930man

Mike.... They are stuning in person... I love my guards red!!!!! Congrats !!! You will luv the supermodel ...she can be a stripper when really strart to take her out.

Mike in CA

930man, I have no doubt about the stripper personality. Congrats to you as well!

kencollinsjr

Mike in CA: have you for even one moment had any second thoughts on color selection? Any others that have even crossed your mind since choosing GR? GR looks stunning btw.

Augustomf

Congratulations, thank you for the pure wheel ****.

I agree with you 100% on the new PDK, it is not the same as the 997, and I am sure yours is even faster and crispier then mine. I do agree that the manual is more involving, but there is no way that a human being is more efficient than the PDK. And I even found out, the hard way, that PDK in Sport Plus and Auto is more efficient than me on the Paddles. I had an over-rev moment because I was not fast enough going from 1st to 2nd, the PDK hesitate for a fraction of a second while hitting the Rev Limiter. These engines rev too fast for us humans.

Again enjoy the car and keep us drooling!

john weires

Mike,
Just saw your post. Congratulations on your car and your excellent photography. It looks stunning in Guards Red. I agree that the wait sweetens the arrival when it finally happens. I'm looking at late summer or early fall for my GT3.

Is the ride supple enough for use as a daily driver? I'm used to a standard suspension 2009 C2S.

Did I understand you correctly that in auto mode the GT3 PDK does not downshift as the car slows except to avoid lugging or stalling? If this is the case, once back on the gas, isn't there a delay in PDK shifting to the optimum rpm range as PDK might have to downshift through multiple gears? Would you say that the auto mode vs manual mode is a very different experience in terms of immediacy of response?

Mike in CA

Ken, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have second thoughts, especially before my car arrived. This is my first really red car; I had a wine red Lotus Europa and a Ruby Red '84 Carrera, but all my other sports cars and sport sedans have been silver, with a couple of black BMW's thrown in. The only white car I've ever owned is my Cayenne, and it's a creamy white, not like the GT3 white. So this was a big change for me.

I saw a Mexico Blue 991 C4S with aero kit the other day in person that had me wondering if I would have chosen it if PTS had been available when I ordered. I've seen pics of other colors that look really good. But I go through the same mental checklist of all the colors that I did when trying to make up my mind in the first place and eliminate them one by one until I come down to red or a silver shade (which I still love). But I've had so many silver cars, and felt I needed to be more bold with this one.

I have to say that so far people seem to really respond to the car in person. For example, two attendants come running out of the gas station/food mart to take photos the other day, and a guy on a BMW twin literally did a quadruple take on the freeway looking backward on his bike before giving me the thumbs up. They might have done this regardless, but I think maybe the color has something to do with it.

I guess I have no regrets.....

kencollinsjr

Mike in CA: well done and we're all envious of that gorgeous car in a very appropriate bold color. You'll have to report back in 6-12 months with how many speeding tickets you've gotten. Maybe we'll need a year-1 poll sorted by color? Cheers!

Mike in CA

Thanks, John.

As for the ride, I had an '09 C2S with the sport suspension. I would equate the GT3's ride in the normal PASM setting as pretty close to my old car in sport PASM mode. On smooth roads the ride is quite reasonable. On rougher roads, you definitely feel the firmness although it's for sure not a matter of the suspension crashing on the stops. On bad, uneven roads it's not going to be the ride that slows you down but rather the fact that the car is so low to the ground that it will likely be making occasional body contact. My discovery that the front lift doesn't drop until 39mph rather than 30mph means that it's actually useful in those situations. Bottom line, depending what the roads are like where you live, the GT3 could be a daily driver.

I probably wasn't as complete in my description of PDK-S as I could have been which may have led to some confusion. I've played with the gearbox more since I first got the car so will share what I've found.

Regular Auto:
In this mode the gearbox shifts early; much too early for my taste. It's not quite as bad as PDK in standard Auto/ECO mode but upshifts come at between 2000-2500 RPM if you're just tooling along. Downshifts occur between 1500-2000 RPM. PDK-S does adapt to your driving style, so if you are being more aggressive with the throttle both upshifts and downshifts occur at higher RPM in regular mode, but once you've returned to more sedate driving the gearbox returns to it's sedate default mode. The gearbox will kickdown to the appropriate lower gear fairly quickly if you nail the throttle.

PDK Sport:
This mode is actually kind of fun. Upshifts occur at about 4500 RPM even with gentle acceleration; downshifts between 3500 and 4000. The gearbox responds to increased throttle with great immediacy. It will kickdown 2 or 3 gears almost instantly if required. PDK Sport in the PDK-S gearbox is a lot more aggressive than Sport in the regular PDK box, for those who are familiar with the older PDK, yet more usable on the street than the old PDK Sport + which would not upshift before redline.

Manual:
I use this 99% of the time. It basically works like a regular MT without a clutch pedal. It will not upshift until you tell it to and will supposedly bounce off the rev limiter until you upshift, although I haven't confirmed that yet myself. Likewise there is no kickdown feature; if you want a downshift you have to initiate it. If you are in, say, 5th gear and let speed and engine revs drop, the gearbox will stay in 5th gear all the way down to about 900 rpm, just above idle speed, before it will quickly drop down through the gears automatically to 1st or 2nd. Likewise, if you stab the throttle at 1200 rpm with the gearbox in 5th, it will pull, but won't downshift. That's what I meant earlier when I said that if you want to maintain a proper pace, you have to select the right gear; PDK-S won't do it for you under any circumstances in manual (except just before coming to a stop as described above).

BTW, there is no creep function in any of the modes. You have to feather the throttle a bit for a smooth start. Rev matches on downshift will occur in both Auto and Manual mode, being more obvious the more speed you are carrying and higher revs you're using.

Mike in CA

I actually did some internet research on that subject before ordering and found that supposedly statistics don't bear out that red cars get more tickets; it's an urban myth. I really hope that's the case!

frayed

Mike, so digging your color choice and good to vet the decision some months ago.

I suspect that the only way I'd regret guards is if PTS were available at my time of order. Since it's not, it's a moot point. But if I jump to an RS and PTS is available, I love both mexico and gulf blue.

Quikag

haha, good luck with that internet research. You have a bright red 991 GT3. If you're speeding and a cop is around, your car is going to be get noticed before pretty much any other car on the road.

Mike in CA

frayed, I can attest that Mexico Blue does look great on the 991 body style....

You're probably right, although I'm guessing that if you're speeding in any GT3 and a cop is around your chances aren't too good. FWIW, I got more tickets in my silver Porsches than in my red Lotus.

Manifold

So there's no automated PDK mode which is suitable for the track (ie, upshifting near redline)?

neanicu

Even though your question is not addressed to me,I believe Mike stated that the PDK-S in Auto adapts to your driving style. I suspect being at the track in Auto and Sport mode,it will upshift pretty darn close to redline...

Mike in CA

PDK-S Sport mode will definitely upshift at redline if you are on the throttle, is very dynamic, and would be perfectly suited for the track. What I was trying to say is that unlike PDK Sport Plus which was not adaptive and would stay in a given gear almost or to redline regardless of throttle opening, PDK-S Sport mode is adaptive and, while aggressive, is actually useable on the street.