Lordjimimac
Well-known member
- Joined
- 13 Jan 2016
- Messages
- 174
hi folks,
I thought it about time i shared thoughts on my 'new' Atlas Grey 997.1 C4S, mentioned the mods ive already done, and started a bit of a 'build thread' to put updates in over my ownership. Perhaps this is of some interest to fellow fans!
First off, im glad to say that the car has exceeded expectations - i came from a 987s > 996tt > e92 m3 > e90 comp pack m3 to this car and it really does contain many of the best attributes from those cars. I was a little nervous that the lack of power would be step down v3 the m3 and particularly the turbo, but thats not been the case. Here are some thoughts on some aspects of the car and how the compare to previous cars ive been lucky to own:
Sense of occasion and pride of ownership
It probably goes without saying on this forum but a 911 really is 2x times the specialness of many other cars. The beauty of the exterior design, but moreso the low slung seating position, directness of controls, and in this case the mechanical feel of the thing far far exceed the m3s I owned. Atlas grey is a really special colour too - i gave it a correction / polish / wax and it responded very well! Complex, interesting, and seems to look ok when a bit grubby too, hooray!
Engine Noise
I owned a 987s and loved the buzzy thrill of the top end. I then owned a 996tt and, even with a 200 cell X-pipe exhaust, the noise was a bit of a let down (too quiet without, mad loud with!). Then came the v8 m3 - mine had an inconel M Performance exhaust and BMC filter -and the bar for a thrilling soundtrack was set very high. I had the design 911 induction kit (the resonator delete) and the BMC filter put on the c4s before I collected it from GT-One (11/10 service as always) and i have to say that the engine noise at the top end has far exceeded my expectations. Id even go as far to say that its on par with the m3. Whatsmore, my car has a stock exhaust with no mod! Ive got PCW booked into to do a gundo, and im tinkering with the idea of a TopGear 200cat exhaust, but i have to say im really enjoying the stock exhaust sound + induction noise - so i may well stick with it for a bit
Engine response and character through the range
The best thing about the M3 was the engine - and the fact that it had many characters in one. It was as much fun short shifting up to 40/50 as it was ringing its neck to 8.5k rpm on a slip road. This was a down side of the turbo - you had to be going bloody fast to enjoy the engine (at least for me, although if there was room it was of course incredible!). Here again, the 997.1 engine has exceeded my expectation - this may well be helped by the Sprint Booster i added to make the throttle more responsive (had one in my 987s and rate it very highly!)
Gearchange
Ahh, nice to be back in a manual. I moved from a manual m3 to a dct comp pack primarily because the dct has shorter ratios than the manual (and 2nd was way too long in the manual) - but i was also keen to experience a decent dual clutch car following a good Palmer day in one some years back. The DCT felt much, much faster than the manual car, and surprisingly, i didnt crave a manual. However, i knew that the next car would be a 911, and it had to be a manual, so (like the 987s and 996tt), i had the 997 gt3 oem short shift installed before i picked it up and wow - a truly superb shift! for me it completes the trio of great steering feel, brake feel, and gear change.
Handling
The car was well prepped with new brakes, tyres, shocks, some suspension bushes, and even a set of refurbed wheels! its an absolute joy through the corners - im totally in love with the cornering sensation! It has PASM - the first Porsche ive owned with it. It certainly enables totally rigid/flat cornering which im enjoying, but it does seem to be more 'choppy' than the sports setting on EDC on the m3. I do still just about think though, that the 987 was ultimately the best handling car ive owned though - at least the most confidence inspiring for a non track driver like me
Tech and Interior
Mine has the full leather and alcantara and it is a huge improvement on the 996 and 987 i had!
The PCM is, of course, garbage, but i did instal the 'Translt Blu iSimple' bluetooth / FM input smartphone kit into the PCM so my iPhone connects.
I am absolutely staggered at how good this is, and how cheap it was. A superb product, and one that i would have put on the 987 and 996 had i of know about it! Highly recommended!
A pipeline mod is certainly to get the wheel, shift, and brake trimmed in alcantara by Royal steering wheels. They did the wheel on the M3 and it was like for like oem 'performance; quality and 1/4 of the price.
