tarpon1

The sunvisors are useless so i bring sunglasses. I wish the trunk had a little more room but i didn't buy it for trips. The backseat can take one set of golf clubs (in a stand bag) pretty easily but 2 is a reach. On the positive side as i was driving on a country road last weekend i had to make a high speed pass and as i shifted from 4th to 5th i felt like i was in star wars going into hyperspace...the sheer power was amazing...i was in awe...

PV

However, don't confuse yourself between Einstein and Corriolis. The last one explains why your tires are wearing out more on one side if you drive from NY to LA....

jlee

I tried that already and makes no difference. Squeaks are worse when I first drive the car in a while and subside somewhat throughout the day. My feeling is that it is coming from the rear side panel around the speaker area. I am kind of waiting for it to get worse so that it will be easier to point it out to the dealer.

OCBen

Yeah, I agree. That was my very first impression when I saw one of the first published photos of the new 997: how big the headlights looked. I wish I could have been there in the design department when they were hammering out the design features of the car. I would have loved to have been able to tweak the size of the headlights on the computer generated model and rotated that model after tweaks to see which headlight size would be optimum for the new design. Maybe the headlight design task was turned over to Hans, the rookie design engineer who must have also designed the Crab Wheel - the Carrera S wheel - as well as the short visors, as well as the....

PDQ PDK CAYMAN S

About the Clock, I previously had two Boxsters and way too many warranty visits. If the clock is my only problem..........I did good! So far with 6,500 miles and 10 track hours I had a clutch squeek which went away and otherwise the clock and the front latch needs a bit of adjustment.

Gary R.

I wish I could program it so whenever I get in the Sport mode is on, PASM is off, and it would automatically find my favorite songs on the radio depending on my mood at the time...

Ok, kidding about the radio part..

Brian E

8) on and off of the sport mode should be controlled by driver, it should stay on until the driver turns it off, not controlled by the ignition.
7) gas cap should have a place to hold it while filling up instead of hanging down next to the tire.
6) clock is slow
5) passenger side window needs an express up like drivers side.
4) PIA to adjust Bose.
3) sunroof squeaks, do we really need a sunroof? (actually the headliner covering the sunroof squeaks)
2) readings in the guage cluster dont match readings in the pcm.

And the #1) use cables for the front and rear hood and trunk latches.

All that said, I love the car!

jfraser

Is it the switch itself that removes the express up/down feature of the passenger window....Has anyone tried swapping the passenger switch with a driver's switch, to see if it works.....I'd give it a try, but I don't know how to take the switch panel off
....Does anyone have a access to the PET catalogue, I'd like to know if the passenger/driver window switches have different part numbers?

MMD

I agree 1000% percent. I will never use the NAV except on rare occasions. On those occasions I refer to a map for two minutes.

Both might look alot better with the silver trim painted the color of the buttons.

Or, the buttons painted the cloor of the trim?!!

jlee

As for the gas cap, there is a small hook on the gas cap cover where you can loop the gas cap string.

As for the passenger side window, it does have a one touch feature, but it is hard to get it just right to make it work.

MMD

You have to touch it for a fraction of a second THEN let go for it to express.

Hold it longer than a fraction of a second and you're left holding it for the time it takes to go all the way.

PDQ PDK CAYMAN S

The fraction of a second does not work on my car.

DrDrilZ

i wish there were separate buttons on the key for lock and unlock. also, wish the key would fold up like audi's.

Silver Bullet 911

The 997 is a wonderful car, perhaps the best I've ever driven, but I have a couple of dislikes that cast doubt on the soundness of Porsche's decision making and business model:
- With all the engineering talent at Porsche's disposal why not design a front license plate bracket that does not require putting four screws through the front bumper cover. Charge another $50 if necessary and come up with a simple design that mounts the front plate on a hidden bracket like the one on the '97 Mazda Miata my wife sold to buy her 2003 Boxster S. The '03 Boxster fortunately only requires two holes drilled into the front bumper. If they must drill holes in the front bumper, at least instruct the dealers to throw a set of $25 bumper plugs from bumperplugs.com in the glove compartment gratis. My dealer gave me a baseball cap, but the bumper plugs would have been more appreciated.
- Why not design the 6-speed manual with a short throw to begin with? Charge another $500 and make it standard. Everyone who drives a manual transmission wants a short throw. Recognize that and ship them that way. Don't make your customers have to tinker with their new cars to extract the full measure of driving pleasure they think they are getting in the first place.
- As others have noted:
-- the clock loses 3-4 minutes a week. That would be unacceptable in a Honda. Quartz crystals are cheap. Charge another $50 if you have to, but get it fixed.
-- the analog speedometer in the dash is illegible. Why not put one in that can be read? And yes charge another $50 if you have to.
-- the passenger window does not engage the one-touch feature until it is half way up. I suppose Porsche feels this is some kind of safety feature. It doesn't seem to be an issue with other manufacturers. This should be a free fix because they already know how to do it correctly on the driver's side.
-- No spare tire or jack. What were they thinking on this? Was weight the issue, was cost the issue, was additional storage space the issue? Any Porsche executive who thinks he can do without a spare tire and jack ought to be required to drive his 997S with 19 inch wheels through the streets and highways of any major city subject to winter potholes for 30 days. I think things would change quickly. Charge another $850 but don't leave us stranded.

Our 997s are not cheap and one could argue that for the price we paid these faults should not exist. Why doesn't Porsche go for a win/win. We have demonstrated we are willing to pay for quality. So raise the price another $1,500 if you must but make your customers feel Porsche is making a commitment to excellence. That perception would make the extra $1,500 go practically unnoticed. A committment to pretty-darn-good is what you get when you buy a Nissan 350Z. At 3X the price of a 350Z a commitment to excellence is what one has a right to expect. If Porsche can reinforce that perception it will keep customers coming back again and again.

Roadking

1. Rattles. Both driver and passenger side pockets, air vents, guage cluster and passenger side dash. I have been to the dealer 4 times, with limited success. Now attacking on my time.
2. Loose front sway bar - been in twice.
3. No spare
4. Sport chrono - love the sport mode button, the eye on the dash is odd... why not have in the sport mode all the time?

I am a happy customer. What ever issues I have the dealer is willing to tackle. The rattle issue is maddening, but they continue to work. The car is a blast to drive. Power is linear, handling is terrific and the engine responds nicely to "tuning" such as intake, chip and exhaust.
Porsche has done a great job with the styling. I love the body when compared to a std 996. No major issues here.