polar3

Heys guys,

I've owned my 03 996 turbo for 2 weeks now and wanted to give a quick review. This is my first porsche and all I can say is wow.

Pros
-I love how simple the interior is. All of the interior buttons are very easy to figure out.
-Handling is outstanding. Coming from many BMWs and Mercedes (all upgraded suspension) the Porsche is definately a better handling car. Even with the H&R lowering springs, I don't find the ride overly harsh.
-The power was intially frightening but it's funny how fast one gets used to it. I'll definately be calling Kevin in the early spring for a flash.
-For a 7 year old car, it still looks like sex on wheels. I hear the occaisonal "nice car" comment.
-The visability is great. I also considered getting an M6 but I just couldn't see over the long nose/hood.

Cons
-Little road racer kids weaving through traffic wanting to race.
-I tend to visit the gas station more frequently. Maybe due to a smaller tank than my previous BMW. I'm not complaining because I look at it as admission price for a roller coaster ride. Just plain fun.
-I do notice the Porsche "tax" when it comes to parts and service.

This is the most satisfying purchase I've made in a long while. If anyone is on the fence about getting into a 996 turbo, just DO IT. You'll have tonnes of smiles with no regrets. 996 turbos at todays price are definately the best bang for your buck.

Steve

theporscheguy

That's a great first Porsche. I purchased my Turbo in February and it has been a blast ever since. The power feels great, although the mods are about to begin. I'm thinking exhaust and a flash for starters. Yep, I can't take my car out without being circled. I ignore the racers and say thanks to all the compliments.

harris

-Little road racer kids weaving through traffic wanting to race.

is this really a problem??

Chaos

When I had my NSX they materialized out of nowhere,very annoying

jimq

its the small tank. Actually these cars are good on gas mileage if you dont keep the go pedal planted to the floor all the time.

Macster

IIRC the Turbo has an approx. 16.6 gallon (63 liter) gas tank. The Turbo's tank is a bit small. Part of the trade off of having AWD. The front's diff eat into the tank's space and in fact IIRC the Turbo's gas tank is saddle like with a basin on either side of the front drive's driveshaft. The two basins are not connected directly. Special in tank fuel hose siphons are used to pull fuel from the basins into the fuel pump intake. If this siphoning system fails one indication is the car runs out of gas when the full fuel tank gets down to about half full.

Anyhow, I come across car reviews in UK published car mags and some 'GT' cars have 100 liter (approx. 26 gallon) fuel tanks. Sweet.

Further the Turbo's fuel tank is a bit small due to the engine's fuel consumption.

My 02 Boxster's gas tank holds 16.9 gallons. On a highway drive I can easily get 300+ miles on a tank before I feel the need to fill the tank.

Under the same conditions with the Turbo anything over 200 miles gets me a mite itchy to find a gas station. I have under some real good conditions managed to get around 250 miles before time to fill up the tank.

My experience with my Turbo mimics your's. I have not experienced BMW or Mercedes cars but the Turbo's handling is quite good and I don't feel like I'm giving away much if anything when I walk past my Boxster and hope in the Turbo.

The Turbo has better visibility and a lighter clutch than the Boxster.

Almost every fill up or parking lot visit I get the 'nice car' comment. And I have to agree. The Turbo is a nice car. A very nice car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Receiver

Because of the shape of the tank as Macster describes, the fuel guage doesn't read the bottom part of the tank. I filled up yesterday with the yellow light on and the computer warning me and it only took 45 litres to fill it with a 63 litre tank. It's a bit of a pain but better than running out of gas. Gas mileage isn't very good but if we wanted gas mileage, perhaps a Mini or Prius is what we should have bought.

Enjoy.

Lucy saw snow yesterday for the first time. She made a run for the garage but I headed her off.

After her initial reluctance, her performance was spectacular as expected.

