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I left home last night well west of Fort Worth headed for Katy. It's about 240 miles and I didn't want to drone down I45, so I headed south into the 'hill country' of TX. I took it easy at first, just learning the grip of the car, and how the suspension reacts to changes in surface, and grading. After I felt comfy on how it feels and the tires warmed up I got a little bolder.
First, the steering is night and day different than the 928. I guess that's no surprise. The early 928 didn't have a very good power steering system and it was ponderous to turn. The 911 reminds me a lot of my old Fiat X1/9, in that it is 'right now'. If you sneeze with a hand on the wheel you are changing lanes. I like it. A lot.
The trans and gear changing is a bit touchy on take off, I'm still learning how to row again after many years with my left foot on the dead pedal. The gears are right where you need them and the clutch is very solid. Very solid, almost too solid. I think Porsche changed the clutch action a bit in later cars but in the 99 model, it's more like a race car - on or off, in or out, there or not there. I like it, somewhat.
Engine response is dramatic. Small changes in throttle in 2-3-4 gears are very quick. Coming from heavier, and lower revving cars it seems like there is a turbo mode and it's always on. I only got above 5k revs once, and when I did it was almost visceral. Mostly I just enjoyed the 'happy zone' from 2400-4000. I can tell there's a ton more stuff down on the pedal when I'm ready to explore. The sound is sooooo different from anything really. I love the sound of the Ferrari V8 flat plane with it's modest howl, but the flat 6 is it's own tune. I really like it. A really lot.
A few negatives; Road noise is higher than I would like, but liveable. The sports seats are great - for the first 100 miles. After that, they start to feel a bit cramped. I'm sure that were I driving sporty I'd like the support more, but for long distance touring the 928 seats are like a couch compared to the sport seats in the 911. The sport suspension is the same issue. for sporty driving, and road holding the suspension is perfectly tuned. For highway droning at 80MPH, it's a bit rough. the speedo/odo is reading 4MPH high at 80, so a +5% error. I'd like to see about that. One of the rear tires has a slight imbalance and I"ll try to get a high speed balance soon. I have a modest dash buzz that will need to be resolved, and the foam insulation in the HVAC ducting has perished and is blowing little bits of black gunk into the cabin.
Overall impression of the car: It's an amazing piece of machinery for the price. I can't believe how little it costs to have this much performance under my hands and feet. I haven't explored even 1/10 of the capabilities, but so far it's completely changed my perspective on modern sports coupes. Every time I see the car on the street I think like most others that this is a $50-70 thousand dollar car, and no one knows I paid less than my son's Prius C. Bargain squared.
11-07-2015, 09:41 PM
