Rustler

Also, the Beartooth Highway must be one of the great stretches of pavement in the world.

If you don't know what it is, check it out on Google maps. From Red Lodge to Cook City (north east entrance to the park).

Jeff_DML

sorry to threadjack but is that no longer true? I am going to Montana in June so it would be nice to know for rental car driving.

Rustler

I believe that we are now on a point system here, but I very well could be mistaken. However, for you I think the question will be whether there is reciprocity between your state of registration/insurance and Montana. If you get a ticket, will your home state be notified in which case your point system there will apply. That's how I understand it anyway.

Jeff_DML

yes that is how I understand it too. Kind of assuming if Montana does not do points then it would not share.

thanks

Rustler

I just had a quick look. MT DMV does record points, both for purposes of license suspension, and insurers are allowed to base "surcharges" to premiums on points. My last speeding ticket was in massachusetts about 7 years ago (which just cleared from my record, that's a long time to carry that yoke!), so I haven't felt the effects here. It also looks like MT participates in the "Drivers License Compact." Points are applied according to your home states rules.

http://apps.csg.org/ncic/Compact.aspx?id=56

Honestly, with 80 mph interstate speed limits, and 70 mph limits on most two lane hwys, theres plenty of room to have fun and drive safely within the law...I don't want this thread to become an advertisement for profligate or reckless speeding! Drive safe, be aware of others, and have fun!

Jeff_DML

great, thanks. I was suggesting doing that in my rented malibu , 80 speed limit sound fine.

enjoy the new turbo

Rustler

Thank you sir. Feel free to PM me if you want any thoughts on where/what to do in Montana.

Macster

Never had my Turbo in Montana. Very nice country up there though, even in my 2001 Camara Z28. Went through there in mid-Sept 2001, right after 9/11. No air traffic so the skies were free of contrails and the bluest I've seen in a long time. Should have taken a pic. That was western/central Montana. In eastern Montana ran into snow flurries. In mid-September...

Best gas I ever can recall I bought in Wyoming. 93 octane and the Turbo engine loved it. Turbo engines rock at higher elevations.

Olemiss540

This is the opposite of my understanding about fuel injected engines. The higher the elevation, the less dense the air, thus the less Oxygen available to create combustion energy......

The exact same reason Turbos love the cool weather. Colder air is denser air......

Rustler

I think turbos do better at elevation than normally aspirated motors. The forced air compensates somewhat for the less dense ambient air. I would think that all cars, turbo and n/a have less power at altitude, it's just that turbos fair better.

Blondebaerde

Rustler did well, picking up my 996 Turbo. NP on sharing records; that's what fellow Rennlisters should do, I'd say. It was (is) a sweet ride, all-considered. I was simply tired of looking at it, a "First World Problem."

Must be getting to a point in life where I like something more-raucous. Funny, at my age, making me wonder if "Mid Life Crisis" is true after all. New 991 GTS is more-raucous in sound and subtle as a train wreck, but ultimately not as fast or rather same HP but with less torque, in a better-rev-it-hard sort of way. I find that amusing. But the Turbo rush is pretty wild, too.

Both 991 and 996TT have epic brakes, thankfully, and I scared the crap out of more than a few female passengers over the years hurling that Turbo into corners while scrubbing speed like a fiend.

Exotics at RTC (weekly car show) today, guy in a F430 Scuderia, another in BMW M3, and yours truly got into a fun scrum on a truly awesome on-ramp to Hwy 520 here in town. That Scud sounded the business on the boil. The M3 kid had a fart pipe. My GTS w/PSE has a unique rumble, and wailed up near redline in 2nd. We tore it up like the town hooligans for thirty seconds there, I think women swooned and families hid their daughters within range of the ruckus. Good times had by all, sunny Saturday late AM in Seattle!

Back to Rustler's ride: I'm mildly surprised anything turned up on the PPI, but there it is in black and white. Never ran hot on me nor did I think the rubber bad, to say the least, but what the heck: maybe good to do these things. I don't recall so much as even looking at the coolant reservoir in the years I owned it other than to check the level, LOL.

Didn't even know 996s have turbo lag, but what would I know: first forced induction vehicle I've ever owned. The supercharger I put on my pickup (Tacoma) since is always churning, so that's just more torque pretty much everywhere vs. the normally aspirated engine. Yeah, 996 TTs were/are "Supercars" in terms of overall competence and that car just wanted to lope along all day at a buck twenty. Try that on the freeway in WA at your peril, I'm a bit jealous one can run fast(er) in MT even if there are speed limits again. Eastern WA is one place they need to toss those speed limit signs in the dumpster. If there ever was a part of the country people should be allowed to basically go wide-open it's I-90 east of Ellensburg all the way to Spokane. Or I-5 between Yreka and Sacramento in CA as-well, come to think of it. Bah.

