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    Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    A short update of our Rennteam.com 997 Carrera S testdrive at 2800 km:

    Another advantage of the PCCB I just found out during the last couple of hundreds of km is...clean rims! There is almost no visible brake dust on the rims, even after hard driving. A short water jet over the rims and they look like new, incredible.

    The new hydrophobic side windows work pretty well, I experienced this during heavy rain falls over the past few days. At the same time I wish I had a rear windo wiper.
    The front window wipers work very good, even at higher speeds.

    Speaking of rain: driving on completely wet streets during heavy rain falls is pretty easy, the tires are very good in rain and they still provide a pretty good grip even on wet surfaces. Even from standstill, traction on wet streets is impressive and it is much better than traction on my former E55 AMG or even my wife's SLK 32 AMG on DRY pavement, as unbelievable this might sound. Maybe this has to do with the optional limited slip differential (part of the 20 mm chassis option which I have on my car). The PSM lamps comes on very seldom, even with the sport button (chrono sport package) activated. Driving with the activated sport button (chrono sport) on wet streets isn't too much fun though because you put too much power on the street and the rear slips away pretty easy, even if the PSM has the whole thing under control up to a certain point. One good reason not to have the sport button active all the time (as somebody suggested) is driving when it is raining. Definetely not recommended.

    The 20 mm chassis impresses me more and more but I have to confess now that sometimes it is a bit too stiff and I'm not sure I would like to have this setup on a daily driver.
    I also have to be always careful with street bumps or when I enter a garage or parking lot because my car sits very low. Not to speak about being extremely careful when parking the car next to a boardwalk because the low profile wheels can be damaged pretty easily.

    The adaptive sport seats have really grown on me, they provide perfect side grip and are highly adjustable. Only the high price tag makes them a little bit questionable but whoever doesn't care too much about money, they're really highly recommended.

    The gearbox works very very well, nothing changed with the first impression. But sometimes when I'm waiting at a red light with the gearbox in neutral, I have problems to put in the first gear. This happened only twice but I'll watch it closely. Maybe just some sort of adjustment is needed, I'll keep you guys updated.
    The clutch works pretty well and doing a brutal start from standstill without really burning the clutch is pretty easy, there is no need to rev up to 5000 rpm and then release the clutch instantly. It works less "brutal" too, no need to stress the clutch too much.

    The rev limiter jumps in VERY hard when reaching the end of the rev band, a lot of people will be very surprised how hard it works. It actually cuts off power immediately and you have to be prepared for it. Of course this happens only with the chrono sport package and the activated "sport" button. Usually, the rev limiter works pretty smooth.

    Fuel consumption (mixed driving city/country roads/Autobahn, always as hard as possible) is around 16 litres / 100 km, oil consumption is now almost non-existant.
    I filled up engine oil around 500 km earlier and the digital gauge still shows a full oil level (I didn't overfill!). Pretty impressive.

    The engine/exhaust noise is pretty loud, at certain rpm figures and especially over 5000 rpm REALLY loud and a lot of people on the street usually turn heads when I pass by.
    I wonder how the sport exhaust improves the sound, it definetely can't be much louder because people would probably start to throw stones or eggs at my car.

    The Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires need temperature for perfect grip, I found out that the optimal temperature is around 25-30*C or slightly higher. The tires don't like cold temperatures too much, below 15*C the Michelin started to be a little bit slippery at almost all driving conditions. This doesn't mean you can't drive the Michelin tire below 15*C but it definetely means that at temperatures below Zero degrees Celsius or slightly over, you have to be very careful with this tire.
    The rear tires also get pretty hot after passionate driving, I can't hide the feeling that this is part of the original chassis setup, done by purpose to provide a better grip.

    I don't like the window openers (switches) too much, the position isn't too good and the switch for the driver side window should be bigger.

    The sunroof works great and with open side windows too, you get almost a Cabriolet feeling. Best part: you don't feel the air from outside too much like on the Cayenne for example where you get a middle ear inflammation, even if you open the window just a few centimeters.

