After a wait of six months or so and a monsoon winter, D day arrived and thankfully March 1 was at least dry and sunny. Roads on the way up to collect the car were treacherous as overnight rain had fallen and frozen too late in the night for the gritters who were obviously all tucked up in bed. Black ice a plenty! It certainly reinforced the view that 255 on a 968CS is over tyred.
My OPC had 15 new cars going out plus assorted used so there was an element of production line in the hand over process. Note to self: if there is a next time (never say never) and March 1 is on a Saturday wait until Monday. In fairness OPC handled it very well and breakfast, coffee and cakes were in plentiful supply.
In the showroom, approaching the car from the side I think it looks just like a 997 except you can't help noticing the wheels. I wouldn't use the phrase drug dealer bling but they certainly wouldn't look out of place on the set of The Wire.
Tyres are Pirelli P Zero, and would be my third choice out of two; curiously the set I have have a rim protection bead on the fronts but not the backs.
The car from outside looks OK, intercooler intakes in black plastic don't really stand out against the sensible choice of Agate. However, there was a white car also going out and I didn't think it looked that good to have those bits in such a contrast. And of course this is a step backwards from Gen II 997.
There are a couple of creases across the front bumper which I guess add some styling clues to the wings and hark back to the days when the wings themselves were very prominent when seen from the driver's seat. I have in mind 964 and earlier. Not sure they add much really on the 991.
It does have a fat behind. It is actually wider at the hips than the extremity of the wing mirrors. Care needed in narrow gaps methinks.
Inside it looks well co ordinated. The Carrera Red is not too leery, although the accompanying photos may suggest otherwise and contrasts nicely with the black. Personally I always liked the 997 turbo S two tone interior but think this 991 version is better.
Generally speaking the 991 cabin represents an upgrade all round on 997. The only things that seriously grate are the nasty plastic sun visors and several blanks in the centre console which don't correspond to any option. The sun roof switches (not on my car) are in the middle of the console so these blanks must be for some Panamera or Cayenne options. Poor effort on a £140k car.
I eschewed the salesman's explanation of all the switches/options in PCM as I find it generally goes in one ear and out the other. I promised I would read the manual instead.
Then having sorted out a balls up with Cobra and stowed Anne's bouquet of flowers in the back we set off home.
With 10 miles on the odometer I was not really likely to be going to give it the beans but there is some noticeable potential for the future. That said at normal road speeds it is indistinguishable from 997 turbo as regards its ability to ease past or away from other vehicles. I never had much complaint with PDK on 997 though I know some were not that impressed with some of the mapping. However, I would be surprised if those same naysayers had reservations about the operation of the 991 version.
Turbo S has PDCC as standard so I was curious to know how it was selected and in that regard how it differed from PASM as found on 991 Turbo and 997's. As far as I can tell the answer is it isn't different in as much as just like PASM it is there and working all the time. OK it has a few more components in the anti roll assembly but as it says in the manual "No separate controls are available for the PDCC system. When you select a chassis set up in PASM the PDCC system automatically activates the corresponding on road driving programme."
However just to obscure matters the PADSM button with the usual shock absorber icon is labelled PDCC, even on cars without PDCC.
If when driving in normal mode Sport is selected the throttle response etc changes but PDCC light remains off and no obvious changes to suspension stiffness occur. Press PDCC and it feels marginally firmer but still compliant. So in that respect it is different to 997 where I found I had to turn off the firmer suspension setting that came as default when you chose Sport.
Confused? I am. Maybe all will become clearer once out on some open road.
I turned down OPC's kind offer of Gap Insurance and Supaguard but had arranged for G techniq to be applied by a specialist detailer. Paul, came over yesterday and having had a good look round said the paint was very good indeed. Not always the case in his experience but he was very happy with mine. Car was still showroom clean of course but he nevertheless spent 7 hours applying G Techniq and general fettling and faffing about inside and out. Paul assures me it will make it easier to wash the car, though I have to confess that is not one of my strong suits. He was not able to do much to the wheels because of the centre locks and the relatively small gap between the 410 rotor and the inner surface of the wheel. Fortunately that is all black so not something I am likely to be troubled by. Paul said the diamond cut wheels were a nightmare to refurbish so that has made me like the current wheel and centre locks even less than before.
So far it is early days and I have barely scratched the surface of PCM but did find the Power Meter which measures Torque. No scale on the y axis but a sort of pictogram of Table Mountain when the car is in normal mode which then has snow on the top for Sport mode. Within this diagram a sort of small round Satsuma bobs about leaving a faint orange con trail.....must mean something I guess.