Oh, one last thing: that Turbo was a hoot in the light snow Seattle enjoys usually once or twice per season. Up to a couple inches, even those summer tires held up well enough. With real snow tires, which is possible with a wheel swap, guys say they are truly a joy. Never got around to the swap myself, maybe Rustler will. I'd just lah-de-day around town here without trouble when 2WD cars could not, though with all the hills here still had to be prudent on the stopping distances.

Macster

All engines love to some extent cooler air drier air. But just because one is at a higher elevation doesn't mean the air is cool and denser. I've been in higher elevations with the temperature just around 0F to triple digits. It ain't the temperature so much as it is the altitude.

Modern fuel injected engines, compared to carbureted engines, fare a bit better in higher elevations because fueling is more precise.

But they still suffer from power drop off due to less cylinder filling due to the higher elevation.

As an aside: What engines have to deal with from at higher elevations was made very real to me once when I was attending a family reunion outside of Steamboat Springs, CO at a resort over 9K feet in elevation. I arrived having driven from Denver to there in a rented car (Cadillac) and upon reaching the resort I got out of the car and jogged across a large patch of ground to the cabin where my Mom and Dad were. I made it to the cabin but then the lack of oxygen caught up with me and I spent some minutes recovering. I had not really acclimated to the higher elevation in the car which required of course no exertiion on my part.

Now on my road trips I've gone through Flagstaff a number of times and at just over 7700 feet above sea level none of my NA cars felt that much down on power.

But I recall one time on I-70 in my '96 Mustang with its 4.6l V8 (with over 200hp) at one of the higher passes (I think there's one close to if not over 11K feet) the car was so sluggish I almost got out to push it up the hill.

Now skip ahead some years and over that same pass in my 2002 Golf TDi with its 1.9l turbo-diesel (with just 90hp!) the car was just fine at the higher elevations. I was surprised to be honest. (The TDi was my first turbo-charged car.)

What was happening is boost was being generated at lower engine RPMs and more boost was being generated and this was compensating for the higher elevation. While I'm sure it did lose something, I didn't feel like the engine lost that much even at higher elevations. My experience with my TDi really drove home the benefit of a turbo/supercharged engine at high elevations.

Now even more recently with my 996 Turbo it just flies over the "pass" (Continental Divide) just west of Flagstaff. Plenty of passing oomph even at that altitude and even climbing a grade.

I've never had the 996 Turbo on I-70 and the higher elevation passes but I had the car in Wyoming at over 8000 feet and even at 8000 feet the car ran like a scalded cat. It was under hard acceleration at over 8000 feet I saw the boost -- nominally "limited" to 0.7 bar -- climb to 0.8 bar and even 0.9 bar and hold there for enough time to know it was not some anomaly but on purpose. The DME was attempting to satisfy the torque demand and to do so allowed higher boost.

Then and there I vowed that if I ever moved to a mountainous area if at all possible I'd have a turbo-charged vehicle to help take the sting of the higher elevation.

Olemiss540

I think you misread or misunderstood my post. What I intended to say was driving at high altitude is similar to driving in a hot weather climate. Lower volumes of air per piston stroke equals less power. Pv equals NRT.

Rustler

Most of the repairs were done by the dealer before PPI, I think you could fairly sum them up as the types of things you'd typically find in a 50k mile car, not failed but worn, and not from neglect but use. After Porsche Bellevue had their way with it there were only a few little things that came up on the PPI by Chris's German, a bad fuse in the cig lighter, no pump for spare, recharge the AC... just little stuff but stuff that was addressed or discounted against the sale price. PPI certainly paid for itself.

As far as lag goes, I guess that's really subjective. The 335i I came from's reason for being was to eliminate turbo lag, and it put out all of it's torque from something like 1400 revs. This car isn't wimpy off boost by any stretch, but still, the difference between putting away from a light at low revs and spooling it up is hilarious. I suppose if you really want to experience true turbo lag, try a Subaru WRX (at least the circa '02 model I used to own). It felt like a beat up civic down low, and then, woosh the turbos unleashed and it turned into a rocket. Fun.

I am definitely putting snows on this. Essentially no salt on the roads here, and otherwise very dry climate means winter is not that hard on cars (I probably won't start it when we get that first -25 f day next December!)

The only thing I question so far is the road noise/NVH in this car. I'd really like to ride in another of the same mileage and compare. Maybe it's the massive 295s out back with relatively little sound deadening, or maybe the dampers are tired or there's something else causing excessive road noise. Certainly an aftermarket exhaust like the RUF is going to be a bit noisier and dronier. It's just hard to tell if this is par for the course, or something that can be addressed.

Jeff_DML

Mine has a lot of road noise so seems like a standard option. I was kind of surprised too since the turbo is Porsche's luxury/GT 911. Also rides rougher then I expected but you can argue it is still sports car.