So am 2wks into 911 ownership and thought I'd give an update and ask a couple of questions...
Car's getting used most days now and is great for the roads I use. It's just the right size to be hustled and yet still be practical. Can just about squeeze the whole family in it, though three up would be better than four. Fortunately my Maserati ownership made it clear that four up is really a rarity.
Interior's a lovely place to be and am very, very pleased with the colour combo. Am still experimenting with seat positions. Car has the sports seats and being a larger athlete this is making finding the perfect position tricky. Fully electric, memory seats might have been something to look for...
It handles very differently to anything else I've owned. You really can feel where the engine is. Generally very neutral and definitely well planted when accelerating out of corners. The front end is sensitive to load in the front, getting much lighter with less weight up there. It's not a car I've jumped in and felt it can be immediately pushed, which is probably a good thing. But slowly creeping up on its abilities is proving fun. It's also deceptively quick, especially in auto mode.
The different SportChrono settings make noticeable differences. I'm settling on Sport with the dampers off/soft (?) generally which works well, and whilst it makes a decent fist of things in auto mode, manual is better. It's a shame it doesn't remember which modes were previously used or that they can't be programmed into the key, but pressing the odd button isn't a hardship.
The sports exhaust is great. Nice and quiet when needed but a great noise when wanted and pressing on. Impressed with that. It's a pretty visceral experience all round, feeling very mechanical and telling you what's going on everywhere in the car which I love. Tyre noise is quite high which isn't so great. Super wide rear tyres don't help here, but I also suspect the PZeros don't either. I have a hate hate relationship with Pirellis and suspect my preferred Michelin Pilot Super Sports/4S would be much better. I'm unlikely to find out for a while as the PZeros are new. One for the future
I like the PCM. Work's well without being overbearing. A few foibles with using USB sticks (would be nice not to have to search for exact terms for example) and 7 digit postcodes would be good but more from an OCD perspective... But it does what I need mostly. Importantly it doesn't detract from the car at all, which bad systems often can.
One thing I have realised is why Porsche use the buttons for the PDK. The paddle shift wheel looks and feels great, but attaching the paddles to the wheel means you can lose track of which paddle is where. That wouldn't be an issue with the buttons as you can go up and down with both. Maserati did this better - the paddles were fixed to the column and long and slender. Made more difference to usability than I thought it would. (Yes yes. You should be in the right gear before steering.... Doesn't always work like that though (large roundabouts starting in 1st for example).
Questions....
I had an oil level warning come up on the car. It was reading over full. Took it back to the place who did the major and they sorted it but had some hassle getting the levels right. On getting the car home (100 miles) it had gone from being bang on max to one bar under. Definitely no signs of oil use in any way.
Have been checking the oil each time it's used for a couple of weeks now. 75% of the time it's one bar under. 20% it's been back to bang on max and 5% 2 bars under. The levels are always checked in the same place and whilst not perfectly level ground, it's not far off.
Do these typically give solid, consistent readings? Or can they fluctuate as much as indicated? (ie by a couple of bars).
I'm confident it's not using oil, and happy to get used to how it reads and therefore not be concerned about it. But if they're usually rock solid I'll look at getting the sender replaced.
Next, on going to get the oil level checked/sorted I picked up a stone chip! (These cars seem to be very susceptible to them!).
Insurance are sorting through National Windscreens. Searched on here and that put my mind at rest. Initially they noted they would use a pattern part, so said no chance. They've now sent my reg to Porsche, correct part ordered and it'll be fitted tomorrow... How do I check/tell that an original part has been fitted? Top tint, rain sensor and aerial are all easily checked, but are there any Porsche markings on the glass? (Haven' T looked at my current screen - will do tonight ).
Anything else I should check with the fitter?
Overall, loving the car. Glad I decided to scratch the itch and looking forward to putting plenty of miles on it This forum's a great place too - prefer it to the PH section. More helpful
Car's getting used most days now and is great for the roads I use. It's just the right size to be hustled and yet still be practical. Can just about squeeze the whole family in it, though three up would be better than four. Fortunately my Maserati ownership made it clear that four up is really a rarity.
Interior's a lovely place to be and am very, very pleased with the colour combo. Am still experimenting with seat positions. Car has the sports seats and being a larger athlete this is making finding the perfect position tricky. Fully electric, memory seats might have been something to look for...
It handles very differently to anything else I've owned. You really can feel where the engine is. Generally very neutral and definitely well planted when accelerating out of corners. The front end is sensitive to load in the front, getting much lighter with less weight up there. It's not a car I've jumped in and felt it can be immediately pushed, which is probably a good thing. But slowly creeping up on its abilities is proving fun. It's also deceptively quick, especially in auto mode.
The different SportChrono settings make noticeable differences. I'm settling on Sport with the dampers off/soft (?) generally which works well, and whilst it makes a decent fist of things in auto mode, manual is better. It's a shame it doesn't remember which modes were previously used or that they can't be programmed into the key, but pressing the odd button isn't a hardship.
The sports exhaust is great. Nice and quiet when needed but a great noise when wanted and pressing on. Impressed with that. It's a pretty visceral experience all round, feeling very mechanical and telling you what's going on everywhere in the car which I love. Tyre noise is quite high which isn't so great. Super wide rear tyres don't help here, but I also suspect the PZeros don't either. I have a hate hate relationship with Pirellis and suspect my preferred Michelin Pilot Super Sports/4S would be much better. I'm unlikely to find out for a while as the PZeros are new. One for the future
I like the PCM. Work's well without being overbearing. A few foibles with using USB sticks (would be nice not to have to search for exact terms for example) and 7 digit postcodes would be good but more from an OCD perspective... But it does what I need mostly. Importantly it doesn't detract from the car at all, which bad systems often can.
One thing I have realised is why Porsche use the buttons for the PDK. The paddle shift wheel looks and feels great, but attaching the paddles to the wheel means you can lose track of which paddle is where. That wouldn't be an issue with the buttons as you can go up and down with both. Maserati did this better - the paddles were fixed to the column and long and slender. Made more difference to usability than I thought it would. (Yes yes. You should be in the right gear before steering.... Doesn't always work like that though (large roundabouts starting in 1st for example).
Questions....
I had an oil level warning come up on the car. It was reading over full. Took it back to the place who did the major and they sorted it but had some hassle getting the levels right. On getting the car home (100 miles) it had gone from being bang on max to one bar under. Definitely no signs of oil use in any way.
Have been checking the oil each time it's used for a couple of weeks now. 75% of the time it's one bar under. 20% it's been back to bang on max and 5% 2 bars under. The levels are always checked in the same place and whilst not perfectly level ground, it's not far off.
Do these typically give solid, consistent readings? Or can they fluctuate as much as indicated? (ie by a couple of bars).
I'm confident it's not using oil, and happy to get used to how it reads and therefore not be concerned about it. But if they're usually rock solid I'll look at getting the sender replaced.
Next, on going to get the oil level checked/sorted I picked up a stone chip! (These cars seem to be very susceptible to them!).
Insurance are sorting through National Windscreens. Searched on here and that put my mind at rest. Initially they noted they would use a pattern part, so said no chance. They've now sent my reg to Porsche, correct part ordered and it'll be fitted tomorrow... How do I check/tell that an original part has been fitted? Top tint, rain sensor and aerial are all easily checked, but are there any Porsche markings on the glass? (Haven' T looked at my current screen - will do tonight ).
Anything else I should check with the fitter?
Overall, loving the car. Glad I decided to scratch the itch and looking forward to putting plenty of miles on it This forum's a great place too - prefer it to the PH section. More helpful