Fastboy

Yes, the racer boys are out there, but here in Ontario there are stiffer laws against these kids--its called "street racing" and they basically get their cars empounded on the spot-and unless you want to lose your car too, its better not to take the bait-so I tend to ignore them. Interestingly, its the mustang drivers who are most likely to rev at a stoplight. I let them go. Save it for the track.
As far as power--the mods will start for me soon as well. I have already spoken with Kevin--nice guy, very informative.

polar3

In Toronto, we finally got a good bit of snow. This car is even more amazing in the white stuff. Mind you, I've got a brand new set of blizzaks on. I don't think there's many cars out there that can keep up with the awd porsches in the winter. I was testing out the upper limits in the snow and giving her WOT when the lights turned green. The psm would come on and the car would go a little side ways but the still very very easy to control. I don't always drive like an asz, just curious how well she would do LOL

One more CON that I noticed was the shifts. The throws are long and not very precise. I've read that the 997 SSK seems to be the perfect fix for this issue.

BTW Fastboy, I'll give you my first impressions of Kevin's Flash when I get it done. It's already on its way here

seanmcr6

Mustang drivers are the WORST....second only to EVO and STi drivers. Like a bull seeing red, they have to come over and prove their car is faster or at least as fast as mine.

One guy (about 50 yrs old btw) tried me at 3 lights in a row....but I wouldn't race him...the fourth light he rolls down his window and ask me why I'm chicken to race, am I afraid my "Porch-da" would lose.

I looked at him, rolled my eyes and said I don't need to prove MY car is fast.

Then he bolted away with tires smoking (well the rear right at least), not realizing the light was still red and a cop coming the other way did a U turn and nailed him.

It was a satisfying event.

Fastboy

That story is so beautiful!
I would have stopped and told the cop that the dude was constantly trying to egg me on to race him. the cop would have taken extra steps to make sure that jerk stays off the roda!

Chaos

Ask if they want to run for titles,their car vs your wheels and tires. Really gets em hot

blockhed

I have bought my 1st Porsche, 2002 black on black tt last november here is my small pros and cons
Pros
car looks amazing
with the right flash you'll get crazy mpg on highway cruises( 30mpg from sc to nj on cruise control 80mph)
I remember when I was a child I would see a 911 droll and give driver thumbs up, now I get them from little kids makes me smile big time
todays economy price was great
big aftermarket with many parts tested over and over
insurance half the price on an evo LOL
sounds sexy as hell with some big turbos and open exhaust


cons
ignition switch taking a crap-fail
not realizing you're doing 90 in 55 because car drives so great
some parts are priced crazy since it's a pcar but it comes with territory


I over did it with mods on my car but for a good reason and set up towards my goals.
I love this car even when something doesn't go right I just look at her and it's ok
I find myself being that guy, driving in a lower gear at higher rpm's though small towns or main street just so I can hear the turbos and exhaust bouncing of buildings

cannon1000

It's all rumor 'til we see pictures. Blockhed - you have tons of posts with no pics of your car that I can find...you know the rules...

rd.cullen

I have just ticked over two weeks with the 2003 996 Turbo. I have a rattling single mass flywheel, a communications system that won't see my phone and gives me CD when I press AM (no AM) and otherwise I am ecstatic. Just ran round trip to Squamish from Vancouver with a motorcyle and a mustang breaking trail. Absolutely thrilling. Have found the road to the Cypress Mt ski area is also a blast off season.

Wondering how the originator of this thread (began Dec 12, 2010) feels about his Pro anc Con list 3 years later?

Pros:
The ability to stay with or outpace almost anything on the road - have not met a Viper or a Corvette yet
Tight handling - have not lost the rear end yet and wondering how much warning I will get, if any, before it lets go
Watching the fuel consumption averager drop in value as I added some highway miles to the city miles it had been full of.

Pros
-I love how simple the interior is. All of the interior buttons are very easy to figure out.
-Handling is outstanding. Coming from many BMWs and Mercedes (all upgraded suspension) the Porsche is definately a better handling car. Even with the H&R lowering springs, I don't find the ride overly harsh.
-The power was intially frightening but it's funny how fast one gets used to it. I'll definately be calling Kevin in the early spring for a flash.
-For a 7 year old car, it still looks like sex on wheels. I hear the occaisonal "nice car" comment.
-The visability is great. I also considered getting an M6 but I just couldn't see over the long nose/hood.

Cons
-Little road racer kids weaving through traffic wanting to race.
-I tend to visit the gas station more frequently. Maybe due to a smaller tank than my previous BMW. I'm not complaining because I look at it as admission price for a roller coaster ride. Just plain fun.
-I do notice the Porsche "tax" when it comes to parts and service.