Advice please on ordering a 991 cabriolet

I have a 991S and being retired I don't use the performance, so really a standard 991 would do for me.

PSE is a must which is on all the time when activated, unlike earlier models.

Also, I'd delete

Cruise control, unless you know roads with no traffic?

Alloy trim, I nearly had this on my spec but the chrome trim is just the same

Garage door opener, I use a remote fob

We'll all have different opinions on this one, so the best advice is get as many test drives as you can in as many different models as you can (3.4 engine, 3.8 engine, 4wd models when available etc.) and see what works for you. Also bear in mind that most of us don't own / haven't extensively driven or lived with a 991 so probably only Tony is qualified to give real-world comments.

Personally I'd get a 2wd 3.4 manual with the sports exhaust and probably not a lot else. I wouldn't bother with toys, chassis aids, PASM suspension, bigger wheels, better audio etc. but that's just me, and I'm not the one buying it - you are!!


Happy shopping! :thumb:

Ant Blain said:

Personally I'd get a 2wd 3.4 manual with the sports exhaust and probably not a lot else. I wouldn't bother with toys, chassis aids, PASM suspension, bigger wheels, better audio etc. but that's just me, and I'm not the one buying it - you are!!

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+1

(as I said earlier)

Why do you need heated seats if your only going to do 1 or 2,000 miles per year? It doessnt sound like your going out in winter, or even bad weather.

Ditto 4WD.

The cars are fun just to drive, and changing gear is part of that experience. Otherwise just get yourself a Playstation!

(IMO)

I am proud owner of a 991 2S cab

Where I live (Yorkshire Dales) has similar weather to Edinburgh. Ceretainly plenty of rain and snow.

I don't believe 4wd brings great benefits in any conditions. But in a 2wd you will have to modify your driving style to get the most out of the car.

You will need winter tyres in snow be your car 2 or 4wd. The front driven wheels slide on snow just as much as the ones on the back. Or leave it in the garage on very cold days.

As others have said, try both 2 and 4. The problem (for me) with the 4wd models is a significant amount of extra weight (different transmission) and a loss of some of the unique 911 driving characteristics.

For 1-2000 miles a year I'd get a C2. They both depreciate at the same rate so your losses will be greater on the S. And I'd have it as pure as possible with 19s for better ride. I would compare a PASM car with a non-PASM. The latter is more comfortable in Normal mode and more hardcore in Sport.

Don't go overboard with options if you're only going to use it for high days and holidays. Just opening the door on those occasions will be reward enough.

And avoid white. It will (arguably has already) date(d) badly.

Happy hunting.

Thanks everyone,
I should maybe explain that I work in London Monday - Friday which seriously reduces my mileage. Having driven one though I did feel I'd pretty much want to drive it whenever I didn't need the boot so I could easily see the mileage creep up. One of the reasons for working on London but coming home to Edinburgh at the weekends is it is a fantastically compact city to live in and it just seems difficult to do a lot of miles. Even when I worked in Edinburgh I drove less than 6,000 miles a year.

I will probably retire in about 5 years which will let me drive it more then.

I wouldn't expect to drive it in the snow and usually it only snows 2 or 3 times a year. However, rain is another matter, it just rains too much to avoid going out when it's wet and I think it is about feeling comfortable with the car when driving it. The info that the c4 should be available very soon is very useful, I think I will arrange a drive.

I pretty much use the heated seats whenever the temp is below 10c which is around half the year in Edinburgh. Wouldn't be without it.

It is right the garage door opener is a wasteful luxury I just like the neatness of having it integrated.

I use cruise control extensively when driving. I normally drive at weekends and nights. I don't drink so I probably do more driving late at night when it's quiet than most. I quite like to use it to stop my speed drifting ever higher on the motorway but I could get by without it.

There are a lot of 12 registered cars already available. But obviously they are all C2s. One OPC has a white C2 cabriolet with 2500 miles. I ran it through the configuration and it would have listed at 92,000, it is on sale at 78,000. A nice saving.

I think I lean to a reasonably basic configuration of C2/4with 19s and no pasm, sports exhaust etc. The biggest question is def 2 or 4wd for me. I think if I am being honest I'd feel better with 4wd but the fact I could have a heavily discounted nearly new 2 is skewing my thinking. The best advice is prob to drive the 4 and see if I prefer it.

Thanks for all the input

mralig said:

It is right the garage door opener is a wasteful luxury I just like the neatness of having it integrated.

I use cruise control extensively when driving. I normally drive at weekends and nights. I don't drink so I probably do more driving late at night when it's quiet than most. I quite like to use it to stop my speed drifting ever higher on the motorway but I could get by without it.

