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I began the day with a can of Monster I bought on Amazon's German website during a Black Friday promotion for about 1 euro. I loaded into my GT3 Touring with around 250km and headed from Freiburg toward Hohenzollern castle via the scenic route. Upon arriving I was directed to a parking spot I didn't feel comfortable with in a very full lot so I decided to skip the 25 minute trek up to the castle and instead continued on toward Munich. I finally arrived in Munich without a lot of fanfare. Truthfully, I was following the engine-break in procedure that I've seen tossed around as being promoted by AP and the car is almost too good to really enjoy at low speeds.
My friend and I went to the P1 club, talked to a bunch of snobbish German women (as usual at P1), and retired for the night.
The drive back was significantly better. I was able to hit around 6500 RPMs at that point and (right or wrong) I basically ignored any break-in procedure besides the strict adherence to engine RPMs and keeping acceleration to a reasonable rate. The car is actually rather boring to drive at low speeds and low RPMs because it's almost too good. It's glued to the road in a way that my 2013 911 S and my 993 have never came close to approaching. However,
I was able to hit 250 kmph for some long stretches and at no point did I feel the car losing stability. The highlight of the entire trip was approaching Karlsruhe where thanks to some light traffic and a lot of luck I was fortunate enough to pull behind and stay with a black Carrera GT for about ten minutes who rather aggressively ensured the drivers in front of him knew about his presence
Ultimately, after 1200km I've came away with the following thoughts about the GT3 Touring;
- If you're driving it mostly on the street you NEED a manual transmission. The car is so good that it's almost boring at low speeds. The only thing giving it any life whatsoever is shifting the gears yourself. For me, other than shifting gears, the experience doesn't come alive until about 120mph. This is definitely not the case with my 993 which I enjoy driving at all speeds. In fact, if I'm being perfectly honest, maybe this is what the R drivers allude to when they say it's better / more alive? The manual transmission in this car is the best I've ever used. Has a great notchy feel to it and I have yet to miss a shift due to the car.
- The car looks much better in person than it does in photos. I actually don't like the way the new GT3 looks in photos that much but in person it's a stunner that looks significantly better than my 2013 911 S did.
- The front-axle lift system is incredible. I have been able to pull into my driveway without scraping by a 'punt hair' thanks to the system and have yet to put any scrapes on the front end. I may have put a couple scratches on one of the rear fins but those are individually replaceable by taking out four or five screws (assuming they sell them individually).
- The car really isn't that loud inside (no louder than I remember my 2013 911 S but it's been a while) and the sport exhaust button doesn't seem to do very much of anything. The Bose system with the source being Germany's digital radio broadcast sounds great. I never noticed the "drone" that other people have mentioned around 140kmph but maybe they were more sensitive to it.
- "Buy once, cry once." I don't regret a single option I overspent on but I know if I skipped an option over cost I'd be kicking myself in the butt right now. If you're considering an option, just check the box.
- The lightweight buckets are as comfortable for me as the 14 (18-way?) sport seats in the 991.1. Also, I haven't tested them with a helmet but I don't feel any need to pay for an adapter to change the seat angle.
- The Porsche "Exclusive option" seat bolster protectors aren't a perfect fit in-spite of following their install instructions and video. They're good enough that I'm satisfied but if I was buying again I'd probably consider the "Crazy Eddie" version in-spite of never seeing it in person.
I haven't topped 7000 RPM yet so I can't really give a complete picture on the car but those are the things that have stuck in my mind the most so far.
Last edited by destaccado; 04-09-2018 at 08:37 AM.
04-09-2018, 08:19 AM
Freiburg to München and back with the GT3 Touring
