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Old 03-17-2007, 01:51 PM   #1
Shinigami
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Default Porsche 911 Turbo (997)

It's very difficult to not like the new Porsche after having driven the way we did today.

The owner of a particular gunmetal (?) colored one invited me for a drive, and as I've been intrigued by Porsches for some time, but never really facinated like some members are, I couldn't say no.

First he took me for a drive and boy did he flog it. When I got a chance to drive it, oh my god does it handle like on rails. AWD in it is GODLY, and the power is just soooo smooth. The overboost kicks you back in the seat like there's no tomorrow. 3rd gear is just soooo perfect. It's incredible to think that I was driving +100kph on sinuous and very tight mountain roads, and it felt like driving 50 in the city!

I've never been a huge fan of Porsche, but this is really changing my outlook on things. I've driven some other Porsches as well (Cayenne Turbo, Boxster S, and another one which I can't remember the exact number of, but it's some 20 year old model I think) and I have to say this was just something waaaay different. So calm and quiet, yet so robust and pant wetting when you want it to be.

I drove an NSX a few weeks back, and it was like a "big lotus elise". This however... don't know what to compare it to. AWD reminded me of the Gallardo handling, but this car was also so civil when you wanted it to be, and so easy to live with.

The sound was not quite as rumbly as my AMG, but later when I was driving behind him in my SLK, the owner hammered it to overboost which caused the exhaust to emit a rather loud and raspy thunderous bellow for a brief period. Repeated at each overboost.

In city driving, I don't think most people would even turn their heads if you were driving it, it's just so nice and quiet if you ask it to be.

Also, it's incredible how responsive the car was, very torquey and pulls easily on all gears (I didn't really try 5th and 6th that much, but 2nd to 4th was just wonderful).

The interior was comfortable, some of the plastics a bit hard compared to the soft touch of the center console plastic in my SLK, but nothing like the crap you get in some very cheap cars from Korea or France...

Lots of leather here and there, and the standard seats hug you just fine (maybe a tad less then in my car... I guess they might be a little wider, but the space in between the driver and passenger is smaller).

The brakes were not ceramic, but I don't think they necessarily had to be. Didn't really feel any fade, and braking distance was pretty much on par with my SLK (a few emergency brakes here and there when I was following him, and no, I didn't hit him in the rear ).

So yeah, seating position is very good, torque is very good, speed as well, sound isolation is excellent (no problem speaking at +120kph). Overall, this is really quite one darn good car. It's a shame I'm still not that warmed up to the looks, but if this thing didn't cost nearly twice as much as my car, it would definitely be something I'd consider now that I know how it's like. I mean, once you're inside, you don't even pay much attention to how it looks from the outside. I do like how looking at the side mirrors, you see the air intake vents (love how they look like on this car).

Well, it's saint-patricks and I'm going out for some Guinness, so here's a few pics from the day.



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Old 03-17-2007, 01:55 PM   #2
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I forgot to mention, it was manual. A very good manual, the clutch wasn't hard to use even for me who drives most of the time in my automatic AMG. Shifts are relatively short, but not quite "wrist flicking" like in an S2000.
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Old 03-17-2007, 02:04 PM   #3
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Very cool, and a great read as well.

It seems like you have driven allot of fine cars, how does this Porsche compare to everything else?
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Old 03-17-2007, 02:06 PM   #4
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I believe that is Meteor Grey Metallic.

Thanks for the write up and pics. I'm biased, that car is beautiful!
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Old 03-17-2007, 02:12 PM   #5
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Nice review! Seems like you had a lot of fun!
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Old 03-17-2007, 02:30 PM   #6
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I think I know this car and crib

I was lucky enough to be at least passenger in it (and to shoot it under pouring rain) and it's impossible indeed not to love it!
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Old 03-17-2007, 03:11 PM   #7
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Great write up Shinigami!

You make me love this car even more then ever!

Hope to experience the same one day!

Nice pics BTW!
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Old 03-18-2007, 10:54 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by r2r
how does this Porsche compare to everything else?
I don't know... it's difficult to compare it to other cars because it's quite different.

There are things that are not that impressive (for me, I guess the looks are not great, but they are good and definitely better then your average fun of the mill porsche thanks to some little details, and the sound too is a little too tame if you're looking for a flashy car and this is not one).

But it does many things very well. Probably better reliability then any Ferrari or Lamborghini, better clutch wear, usable thanks to back seats which could seat smaller adults (there's enough knee and head room if you're not say over 6 foot tall), and it comes from a company with some heritage.

The price is quite steep and admittedly, the owner was also looking at, and drove a new Z06 (costs nearly half as much but has equivalent performance). The Z06 would have replaced his Mitsu Evo, but in the end he didn't bother because he would have been left with two cars that are maybe too similar (for wringing out on the country roads).

This car is definitely up there with the 5% best I've ever driven tho', and I've had a go in quite a few...


TT: yeah, it's the guy from asphalte
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Old 03-18-2007, 11:48 AM   #9
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Nice review Shini.

If the Swiss market is anything like the US, I am sure the 997 will depreciate to 50% of its value in 4 years. So you could buy it a decent price then
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Old 03-18-2007, 11:55 AM   #10
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I could buy a 996 Turbo for about 120k chf (original price almost 200k I think) with less then 20k miles on the clock. That's about the same price as my SLK.

But I'm not planning on changing cars for at least a few more years. Who knows what will happen then.
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Old 03-18-2007, 04:02 PM   #11
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nice write up, must have been a badass car to drive
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Old 03-18-2007, 06:56 PM   #12
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No doubt it's a great car, and that colour is very nice!!!
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Old 03-22-2007, 12:51 AM   #13
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Thanks Shinigami for your cool report, this 997 turbo is simply awesome. :good:
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Old 03-29-2007, 03:22 PM   #14
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dani: it's the same car TT took a photoshoot of. I think one of the pics where it's parked on front of a castle could do.
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