woobiee

Not too long ago, our 992 GTS crossed the 1-year mark and I'd love to share my experience. As a first time owner of a P-car, my observations and perspectives may seem repetitive to more seasoned readers on RL. If this is the case, I welcome you with some new photos for your trouble

2022 992 GTS 7spd manual

• Sport Plus Individual (Sport exhaust on. Dampers normal. Auto Stop/Start off. Auto blip on)
• Mileage: 15,487
• MPG: 23.2mpg

I initially started with Sport mode for a bit with a sampling of Sport Plus here and there, but now I'm in Sport Plus [Individual] exclusively. The throttle response feels more natural and linear in Sport Plus whereas Sport mode was twitchier and strangely enough, feels slower. This is quite possibly to be all psychological.

I prefer the exhaust note in Sport Plus as well, sounding more authentic to my ears. Burbles are still present but isn't as synthetic when in Sport mode. A nice surprise is the 5-10% better gas mileage I'm getting in Sport Plus over Sport. Oil temps are kept about 10% cooler in Sport Plus.



Likes
You've heard this a million times and you'll here it once more: the 911 makes driving so great; and makes me feel wonderful doing it. Its holistic approach of being unbelievably competent, classically beautiful, and fantastically practical is what it does best. After one year, this is my #1 reason why I'd buy this car and go through the painful procurement process.

The quality of construction is high but not perfect. Though it may not meet expectations at this price level, I feel it is somewhat offset by the superior driving dynamics and the options and customizations that Porsche makes available over other brands. To me it's all a give and take.

It's silly but I really enjoy all the contrast bits in the cabin: blue stitching top to bottom, blue belts, etc. In conjunction with full+extended leather, the interior is a special place to be sitting in. An expensive and frivolous combo of options for sure but it makes the drive a special one, even as a daily commuter puttering through traffic.

I'm very glad the 992.1 kept an analog tach. It freely dances front and center, putting a smile on my face with delight.



Some like it, others do not. I enjoy Race-Tex. I opted for every R-T option available at the time. It's the first car I’ve ever owned with this stuff and yes, I had to adjust my cleaning regimen to keep this material healthy and if I were to do this again, well, I'd opt to do the leather steering wheel and shifter for easier cleaning.

The 7spd manual is lovely. We all know the 6spd is better but the 7spd is quite fine by me. I was having difficulty navigating 5th, 6th, and 7th gears for the first couple months of ownership. I'm good with it now.

I'm never worried about grip because it has oodles of it.

The extended fuel tank is fantastic. It seems like a no-brainer considering the low cost. Just fill your tank half way if you are weight conscious....at least you have the option to do 600+ miles per tank.




Dislikes and annoyances
Let’s talk about stalks. Firstly, I detest the triple blink feature when you dip the turn indicator stalk. In other cars, I can turn this feature off. I can't seem to find this option in the PCM — anyone who knows how to not triple blink, please let me know!

Secondly, this is probably a me thing but I also find the stalks a bit cheap feeling? It feels like they are hollow or made of thin plastic — or both. I'd prefer a denser stalk or a slightly reduced click mechanism. I also find the intermittent wiper switch too soft and wished it had more resistant: like the drive mode selector.

Another switch annoyance: the window switches feel rubbery. Strange because all the other switches in the car feel great.

The Bose stereo is fine but not great. It's a pretty 'standard' sounding system. I can only imagine how inadequate the standard fare is. If I were to do it again, I’d probably upgrade to the Burmester system.

Another one we've heard a million times: The outer gauges are blocked by the wheel. Yeah I know old 911s have the same setup and I'm all for heritage. I'd slightly counter that and say classic 911s have larger but thinner steering wheels and the gauges were further apart with more space in between them. Anyway, I do wish the reduced view had a bit more info; that would be the perfect solution for me.

To be frank, the heated steering wheel is quite weak and disappointing. It basically feels like if your steering wheel was in direct sunlight for a few minutes. In comparison, BMW must stuff their heated steering wheels with lava.

The car also remembers when the heated function was turned on or not. In theory this is a great idea. However, there are no visual indicators of it being on or off and you must remember the last time you switched it. There were plenty of times when I questioned if I turned it on the day before or was it the sunlight gently warming the steering wheel during my commute. I’ve learned now to turn the heated steering wheel off every time I get out of the car. This way there is a known constant: the heated wheel is in the off position when I enter the car.



The sub second clock is hard to read at night. It’s not the lack of illumination but the thin and reflective nature of the hands.

I’ve found that the seat squeaks during the cold winter season. The culprit is the leather backs and the carbon inlays rubbing against each other.

Have you noticed that the walls of the side bolsters adjacent to the center console are not made with leather but a coarse fabric material? Is this to prevent rubbing noises between the bolsters and the console or is it cost cutting?

