Is a 996 really that good?

38F3E1 · Feb 14, 2009

ORIGINAL: tirfor

I'm glad to hear more good news on how a Porsche should handle on a motorway. Hopefully I will get mine sorted with a few adjustments.[] Ian, in other cars I do hold the steering wheel lightly and trust the car to just keep driving straight, but in my C4s I just feel that if I don't hold the steering hard the car feels like the wind wants to blow it straight into another lane. Before anyone thinks that I must be driving to fast when it is windy, I don't and do see lots of other cars driving past me at faster speeds and steadier.[]
The way I approach bends and roundabout is to brake hard before I have to turn the steering wheel, then apply very gentle, even pressure on the accelerator whilst driving through the bend then accelerate when car is straight. Does this sound ok or should I be adopting a different driving style?

Brake straight, balanced throttle on turn in, accelerate as you unwind. Good basic 911 technique.

I tend to turn in late using a two stage turn in on balanced throttle. Stage one is gentler steering to get the front to bite then second stage is more aggressive turn in. By the apex I am already unwinding and on the power. However that's been learnt from driving early cars and suits my driving style (and all my cars are 2WD). Not sure if this is still applicable to the later 4WD cars.

The best way to learn your own car is to have a session on track. However it sounds more like your car has issues than your driving technique.

Ian.

Paul James · Feb 18, 2009

ORIGINAL: Rodney Naghar
Your car should handle brilliantly in the wet and dry...

Rodney, does your car feel somewhat twitchey around high speed bends in the damp/wet?

It's just that I've come unstuck a few times with my C4 in the damp and now I just don't feel confident around flying bends as there's always the worry that the back end will slip out. I'm still trying to determine whether it's the Continental tyres or not, as the setup feels fine on the car. I can take my hands off of the steering wheel doing 100mph and it will still stay solid.

Does anybody else get this feeling in the wet, or can anybody compare Contis to other tyre setups that may be better?

Cheers

Rodney Naghar · Feb 18, 2009

Hi Paul,

Well my previous C4 didn't feel twitchy at all, it was rock solid in the wet, although I didn't push it too much and I was on MPS.
As for my current car, in the wet it's very much easier to lose the backend in the wet round any bends, but then again I don't have PSM or 4-wheel drive to help me out, again on MPS.

944s2 · Mar 13, 2009

Was there ever a solution to this

Did an alignment sort the problem?

tirfor · Mar 14, 2009

Car is booked in on the 27th so will let you guys know whats happens.
Just had a MOT done on the car last week, they found I had bold tyres on the rear[

]. I only changed them 7k miles ago, I never thought of checking them. The slipping in the wet has got better[

], but its still twitchy.

tim996 · Mar 15, 2009

yes my 99 C2 will go straight on when trying to go fast round a tight 25 mph bend in the damp and give it full throttle in 2nd at about 50 on a slight curve off a roundabout in the damp will let go of the rear. Its got no PSM. I really have to have my wits about me in the wet when using the performance. In the dry its a different matter, the back is very stable and will not unstick at all, the front is ok but definitely feels better the faster you go.

tirfor · Mar 27, 2009

Well just got back after visiting Chris at CG, and I must say I'm as happy as can be.[

] The car does drive a lot better than before in all area's that seemed to annoy me. It feels more stable at high speeds and better grip around bends. The service supplied by Chris was second to none. His attention to detail and willingness to treat my car as his own was a pleasure to see. The problem I had was down to bad workmanship by the two garages who had worked on the tracking beforehand. The angles were so far out that Chris's equipment couldn't give any readings until he made some major adjustments then he tweaked them to match my driving style. If anyone has any sort of handling problems I would highly recommend a trip down to CG and have a chat with Chris.

Gary C · Mar 27, 2009

I had an EVO, and I must say, in the wet there is very little to touch it.

However, because of the active yaw control and the zero understeer setup, it took a lot to get used to it. When cornering, I would tend to anticipate the tail slide that never came, which then upset the active yaw control, which meant I had to uncorrect what was not happening in the first place. Once I got used to it, it was amazing, 4 wheel drifts at 70 mph.

What I am trying to say it, cars can feel 'unsafe, or odd when they are significantly different from the norm. Maybe you need to drive it faster in safer surroundings and build confidence ?

On the otherhand, a duff damper can unsettle a car very badly and no amount of alignment checks or tyre swapping (or even jumping up and down on the wings) will reveal it.

Ps, try a 3.2 [

]

mas430 · Aug 11, 2010

ORIGINAL: bobafett
The steering is constantly talking to you, and is not to everyones liking, certanly not to my wife's who states its hard work and does not feel safe and secure!!!

Bob you could be talking about the older Bi turbo Maserati's with the **"Meccanica Attiva" steering & suspension ,the C4 feels just like that & that was brilliant!

After a spirited drive in the Maserati you neede a rest & the C4 can be the same as it takes all your concentration when pushing on[

]

**MECCANICA ATTIVA: "a sophisticated mechanism which used a system of interacting levers to ensure that, not only did the wheels remain completely square relative to the road surface, but a state of constant parallelism is maintained between the lower suspension arm and the steering arm, no matter what vertical movement of the wheels is experienced, offering enormous advantages in vehicle stability while turning, even on rough road surfaces."