Another 911 arrives on Rennteam
I wrote a thread back in April describing our (wife and I) various test drives of Porsches – Caymans and 997’s – that would replace our now-departed 2002 M Coupe. My wife is the “owner” of our 2-seaters around home (we split driving on longer trips), so she has the casting vote on what we buy in the sports car space in our garage (and I have the casting vote on the others…). She admitted to some difficulty in the short environment of a test drive, to really arrive at firm conclusions on which of the large number of Porsche choices she preferred. The Cayman S was always the first choice however, as it was the closest in spirit to the M Coupe as a “pure” 2-seater, and while bigger than the M Coupe, still fit the role of nimble and fun sports car.
But… a funny thing happened – after going back and forth a few times, the Cayman S did not win – the 911S emerged as her favourite. What turned her to the 911S? Here are some of her thoughts leading to being a 911 girl:
- “love the visibility forward and rear… makes the car seem smaller and very confidence-inspiring in heavier traffic”
- “prefer the firmer feel to the steering and overall handling in the 911”
- “I think I will enjoy PDK… much as I love the index shifting on our road bikes”
- “both are good looking in their own way, but I keep coming back to the classic 911 shape…. it is the Chanel suit of the car world” (guys, ask your wives if this doesn’t make sense… they will explain )
- “the Cayman clearly has beautiful handling but at any sane speeds the 911S has handling to spare, and on poor road surfaces I sense it is less troubled than the Cayman”
and finally, the clincher:
- “I just don’t think the Cayman S has enough power… the 911 just feels more special and its fantastic power even lower in the rev range is part of that… the Cayman seems a bit ‘domesticated’ once I spent more time in it, whereas the 911S has just a touch of that dangerous feel that makes it more fun and for me much more enjoyable”
So there you have it: how can you not love a woman who opts for more power??? So to conclude the story – we decided to buy a recent-used 997.2 PDK. Why used? Mainly this - for $50,000 less than new price, we can live with an all-but-new 911 to decide if it is a long term car… if so, by then the 991 will be around and we can opt for a factory order. I remember many on this board offering the view that the only sensible way to own a Porsche is not to buy new… in our case we may still buy new, but not this time.
Our car is one of the 2009 British Racing Green / Sand Beige / PDK 911S launch editions. Low km, superb condition, and so close to new that it makes little difference to us. Pics from our 500km christening tour today in next post…
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2010 Audi S5, 20__ Porsche _______