jpbesl

... and did my first (cheap) mod the day I picked it up. Plasti-Dip is some pretty amazing stuff.

Porsche911GTS'16

Beautiful car! Welcome back to the club!

Al.Fresco

Looks great!!!

mdrobc1213

Nice congrats. Interested on your thoughts of the M4 and why you went back to the Porsche? Looks good. How did you get the inside of the letters covered though?

DBC

Beautiful, love the color!

jpbesl

Thanks. My original post was pretty quick, so I'll put some thoughts here.

First, Plasti-Dip is a spray that peels away when done. Check out this video (not made by me) that shows the removal process after a few spray coats:


You need a little toothpick or something to get the insides of the letters but it comes off really clean and easy.

Some thoughts on the M4:

SKIDDING!

I went to the M4 from a 991.1 C2S. At that time I was looking for a bit more tailhappy fun and boy did I get it. That car is a monster, and it's built to throw the tail out. I'm no Chris Harris, but I love to do some low speed drifty turns onto some roads I'm very familiar with that have no traffic. Blip the gas a little in the M4 and you've got this nice, controllable skid - makes you feel like a hero.

Just a note - I could make the 991.1 C2S do this too, but mostly in the winter or when the tires were cold... and obviously it was a lot more snappy when it did break loose. Not as bad as people may have you think, but the M4 was certainly easier to control in the skid.

OK, enough skidding...

POWER:

The M4 is more powerful and feels faster than the 991.1 or .2. It pulls hard in almost any gear, and I've lit the tires up in third. It took a while to get used to and beat my fear to be honest. It scares the life out of passengers. It's so easy to be at speeds that will get you in jail, thankfully it had a speed warning. I set it at 68mph and it chimed constant warnings on any and all drives.

I like the idea that I have to work the gears, and when I really punch it, I'm actually much closer to legal speeds with a bigger smile on my face.

HANDLING:

Once I got used to it, the M4 handling was not at the level of the 991.1 or 991.2 obviously, but for street driving it really is confidence inspiring. I don't have a track near me and don't have the time to get to one, so I can't comment there. But as I said above, I do play at the limits and once I understood the throttle characteristics, the handling felt very well behaved within the right envelope. As I said though, if your foot gets excited, the tail comes out. All the time. Much different than the P-cars.

With all I'm writing above, the car is super practical, comfortable, and feels heavy at times. The power goes a long way to lightening up the feel, but most of the time you know you're in a heavy car.

I think the comfort setting in th 991.2 is similar to the M4 middle damper setting and the sport setting is pretty hard-riding.

NOISE:

Exhaust is obnoxious in sport mode and quiet in comfort. I fell on the side of the fence that enjoyed the M4's exhaust character, but I do admit it wasn't the nicest of sounds. I kept active sound on, and it made it even more prominent in the cabin. The lack of noise was the one fear I had going to the .2 base with base exhaust, and the first few miles I thought I made a mistake. But at lower speeds, higher revs around town, the sound is so much better (not louder) and has much more of a maturity and sophistication to it. It's a "vroom" and not a "braaaaaaagggghhhh".

INFOTAINMENT:

It still kinda sucks to be honest. It's better, yes. But they just don't have a good sense of user experience. The widgets for the MyHome screen are frustratingly useless and they don't give you enough to configure a perfect home screen. And it takes too many swipes and taps to get to things.

Biggest gripe is that I can't easily move up and down between my favorites from the multifunction wheel. Only able to go forward and backward through channels on the source that's selected. With my M4, I could create a favorites list of FM and XM stations, and move forward and backward through those from the wheel. So much better.

That said, I'm not here for the infotainment.

SUMMARY:

In short, the M4 is this nice blend between a muscle car and a nimble German racer. I think it's still at the top of its class - I just wanted to switch class again.

Comparing the 991.2 C2 to the 991.1 C2S...

