Finally.... new member...

Hi everyone... I have been browsing and stealing info off this forum secretly for the last 18 months or so. I did try to join but for some reason never could open an account that would work.

So I went on the US 991 forums instead. There seems to be more action on them, but a little is lost in translation and also spec of the cars.

A lot has happened in the last 8 months but lets start at the begining.

So below is a the spec of the car I ordered in 2014 and picked up in October of that year.

The thoughts and comments were to justify my choices to myself.

I drove 5 different 991s to get to this point. Carrera, Carrera S, Carrer 4S, 50th anniversary and Targa.

I am not getting at anyone else's build or spec.


911 Carrera S

Jet Black Metallic
Black leather interior

Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) - What you lose with the manual you gain with the PDK
PASM sport suspension (- 20 mm) incl. PDCC - With the rough UK roads this is a best of both worlds. Stiffer but smoother, I hope.
Sport Chrono Package Plus - This brings the car to life. Sport is how the car should feel all the time before pressing any buttons
Sports exhaust system - It sounds great. F1 sounds crap now because its quiet. There is an emotional link between speed and sound.
20-inch 911 Turbo wheel - Swapped around wheel choices so many times, but now I have a tough car colour and hard wheels to keep clean.
Wheel centres -
Wheel spacers -
SportDesign exterior mirrors - Just so much better and thought out. They add something to the car rather than just being functional.
Bi-Xenon-Headlights incl. Porsche Dynamic Light System (PDLS) - Hey they can look around corner like the Citroen DS
Painted headlamp cleaning system cover - The chrome ones stand out and not in a good way.
Rear wiper - Needed in the UK
Aluminium window frames - frames the dark window line. Nod to the 991 50. Adds a retro feel.
Privacy glass (rear window) - Black on black from the rear looks great.
Reversing camera incl. ParkAssist front and rear - Expensive wheels, high kerbs, tight parallel parking, stoned moments.
Aluminium Look fuel cap - It will make me smile every time I have to fill up.
Sports seats plus, electrical 4 ways - Great design and shape, just enough adjustment. The price.
Heated seats - Cold winter starts
Porsche crest embossed on head restraints - Adds a little something to the head rests
SportDesign steering wheel - the best one on offer at this time.
White instrument dials - Easy to read and the contrast breaks up the black interior
Carrara White Sport Chrono clock display - The clock that does not a lot now stands out even more.
Brushed aluminium centre console trim - The plastic interior bits are not that nice.
Brushed aluminium interior package - This breaks up the black interior too and make sit feel a bit more special.
Cruise control - to keep me under the limit.
Automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors with integrated rain sensor - Grown used to it on my Peugeot 308
Light design package - For romantic nights driving with my chick
Stainless steel door sill guards - Hopefully they will protect the car from boot scuffs.
Luggage net passenger footwell - A special treat for my chick.
Floor mats - Should be standard
Smoking package - One of the many, many things I have picked up from this forum.
Fire extinguisher - Just incase I see a GT3
Porsche Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) - Don't want it, but have no choice. Is that even legal?
Preparation for mobile phone - Incase I get a puncture. THe spare wheel issue is an issue.


The things I chopped and changed the most. An options I did not like.

PDK. I am and always have been a manual man. If I ever drove autos I would get bored and feel disconnected. I wanted a manual 991, I read many of the forum discussions on the pros and cons of each and was happy to be in the minority and still wanted the manual.

That was until I tried the PDK (with Sports Chrono package). It does what you always hoped an auto box would do (I know its not really an "outbox", but you can drive it like one). It is such a manual auto-box, you have input at anytime and if you want to take control it will let you. I will miss a lot of little things about manuals but feel I will gain so much from the PDK.

PDCC. This is an expensive option and some people say that its presence is very subtle and hard to feel or calculate. But others say it softens the ride over rougher surfaces, taking the harshness out of the SPASM. Its hard to get a demonstrator in the UK with PDCC.

Colour. First it was Rhodium (chosen on the configuration) but didn't like it so much in real life. Then agate grey. I went for metallic white, it shows the car off very well and looks great. But then every other new car I saw on the road was white. Its the "new black"...apparently. I have since had a yellow demonstrator for the day which really grew on me, but I feel its a colour you would grow out of just a quickly. Ideal for the sunny continent, but not "dull old Blighty".

Wheels. I chose black Sport Technos because they are slightly wider and easier to keep clean and they look similar to the 50th anniversary wheels which you can not buy direct from Porsche yet.. I chose Carrera Classics because they really look "classic" on the car and don't look too hard to keep clean but they seem like the standard wheel for black 991s

Tail lights in clear glass. When I first saw them I thought WOAH. On my white car choice they just didn't work quite right and then on the Jet black choice they
looked great, but I just went off them. The car needs a bit of colour at the back.