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This is a great example of how we're all different; personally I don't care for auto-wipers, or auto-headlights, or cruise control or heated seats or thumping stereos etc. but others wouldn't be without them (likewise I wouldn't buy another 911 without PSE, others think it a bit boy-racer and would actively avoid it).

Have a blast test-driving some different chassis / engine combinations, then buy what suits you and add the toys you want, simples! :thumb:



For what it's worth, and mine's only a 996 but I use it daily, snow, rain or shine (and we get a LOT of rain in Manchester) and I've never wanted for 4wd. A modern (water-cooled) 911 Carrera is not like an old 80s 911 turbo, a real handful with lots of lag then a sudden dollop of power midway through a corner to catch you by surprise, the modern cars are very civilised, almost like any other German coupe to drive every day. Until you feel like having some fun... :bandit:

:driving:

:welcome:

Skim reading your requirements it's hard to really get a feel for what would suit you best.

I would suggest items like cruise, heated seats, upgraded audio etc really only come into play if you're planning on doing big miles, lots of motorway stuff, winter driving and so on. With regards 4wd, we properly hooned around the Highlands in some of the worst wet and slippery conditions I have ever witnessed, yet none of the 2wd boys even remotely struggled to keep up with the others - yes these cars really are that good :worship:

If you want a weekend toy for an occasional blast around a few nice twisty roads on mainly clear and sunny days then none of that stuff is really necessary, whereas something like PSE almost certainly is, as it will make a very big difference to your overall driving experience.

I drove a 991 recently, and while I thought it was very nice and a little bit better here and refined there compared to the outgoing model, I personally didn't see enough to make me want one over a better specced and cheaper 997 - take a look at the sublime 997 GTS which appears to be a great bargain at the moment...

Whatever you choose, I'm sure you're headed for some of the best driving experiences of your life :thumb:

Good luck with your research.
FWIW, Ant and Chimp both make very good points IMO with regard to RWD.
I have taken two handling courses at MIllbrook this year where you have the opportunity to push the car as hard as you dare on differing types of road layout. At no time did I ever think the back end was going to leave me.
Up until very recently the GTS was a daily driver being used in all weathers and climates, both in the UK and in Europe, and I suffered no lack of confidence in the abilities of the machinery.
Each to their own, and whatever you eventually decide to buy, I'll be very surprised if you're not impressed with your choice.


:thumb:

mralig said:

There are a lot of 12 registered cars already available. But obviously they are all C2s. One OPC has a white C2 cabriolet with 2500 miles. I ran it through the configuration and it would have listed at £92,000, it is on sale at £78,000. A nice saving.

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Mralig, don't let the OPC fool you by the figures and how much you 'save'. The car you quoted was sold to its first owner for £76.7k + VAT. As you pay no VAT for a pre-owned car, the real saving is pretty much the VAT. Anyway, it should allow you to negotiate more as they probably bought the car for £68k or thereabouts?

~ Maxie

Well it's simple...you have your X5 for bad weather/winter...and in your
neck of the woods you'd always need a good 4x4 !!!. Over the years I've
had 3 four wheel drive 911's, and i'll say that they were all great to drive
but all were a very different flavor to the two wheel drive variants. More
weight made them slightly less responsive, performance and feel just
fractionally less agile...but you're talking small margins. To be fair you'd
need to drive both variants fast, back to back to really feel the difference.

I won't though sit on the fence...two wheel drive everytime, PDK or
manual ?....residuals shout ''PDK everytime'', for me it's a manual.
My next GT3 will do doubt have to be a PDK....yeah, I know it's going to
be quicker in the gears pretty much everywhere...but hey ho !!!.

:thumb:

Of course the irony being that, you'd actually be better off with a 997 GT3 RS 4.0 with a negative "saving" of £40k over list.

(not a comment on competing 911, but simply the weasel advertsing of a depreciating asset)

After completing now the 10k mark in my 991S Cab, there is not a single feature from the original order that I would be without. PSE gives the exhaust a totally different sound, I don't suppose with the weather that you had the chance to try one with and without with the roof down? Believe me, it's an awesome (as my 12 year old would say) experience.

PDK, having driven both for extended periods, the 7-Speed manual is clunky in the way it operates, it does however make the car 'feel' faster, because you are not on one constant acceleration curve. Putting the PDK into manual, and using the paddles is great fun, especially the auto blip on changedown. I also found the clutch on the 7-Speed to be heavier than that on the outgoing model.

