SkipSauls

At the dealer with keys in hand:



Getting ready to take it home:



Meeting the Boxster in the garage:



Not quite 993 widebody proportions, but still a nice butt:



The engine is a bit nicer looking than the 996, if not Ferrari-exciting:



I love the interior, except for the steering wheel:



Okay, enough pictures for now, but more to come when it's daylight and isn't raining. The car is absolutely outstanding, and it's everything that you have read in the car magazines and more. It's hard to describe just how good it looks, and it gets my heart racing more than any recent Porsche save the Carrera GT. Black is really a good color for it, although I'm sure that this car will look good in almost any color.

The spec on the car is high, which seems to be the case for all of the early arrivals. It has full leather, the sport-chrono thing, navigation, Bose enhanced stereo, adaptive sport seats with heating, and PCCB. The last is something that I probably wouldn't order myself given the stories that appear on rennlist, but they do have a great feel and hopefully won't be a problem. It's "black on black" or "double black", and doesn't have any wood, carbon fiber, etc., which is fine by me! The strangest thing about the options is that it doesn't have the colored center crests, instead coming with what I'd consider to be "old school" monochrome versions.

I haven't really driven the car in a spirited way yet, but it is quite nice in the 30 or so miles I've put on it since picking it up. There is lots of torque and the clutch is light and forgiving, so pulling away from a stop is easy. It revs nicely, although I'm keeping the revs low to break it in, and the overall effect is that the car doesn't have to work hard for most driving.

The sound is great for a street car, with a nice rumbly growl that does remind me a bit of the air-cooled cars. It's been a while since I last drove a 993 with the RSRs, but from memory that's sort of what it sounds like. Driving with the radio and AC off lets you hear the engine, and at cruising speeds the road noise isn't bad, if not as quiet and isolated as a luxury car. The radio sounded pretty good for the short time I had it on, but I haven't figured out all of the options yet, and I don't have the nav discs yet and can't try that out.

I'll be driving it more tomorrow and over the weekend, and will write a more complete review and post some other pictures. Grant B. and I will probably go out for a photo shoot at some point to compare his 993 TT with this car, and we're hoping to get a 996 TT out there as well.

Thank you Porsche!!!

Tour18

Awwwwwwwwww Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!! Congratulations. And thanks for the report...

AndrewB

Congrats. The car looks great. I am starting to really like the quad exhausts. Its funny the whole car really has grown on me and I havent even seen it in person. The more I look at the car the more I appreciate the design, especially the details.

M Danger

how did you get it so soon, and if you dont mind telling what you paid?

Atlas.

Congrats Skip. She is beautiful. Can I ask just one question? Are those exhausts fitted with the optional stainless steel (X54) tailpipes as they look quite a bit thicker than the ones I've seen everywhere else?

gjb

Skip,

Thanks for letting me test drive last night, it's sweet. And a great addition to your "collection."

From a driving perspective (mind you a 4k rpm limit/respect for the first 1k miles), the torque is there and ready to go down low. Second, the exhaust burble reminds me of my fabspeeds, only muted. A great mix of tone and db levels.

I'm sure we'll post more adventures soon........

Grant in Longmont

JFScheck

Looks great, wow, it's going be a long year waiting for that paddle shift.... Perhaps..........

SkipSauls

M Danger, the dealer was "supposed" to keep it until Saturday, but they are sales guys after all. I paid list on it, with no dealer markup, etc.

Atlas, I'll have to look on the window sticker as I really don't know. If that option was on there, it didn't catch my eye, and I honestly didn't even know that such an option existed.

Grant, no problem! Thanks for the ride down to the dealer, and hopefully there will be some sun so we can get some 996-996-997 pics.

DonneyJ

Great Car

Like the black. The rear lights and the exaust look really cool, but I'm not sure about the new interior design I still think the 996 interior looks better (espec in red and yellow...heh heh )

DonnyJ

Poursha

Congrats!! It's a beauty.

Looks like you got one of the launch Carrera S cars--I'm surprised they let you have it before the launch event tomorrow.

Bluehinder

HI,

I also bought the local 997S, black, same as yours.\

It's fantastic. I traded in a 40th 996, paid sticker.

I like the steering wheel. I ordered some colored wheel crests and clear side markers immediately.

Enjoy, give a call if ever in Colorado.

Blue

sjsharks

Bluehinder

Can you compare the performance of the 997s with the 40th edition 911, I can't seem to decide on one or the other.

Thanks

OH997

I have one coming some time in September. Silver with Sea Blue interior. I am happy for you but jealous. Living in the Northeast I know that if I'm lucky I will get 45 days before I parked her. Got 6% off list so I don't feel too bad about waiting. Also, I don't track so the ceramic brakes did not mean much to me. Good luck!

Charles Thronso

Now THIS is perfect American pick-up-the-new-Porsche attire! " Hell with the Nurburgring, let's get a beer!" Congrats!!!

SkipSauls

Bluehinder, are you in Colorado? Or are you saying that you'll contact me if you're ever in Colorado?

sjsharks, I drove a 40th anniversary car a couple of months ago and liked everything except for the color. I can't really say much about the performance, but the 997 certainly feels like it has a lot of potential!

OH996, I probably wouldn't get the PCCBs if I had ordered one, but this car already had them. The funny thing is that the dealers and others keep calling these the "track" or "racing" brakes, despite the fact that doing so seems to be the worst thing for them. I'm not aware of any pro or club level Porsche racers who use PCCBs, so that must just be mostly marketing hype.

Charles, yes, I got dressed up to pick the car up. I don't know if you've ever been to Boulder, but I'm wearing the standard business attire for that area. If I were to wear "big boy" pants, nice shirt, and closed-toe shoes, my co-workers would be convinced that I'm interviewing.