18 way adaptive sport seats. My chick and myself are both very slim and I justified the price saying they will squeeze us nice and tight. But there are so many configurations and movements it was never possible to get them just right. I was forever fiddling and adjusting. I would have to adjust every position if I put another layer of clothing . The four way are a good compromise, a great seat with "just" enough adjustment to get "my" correct driving position.

I went for the Bose without much thought. Just thought it would be a happy compromise between the best(incredibly expensive and not the best of reviews) and the worst(free and though of as just ok by most). But then I thought about what I wanted the car for. It was not for listening to music in. I do that all day everyday. The car is the escape from that. The only music will be the PSE and wind buffeting.

The side privacy glass ruins the window shape and line. The split from dark to light down the door window line takes away from the wonderful window shape and clean lines.

I have used the multi function steering wheel a couple of times and just can not get on with it. The gear change controls are counter intuitive and caused me many a wrong gear change or rev limiter visit. Some of the other functions work well, but I think the wheel itself in not very attractive. Its too plasticky. A SportDesign steering wheel with a few added functions would be a great wheel.

Power Kit S engine upgrade. If I went for a manual, no chrono, no paint, PSE. I could be pretty close to justifying it. I came close a few times.

Aerokit and sports design packages. I like the sport and aero front end, it is less fussy and looks more thought out and complete than the standard front. But the issue I have with this front end is, it makes the car look nose heavy from the side. It hangs down slightly lower than the side of the car making it look not quite right. I know Porsche used to fit side skirts with these kits too which eliminated the nose heavy look. They don't now, but they should.
The duck tail is ok, but overkill with the rear wing.

Just my thoughts, I have a lot of time to kill...Next thing I want to talk about is running in... hahaha...

:welcome: to 911uk. :thumb:

It's great to get a 991 owner 'on board' as there's not many on here although I suspect that there might be a few more in the next couple of years.

From the description your car sounds great.

I look forward to hearing of your driving experiences and to how it compares to other cars you've owned.

In the meantime :useless:

:bye:

Ist week driving holiday in Wales..[/img]

Lovely , welcome!

Love those wheels , enjoy .

edge said:

Love those wheels , enjoy .

Click to expand...

Thanks, and pretty easy to keep clean too. Would not want to kerb one as they are diamond cut and hard to repair. (more on that another time.) Just replaced rears tyres after putting 14,500 miles on them. Still 4mm on the fronts.

Sulz said:

Lovely , welcome!

Click to expand...

It sure is. Thank you.

Excellent. Another 991 owner and one who lives just up the road from me!

:thumb:

So next part of the story..

2000 miles in 5 days..

So after all the planning, building and waiting the car has arrived.
The buying process was 15 weeks from start to finish, that is a long time. So was it worth it and how do I feel picking up a C2S three days before the GTS was announced.

I never was a strong believer in the whole running in process but when you pick up your car and its all new and special the last thing you want to do is take it up to the redline.

Due to circumstances we had no home and nothing to do for a week or two, so some sort of "running in" seemed like the way to go.

We checked out these websites, which gave a list of all the best routes and roads in the UK. Many of these drives are used for TopGear filming and EVO magazine test routes. So there were some amazing roads and scenery.

www.drivingroads.co.uk
www.greatestdrivingroads.com

First off we drove to the Lake district, then across the Yorkshire Moors to Harrogate. From there to North Wales and Snowdonia, then South to Brecon Beacons and finally to the South Coast. This added up to about 1900 miles, so plenty of time to get a feel for the car.

The car had 15 miles on the clock when we started and we did some steady motorway driving for the first couple of hundred miles. Gently moving through the revs up and down to approx 4200 led to fuel consumption of approx 29 miles to the gallon, not bad.

The roads around the Lake district are amazing. Never doing much more than 80mph, the car just ate up the straights and bends. Long bends and tight twisty switch back all taken with ease. I have Sports PASM and PDDC and felt no roll from the car at all ( No trouble with it either and have hit about 1.3G). The suspension is firm but just right for UK roads. It does bounce about a bit on the front end when driven on faster uneven roads, but when it comes to bends this car just turns in so tight and accelerates out so smoothly from 1900 up to about 4200 revs.

With about 500 miles on the clock we pushed a bit harder across the Yorkshire Moors, taking the revs up to about 5000 or so... The roads are open and clear it had to be done. Any farm or holiday traffic was just blown away. Long straights with tight bends leading onto up and down hill sections of twisty turns and u bends. Caught up with a couple of new M3s on our travels and really did leave them them behind. They could not keep up in the bends and were left for dead on the straighter bits. This car is so easy to drive fast.

In Harrogate we stayed with friends and drank 350 year old Rum from Jamaica. Now thats the good stuff. Long story but not for now..


Next on the list was North Wales and Snowdonia. More hills, more bends and lots more open roads and clear driving. Some very fast roads here, where we hit 120-130 mph on clear roads many times and long bend around 100. Traffic disappears so quickly in the C2S. The car definitely pushes through a long bend better than trailing through, when it pushes hard out of a bend it really holds a tight line.

