Dec 29, 2004 3:39:01 PM
-
Carlos from Spain
- Rennteam Moderator
-
- Loc: Spain. , Spain
- Posts: 21148, Gallery
- Registered on: Feb 9, 2003
My impressions of the 997
I tested 997 equipped with PASM today which I happily took to the mountains and also drove in the city traffic to gather the differences between the 996, and I ofcourse wanted to share them with you guys. First let me say that for comparison I'm using my 996 C4 with the 3.4l 300HP engine, RoW M030 sport suspensions and 18" wheels as a refference.
The first thing you will notice when you get in is the INTERIOR:
subjective styling opinions aside you can tell the quality and build is improved. And seems more uniform and one-piece like. The middle console with all the buttons is actually when you get playing with it a positive feature in the end, its very ergonomic and functional, and the buttons are all clustered and grouped together, and not scattered all over the dash, console, etc. The screen is nice, much better than the PCM-I one. The silver plastic face of the button cluuster consile however feels cheap, wonder if they could not find another material or finish that would look/feel better. And the shift nob is just hidious IMO. The instrument panel also looks nicer but too many "beeps" and nannying though from the seat belt warning to the parking sensors (thats not an option I would personally like). Also the standard seats of the 997 I tested were much better in terms of support than the 996 standard seats which IMO were more appropriate in a Merc than a Porsche.
When you get rolling, inmediatelly you notice the CLUTCH and the TRANSMISSION. The clutch is much more user friendly than my early 996 and its something you appreciate in city driving. The new shift is also very noticeable, its mainly more precise and effortless which allows for easier quick downshifting and upshifting especially in the shorter gears. I really liked it.
But there is one downside, and that is that the pedals in the 997 are not set for heel-toeing as much as the 996, and its more difficult. I can't think why Porsche would do this except maybe for safety separating more the brake and gas pedals. I suppose with practice one can compensate it somewhat but its still not a solution, I think I will be getting aftermarket alum pedals and bring the brake closer to the throttle.
Now to the PASM SUSPENSIONS. I'm not a fan of electronics in these types of things and came into it with prejudice but I have to admit they did a good job. First, the normal and sport modes are clearly differencianble as soon as you push the button, the irregularities on the road become more crisp and the body roll is kept in tighter control. Its tough to describe for those that haven't tried it yet but I would compare to the ride feel you get when going to lower profile tires in a car and adding thicker stabiliser bars. Dinamically the biggest difference it the reduction in body roll and squating, while in terms of ride, the biggest difference is felt in potholes and expansion joints since they are more directly transmited like overinflated tires. Overall I would say for reference that my RoWM030 is in between the sport and normal modes in terms of ride quality, but I don't find the Sport mode too unconfortable at all. In fact, after testing the normal mode I left it permanently in sport mode and would leave it on permanently if it was my car except for rare ocasions. But thats a very subjective opinion and some people may want normal mode more often. However, don't expect the normal mode to be as confortable and soft as standard 996 suspensions, normal is still a sportier ride compared to standard suspensions IMO. In conclusion, a good option but I haven't tried the sportier -20mm with rear LSD yet which will be more up my alley. Another thing to consider is that this is a 997 with the 18" wheels, the ride may change a bit on the 19" wheel fitted cars.
The variable ratio STEERING. This had me worried a little bit since one of my favorite things about the 911 is its steering and I didn't want it to be meddled with. But now I see why Porsche bothered to touch it. The problem is that at first when you are not used to it, it feels a little strange and hence the initial resentment. What you notice is that the steering is not completely linear, towards the limits of lock the steering becomes more sensitive and more direct so if you haven't gotten used to predict the effect of your steering input depending on how much lock you have, it will surprise you a little bit. For example when altering the steering input while within a bend such as in a tightening curve, you may end up being quicker in the steering correction than you though, the weight transfer may be more sudden. Or on quick transitions between a left bend to a right bend or viceversa, it takes some getting used to when going "quickly" from turning to one direction and going all the way to opposite lock for the other direction. You just have to be smooth in your input and with a little getting used to I think you can make this steering to play in your favor, and I found it even beter than the 996 to my surprise, quicker and with the excellent feedback that characterises the 911. But you have to adapt to it, like you adapt to a sportcar clucth when coming from a non-sportcar, initially it may seem weird and you main even prefer the other one but afterwards you learn how to take advantage of and see why its that way in a sportcar. This was a PASM fitted car, so with the -20mm, the steering may be affected though so I can't speak for the -20mm... yet.