Cruisability / usability / family fun
The 996tt was our family car with one, then two little ones. Im lucky that the mrs loves owning and driving nice cars! We worked around the space fine, but the road (and exhaust...!) noise was too much in the turbo. The 997 is far more refined. Still louder than the m3, but (at least with stock exhaust) its all good. I have a pair of recaro young sports in the back for my 3 and 5 year olds and they absolutely love it. We use Amazon packing 'Cubes' (v useful!) to make extremely effective use of parcel shelf , footwells, and frunk and its all good!
Finally, i thought to mention my ultimate choice of 997.1 vs 997.2
im aware of all the potential issues having owned the gen 1 987s, and also generally being a big forum reader.
I had originally thought to get the gen 2 - to minimise risk - even to get good mpg! and better pcm etc.
in my budget, i could only afford a base and basic 997.2 example. I drove some of these, and nice as they were, for me they lacked a little of the 'buzz' and feel of the earlier cars. it was marginal, but as i dove a couple more, i then had a go it a gen 1 s, and i just preffered the slightly more raw feel and sound of it. I then looked at the spec, condition and cost of my car and compared it to the equivalent gen 2 car. The difference (i concluded, for my own case, please be gentle guys!!!) was that i could get a top spec gen 1 4s that was 2 years older, but £10k cheaper than the equivalent gen 2. So i thought to myself that if the worst does happen (a 1 in 10/20/30/50/100 risk depending on attitude) I could accept the loss based on the lower purchase price. Goes without saying that GT One did a full bore check and stand by the car, and i trust those guys. Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that I did fear that despite my man-maths i may have a niggle or regret after i bought the car. But no, fellow fans, I do not. The car is so special, so good to drive, and such a keeper that there are no worries whatsoever.
Things i plan to do!
- get an aero bumper
- maybe the dectone rear lights
- maybe maybe the Top Speed 200 cell switchable exhaust
- royal alcantara trimmed wheel
- let me know of any suggestions!
if youve made it this far, well done : )
:thumbs:
I thought it about time i shared thoughts on my 'new' Atlas Grey 997.1 C4S, mentioned the mods ive already done, and started a bit of a 'build thread' to put updates in over my ownership. Perhaps this is of some interest to fellow fans!
First off, im glad to say that the car has exceeded expectations - i came from a 987s > 996tt > e92 m3 > e90 comp pack m3 to this car and it really does contain many of the best attributes from those cars. I was a little nervous that the lack of power would be step down v3 the m3 and particularly the turbo, but thats not been the case. Here are some thoughts on some aspects of the car and how the compare to previous cars ive been lucky to own:
Sense of occasion and pride of ownership
It probably goes without saying on this forum but a 911 really is 2x times the specialness of many other cars. The beauty of the exterior design, but moreso the low slung seating position, directness of controls, and in this case the mechanical feel of the thing far far exceed the m3s I owned. Atlas grey is a really special colour too - i gave it a correction / polish / wax and it responded very well! Complex, interesting, and seems to look ok when a bit grubby too, hooray!
Engine Noise
I owned a 987s and loved the buzzy thrill of the top end. I then owned a 996tt and, even with a 200 cell X-pipe exhaust, the noise was a bit of a let down (too quiet without, mad loud with!). Then came the v8 m3 - mine had an inconel M Performance exhaust and BMC filter -and the bar for a thrilling soundtrack was set very high. I had the design 911 induction kit (the resonator delete) and the BMC filter put on the c4s before I collected it from GT-One (11/10 service as always) and i have to say that the engine noise at the top end has far exceeded my expectations. Id even go as far to say that its on par with the m3. Whatsmore, my car has a stock exhaust with no mod! Ive got PCW booked into to do a gundo, and im tinkering with the idea of a TopGear 200cat exhaust, but i have to say im really enjoying the stock exhaust sound + induction noise - so i may well stick with it for a bit
Engine response and character through the range
The best thing about the M3 was the engine - and the fact that it had many characters in one. It was as much fun short shifting up to 40/50 as it was ringing its neck to 8.5k rpm on a slip road. This was a down side of the turbo - you had to be going bloody fast to enjoy the engine (at least for me, although if there was room it was of course incredible!). Here again, the 997.1 engine has exceeded my expectation - this may well be helped by the Sprint Booster i added to make the throttle more responsive (had one in my 987s and rate it very highly!)
