Sula

I bought my 996 (2004 C2 6-speed; Atlas Gray Metallic) last year, but IMSB concerns kept me from driving it much. In January, a friend and I pulled the engine and installed the IMS Solution, plus RMS, clutch, AOS, water pump, LT thermostat, etc. Since then, lingering bad weather had been keeping it mostly indoors. But two weeks ago a nice weather window opened up and I departed central PA for western South Carolina.

Inevitably, this trip was going to include a lot of Interstate miles, and only limited time on roads a Porsche is really designed for. Among the latter was ~150 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a fine choice at this time of year (beautiful spring foliage, very little traffic, a near total absence of speed limit enforcement). It was something of an eye opener how good the 996 is on interstate highways. It comes across as smooth, refined and agreeably quiet at 80mph (about the practical maximum, given traffic and speed enforcement). I contrast this with a recent 40-mile drive in a friend's 1986 911, which does the expected great job on rural roads but did not give the impression it would be comfortable for hundreds of interstate miles.

Most of those miles were done in 6th gear, at just over 3000 rpm. But when you need to pass one of the great many "left lane squatters" that plague our interstates, fifth gear and 3.6 liters gets the job done in almost the blink of an eye. It's like swatting a mosquito with a large hammer - but nonetheless agreeable.

Over all this driving, the 996's trip computer reported 29 miles per gallon. This seemed way high to me - had to be some sort of error. But adding up the gas receipts gave something in excess of 28 mpg. Amazing.

I'd say the worst 996 feature is a speedometer that always reads a bit high. I find it particularly annoying because my other vehicle is a Ford van whose speedometer is stunningly accurate: in nearly 20 years and 200k miles, I've never passed one of those "Your speed is ..." radar signs that showed a speed more than 1 mph different from the van's speedo reading. It seems very un-German for the 996 to be much worse.


TL;DR: This car is at least as good as the best things anyone says about it. That you can own a car like this for the price of a Toyota Corolla seems almost absurd to me.

Tyler H

Fast speedometers run out warranties faster. On the bright side, your car has less mileage than you thought. Congrats on the road trip and I'm glad you're enjoying your car after the thaw and all that work.

wyovino

The inaccurate speedometer is intentional due to a European (maybe just German) law that causes huge fines for manufacturers if they underestimate the speed. My VW does the same thing, typically reading 3 mph faster than actual. Interestingly, if you check the speed via the radio (hidden trick), it is accurate there. Btw - I've never seen mpg anywhere near 29.

RngTrtl

They cost the same as a corolla b/c it costs as much as a corolla to repair them when they break.

fpb111

Sula

Checking the odometer against the mileposts along I-81, I found that it was logging miles at a rate only about 1% too high.

The speedometer is clearly off by more than that - at least 3 or 4 mph at highway speeds. (I need to check this precisely - probably with some sort of GPS phone app.)

Sula

Interesting - how does that work?

wthensler

As I bought my 996 new, my first 'serious' ride was the following weekend. Threw it around turns like the SS Minnow, stomped the accelerator like no tomorrow. Like a train on rails - nothing like a mid-engine in tight turns.

Ah, I just bought myself an $ 80,000 go kart, I remember thinking.............nice........

wyovino

I just looked it up and apparently it only works on MK-I cars, so it won't work for you. Instead, you can buy a cheap bluetooth or wifi ODB-II dongle and use an app to view the actual speed. That speed won't have the artificial increment that the speedometer does.

For those with MK-I cars, here's the method: (Uses the climate control unit, not the radio as I said previously)

To access diagnostics:
Hold down the Recirculating & Air up buttons for 5 seconds. The + - buttons go up and down through the list of "c" codes. The center vent button switches the left display between the "c" code and its actual value. Press the Auto button to exit.

I have yet to verify all these, this info was copied from wonderful people on PPBB!
Here is a list of what can be seen:


0c - ERL
1c - Oil Temp?
2c - Inside temp. Sensor mounted in the aspirator assembly at the side of the dash.
3c - Outside temp. Sensor located inside the air inlet of the A/C unit.
4c - Outside temp. Sensor located in front grill of the radiator. The data is fed to the Climatronic from the instrument cluster. When not moving, the instrument cluster OBC temp display retains it's last setting until moving. This is to prevent heat emanating from the radiator affecting the temperature sensor. The A/C unit uses the lower of the two outside air temp values in determining fresh-air temp.
5c - Outside temp. (matches OBC outside temp display)
6c - Coolant temp.
7c - Footwell discharge temp.
8c - Sun sensor (dash top)
9c - Sun sensor.
10c - Passenger compartment fan speed.
11c - Passenger compartment fan voltage.
12c - Temperature mix Flap command 1=COLD, 100=HOT
13c - Temperature mix Flap position
14c - Central Flap command
15c - Central Flap position
16c - Footwell/Defrost Flap command
17c - Footwell/Defrost Flap position
18c - Recirculation Valve command 1=OFF, 100=RECIRC
19c - Recirculation Valve position (feedback)
20c - Vehicle speed in kph, updating only once per second. (real speed, not speed+safety margin as in the speedometer)
21c - Engine RPM in hundreds. This too only updates once per second.
22c - ?
23c - ?
24c - Sun sensor, exterior lights switch & panel lights control (term. 58 & 58d voltage) - used for A/C panel display illum.
25c - ?
26c - ?
27c - ?
28c - Fan speed?
29c - ?
30c - Engine run time in seconds (255 max.)(=0xff)
31c - Timing counter
32c - Displays test
33c - Software version? Mine states 3.4
34c - ?
35c - Outside temp. from inlet sensor (filtered?)
36c - temp?

RngTrtl

While this is true, I hope youre aware the 996 does not have a mid engine layout. 0.o

wyovino

It is centered from left to right.

Audidude

I've owned too many cars and ALL of them gave an over-reading on the speedometer on OEM tyres of anything from 1 to in one case, a VW Amarok, 10kph! My current VW Touareg is the most accurate with a 1kph error. This in-built error is to protect the driver from speeding fines, I believe.

With most smartphones and cars having GPS it's an easy matter to cross-check and make a mental correction - my problem is that with 5 cars remembering each one is a challenge.
My radar detector, a Uniden R3, has a GPS speed display.

For the record my 996 is approx 4kph high at 100kph - so that's about 2.5mph.

dan_189

Exactly the same as mine 4kph @100kph too

Audidude

Ah, zee bloo*y Germans - always so exact huh??

dan_189

Yep! Even their intentional inaccuracies are exact!!