POWER:

After coming from the M4, I'm actually starting to favor the peakyness of FI cars. So to me, the .2 base feels faster than my .1 S. The availability of torque throughout the rev band is just so nice.

NOISE:

.1 S did not have the sports exhaust. .2 base sounds very similar to it, but quieter with the added woosh of the turbos. It takes a little getting used to coming from the M4 noise punching you in the face, but I'm rewarded with the music I hear at that lower volume.

HANDLING:

Well that's why I came back. It's a lighter car, it has the GT sport wheel, and it's lower to the ground. I'm back in a comfortable race car from my sports sedan.

I think the rack feels faster from the .1 - maybe it's the smaller wheel?

Vs the 991.1, I believe the .2 rides harder. But that may be me just getting used to the M4 and coming back.

Anyway, more similarities than differences. Certainly don't feel like I gave up anything coming to a .2 base from a .1 S.

TRANSMISSION:

I swore I'd get a stick again, but after driving a 991.1 C4S manual back to back with a .2 PDK, I decided that I've caught the bug and am enjoying the PDK more.

Part of the reason is that THEY FIXED THE DAMN PDK!! My .1 was so frustrating - all the reviewers claimed the PDK was the best double-clutch in the business, but I suffered from delayed downshifts and upshifts all the time. I'd watch a review video of people gushing over this thing, then went out and drive, and I wanted to punch a wall.

The M4's DSG beat it hands down. Maybe I had a defective unit in the 991. Maybe I just had unreasonable expectations... I don't know. It was a big reason why I gave up the 991 for the M4.

That said, the 991.2 PDK beats the M4's - it's now king of the hill. Shifts are ACTUALLY as good as instant, they engage with more force in sport plus, and (since I didn't have the sport wheel in my .1) I can dump it to neutral with both paddles whenever I want!! This is the most perfect auto-manual I've used, I drive all my autos in manual all the time (I'm not kidding - ALL THE TIME), and this PDK is now to the point where I feel incredibly connected to the car. It absolutely is involving - it's just less to do. I get to focus on the other characteristics of the car instead of clutching.

Listen, I love manuals. Drove a stick for most of my life. Maybe I'm old, but the PDK is a damn good time.

OK, I rambled on. Feel free to ask questions on what I didn't cover.

blschaefer1

Interesting....I am doing the opposite of you. The lease is ending on my 991.1 C2S in the fall, and I picked up a 2016 M4 a few weeks ago. So I will have both for the next several months.

Your impressions are identical to mine. The two cars are very different animals - and they should be - one being a highly evolved sports car designed from the ground up to be just that - and the other a performance coupe adapted from a platform with much broader applications.

I've yet to be able to drive the M4 hard as it is still in the break in period, but the thing is a beast and the torque is intoxicating.

Nothing like that spine tingling rush to the top of the NA flat six though. Both good - just very different.

In the end - there are two fundamental reasons I am shying away from Porsche. Utility and cost. I have taken golf back up, and getting clubs in/out of the 991.1 is a pain. It can be done, but it's just not convenient. I like the traditional trunk in the M4 of this reason alone. And when I started looking at 991.2's, the cost and timing just were not in my favor this time around. Rising base pricing, no significant deals to be had, lease rates not that favorable, etc. Conversely, I believe the M4 is actually one of the great 'values' in performance cars currently. Great blend of speed, handling, build quality (interior and exterior) and versatility.

I've had two P-cars, the former being a 981.1 Cayman S. I may be coming back someday, as you have just done.

gmgracing

Welcome back. Great comparison review. It is nice to get input from someone who has had more than a journalist's 3-day weekend with the car.

Joec500

You'll be back....they all come back.

jpbesl

I don't have your golf problem, but I did have your lease problem, which is one reason I went to the M4.

Enjoy your M4. It really is a beast. When the new wears off, find an empty parking lot, turn DSC off and give it the beans.

-Ryan-

That sound is just coming from your speakers.

917k

+1 Belay that - just saw detailed response ^^