    A problem I didn't expect is...my wife. She almost threw up after I did some fast turns and she asked me to slow down. This actually never happened before and it seems that the new 20 mm chassis really does a good job because it does a turn like it is running on rail tracks. My little daughter just loves it, she says it feels like a roller coaster (she is 3 years old and has only a limited roller coaster experience from Universal Studios and Disneyworld in Florida), especially since she can sit only in the rear due to the still not available airbag deactivation switch retrofit kit.

    The integrated phone (PCM, ROW only!) works pretty well, the navigation system works very good too. I encountered two times a little software bug when the music was playing (after turning on the engine) but the PCM showed a "loading CD" message and all other functions were completely blocked and not accessible. Turning the engine off, waiting a few seconds and turning it on again made the bug disappear. But a software update to fix this would be nice.
    I was also surprised to see that the internal CD unit of the PCM reads all copy protected music CDs, no problems with various copy protection systems. I have sometimes problems with the CD player in my wife's SLK 32 AMG and I also had problems with the COMAND system in my former E55 AMG. Another positive surprise: the CD unit in the PCM system supports CD text, so you get the information about the song and artist in the display if the music CD uses this feature. This is good news for people who love to burn their own music collection because CD text really makes a difference.

    Now everbody will ask: is there something he doesn't like about the 997 Carrera S after driving it for almost 2800 km?
    Well, I already mentioned the seat memory buttons in the door but otherwise, I can't think of anything I really don't like. Of course I would love to have more power but I think the GT3 and Turbo will take care of that. I'm not sure if the 997 Carrera S is worth going for if you already own a facelifted 996. But if you're sure that the 997 GT3 or Turbo are out of question for you or if you just want to have fun for the next 2-3 years, the 997 Carrera S is the right car for you.

    I'll do another update as soon as I experience something new, something bad, something good or something weird. Stay tuned.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Awesome report RC, thanks

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Great report. Keep us updated as you get more seat time!

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    nice report!.I
    RC, have you done some videos with your 997S??, just asking
    Alex

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Thank you for your report. Always appreciated!

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    As always, clear, well written, interesting, and objective!
    Thanks man!

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Thanks for the update, RC. Your comments are very much appreciated. I look forward to your further updates as circumstances warrant it for good or bad.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    The new hydrophobic side windows work pretty well, I experienced this during heavy rain falls over the past few days. At the same time I wish I had a rear window wiper.



    Have you tried Aquapel for the rear window?

    You can get it on eBay...

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    RC,

    Great report, thanks! I saw 997S last week in person and I was really impressed.

    I was suprised by your comments about PS2 and how the car drives in wet conditions. I have PS1 on my TT and its sometimes chalenging to drive on a wet road. So does 997S come with PS2 and so Porsche started recommend it for 997S?

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    thanks rc..by the way do you feel a power difference between 997s and facelifted 996?or is it not worth it?

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    RC said:
    ...because people would probably start to throw stones or eggs at my car.




    Well, let's hope they'll take the eggs instead of the stones then...

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Thank you RC, very interesting.

    Please post some more pictures and perhaps a few videos when you find the time

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    lev said:
    RC,

    Great report, thanks! I saw 997S last week in person and I was really impressed.

    I was suprised by your comments about PS2 and how the car drives in wet conditions. I have PS1 on my TT and its sometimes chalenging to drive on a wet road. So does 997S come with PS2 and so Porsche started recommend it for 997S?



    Yes, my 997 Carrera S and in fact all 997 Carrera S I saw up til now are equipped with the PS2. You shouln't forget however that the PS2 used on the 997 Carrera S is the Porsche "version" of the PS2, a tire with the so called "N-classification". The compound and tread mixture have been changed to Porsche needs and specs, it can't be compared to a regular PS2 without N-classification.
    The tire is surprisingly good on wet pavement but of course you don't get the grip you have on dry pavement. But pretty easy to drive in rain, nothing really challenging.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    rossi said:

    Well, let's hope they'll take the eggs instead of the stones then...



