knasman

I've had a 2014 991 for about 3 years, a 4S. It was both my daily driver, and my track friend. I'd take it out 2-4 times every summer, put R-compounds on it, and work on improving my skills as a driver. I loved it. The duality of the 911 was part of the allure to me. You can beat the crap out of it on the track for a full day, then put the street tires back on and putz home as if nothing had happened. It was very capable on the track, not a huge performance disparity to, say, a GT3. If you're a better driver, you can still own them in a heavier and less powerful 4S.

So when I got the sales kit from Porsche last year, talking about the 991.2, I wasn't that interested. Part of the track fun in my current car was winding out that lovely 3.8L NA engine. It sounded so good, and it really wanted to be revved all the way out. It always felt more at home at the track than on the road. A bit too noisy on the street imho, and a bit sluggish off the line until you built up the RPMs.

Didn't give the 991.2 much more thought, until 3 weeks ago. I decided I should give the 991.2 a go, just to see what that new engine was all about. My local dealer is always great about test drives - toss you the keys, and you'll spend an hour driving mountain roads by yourself. So I took out a brand new stock Carrera, and I had a lot of fun. Too much fun. That little engine was peppy, no sluggishness there. You bolt off the line with little effort. And it still liked to be revved, it felt very eager. Very enjoyable! I get back to the dealership, and decided to put down a deposit on a nicely spec'ed 4S they would have coming in in a few weeks. Back from a vacation in Europe last week, and I picked it up on Friday, trading in my 991.1 4S. Options are fairly equivalent between the two - new one has the sport package, but it's missing PDCC that I had in the old one.

And that was a long winded way of saying I'm now on my 4th day in the 991.2. I love driving it on the street. So much fun, so quick. And so very different. This is a bit cheesy, but I love how it sounds when you start it. Very quick turn-over, and it roars into life. Sounds better than the old one in that regard. Driving it on the street, and the sound is lacking though. Yes, the old one I thought was too loud in some cases, but boy it always sounded like a beast. Part of my startup ritual is turning Sports mode on, mainly for the throttle response. The old one drove like a lazy Buick without that. And hence you always got PSE turned on too. The 991.2 needs revs to sound good, this is definitely different. Sounds like the valves don't really open until 3-4K RPM, whereas in the 991.1 it always sounded great. So for the sound track, the 991.1 definitely takes it, it's no contest.

991.2 feels more nimble. Part of that may be the rear wheel steering, I can't say for sure yet. The zip of the engine might have something to do with this feeling too. It definitely steers differently, I'll need to take it to the track and explore to full pass a verdict on that front.

Love the new manettino dial, and the individual mode. Finally a one click solution to having your own driving mode. The boost button, however, that seems a little gimmicky. I've only tried it once, and it seems like it just switches to Sport+ throttle/shift mode for 20 seconds. With that amount of torque available, I don't need a sudden shift to 2nd at 6K RPM. I'll likely never use that.

Engine is a lot of fun, I enjoy certain aspects of the turbo. The little whistle that you hear when it's going, it's a bit intoxicating. Lag is fairly minimal. Yes, if you're at low revs, it takes a while to build. But so did the old engine, since not a lot of torque was available down there. In some ways, building boost+revs or just revs isn't that different. Verdict is still out on higher rev lag, if the lack of precision there is going to be annoying on the track. I'm split on the need to rev it out. It felt so good to rev the old engine all the way out, redline approaching at ever increasing pull. I don't need to do that now, though I still can. On the flip side, NOT having to rev it out to be quick in normal driving is awesome. As mentioned earlier, the eagerness of the engine impresses me. If the 991.2 engine was a classmate, he'd be the one you'd resent for always being well prepared and the first to put his hand up.

Gearbox seems improved. Both models are with PDK. I've driven manual cars most of my life, but I bow my head down to the God that is PDK. I honestly think it couldn't get better than the 991.1, but the 991.2 is markedly improved. It's both snappier, and more smooth. You can improve on perfection, or at least Porsche can. Only downside of PDK is the added weight, in my opinion. I love it both on the track and on the road.