With about 1000 miles on the car was starting to open up a bit more and pick up revs quicker. Turn in and brakes are a revelation. You get used to the speed and acceleration but the turning and stopping ability of the car never ceases to amaze.

The roads get faster as you travel south. More motorway and fast roads. In a little race with a AMG 63 thingy we hit 157mph before slowing. The AMG sat with us most of the way, but straight line stuff is boring.

The car had about 1500 miles on it before we really opened it up. The second burst of power from 5000 revs is a revelation. It really does pull pretty much all the way to the red line and the sound is amazing..

So now with over 2000 miles on the clock what do I think.

Porsche is trying to fulfil so many roles with the 911s. Tourer, sports car, track car, day to day and long journeys. It really is what ever car you want it to be.

And it would appear to be very capable of fulfilling these roles. It is so refined and easy to drive slowly, or with the push of a few buttons the car turns into a sports car or track car. The Porsche can do all of this but I am not sure which car it really wants to be. I suppose it is the car you want it to be when you want it.

This whole journey was done with my amazing other half who says she loves the car as much as I do and is a great car to be a passenger in.

My mother thinks its "very nice but the seats are very low".

I loved the PSE when the car arrived but now never use it. The noise does not suit the car. The car is too smooth to be loud unless really pushing hard. I don't need the drone induction noise between 2000 and 4000rpm.

Apart from a slightly twisted door rubber and buzz from around a speaker we have had no problems and have averaged about 24 mpg. Its used about 1/2 litre of oil and a few stone chips have appeared on the bonnet.

Jet Black Metallic and Turbo wheels make this car a real b**** to keep clean. So after 2100 miles of driving and no washing I took it down to:

www.elitedetailing.co.uk

Check these guys out. Look at some of the other cars he was detailing.

Do I wish I was getting the GTS. Am I bummed. Yes and No...

The GTS has a few extra options I pulled on this build. I left off the Powerkit and the Aerokit because of cost and now they come for "free" on the GTS. But thats about the only difference. The wide body means nothing to me, I think it looks slightly flabby compare to the C2S.

Yes I do think the car needs the extra power, but I can wait for the 550hp 991.2..

Nice post. Sounds like a really speacial way to get to know a car travelling the best driving roads in the country!

Have to disagree re PSE though. I enjoy the car immensely with it turned off, but on a sunny day, windows down, sunroof wide open and with a nice wall or tunnel to bounce the sound off its amazing.

My son and I were out for a blat last night and were giggling like idiots as it popped and cracked. I've got pretty good and make it pop and bang to order on the overrun.

Equally, I love being able to turn it off and engage stealth mode, not least so I don't wake the neighbours young son late at night!! :thumb:

So after six months of ownership I picked my 2015 991s up from OPD after they had carried out some service work.. Drove the car approx 4 miles before a wheel vibration started, so called Porsche who said turn around and come back. On the return journey the front near side wheel fell off and the car collapsed on the side of the road.

They are now very apologetic.

My car needs a new front wing, wheel, hub, brake caliper, wheel spacer and a few other bits and bobs...

I know ***** happens sometimes, but Porsche said the wheel bolts had been torqued up and signed off by the mechanic.

It was very lucky I had slowed right down before the incident, otherwise the resulting damage could have been so much worse.

This whole incident happened on a 70mph dual carriage way. I pulled over at the first opportunity and checked the car. Then called the garage and asked questions while driving to the next junction, they told me to return to them which I did while traveling at a lower speed. Over the next 300 meters the vibrations and noise got more I slowed to about 30 mph and that when the wheel nuts and a bit of the wheel spacer came flying off. I pulled over as much as I could and then the car fell onto the tyre. Not very dramatic but all the same 'a moment'.. The front wing buckled and is now out of alinement with the door shut. The hub is damaged and so is the wheel, the caliper and spacer.

The mechanics turned up in a Panamera with trolley jack and wheel nuts. I was a cold, very wet day and I got soaked standing on the side of the dual carriageway signalling the very fast oncoming traffic of my stranded car for 25 mins before Porsche arrived. I was less than 2 miles from the dealership.

Maybe I should have stopped and waited for them to come to me but at the time I was not sure for a while if was in my head or just a stone in the disc or the fact it had been in the workshop for 3 days and had rusty discs or a wheel weight was missing. Maybe I could have slowed and saved the car from the last 'traumatic' bit but it was a rainy day and I chose to head back to the garage. In the end I got soaked.

Thats life..

I am unhurt but the car is not. No one else is hurt and I now have a very apologetic Porsche in the palm of my hand...hahaha

Hifga said:

On the return journey the front near side wheel fell off and the car collapsed on the side of the road.

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I've heard and seen some well dodgy stuff over the years, but this has got to be one of the most embarrassing things a garage can ever have afflicted upon a Customer. :nooo:

Glad no injuries to yourself or other road users. :thumb:

OMG - I thought I'd have fun with that very same dealer, but this one trumps them all. Speechless.