Porsche 911 Turbo (997)

[Shinigami]

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.