Hi Guys,

Looking for a little advise from the Pros here... I know this topic has been beat to death in the past, but I'm planning my 992 order at the end of the month. I live in South Florida, the car will never see snow or ice. We do see a lot of rain, but do I really need AWD considering the 992 has "Wet Mode" in all variants? The sales guy I spoke to yesterday was less than helpful. The car will be a DD and will probably never see a track. I like the idea of having more traction and I'm hearing the C4S tends to have a better resale. Although C2S has less weight and better MPG. Whats the consensus? Thanks in advance!

My code for those interested :

PL3VXV57
http://www.porsche-code.com/PL3VXV57

 

The nice thing now is that they are both wide bodies.

 

I’m betting your market will see many more C2 variants now that it is a wide body. I don’t think you’d see the benefit of all wheel drive in your area. Hard to say what wil happen on resale now. The “purists” will take the C2S so maybe that model will have better resale (now with the wide body).

 

If you have to drive flat out in the wet then AWD has definite advantages. If you just need to stay with the flow of the traffic then RWD with good tires of reasonable tread depth is fine.

The thing that many people miss is that AWD on similar tires offers very little in braking and turning. It is much better out of the turn on low grip surfaces. I think some driving experience on low grip surfaces is worth far more than anything I have seen from AWD itself in the rain.

If if not having AWD while driving in the wet causes a driver a lack of confidence in the car then that also would be a decider in my book. You need to know what your car can do and be confident that you can reliably operate it at that level.

 

I wouldn't worry about traction at all in the conditions you describe. I have a 991.2 C2 and I use it as a daily driver in the Seattle area - so lots of rain. I even run all season tires, and the traction is amazing. Even in heavy rain, I've never had a hint of an issue with traction when using it as a daily. Just because a 4WD is available, it's easy to forget how amazing the traction is on the RWD cars.

 

Whatever you decide, that's a beautiful build. Both my current 997.2 and my former 991.2 are/were AWD. The 997 gets a set of winter wheels and tires and is driven in all sorts of conditions. The 991 was driven in winter when there wasn't snow on the ground. However, we would use the 991 on all of our long highway trips in spring, summer and fall, and sometimes we would find ourselves driving though downpours. While I tend to drive cautiously in those conditions, having AWD just made for a more relaxing ride. On one occasion I was driving through a construction area in northeastern PA in a heavy rainstorm. They had placed temporary barriers to the left of the left lane which caused water to pool in the left side of the lane. I came around a curve at about 60 mph and felt the car beginning to slide a bit. I just hit the gas and felt the car just pull me around the turn. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think it was the front wheels that were doing the work.

 

I personally never hoon in the rain as it’s just asking for trouble and you never know what the road surface is really like in the wet. As long as you just drive normally in the rain you should be fine. These cars have amazing traction even in 2wd variants. Also some have mentioned that turn in is sharper with the 2wd although I have no experience with the c4s.

 

I ordered 992 C2S in south FL for all the reasons you noted. Had 997 C2S DD and never had any issues. Save that 4S money and get some more options!

 

I could be wrong but I think the AWD also offers faster off the line acceleration

 

I had the same thing in my mind, I live in South Florida as well. I asked couple of people, and talked to couple of SA, and decided to go with C4S since the value difference is very low, I think it does worth the $7k difference to have AWD. and I do think it'll be just easier to resale

 

Unless you have a specific budget constraint and/or desire to go nuts on the options list, the AWD is worth it for the improved traction in all conditions -- it's just able to get more power to the ground.

 

4s

 

Honestly, go AWD. Florida doesn't even have that many dynamic roads, but you'll want to be able to launch out of the hole harder, which AWD lets you do. Also, your resale is almost always better with 4wd as it serves other markets...I actually prefer how the 4s drives to the 2 in most circumstances now, even traded a 2wd GT3 for a "normal" 4s and have been happy with that decision every day.

 

Thanks for the feedback! This is very helpful. Some very valid points on both sides from everyone. Rennlisters should get a share of commissions. The sales guy I conversed with was worthless and offered zero insight compared to this. Thanks again, much appreciated!

 

Sometimes you don't want that traction. Just saying.