Hurdigurdiman

I think you need to drive the car more and keep them revs higher. It took a good while to get used to keeping the revs higher. At 25mph you need to be thinking of dropping into 3rd from 2nd gear. That 3rd gear if pushed can take you over 100mph no problem (if needed). Not that I drive like that. I don't think about 4th gear until I hit 45/50mph. So around town its mainly 2nd and 3rd for me in a 35mph zone. No thinking of saving on gas for me with this car. I must admit that 1st gear taking off is not the fastest off the mark and sliding a clutch starting in 2nd is not my way of driving. I never miss a gear either up or down the box but tend to have the revs a lot higher than I would on any other car. The 996 is a lot happier being driven with high revs. I will not consider 6th under 60 mph on the flat. Blow some **** out of the engine hard high rev driving for a month and tell us again your comparison with an Audi. Porch and Audi should not come in the same sentence. Shame on you haha. By the way get yourself a Police radar. You are going to need one if you drive the car the way it was designed to be driven. Higher revs tend to save your brake pads somewhat because of engine compression which the flat 6 is famous for. Don't forget. Only use the highest grade Gas.

jd02c2

I had similar feelings when I test drove my 02 996 C2. My daily driver was (still is) a 2012 WRX and my previous DD was a 08 335xi. Told the sales manager the 996 didn't feel as fast. It did however feel different.......better somehow. So I bit.

In the past 5+ months I have put 6000 miles on the car. Definitely as fast or faster off the line than the BMW or WRX. Both of which I have to believe are much quicker than a A4 2.0T. But if you drive the 996 "lazily" it can feel like a bit of a dog. Not unlike the WRX. Both hit their stride above 3500 rpm.

I have also come to realize that the attraction of driving a 996 (and I assume any 911) is that you feel more connected to the driving experience. its not about straight line speed. Over the last months I have also learned to keep it 1 gear lower than I think it should be in.

Have to say that I do agree that making consistently smooth gear changes, especially during aggressive deceleration/acceleration, takes a bit more attention. But when you get it right your rewarded.

Given that MKI and MKII acceleration numbers are not that different it would seem there may be a performance issue with your car if it truly feels that slow.

Good luck, enjoy and cross it off your bucket list.

TexAg911

No test drive. I bought it sight unseen while overseas. I probably need to drive someone another 996 and compare notes.

Kalashnikov

Camry is automatic, 911 is manual. 95% of drivers will never get close to the track time with manual on the street. You want to dispute this? Go to your local race track or any street and see which cars run fastest consistent times. Manual cars they are not, and you won't find any Porsche drivers mastering the 5k clutch slip launch.

More fact check for you: Accord V6 Manual. 13.4 quarter mile. Accord V6 automatic 13.8 quarter mile.

Don't be arrogant about 996 performance. 996 is not a straight line rocket. Average driver of manual 996 will be lucky to get 5.5 seconds 0-60 time.

Here is a 400hp mustang racing my 260HP Acura. Fact check?



Here is the same Acura accelerating from inside. It will do same 0-90 runs all night long. In the video car is at 169k miles. 0-60 mid 6 seconds. And this is a 10 year old car. All it takes for 996 manual is to spin on launch and they just lost to honda with 200k miles. I love my 996, but it is not a straight line screamer.

rpm's S2

I'm sorry, unless perhaps your Porsche's tires were filled with cement by the previous owner, there is no comparison.

I have driven more modern and powerful 'sports sedans' than an A4 (335i, E63, CTS-V) and none came even close to the engagement and driving dynamics of my 996.

So unless there is a fairly significant mechanical problem with your 996...

DTMiller

Looks like op put his on the market. http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...d=370711244517

5CHN3LL

Damn, harsh.

DTMiller

All in good fun.

nick49

911....

the motor hangs over the back axle and they handle funny. You either love this or you don't.

sorry

Hurdigurdiman

That would make a great avatar for someone on the page. I already have my cartoon avatar or I would use that one in a heart beat haha.