Gearchange
Ahh, nice to be back in a manual. I moved from a manual m3 to a dct comp pack primarily because the dct has shorter ratios than the manual (and 2nd was way too long in the manual) - but i was also keen to experience a decent dual clutch car following a good Palmer day in one some years back. The DCT felt much, much faster than the manual car, and surprisingly, i didnt crave a manual. However, i knew that the next car would be a 911, and it had to be a manual, so (like the 987s and 996tt), i had the 997 gt3 oem short shift installed before i picked it up and wow - a truly superb shift! for me it completes the trio of great steering feel, brake feel, and gear change.
Handling
The car was well prepped with new brakes, tyres, shocks, some suspension bushes, and even a set of refurbed wheels! its an absolute joy through the corners - im totally in love with the cornering sensation! It has PASM - the first Porsche ive owned with it. It certainly enables totally rigid/flat cornering which im enjoying, but it does seem to be more 'choppy' than the sports setting on EDC on the m3. I do still just about think though, that the 987 was ultimately the best handling car ive owned though - at least the most confidence inspiring for a non track driver like me
Tech and Interior
Mine has the full leather and alcantara and it is a huge improvement on the 996 and 987 i had!
The PCM is, of course, garbage, but i did instal the 'Translt Blu iSimple' bluetooth / FM input smartphone kit into the PCM so my iPhone connects.
I am absolutely staggered at how good this is, and how cheap it was. A superb product, and one that i would have put on the 987 and 996 had i of know about it! Highly recommended!
A pipeline mod is certainly to get the wheel, shift, and brake trimmed in alcantara by Royal steering wheels. They did the wheel on the M3 and it was like for like oem 'performance; quality and 1/4 of the price.
Cruisability / usability / family fun
The 996tt was our family car with one, then two little ones. Im lucky that the mrs loves owning and driving nice cars! We worked around the space fine, but the road (and exhaust...!) noise was too much in the turbo. The 997 is far more refined. Still louder than the m3, but (at least with stock exhaust) its all good. I have a pair of recaro young sports in the back for my 3 and 5 year olds and they absolutely love it. We use Amazon packing 'Cubes' (v useful!) to make extremely effective use of parcel shelf , footwells, and frunk and its all good!
Finally, i thought to mention my ultimate choice of 997.1 vs 997.2
im aware of all the potential issues having owned the gen 1 987s, and also generally being a big forum reader.
I had originally thought to get the gen 2 - to minimise risk - even to get good mpg! and better pcm etc.
in my budget, i could only afford a base and basic 997.2 example. I drove some of these, and nice as they were, for me they lacked a little of the 'buzz' and feel of the earlier cars. it was marginal, but as i dove a couple more, i then had a go it a gen 1 s, and i just preffered the slightly more raw feel and sound of it. I then looked at the spec, condition and cost of my car and compared it to the equivalent gen 2 car. The difference (i concluded, for my own case, please be gentle guys!!!) was that i could get a top spec gen 1 4s that was 2 years older, but £10k cheaper than the equivalent gen 2. So i thought to myself that if the worst does happen (a 1 in 10/20/30/50/100 risk depending on attitude) I could accept the loss based on the lower purchase price. Goes without saying that GT One did a full bore check and stand by the car, and i trust those guys. Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that I did fear that despite my man-maths i may have a niggle or regret after i bought the car. But no, fellow fans, I do not. The car is so special, so good to drive, and such a keeper that there are no worries whatsoever.
Things i plan to do!
- get an aero bumper
- maybe the dectone rear lights
- maybe maybe the Top Speed 200 cell switchable exhaust
- royal alcantara trimmed wheel
- let me know of any suggestions!
if youve made it this far, well done : )
:thumbs: