New Arrival

[lowndes]

Hi Clive No the oil temp is not directly related to speed. For example if everything is fully warm and you are in non Sport the oil temp will be 110C. Select Sport but maintain the same speed and the oil temp will drop to 90C. As for the electrics " the new 991 turbo models are also equipped as standard with fuel saving electrical system recuperation technology............" So again it is doing what it is supposed to and helping save the planet but at the cost of some system complexity the whole life cycle costing of which may exceed the fuel energy saved. Cheers Nick

 

[tscaptain]

ORIGINAL: lowndes I Also to be clear my concern with four wheel steer is not so much the effect on handling when it is working properly but rather what happens when it packs up and for example the electromechanical actuators develop faults.

I'm sure the same was said about variable vane turbos. I would imagine if the actuators fail on the four wheel steer then they will do so in the straight ahead position anyway. If they didn't design that into the system then they do want shooting....[]

 

[Lancerlot]

Well with all the talent and technological genius involved in Formula 1, we've yet to see anything near a full grid finish a race so far this year. So reliability does seem to be the last element in the development equation. Regards, Clive.

 

[Ekona]

Ah yes, Steering Plus, that's what it's called. Thanks for that Nick, very interesting that you don't have it but the car seems to be giving the same feelings regardless.

 

[tscaptain]

ORIGINAL: lowndes No the oil temp is not directly related to speed. For example if everything is fully warm and you are in non Sport the oil temp will be 110C. Select Sport but maintain the same speed and the oil temp will drop to 90C.

Maybe when you select "sport" it expects you to drive harder and therefore, in preparation, increases the oil cooling?[] Nothing to do with the front active aero, is it? I have to say the rear wheel steer was the most impressive and important difference between the 997 and 991, IMO. But what do I know.....[]

 

[lowndes]

ORIGINAL: tscaptain

ORIGINAL: lowndes No the oil temp is not directly related to speed. For example if everything is fully warm and you are in non Sport the oil temp will be 110C. Select Sport but maintain the same speed and the oil temp will drop to 90C.

Maybe when you select "sport" it expects you to drive harder and therefore, in preparation, increases the oil cooling?[] Nothing to do with the front active aero, is it? I have to say the rear wheel steer was the most impressive and important difference between the 997 and 991, IMO. But what do I know.....[]

Alan On the oil temp I too think it may be heat load related in Sport but suspect energy saving in non Sport. I seem to remember oil temp around 95C to 100C in the 997 so 90C in Sport seems low and yes I agree it is in preparation for some extra heat load. 110C non Sport seems high and I am suspicious it may be evidence of green thinking. From your earlier post you being a glass half full guy will naturally expect rear wheel steer to fail safe. I on the other hand had in mind actuators jamming the rear wheels in a sort of automotive snow plough.

 

[tscaptain]

ORIGINAL: lowndes 110C non Sport seems high and I am suspicious it may be evidence of green thinking. From your earlier post you being a glass half full guy will naturally expect rear wheel steer to fail safe. I on the other hand had in mind actuators jamming the rear wheels in a sort of automotive snow plough.

I only ever see 110C on the 997 on the track - around 80-90 on the road. I was perhaps using "aviation" thinking when applying the fail safe probability![]

 

[blueSL]

Thanks Nick, all very interesting. The complexity of the car ratchets up relentlessly, continuing the trend we saw from 996 to 997.1 to 997.2 and now 991. My concern is that while it improves the performance of the car, does it also make the driving experience more anaesthetised and relegate me as driver to accessory status? I've no doubt at all that it's a formidable driving machine but 5 years/50k miles down the road, this by then £60k or less car is going to have £150k car repair bills and I do wonder whether less is more. Sour grapes from me probably as I can't justify the upgrade cost but a GT3 seems to me to be a purer driving machine (though one needing concentration and respect). I tried to get one and couldn't. It's not surprising to me that my ageing 19 year old Ferrari is the simplest of my cars and offers me the most involving drive, closely followed by my chuck-about Impreza.

 

[Motorhead]

ORIGINAL: lowndes No the oil temp is not directly related to speed. For example if everything is fully warm and you are in non Sport the oil temp will be 110C. Select Sport but maintain the same speed and the oil temp will drop to 90C.

Nick, I think you'll find that this is all to do with the "thermal management system", the coolant temperature (and the oil temperature?) being reduced in Sport mode to cool the charge and improve thermal efficiency. Perhaps more oil is diverted to the coolant-oil heat exchanger too, which further reduces the oil temperature. Jeff

 

[chrisH]

Jeff, I think you are right. Even my lowly Cayman 981 shows oil temp around 106-110 when fully warm but give it some beans and it drops to 90. I did wonder if this was due to the increased cooling from airflow at higher speeds but it cools down pretty quickly. Incidently mine does more or less the same fuel consumption to my 987.2 overall, maybe a touch better at sustained speed. So much for all the high tech. and weight saving features. Nick, I take it you haven't tried to charge the battery yet?

 

[lowndes]

Thanks Jeff Yes that seems pretty plausible. And to some extent my comment about whether 110C was too hot was somewhat tongue in cheek as presumably up round the crown of the piston it's a good deal warmer than that [] I guess it just shows how complex modern engines are and how far we have come from the BMC A series which formed the bedrock of my early motor maintenance. Nick

 

[lowndes]

ORIGINAL: chrisH Nick, I take it you haven't tried to charge the battery yet?

As it happens I generally leave the car on a trickle charger which plugs into the socket in the armrest storage compartment. To that extent it always leaves the garage well charged and in fairness doesn't seem deeply discharged on returning after a drive. As the following post shows I was out in the car last night but was too involved with other matters to remember to check the voltage readings. Nick

 

[lowndes]

One of the difficulties I find is disaggregating the individual dynamic effects of some of the P acronyms. So for instance is it PASM or PDCC or PSM or PTV+ or a computer controlled combination of some or all of them which is helping through the bends? And particularly with PTV I have always thought that you should get a warning light to show that braking forces are being selectively applied and concomitant brake wear increasing. In this context let me shine a light (pun intended) on one further P device. Having spent a pleasant hour comparing and contrasting recent motoring and house renovation experiences with Mike (Spook on here) and his daughter at the Silverstone Macan launch, it was fully dark when I left the OPC. Traffic on the A43 was minimal and I made good progress down to the Bicester turn. From there to home is 20 miles of decent flowing road and unusually there was hardly any traffic. And here’s the point. PDLS+ is superb. It might be stretching a point to suggest that the beams of light are curved but the effect is pretty much the same. It is uncanny the way the system lights up the road ahead with clear white light exactly where you want it. Whether the bend ahead is fast and open or sharper and tighter the lighting is perfectly distributed in both range and intensity. In slow bend you can see the light beam sweep across the curve then as speed picks up on the exit the range increases to light up the road much further ahead. Oncoming traffic? No problem PDLS+ dips automatically as it does when coming up behind slower traffic. The system seems to me near perfect and the only time it was caught out was when it dipped the lights because it was fooled by some round reflective bend indicators into thinking they were oncoming traffic. Whether it is worth an eye watering extra £1926 (or £1449 over standard turbo offering) will depend on various factors including how much night driving is planned. But hopefully in the future prices will start to come down as the system becomes more widely specced across the range. Personally having viewed is with some scepticism in the past it has moved right up my list of priorities to sit alongside (yet another pun) heated seats [] Cheers

 

[pwebb]

ORIGINAL: lowndes

ORIGINAL: chrisH Nick, I take it you haven't tried to charge the battery yet?

As it happens I generally leave the car on a trickle charger which plugs into the socket in the armrest storage compartment. To that extent it always leaves the garage well charged and in fairness doesn't seem deeply discharged on returning after a drive. As the following post shows I was out in the car last night but was too involved with other matters to remember to check the voltage readings. Nick

Nick, how long do you keep the car unused? I was informed that the AGM battery is able to run the car for about six weeks without charging, unlike the 997 battery which can discharge over a much shorter period. Having said that I put mine on charge on a recent two month trip away.

 

[lamboman]

ORIGINAL: lowndes PDLS+ is superb.

Mercedes's equivalent to PDLS+ was launched more at least 6 years ago ...

 

[chrisH]

ORIGINAL: lowndes As it happens I generally leave the car on a trickle charger which plugs into the socket in the armrest storage compartment. Nick

I just wanted to make you aware that on on the 981 (and I believe the 991 shares the same electrics design) you can't rely on any of the in car sockets as they disconnect after a few minutes from when the ignition is last turned off to save on battery drain. Thus the charger doesn't actually charge after that and you will see the light goes out. The only way to connect a charger is via the battery itself where the -ve terminal MUST be connected to the relevant earthing point, a bolt which is part of the wiper mechanism. If you lift the front plastic cove ruder the bonnet you will see what I mean. My dealer sent me a convertor from aux. socket/ cigar lighter to two croc. connectors after they investigated it. Chris

 

[lowndes]

Chris Now you mention it I think I found that the power socket on our 981 Boxster is switched. However, so far as I can tell, on the 991 the armrest power socket is not switched. Evidence such as it is for this assertion is that my charger continues to shown normal charging lights well after the car is locked and put away. In further support of this I plugged my TomTom USB adapter into the armrest socket then locked the car and left it. Some hours later I returned. I was not able to open the door to take a better photo because unlocking the car sets off all the electric systems. Hence the murky photo through the windscreen. But please accept my assurance that the little green light on the adaptor is on.

 

[lowndes]

Peter I can't remember the first time I got a flat battery in a new car but think it might have been the 996T in 2002. Whichever car it was, at the time the problem was attributed to the wretched Tracker and I recall a fruitless exchange of correspondence with the people who were Cobra before Cobra. All to no avail. Since then I automatically connect up the battery conditioner whenever I put the car in the garage and I have to say have had no further battery problems. I believe the later Cobra systems take less juice but I have yet to put it to the test. Nick

 

[chrisH]

Nick, Ah, so the 991 has a different socket design to the 981, I wonder why they did that? With the new electrical system the 991's and 981's don't need charging as often as pwebb already said. Chris

 

[pwebb]

...and to underline that my OPC strongly advised not to attach crocs to the battery posts as there are some further electronics on the negative side which can be damaged, and to only use the cigarette lighter in the armrest.