I've observed that the exterior sensors are more sensitive than what I'm used to. If the car is dirty or if it rains heavily, I'd get sensor errors: WBA errors, camera errors, etc. Luckily it's not very often and it's a non-issue if I regularly wash the car.

The center console lid doesn't hold fully vertical. It's a little annoying if both your hands are occupied: hooking your phone up to charge for example.




Wish list

• I miss a HUD and would be great to have the option for one.
• I wish the seats slid further back during comfort access when exiting the vehicle.
• I wish the seats slid forward automatically when you fold the seats to reach the back seats.
• I wish for more soft programable keys.
• I wish the mechanical exterior door pulls would return. It's just simpler. No fuss.
  
  

adm63

I have only had my T since May but I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. your wish list is spot on.

jlegelis

>> Firstly, I detest the triple blink feature when you dip the turn indicator stalk.
Odd, because that's also a standard feature on BMW, Audi etc. What would you rather have it do?

In any case its easily changeable using PIWIS. Not sure you can do zero blinks, but perhaps 1 blink?

ENCT

I ordered the Speed Blue stitching on my car after seeing your thread from probably about a year ago. Car is due this Saturday and I can't wait to see it. This is my 6th 911 and the first with deviated stitching.

woobiee

Yes one blink would suffice. I normally dip and hold the turn stalk while it blinks indefinitely until i release. Often I dip and hold while making my lane change but complete the lane change prior to blinking three times. So I’ll be sitting in the completed lane with an extra blink or two, falsely indicating.

I’d prefer it without any assistance or automation: let me indicate on my own.

Our BMW and Mini has triple blink by default, but can be set back to the standard single blink setting through iDrive.

Ørjan

Thank you for sharing your experience. And your spec is spot on - Shark blue is awesome!

fl0950

Great review and nice shots too. Glad you're enjoying such a great spec on your GTS.

PBoxS986

I enjoyed your review and also enjoyed reading your European Delivery experience. What will you doing over winter - storing or winter rims and tires?

Staffie Guy

I have the same issue with the heated steering wheel-only gets to slightly warm and its default is not off-So lame that sometimes I do not know if it is on or off.

lfish

I enjoyed reading your review- you're a careful observer! My one observation is regarding the stalks... as the previous owner of several late eighties 911s, I can attest that the current stalks feel MUCH better with a more positive detent and less plasticky feel. Still nowhere close to a Lexus or MB but obviously saving a few mg of weight has to take priority.

woobiee

I've been rocking the summer tires year round. I'll have a winter set once I'm ready to get new set of wheels; perhaps in another year or so. I know it's not advised with summer tires but it's been fine driving in sub 40f temps and knowing not to drive too spiritedly. We still have our Mini Countryman for those sub 20f and/or wintery precip days.

Thanks! I'm a designer by trade so observation is a thing I do often. That's astonishing to hear about classic 911 stalks being that bad. For me, the detent is maybe too strong for the lightness of the stalks. Countless times I would not give enough pressure when indicating, the stalk rebound and the bloody triple blinker start its thing. On the other hand, giving more pressure gives the stalk a brittle feel. First world OCD problems.

I'd throw in cars from the BMW Group in your list too -- solid and smooth with the right amount of detent strength.

Wilder

Great photos and nuanced observations. Interesting bit about MPG in Sport Plus vs Sport, thanks.

brownan

Nice write-up. My counsel is to take it to the track and do some HPDE. Will make you care less about frivolous stuff.

MingusDew

Don’t stress too much about cleaning race-Tex/alcantara. It’s pretty hardy stuff, being essentially rough side of synthetic vinyl, not actual leather. You could use scrubbing bubbles on it and it would be fine, but no need for something that harsh for regular cleaning. Just use normal interior cleaning products and you won’t have any problems. One common long term use problem, if you start to develop little pill/fuzzball from use, these can easily be removed with a cheap disposable Bic razor (the cheapest kind without the lubricant strip on the blade). Just shave the fuzz off, easy peasy. If you shave too much and get a smooth spot, or if just normal wear gives smooth spot, no problem, just use some sand paper to rough it up again. You can do this shave/rough up process many many times before creating a hole in the material (I’ve owned alcantara interiors for last 20 years and never had a hole), but you most likely won’t have to do this often as these wear patterns only develop with time/mileage. So again, a few little tricks and not much worry is needed for aging alcantara.

woobiee

That will be the plan soon. I was reserving the first year to be track-free to see how consumables will last/cost. So far it seems like tires go a bit faster compared to M cars.

Thanks for this. I’ve only cleaned the wheel 3 times overall. The first time I used some alcantara cleaner and the results were mediocre at best. Later someone suggested Sonax on RL: that yielded fantastic results!