3.4 vs 3.8 again, driven both, found that the 3.4 was nowhere near as eager as the outgoing 3.6 997, you had the wring the neck out of it as the powerband is much higher up the rev range.

2 vs 4 have not driven the 991 4, but purely from a widebody perspective this would appeal to me, plus with PDK in the wet, provoking the accelerator will cause you to drop from 6th to 2nd and light up the rear end as you found out, but you have to be provoking it with a sharp stick to do this.. and you can acheive the same effect with the 4 as I found out in a GTS4

My spec was as follows, but as all have said here, it's a big purchase, take your time, and take advantage of extended test drives, ie a weekend, and make sure that you try out different cars with different features to see which features you require.

Basalt Black
Black Cabriolet roof
Black leather interior
ParkAssist front and rear
Top tinted windscreen
Sports exhaust system
Sport Chrono Package Plus
Power steering plus
Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK)
Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC)
20-inch Carrera Classic wheel
Heated seats
Light design package
Floor mats
Guards Red seat belts
Cruise control
Sports seats plus
Interior Leather
SportDesign steering wheel
Preparation for mobile phone
BOSE® Surround Sound System
Automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors with integrated rain sensor
PCM including navigation module

Simple... C4S (or possibly C4) with P.S.E. and P.DK., and NOT in silver!

My advise would be
Carrera S as no matter what someone might tell you otherwise from a resale point of view the Non S version is unwanted come resale time.
So many say they'll keep a car for 1o years then they move house, loose the garage, another child and plans change, so bear in that in mind.
A carrera 2S will suit most drivers, the question of the advantage a 4 in the snow i think is negated by the size of the tyres, remember the rear tyres are about 11/12 inches wide, come with only 7mm of tread when they're new, once you get snow or sluch 7mm of tread on a 11'' tyre and the tyre will have problems getting any grip or aquaplane over the slush, renault clio with 13'' wheels 5 inches wide will get through the slush far easier than the wheels on a Porsche.
The ide body to some is attractive but bear in mind its about 44mm an inch and a half, is it really noticeable to justify the expense, especially a spec'd C4S cab is nudging a £100,000.
A six month old cab at circa £80 looks a little more attractive in comparison?

Thanks for all the input guys. Way more than expected.

911BlackEd I did manage to get the top down. I checked the weather forecast and managed to book the drive just after it stopped raining. I had the car for a couple of hours which wasn't bad.

The top down experience is a large part of what I am looking for as I want something very different to our other car. Horses for courses I am sure but this is a large part of the experience I wanted and I was very pleased with it.

I nipped home and took my wife and daughter for a quick drive. My 5 year old was giggling like a schoolgirl. Not surprising as that's what she is. My wife didn't see the point of it all. My daughter particularly likes the way Porsche has designed the rear seats to be an almost perfect fit for her

Despite what many other people said you are spot on as to what happened when I was brutal with the throttle. It kicked down and the rear wheels immediately lost traction. Perhaps it was an unfair test, but I am used to driving a car where only snow causes a loss of traction. Of course it is much heavier, but it still has almost 300hp. Driven sensibly I am trying to take on board most people's comments that loss of traction is not something to worry about.

I need to organise a drive of a C2 and a 4 when they are out.

At least in the pics I am not too fussed about the wide body.

I think most people would agree it is about being happy with your purchase. Of course I may not keep it as long as expected although the reason I would be most worried about is that I fancy something newer and more expensive in the future. But for something I plan to have for a long time I would rather spend more money and be happier with it as the pain of the inital outlay will be long gone and only the ownership experience will remain.

Still the savings on cars that are just a few months old are very attractive. If I decide on a C2/S then there is already a lot of choice of nearly new cars with a nice discount. If I decide on a 4 I may try and exercise some patience and see if I can save 15,000 by waiting until around this time next year and bying a 6 month old one. I know there have been various discussions on here re discounts and the initial depreciation suggests that discounts should be more readily available, but I would think much more than 5% off list would be a push.

As an aside I was thinking that I might replace the X5 with an X3 as it is just a little smaller and I think my wife struggles a bit with the size of the X5. Test drove the X3 and it was nice to drive but the wife prefers the X5 as it feels biger and more expensive. Anyway if anyone is looking at an X5 today, I noticed that Broadspeed etc are offering around £9,000(18%) discounts. It is very tempting but I will wait for the next model as it will be somewhat lighter and I think that will make a big difference to how well it drives. These cars are just too darn heavy and I should get an estate but my wife likes the high up seating and 7 seat option. Maybe I should explain that she is American!

Thanks again for all your help