Manifold

Come on man, give it up. I had a 981 GT4 for 7 years, now have the 4RS. Suspension and handling of 4RS is well beyond the GT4, and the 4RS troubles every generation of GT3 on the track without needing any suspension mods.

Ksdaoski

Dude has never even sat in a 4rs let alone drove one to have an informed and intelligent perspective.

🤡

Mr. Adair

100%

Manifold

I didn't drive the 4RS the past couple of days due to rain, so I was itching to take for a drive today. Roads varied from dry to damp to wet, and I have the Dunlop tires.

First third of the drive, I was taking it somewhat easy and didn't enjoy driving the car much. The car seemed unnecessarily loud, I didn't love the air intake sounds, and car felt too easy to drive. Ride quality was fine.

As I picked up my pace and gained confidence in the Dunlop tires on the damp roads, I enjoyed the car more and more. I came to like the soundtrack, and the performance of the car was thrilling. I still felt a slight lack of mid range punch compared to some other cars, but overall the car felt (and is) quite fast. It continued to remind me of a mid-engine 992 GT3 in terms of way it loads up with trailbraking corner entry, and then really digs in with a lot of grip. I can see why this car will be really fast on track.

When I would slow back down and just cruise in traffic, the sound level wasn't too loud, though the car does sometimes drone a bit in the 2-3k range. I find that Sport Exhaust button usually makes little or no difference, but sometimes it makes a substantial difference.

I tried the damping in both modes and came to the conclusion that (a) when I want to just cruise, the damping can be in either mode, since the ride quality is fine either way, and (b) when I want to have fun, regardless of how bad the road is or how fast I'm going, I prefer to leave the damping in the firmer mode, since it provides more feel of the road and more control of body motion.

So I divide the use of this car, on the road, into three categories:

- When just cruising at normal speeds not much over speed limits, the car isn't fun to drive, but it's reasonably comfortable because it's not too loud and the ride quality is good.

- When driving in a somewhat spirted manner, up to about 2x speeds limits, the car sounds more lively, but it has so much grip and stability that it's not particularly engaging to drive.

- When driving it pretty hard, closer to 7/10ths, the car is thrilling to drive and its potential starts to become apparent, but the speeds are so high that I think they're bordering on too fast for the road, even if one is being very careful.

If I bought this car for road only, I would consider putting a less grippy tire on it.

Bottom line: the car isn't for everybody, but for some people it's a very special car and there's nothing else quite like it.

GT4RSYMPHONY

Thanks for the helpful update. This makes me worry that maybe this isn’t the right car for me. Porsches are very competent but sometimes the fizz is just hard to identify.

I had more of a laugh in a fiat 500 Abarth I test drove than in my 992 GTS 7 speed, even with JCR exhaust. Decisions decisions

Manifold

I hope it's helpful, that's my aim. There's way too much hype in car reviews and forums like RL. I'm always honest about my impressions of the cars I've driven, but of course they're only my personal subjective impressions, and your impressions may differ from mine.

I think the 4RS has a lot of fizz, but needs to be driven with vigor to access it. So the roads available to you make a big difference.

TOporschefan

Just came back from a short evening ride. I agree down low like 2-3k with light to moderate acceleration there is some slightly unpleasant drone. Just lean into the throttle and that disappears quickly. I am surprised you don't notice a big difference with the sports exhaust on or off. I actually notice a big difference. More so than my previous 991.2 RS. I find this car is a riot driven slow or fast. The sound track and short gears make for a hell of a time. The more I drive this car the more I love it.

If you take the car out of PDK sport and exhaust off with light to moderate acceleration it is very quiet to my ears. This car will likely go down as one of the greats in my opinion. The car is sharp and when driven hard it delivers. I think getting some miles behind your belt will change your view. I feel you are now also beginning to enjoy your 992 Gt3 more than when you first got it.

Hope you continue to enjoy the car as much as I have!

JAhmed

TR, you should take a spin in an Emira. I've had mine for a few weeks and it is pretty eye opening in regards to damping and suspension behavior. Had it out at the Tail of the Dragon and surrounding roads with my 991.2 GT3 in tow (and a friends BGTS 4.0 as well), and the Emira really does show the Porsches a thing or two...

TOporschefan

Porsche makes so many variations of each model 911/718. Ask your self a few questions as to what your use case is then find then sub in the right model. AP did a great job as did many YouTube on reviewing this car. The 4RS is exactly what is was designed to do.....if you want excitement this car delivers. Loud yes....but thrilling loud, hard suspension....yeah but no more than most RS products (go drive one if you can). Engine -glorious especially mated to the PDK transmission. No one car is perfect but the 4RS delivers what it promises.

TRZ06

I have heard that about it. I am not too fond of the powertrain, and I think that it is more GTS level rather than GT4, but yeah double wishbone front and rear and Lotus does damping right.

I am hoping that they produce a higher performance level trim before they go fully electric. It might be the one car to make me want to let go of the GT4. I have so much money and mods tied up into it now though and it is really good now that it wouldn't be easy for me to let it go. If there is a car that could do it though, it would be a higher performance version of the Emira

JAhmed

You are correct, the Emira is very clearly designed to compete with the CGTS, not the GT4. That being said, my Spyder is on KW Clubsports and setup for road driving (similar to your car, I imagine), so definitely not a stranger to good damping. The Emira is just super impressive straight from the factory in this regard.

It seems the rumor mill goes back and forth on whether an Emira "R" or "GT" will come out. Suspect it will be the AMG motor + DCT only if it does. I'd try one for sure though.

Manifold

I consistently noticed a big difference in my friend's 4RS also. Maybe my valve isn't working properly? I'll compare with my friend's again, and if the difference is much less in mine, I'll have the dealer fix it.

I've been using the paddles almost exclusively. Does PDK normal vs sport make any difference in manual mode?

alcc

Sports Exhaust: in mine I find the drone excessive and intrusive, so I've left it off since day 1.

PDK Sport: never noticed any difference. Maybe because I only drive in M mode.

ChrisF

I'm about 2k miles in on mine now. I'm finding the more I drive this car, the more i enjoy it. It is definitely happier being driven hard. Short gearing makes if fun to rip off 3 quick shifts at mid RPM's. I agree with @Manifold in that to start really feeling the car, you are at crazy speeds on the street. Need to get this car on track soon. I expect it to be mind blowing.

After my initial concerns for sound/gearing, I've found my personal sweet spot:
- Sports Exhaust on: to my ears, this changes the tone to more bass biased. With it off, there is a stronger midrange that sometimes hurts my ears.
- PDK manual mode: for street driving. Fairly certain I will leave it in auto/PDK sport on track though

Those two make the car fun for me even just tooling around my home area and even more so on the canyons nearby.

Taffy66

Great observations about the amazing 4RS above from owners. In mine there is a very noticeable difference between PSE on and off. The PSE on induces some drone between 2-3k and is noisier. Switch PSE off and the drone goes away completely in my car. I've said from the start that the ride quality on the 4RS is perfectly acceptable and no worse than any GT3 or RS I've previously owned.
The one gripe I have with mine is the outer shoulder on the left front is wearing prematurely compared to the remainder of the tyre despite having -2.75 negative camber. Since fitting front camber plates and getting -3.25 camber I've only done one track day so hoping this will solve it.
The price we pay because the tracks are run clockwise I expect.