I just wanted to post a few thoughts of the first three months with my lifelong dream and see if anyone had any ideas...

The car is still a dream to drive and it's a terrible temptation to drive it in the rain, but I haven't... with all the winter driving we do around here (NOT!) I feel much better driving the truck when it rains and leaving the dream in the garage for better weather... It's "just" a C2 but it's plenty fast when I need it to be... I wouldn't consider myself a "spirited" driver, but I give into temptation more than once in awhile driving to work on San Diego roads at 4:30 in the morning...

A couple of things though...

When I bought the car, the dealer said all they did when they got the car was a brake job and replace the serpentine belt...

One of the "weird" things about the car is that the trunk does not always open on command (when the latch is activated)... it works, but not all the time and I can't figure out which stars need to align for it to work...

Another thing, I drive about 23 miles each way to work on a very nice, open freeway (my commute is always off-traffic times) - I can't seem to get better than 18 mpg... Is that the best I can expect or is there something I can do to improve that?

I don't find any oil on my garage floor but on the odd occasion that I push it, I'll find spotlets (very small drops) of oil on the vanes of the engine lid... engine compartment looks relatively clean, so I have no idea where it's coming from...

The brakes feel a little squishy sometimes after pushing it... I know the dealer did a brake job, so I'm guessing a brake system flush is in order...

Anyway, I love the car and it's going to get a lot of "hall-passes" on some of this stuff, but if anyone has any ideas...

Rudy
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'01 Arctic Silver/Black C2 Cabriolet
'03 Silver F-150 Supercrew

 

Rudy,
Welcome to the addiction. You should get better then 18mpg with a 2003 C2 cab. I get 22 on surface streets and 28-30 on freeway @ ~ 75 mph with my 03 cab ~ 35k miles. Are you sure that it is oil on the back of the car and not soot? Check the inside of your tail pipes for heavy soot accumulations My 1972 3.2 engined track car was very rich with the worn out Webbers (12-16mpg) and I would find soot "drops" on the ducktail. I finally changed to PMO carbs and that went away and I was able to get 16-18 mpg.
I am not sure what to do if the 03 is rich.

 

My 2003 C4 Cab gets 21MPG in the city using 91 Octane gas, with a blend of fun (e.g. good acceleration) and relaxed driving, and 24-27 on the freeway if there is no traffic, going 75MPH.

Your MPG seems slightly low.

 

I get barely 14 mpg in the city and 25 on the highway. And that's with both 911's. I don't get the concern with mpg if you are driving a car with more than 300 hp and it's a Porsche. Even when gas topped out at more than $4 this was not a major concern since the performance capability of the car is quite strong. I don't get it.

 

Rudy- You need to shift out of 4th gear to get over 18 miles to the gallon.LOL.

 

I get similar mileage. Don't worry about it.

 

salayc. I don't worry; indeed, I get worse mileage on my Cayenne Turbo. How does 9 mpg sound? But then again, I am not driving Miss Daisy.

 

Hmm... not sure if I have a concern then (definitely not a problem)... when I drove it the 110 miles home from the dealer I got not quite 18 mpg... of course it was new to me and I did take it through a few paces... and there's plenty of room to do that on I5 next to Camp Pendleton... but I wasn't concerned, afterall, as many of you said, it is a 300+ hp pcar... but some of the accounts of getting better than 20 mpg gave me a little pause... in a couple of weeks here I'll get new plugs etc. in her and see if that helps... I'll let you know what happens...

Anyone have any ideas on the trunk gremlin?

Thanks!
Rudy
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'01 Arctic Silver/Black C2 Cabriolet
'03 Silver F-150 Supercrew

 

I wouldn't worry at all. The car consumes according to your passionate, or lack of, driving habits. If I am driving a little hard on the highway without leaving it in 6th gear the entire time I will have a hard time getting 18 mpg too.

 

Russo,

Thanks for the assurances... Not sure how many others here are like me, but I had no preconceived notions or expectations when I bought the car... it was a Carrera Cab, it was in my price and mileage range and I wanted it... since I was a teenager.

So, if ignorance is bliss... I'm in paradise. Seriously, except for the quirky trunk latch, I don't know enough or have enough experience with pcars to complain about anything, so I have to throw things "concerns" out like this once in awhile to find out if I do have a problem...

Rudy
--------------------------------
'01 Arctic Silver/Black C2 Cabriolet
'03 Silver F-150 Supercrew

 

Rudy,

Concerning your hood (trunk) latch issue, check out this link on Renntech.org. The link may not work if you are not registered there so you may need to register. Renntech probably has more technical content than Rennlist, so it is a good site to access.

Hood Latch Fix

Also if you make a donation to Renntech, (kind of like being a paying Member here) you also get access to Porsche TSB (Technical Service Bulletins) which can be helpful.

Let us know if this helps you resolve the hood latch issue.

 

There is a 6th gear? Sh*t, on my commute where I run ~75 or less I never even see 5th! though I like the R's a little high for quick throttle up and run into the 90's (or more) when the road pops open for 3 seconds by the way, I always obey speed limits on public roads.. I am pretty sure the roads I drive on are owned by someone

(All kidding aside I would never drive in a manner to create unsafe conditions for other drivers on the road.... that's poor form in any book! go to a track to test your speed driving out)