Will report back once the car has a few more miles on the clock.
Here are a few pics:
My OPC had 15 new cars going out plus assorted used so there was an element of production line in the hand over process. Note to self: if there is a next time (never say never) and March 1 is on a Saturday wait until Monday. In fairness OPC handled it very well and breakfast, coffee and cakes were in plentiful supply.
In the showroom, approaching the car from the side I think it looks just like a 997 except you can't help noticing the wheels. I wouldn't use the phrase drug dealer bling but they certainly wouldn't look out of place on the set of The Wire.
Tyres are Pirelli P Zero, and would be my third choice out of two; curiously the set I have have a rim protection bead on the fronts but not the backs.
The car from outside looks OK, intercooler intakes in black plastic don't really stand out against the sensible choice of Agate. However, there was a white car also going out and I didn't think it looked that good to have those bits in such a contrast. And of course this is a step backwards from Gen II 997.
There are a couple of creases across the front bumper which I guess add some styling clues to the wings and hark back to the days when the wings themselves were very prominent when seen from the driver's seat. I have in mind 964 and earlier. Not sure they add much really on the 991.
It does have a fat behind. It is actually wider at the hips than the extremity of the wing mirrors. Care needed in narrow gaps methinks.
Inside it looks well co ordinated. The Carrera Red is not too leery, although the accompanying photos may suggest otherwise and contrasts nicely with the black. Personally I always liked the 997 turbo S two tone interior but think this 991 version is better.
Generally speaking the 991 cabin represents an upgrade all round on 997. The only things that seriously grate are the nasty plastic sun visors and several blanks in the centre console which don't correspond to any option. The sun roof switches (not on my car) are in the middle of the console so these blanks must be for some Panamera or Cayenne options. Poor effort on a £140k car.
I eschewed the salesman's explanation of all the switches/options in PCM as I find it generally goes in one ear and out the other. I promised I would read the manual instead.
Then having sorted out a balls up with Cobra and stowed Anne's bouquet of flowers in the back we set off home.
With 10 miles on the odometer I was not really likely to be going to give it the beans but there is some noticeable potential for the future. That said at normal road speeds it is indistinguishable from 997 turbo as regards its ability to ease past or away from other vehicles. I never had much complaint with PDK on 997 though I know some were not that impressed with some of the mapping. However, I would be surprised if those same naysayers had reservations about the operation of the 991 version.
Turbo S has PDCC as standard so I was curious to know how it was selected and in that regard how it differed from PASM as found on 991 Turbo and 997's. As far as I can tell the answer is it isn't different in as much as just like PASM it is there and working all the time. OK it has a few more components in the anti roll assembly but as it says in the manual "No separate controls are available for the PDCC system. When you select a chassis set up in PASM the PDCC system automatically activates the corresponding on road driving programme."
However just to obscure matters the PADSM button with the usual shock absorber icon is labelled PDCC, even on cars without PDCC.
If when driving in normal mode Sport is selected the throttle response etc changes but PDCC light remains off and no obvious changes to suspension stiffness occur. Press PDCC and it feels marginally firmer but still compliant. So in that respect it is different to 997 where I found I had to turn off the firmer suspension setting that came as default when you chose Sport.
Confused? I am. Maybe all will become clearer once out on some open road.
I turned down OPC's kind offer of Gap Insurance and Supaguard but had arranged for G techniq to be applied by a specialist detailer. Paul, came over yesterday and having had a good look round said the paint was very good indeed. Not always the case in his experience but he was very happy with mine. Car was still showroom clean of course but he nevertheless spent 7 hours applying G Techniq and general fettling and faffing about inside and out. Paul assures me it will make it easier to wash the car, though I have to confess that is not one of my strong suits. He was not able to do much to the wheels because of the centre locks and the relatively small gap between the 410 rotor and the inner surface of the wheel. Fortunately that is all black so not something I am likely to be troubled by. Paul said the diamond cut wheels were a nightmare to refurbish so that has made me like the current wheel and centre locks even less than before.
So far it is early days and I have barely scratched the surface of PCM but did find the Power Meter which measures Torque. No scale on the y axis but a sort of pictogram of Table Mountain when the car is in normal mode which then has snow on the top for Sport mode. Within this diagram a sort of small round Satsuma bobs about leaving a faint orange con trail.....must mean something I guess.
Will report back once the car has a few more miles on the clock.
Here are a few pics:
] I think the split works really well against when it used to be all red interior !! Congratulations Nick and do enjoy it[