I don't want this to appear like the steering is completely different though, its very similar but there is a subtle difference when you push it. In fact, I think many people will not even notice it, especially those that have not driven a previoous generation 911 and may be coming from another brand. They will probably know that the streering is variable ratio.
The car was fitted with the SPORT CHRONO PACK so I did a little playing with it too. The change you notice is that the throttle is much quicker, more "alive" you could say. Unfortunately it was a wet day and the car was not mine so I didn't wan't to play to much with the lower PSM and ABS threshold it brings to the equation. But I can see how this combined with the "sudden" throttle will give a few surprises to some owners specially when picking up the throttle coming out of a tight bend. Not a problem and very enjoyable but you have to bear it in mind so it doesn't give any suprises, specially on wet. I did do some standing starts to get the rear slipping and see how different the PSM reacts with the sport chrono engaged, and with it on, it allowed more slipping of the tail before PSM kicking in but I also got the impression that PSM would came on in a softer and more progressive manner. The PSM in normal mode was more abrupt cutting the throttle and more intrusive. In conclusion, I think its a great option and very worthwhile for the price, but I would have it 100% the time on, though probably most of the time.
The 997 has the 3.6l ENGINE which compared to my 3.4l felt a bit more torquey, specially in the lower revs. In mine you can feel the variocam coming in and picking it up more, on this one it was more progressive since it had more lowed band grunt, but the HP difference was not too noticeable. A way I could describe it is that the 997 engine felt like it had very slightly shorter gears. I wish it was a 997S though to see the difference.
The EXHAUST SOUND is very similar to mine (stock exhaust), you can tell its the same engine basically. The difference is that it sounded deeper, but not louder, and it sounded more muffled as if the higher freq notes were filtered. Maybe more so the engine part of the sound than the exhaust part of the sound. It sounded very nice but definately needs a sport exhaust. I heard that the 997S stock exhaust already sound sportier so can't say for the 997S. I ordered sport exhaust for the 997S still since it can never be too sporty
The BRAKES felt exactly the same as mine but I couldn't really really test them. Still, the "feel" was great, as we are used to from Porsche.
So in the end, it really is a different car inspite the similar appearance. More different than what I had though, even the 997. But for the price difference I think the 997S is a no brainer choice, at least in my view. If you switch from the 996 to a 997, the price difference is justifiable in the 997S, for a little more you get much more than the 996 in the 997S than in the 997, were the pricetag differnce when trading in a 996 is not as easy to rationalise. For those that don't own a 996, the difference would less apparent though.
These are just my personal impressions so are by no means objective facts but I hope they were somewhat informative
The first thing you will notice when you get in is the INTERIOR:
subjective styling opinions aside you can tell the quality and build is improved. And seems more uniform and one-piece like. The middle console with all the buttons is actually when you get playing with it a positive feature in the end, its very ergonomic and functional, and the buttons are all clustered and grouped together, and not scattered all over the dash, console, etc. The screen is nice, much better than the PCM-I one. The silver plastic face of the button cluuster consile however feels cheap, wonder if they could not find another material or finish that would look/feel better. And the shift nob is just hidious IMO. The instrument panel also looks nicer but too many "beeps" and nannying though from the seat belt warning to the parking sensors (thats not an option I would personally like). Also the standard seats of the 997 I tested were much better in terms of support than the 996 standard seats which IMO were more appropriate in a Merc than a Porsche.
When you get rolling, inmediatelly you notice the CLUTCH and the TRANSMISSION. The clutch is much more user friendly than my early 996 and its something you appreciate in city driving. The new shift is also very noticeable, its mainly more precise and effortless which allows for easier quick downshifting and upshifting especially in the shorter gears. I really liked it.
But there is one downside, and that is that the pedals in the 997 are not set for heel-toeing as much as the 996, and its more difficult. I can't think why Porsche would do this except maybe for safety separating more the brake and gas pedals. I suppose with practice one can compensate it somewhat but its still not a solution, I think I will be getting aftermarket alum pedals and bring the brake closer to the throttle.