New PCM is great, huge improvement over the old model. Minor thing to me, but maybe now I'll actually use the nav. I won't spend more time on this, as it's completely secondary to me.

For several of the above comparisons, verdict is still out on track performance. Will the new engine be as fun a the old one there? I'm not sure, and that worries me a little bit. Can I still take it out and do a full day of track driving at 100F in 45 min sessions and not have it overheat? I don't know. Parts of my gut tell me that it's gone more GT than track now, and that worries me too. I'm sure it'll be faster on the track, but will it be as precise and consistent? Those worries might be completely unfounded, I'll know more in the near future. Parts of me misses the old car, a car that I'd sworn I'd never get rid of. And that worries me too! Why would I miss the old car, when I have a brand new car that's supposedly better? I've never missed an old car before, when trading it in for a new one.

Hope the above is useful to some. I'll be back with more details when I have more to share. I'll need more time with it for now, and most importantly, a track session or two.

amre

Thank you for the review and for sharing your thoughts. I'm expecting my 991.2 4S to arrive tomorrow morning and I'm very excited. While I've driven a few 991.1s before, I never owned one so I have nothing to compare it to. That may be a good thing. Thanks again for sharing. Beautiful car BTW!

dflowerz

Thanks for posting. Had my 991.2 C2s coupe for a few weeks now and love it. Doing a drive down the Oregon coast on the way to Sacramento next week and really looking forward spending a lot of time with the new toy.

dhirm5

Beautiful -- congrats! GT Silver?

knasman

Thanks! And don't get me wrong, you're in for a major treat. The 991.2 is a beast of a car. My angle was mostly trying to highlight the differences in the two, which are bigger (imho) than a normal "facelift".

knasman

Yes, GT Silver. My previous was Agate Grey. While I really liked that color, I'm liking the silver with the black rims more. I think it makes it look a bit younger (and so does the wife and kids!), which is nice when most of the people you see driving 911 are a bit grey...

subshooter

Nice job on the review. I found it objective and enjoyable to read. Enjoy the car. I'm taking a 991.2S on a track Thursday and will report back.

knasman

Thank you! I'll be looking forward to your review of the track behavior of it, and I honestly can't wait to try it out myself too.

PDX991

Great review!

chuckbdc

Beautiful car! I have had a chance to flog the 991.2 at the track- following Porsche pro instructors, but going as fast as the car could go through very high speed sections. The new car is a bit faster, a bit sharper and obviously smoother. You are going to love it.

pfbz

Nice review.... I also was tossed the keys to a new 911.2 for the weekend ( C4 Cab, PDK, non-S) and was blown away by the engine performance, particularly at high altitudes where I regularly drive. I'd put a .2 base against a .1 S anyday...

As for the boost button, you might want to play with it a bit more. In addition to putting everything in top sport mode, it also allows a higher level of boost pressure for a limited period of time, it should be noticeable even if you are already in Sport+

Driven991

WOOO!! Knasman that car is sweet. Really love that GT silver.

I own a 14 C2s and am curious about the throttle response of the new engine. I understand what you mean about having to rev the NA engine to get it to move in traffic. Didn't quite understand what you meant by boost+revs. Are you saying the new engine is strong off the line without revving or that you still have to rev it to get it to move quickly say at a stoplight or at a slow roll?

Hope you enjoy your new car in good health. Very interested to hear your opinion of the car on the track.

drgek

I'd be a bit grey if I wasn't more than a bit bald

Congrats on your car. Headed to Park City with my wife in a few weeks. Any restaurant recommendations?

Al.Fresco

I'm there right now. I highly recommend J&G Grill at the St Regis at Deer Valley, just up the road. Great meal with great views and a fun ride up the Funicular to get there.

Had a great lunch and drinks at the High West Distillery and Saloon on Park St in Park City (just off Main). Would highly recommend that as well

The rest of our meals have just been ok so far. Will hit you back if I stumble into any others great ones.

drgek

Thanks!