interested, here's some initial thoughts and pictures after 100 miles or so....
- It looks spectacular and I'm very happy with the Carmine red colour choice. Love the ride height and stance
- The interior quality and level of personalisation sets a new benchmark for me. The stitching options have come out really nice and I'm delighted with the painted air vents (with their somewhat preposterously leather covered slats!)
- Much like the C2s I tested rove and in spite of it being one of the new 3.0 Turbo's, I reckon it sounds FANTASTIC. I get why some die-hard 911 aficionados might be nonplussed about it as yes, it is a different sound. But different doesn't equate to inferior. It still retains a proper 911 howl, but it's deeper (and arguably more refined-sounding) than the old N/A.
- Power delivery is good, and it feels very fast. Even in the context of the 610bhp R8, simply because that needed revs all the time. This just goes hard at any revs, so I would argue in day to day situations on UK roads, at worst it's as fast as the R8. In my opinion, it's still obviously a turbocharged engine....some comments suggest it feels N/A but it's far too strong for that and yes, there is some momentary lag low down. But the lag is only really noticeable in the standard driving mode; it's so well managed in Sport mode that it MUST have some kind of anti-lag system working away in the background. Throttle response is good, again not 100% N/A sharp (I'd give it 98% to the R8's 100%), but you'd have to be on some kind of OCD-spectrum for it to bother you.
- It feels surreal in bends. It has PDCC and I'm conscious this feature is not liked by all but I don't like the feeling of body roll so I do rate the system. The combination of PDCC and 4WS makes it feel somewhat invincible.
- The ride is fairly solid though. Actually, it's just very hard, but at least that makes it very well controlled. It also rides very low, so much so that I'm going to need to be careful over speed bumps and even going into my drive (admittedly on an unfinished road) it just touches the ground in the middle of the car.
- I debated the value of the Burmester option in the Macan and Cayenne, mainly because it was quite a bright sounding system in those cars but in the 911 there's no such concerns; it's a good sounding system and if you do like to listen to music, it's a worthwhile upgrade.
Long thread warning though....I recommend settling down with a drink before starting [
]. Some of you may recognise my name from various other forums (such as Pistonheads) so apologies in advance, as you will see repeated content here. Still, I hope you enjoy the story and pictures.....I'm actually a returning member, having joined (and lapsed) a number of years ago when I got my first Porsche, a 997.2 Turbo. For various reasons I didn't get on with that car, and I suspect it wasn't a great example to lead me into the brand at that time. I was / am also a big AMG fan and have been lucky to have owned all the ones I wanted to, but I've fallen somewhat out of love with their new design and turbocharged engines. Here's a couple of pictures of my favourites:
I should never have sold this one..... [
]
More recently however, I've found a new appreciation for the Porsche brand, both in terms of how good the product is (have you ever driven a bad modern Porsche?) and also the service and experience, which is a good step up from the volume brands I'm more accustomed to.
My return to Porsche about a year ago was when replacing my wife's car, a Mercedes E63 AMG. We bought an ex-demo BMW X6 M. It lasted 6 weeks. It was (relatively speaking for such a pricey car) rubbish. We changed it for a 2 year old Cayenne S diesel, which was simply fantastic in comparison, and easily proved to be one of the best cars we've had.
Fast forward to the end of the year and I was faced with the choice of renewing the warranty on it, going without or swapping the car. The Cayenne had lost so little of it's value and my local dealer had an imminent build slot on a Macan Turbo, so knowing the strong Porsche residuals I sold the Cayenne and ordered the Macan. We got the Macan on 4th March and practically drove it out of the showroom and down to Venice, through Switzerland. In its' first week, we did nearly 3000 miles in that car!
At the same time, I was having a nightmare with my own car, a new Audi R8. I was already on my second one after the first proved to be so unreliable, causing me to reject it after a few months. The second one was even worse, and eventually I had to start litigation against the Audi dealer to get my money back. I succeeded getting enough back to 'happily' walk away from it, and I've not looked back since (my first, and last experience of Audi thank you very much). By contrast, the Cayenne and Macan were faultless, endearing me further to the Porsche brand at a time when I was experiencing the opposite from Audi.