Now to the PASM SUSPENSIONS. I'm not a fan of electronics in these types of things and came into it with prejudice but I have to admit they did a good job. First, the normal and sport modes are clearly differencianble as soon as you push the button, the irregularities on the road become more crisp and the body roll is kept in tighter control. Its tough to describe for those that haven't tried it yet but I would compare to the ride feel you get when going to lower profile tires in a car and adding thicker stabiliser bars. Dinamically the biggest difference it the reduction in body roll and squating, while in terms of ride, the biggest difference is felt in potholes and expansion joints since they are more directly transmited like overinflated tires. Overall I would say for reference that my RoWM030 is in between the sport and normal modes in terms of ride quality, but I don't find the Sport mode too unconfortable at all. In fact, after testing the normal mode I left it permanently in sport mode and would leave it on permanently if it was my car except for rare ocasions. But thats a very subjective opinion and some people may want normal mode more often. However, don't expect the normal mode to be as confortable and soft as standard 996 suspensions, normal is still a sportier ride compared to standard suspensions IMO. In conclusion, a good option but I haven't tried the sportier -20mm with rear LSD yet which will be more up my alley. Another thing to consider is that this is a 997 with the 18" wheels, the ride may change a bit on the 19" wheel fitted cars.
The variable ratio STEERING. This had me worried a little bit since one of my favorite things about the 911 is its steering and I didn't want it to be meddled with. But now I see why Porsche bothered to touch it. The problem is that at first when you are not used to it, it feels a little strange and hence the initial resentment. What you notice is that the steering is not completely linear, towards the limits of lock the steering becomes more sensitive and more direct so if you haven't gotten used to predict the effect of your steering input depending on how much lock you have, it will surprise you a little bit. For example when altering the steering input while within a bend such as in a tightening curve, you may end up being quicker in the steering correction than you though, the weight transfer may be more sudden. Or on quick transitions between a left bend to a right bend or viceversa, it takes some getting used to when going "quickly" from turning to one direction and going all the way to opposite lock for the other direction. You just have to be smooth in your input and with a little getting used to I think you can make this steering to play in your favor, and I found it even beter than the 996 to my surprise, quicker and with the excellent feedback that characterises the 911. But you have to adapt to it, like you adapt to a sportcar clucth when coming from a non-sportcar, initially it may seem weird and you main even prefer the other one but afterwards you learn how to take advantage of and see why its that way in a sportcar. This was a PASM fitted car, so with the -20mm, the steering may be affected though so I can't speak for the -20mm... yet.
I don't want this to appear like the steering is completely different though, its very similar but there is a subtle difference when you push it. In fact, I think many people will not even notice it, especially those that have not driven a previoous generation 911 and may be coming from another brand. They will probably know that the streering is variable ratio.
The car was fitted with the SPORT CHRONO PACK so I did a little playing with it too. The change you notice is that the throttle is much quicker, more "alive" you could say. Unfortunately it was a wet day and the car was not mine so I didn't wan't to play to much with the lower PSM and ABS threshold it brings to the equation. But I can see how this combined with the "sudden" throttle will give a few surprises to some owners specially when picking up the throttle coming out of a tight bend. Not a problem and very enjoyable but you have to bear it in mind so it doesn't give any suprises, specially on wet. I did do some standing starts to get the rear slipping and see how different the PSM reacts with the sport chrono engaged, and with it on, it allowed more slipping of the tail before PSM kicking in but I also got the impression that PSM would came on in a softer and more progressive manner. The PSM in normal mode was more abrupt cutting the throttle and more intrusive. In conclusion, I think its a great option and very worthwhile for the price, but I would have it 100% the time on, though probably most of the time.
The 997 has the 3.6l ENGINE which compared to my 3.4l felt a bit more torquey, specially in the lower revs. In mine you can feel the variocam coming in and picking it up more, on this one it was more progressive since it had more lowed band grunt, but the HP difference was not too noticeable. A way I could describe it is that the 997 engine felt like it had very slightly shorter gears. I wish it was a 997S though to see the difference.
The EXHAUST SOUND is very similar to mine (stock exhaust), you can tell its the same engine basically. The difference is that it sounded deeper, but not louder, and it sounded more muffled as if the higher freq notes were filtered. Maybe more so the engine part of the sound than the exhaust part of the sound. It sounded very nice but definately needs a sport exhaust. I heard that the 997S stock exhaust already sound sportier so can't say for the 997S. I ordered sport exhaust for the 997S still since it can never be too sporty
The BRAKES felt exactly the same as mine but I couldn't really really test them. Still, the "feel" was great, as we are used to from Porsche.
So in the end, it really is a different car inspite the similar appearance. More different than what I had though, even the 997. But for the price difference I think the 997S is a no brainer choice, at least in my view. If you switch from the 996 to a 997, the price difference is justifiable in the 997S, for a little more you get much more than the 996 in the 997S than in the 997, were the pricetag differnce when trading in a 996 is not as easy to rationalise. For those that don't own a 996, the difference would less apparent though.
These are just my personal impressions so are by no means objective facts but I hope they were somewhat informative
