Goodbye 997, Hello GT4, Hello 911UK

mangobay said:

Hello all
Bizarrely, this is a note from me to serve as a very belated personal introduction, a goodbye to my lovely 997 and a hello to a different Porsche, a fab Cayman GT4.

Firstly apologies for being a fully-enjoying member of the 997 forum for a few years without having really contributed much, introduced my car or said a proper hello. I guess I have never been one to shout about my stuff, and then it got past a point when it made any sense to do an introduction. It feels ok to do it now, and also I am planning on sticking around as i love the 997 sub-forum and am not sure there is a natural home for the GT4 on 911UK which is as active or entertaining!

I said goodbye last week to my much-loved 997 Turbo manual cabriolet. I bought it about 3 years ago and have loved owning it. Its a super low miler (just 21,000 miles) and I owned it while my kids were just the right size to fit in the back without boosters etc. However, they have outgrown the seats, and I was finding myself ever conscious of the mileage and for some weird reason found myself worried about driving it too much. So goodbye old friend, its a great car and I am hoping it will go to a great new home as it deserves to be driven and enjoyed:




Now onto the proper 2-seater: In fact its only the GT4 that made it possible to part with the Turbo:










I have fancied a GT car for ever, and the GT4 really took my eye as soon as it was announced. I have a turbo-charged car as a daily and I have been really missing a nat-asp engine. The Cayman is such a great car and has been crying out for a full fat 911 engine, and when they finally did it I was keen. The prices have just been daft but I finally felt they had settled at a level where I could get a car with the right spec, and at roughly the full price that would have been paid for the car new (including options value). I have been keeping an eye out and when this one popped up on the Reading OPC stock list I moved quickly before any photos came online. Its got the key spec items i wanted, such as PCCBs and the 918 carbon buckets, and with only 4,000 miles on it is in really great condition. I have never bought from an OPC before but really enjoyed the experience, and if anyone has ever been to Reading before, you will know that out the back they have some amazing cars (stock and customer-storage) because next door is the Porsche UK head office. The collection day was fantastic with my 10yr old son and I being treated to a tour which was really memorable.

I collected the car in the middle of the mentally-cold / snow snap in early March, so with the Cup2 tyres I hadn't really pushed it. However as I have had more chance to get into it, I have discovered it is such a brilliant drivers car. Its the combination of the sound (wow), the balance, the lightweight feel and the interior finish - but also its just the right amount of power for our A/B roads. I found with the Turbo i was frequently running out of road which, as fun as that is, feels like a waste of capacity sometimes. The Cayman feels really quick but in a way you can spend time f licking through 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears, and with such a great manual box you really want to be doing that on a regular basis. I know its not a 911, and i recognise that (and I am sure I will miss elements of the 997 which really is the best 911 in my view), but its a fab car. Feel really lucky and privileged to have one.

Anyway, enough waffle, I look forward to getting to a couple of events with the car and meeting a few people if I can later in the year - got my eye on Simply Porsche.
Thanks all
Omar (mangobay)

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