My initial reaction post-R8 was to buy a 911 Turbo S, given they are natural competitors with similar levels of performance. However, my dealer didn't have one available for test drive but threw me the keys to a C2S for a weekend so I could see how I'd get on with a 991. I was blown away. Despite coming out of a 610bhp supercar, the C2S was so much more useable and enjoyable. Despite being a N/A fan I still really rated the power delivery and sound of the new 3.0 Turbo Porsche engine, which is something I was not expecting. Sure, it was slower at the top end of the rev range, but I could really 'drive' it rather than always having to show restraint and frustration as with the R8. Yet I still went ahead and ordered a Turbo S. That was until my kind dealer sent me to the PEC at Silverstone to test drive a Turbo S, where it dawned on me that I just didn't find it as enjoyable as the C2S. It just so happened that at this time, Porsche announced the GTS so I promptly swapped my order to a coupe 4 GTS PDK, with one or two options [
] THAT car.....has just arrived [
] But before we get onto that, the story on my wife Macan takes a twist. Whilst waiting for my GTS (remember the R8 went months ago) I bought an 11 year old Boxster 987 S to tide me over. It was bought privately and locally, from a lovely chap called Colin, who I understand is fellow PCGB member. His old car has seen us well over the last few months and has been an enjoyable throwback to driving a car from an era when things were more....analogue?
The twist comes from the fact my wife drove this 987 more than I did, whilst I rocked around in her Macan. She was enjoying it more than the Macan so it begged the question on why we really 'needed' the Macan. Sure the practicality is useful, but we're still relatively young and with no kids so I can probably count on both hands how many times we needed its' practicality in a year. What she 'really' wanted was a more modern one, like the 718. Personally, I'd have preferred a 981 for the 6-pot howl but she preferred the aesthetics and updated tech in the newer model.
Thanks to the 'for sale' section on this very clubs website, I found a year old Boxster S for sale at Porsche Cambridge that had not yet been advertised on the Porsche website. It had all the kit we'd have spec'd if buying new, and was usefully cheaper than a new one (seems these 718's don't have rock solid residuals of the other models). By a stroke of luck, we took delivery of our Macan just before a significant price rise so this protected the already amazing residuals further, and we lost hardly any money on that too (there's a theme building here with Porsche residuals?). We agreed a deal to swap our Macan, which by three months old had done over 6000 miles, for the 718.
I must admit I'm not a convertible fan, and the 718 does sound a bit odd.....not bad to my ears, just odd for a Porsche if you're expecting the traditional flat-6 howl....but I reckon this looks bloody great! It drives spectacularly well too, but then the 718 does carry certain parts from 911's (brakes and front end set-up from a 911, steering from a 911 Turbo etc).
So, we've gone through three Porsches in the last year, with minimal financial pain, before getting to the point we're at now with a 1 year old 718 Boxster and a brand new 911 GTS. I'm also lucky to have managed to sell the 987 to a friends' brother in law before even needing to advertise it, and have lost nothing on that car.
But onto the 911 GTS, my star of the show. After what seemed like an eternal 5 month wait reading the unanimously positive reviews and watching all and any video I can find, I cannot contain how excited and impressed I am with this car. Again, apologies if you've seen this on other forums as the content here is copied over, but for anyone else interested, here's some initial thoughts and pictures after 100 miles or so....
- It looks spectacular and I'm very happy with the Carmine red colour choice. Love the ride height and stance
- The interior quality and level of personalisation sets a new benchmark for me. The stitching options have come out really nice and I'm delighted with the painted air vents (with their somewhat preposterously leather covered slats!)
- Much like the C2s I tested rove and in spite of it being one of the new 3.0 Turbo's, I reckon it sounds FANTASTIC. I get why some die-hard 911 aficionados might be nonplussed about it as yes, it is a different sound. But different doesn't equate to inferior. It still retains a proper 911 howl, but it's deeper (and arguably more refined-sounding) than the old N/A.
- Power delivery is good, and it feels very fast. Even in the context of the 610bhp R8, simply because that needed revs all the time. This just goes hard at any revs, so I would argue in day to day situations on UK roads, at worst it's as fast as the R8. In my opinion, it's still obviously a turbocharged engine....some comments suggest it feels N/A but it's far too strong for that and yes, there is some momentary lag low down. But the lag is only really noticeable in the standard driving mode; it's so well managed in Sport mode that it MUST have some kind of anti-lag system working away in the background. Throttle response is good, again not 100% N/A sharp (I'd give it 98% to the R8's 100%), but you'd have to be on some kind of OCD-spectrum for it to bother you.
- It feels surreal in bends. It has PDCC and I'm conscious this feature is not liked by all but I don't like the feeling of body roll so I do rate the system. The combination of PDCC and 4WS makes it feel somewhat invincible.
- The ride is fairly solid though. Actually, it's just very hard, but at least that makes it very well controlled. It also rides very low, so much so that I'm going to need to be careful over speed bumps and even going into my drive (admittedly on an unfinished road) it just touches the ground in the middle of the car.
- I debated the value of the Burmester option in the Macan and Cayenne, mainly because it was quite a bright sounding system in those cars but in the 911 there's no such concerns; it's a good sounding system and if you do like to listen to music, it's a worthwhile upgrade.