    Well, I always wanted to feel like our chancellor Mr. Schröder.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    dhayek said:
    thanks rc..by the way do you feel a power difference between 997s and facelifted 996?or is it not worth it?



    Of course I can feel a power difference between the 997 Carrer S and the facelifted 996 with 320 HP but mainly in the higher rev range. The 997 Carrera S revs pretty freely above 5000 rpm, I didn't expect that from a "regular" 911.
    But below 4500 rpm, the power difference isn't too big, I would lie if I'd say that I can feel it. Maybe a bit more torque feel but nothing really spectacular. This is why I don't think people who recently bought a facelifted 996 should immediately go for a 997. Of course the 997 does a lot of things better than the facelifted 996, including chassis setup and quality impression but I'm not sure if this is enough to justify to sell a good car, probably losing a substantial amount of money and go for the 997.
    Unless the dealer makes a good offer...

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    RC said:
    Quote:
    rossi said:

    Well, let's hope they'll take the eggs instead of the stones then...



    Well, I always wanted to feel like our chancellor Mr. Schröder.



    Just gimme the eggs...

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    thanks RC. love to read your reports!

    Quote:
    A problem I didn't expect is...my wife. She almost threw up after I did some fast turns and she asked me to slow down. This actually never happened before and it seems that the new 20 mm chassis really does a good job...



    yes... the 20mm kit is also known as the "makes sure your wife doesn't want to lend out the car"-option!


    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Thanks, RC. Keep those updates coming. Any further comments on the variable ratio steering? How is the steering weighting/effort? Is it power assistance variable as well? If so, at what speeds?

    Does the 996 have variable-assist steering? Is it speed-sensitive or rpm-sensitive?

    Thanks.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Another fanastic and well written article. Does the 20 mm Chassis really ride that firm that it made your wife car sick? Does the 20 mm chassis / sport chassis allow you to change it into a softer setting? Nice piece on the PCCB system and brake dust. I have also noticed the PCCB's look terrific up close. I am very close to having to decide what to pick for my 997S. Is there a site I can goto to see the 997 in lots of different colors? I look forward to more pictures of your car and more comments on your car. Thank you.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Thanks for your update. I'm more and more convinced to get a 997S. Which in fact I already was before.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    Quote:
    ArunK said:
    Another fanastic and well written article. Does the 20 mm Chassis really ride that firm that it made your wife car sick? Does the 20 mm chassis / sport chassis allow you to change it into a softer setting? Nice piece on the PCCB system and brake dust. I have also noticed the PCCB's look terrific up close. I am very close to having to decide what to pick for my 997S. Is there a site I can goto to see the 997 in lots of different colors? I look forward to more pictures of your car and more comments on your car. Thank you.



    My wife didn't like the H&R coilover kit I had on my former 996 Turbo but she accepted it. With the 997 Carrera S, things are different. The car drives like on rails and you just have to imagine that you have practically no sideroll and the body enters a sharp turn in an upright position and kept tight in the adaptive sport seats. Now you might understand why my wife doesn't like it too much.

    I'll post a video or two to show you what I mean, nothing spectacular (because it was shot on a public street) but it shows how effortless (for the car) it can do sharp turns.

    More pictures? Right now I'm happy if I can drive it for an hour or so per day, I don't have even time to wash it. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to take more pictures (and finally wash it, the black colour really gets dirty fast ).

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    RC, Thank you again. To answer your question yes I can imagine how that must feel to turn like it is on rails. I am looking forward to that feeling. I gather you can't or don't want to drive you 997 to work. Correct? I also noticed you have owned a MB E55. How did you like? I have had the pleasure to drive it but not for very long. It is a car I am thinking of buying as my daily driver. Thank you again. Safe travels.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    RC-

    Have you driven a 996 GT3 (US version)? If so, how would you compare the 997S with the GT3.

    Re: Update - Rennteam 997 Carrera S Driving Experience

    I have 4 months until delivery. Now I'm drooling!

     
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