Gonzo911

OP...I had a similar experience when I got my 996. I was a little underwhelmed by the the performance until I realized that I was shifting way too early. It felt "normal" to me to shift at around 4k RPM but the best experience in these cars is in the 5-6.5K RPM range. If you get over 5500 RPM you will see what I mean. There's a reason redline starts at the big 7 on the dial.

To me, each gear essentially has 2 speeds. Some nice people on this board are fond of saying that these cars "like to be driven hard" or "drive it like you stole it". Common sense tells me that the more revs an engine runs, the more wear and tear it will experience, so I tend not to push it all the time. As my DD, I usually wind up to 4K RPM or so (on city streets, what's the point of going higher) and try to keep the tach around 3500. But, its a blast to let it out on the occaisional freeway on ramp.

Like any "new" car there is a learning curve and the 996 is certainly no exception. Enjoy it for what it is and have a blast learning what it really can do.

5CHN3LL

Agreed Gonzo. It's not just common sense...it's a fact that running a machine at 100% capacity shortens its life. Maintenance formulas exist that help calculate maintenance frequency based on usage severity. One of the (many) reasons that diesels last so long is that they redline at low RPM - like 5K instead of 7 or 8K.

I've read plenty of Porsche-specific theories about why keeping the RPMs high can prevent specific issues - like lugging the motor causing crank bearing/cylinder/connecting rod/intermediate shaft damage. I think there may be some truth to these theories, but there's a huge difference between driving the car in an appropriate RPM range and "driving it like [you stole it]/[like the Dr. intended]/[your favorite euphemism for ragging your car out]."

An additional question for OP: has your car has been equipped at some point with a light-weight flywheel? The flywheel helps maintain engine speed during shifts; if a LWFW has replaced the dual-mass flywheel, the engine will lose RPMs quickly when the clutch is depressed, making smooth shifts much more difficult.

silotwo

I find the 996 C2 with the M030 suspension to "feel" plenty raw in day to day driving. Even after 6 years and 60k miles of driving the C2 it can definitely get my attention and my adrenalin pumping.

I've been able to shift in a manner where more than a few passengers actually asked if the car was an automatic - that did sort of stun me - like what? you don't see me moving that stick between the seats? I do believe this is the result of having the great fortune to go for an impromptu ride along with a top instructor during a DE event. I was so impressed with her driving skills yet somewhat confused by the manner in how she shifted. After the run I did ask about the shifting and remember commenting that I could double clutch in the time she spent changing gears and asked if she thought her time would improve if she just shifted faster. That got quite a chuckle and a reply similar to "oh grasshopper". What also stood out in my mind was how absolutely smooth and fluid all of her driving inputs were.

That one ride changed the way I drive the 996. I rarely need to rev match on an upshift and I rarely trounce on the throttle.

The first time I allowed my son to drive the car I basically had to teach him that this was not a drag car with a gear cruncher tranny that would respond well to flat shifting. He still just had to ask if he could "chirp" the tires shifting from 1st to 2nd - I told him I didn't know but I was confident that Porsche didn't build the car to impress the masses with tire chirps. He drives it quite well these days.

And I think the term "lugging" is somewhat misused these days. I can easily cruise below 3,000 rpm and the engine is not "lugging".

Now the C4S is quite different - it tends to be more polite than the C2 and I will admit that it seems as if I have to push it at times to wake it up.

TexAg911

I got a chuckle out of it. That said my first was a Ferrari:

TexAg911

Good post. Thanks everyone who provided constructive feedback. I have a lot of experience driving different vehicles on roads all around the world. My ego convinced me that I should be able to just turn the key in my Porsche and get it to do what I want from the start. I guess the mystique of this car is that you have to conform to it and the way it wants to be driven. I'm convinced now that I'm not driving it correctly. I think I will have to eat my pride and chalk my disappointment to unrealistic expectations.