ok time for a few very first impressions (Ive only had the car for 6 hours and driven only 50 miles and fiddled with PCM for a couple of hours to get to know it), but here goes...

Overall the car already feels very different indeed to the Gen1 car - far more so than I expected and and in many unexpected ways to those that my test drive had revealed.

Ride
Its much more comfortable and compliant over uneven surfaces. The car feels much more like a GT cruiser than the bumpy but nimble Gen1, it almost feels like a much bigger heavier car. Im sure it will be an easier car to live inside but the drive does feel a little sanitised and some of that "fun at 50mph" factor seems to have gone and you seem to have to drive it faster to get the same thrill. On a long drive or on a bumpy road the Gen2 will excel of that I have no doubt as the Gen1 ride felt almost bone shakingly hard and old fashioned when compared to Gen2. I feel however that it has lost some of the great feedback I got from the old car. For some reason I didnt really notice the ride difference at all on the test drive perhaps because I was too focused on PDK, but now the two cars feel like chalk and cheese.

Performance / PDK
First let me say that PDK is great - I love it. Ive grouped performance and PDK together here because I do feel they are significantly linked. The car (even trying to hold it under 5k rpm) feels significantly faster than the old one, I mean a lot faster indeed almost warp speed! I shudder to think how fast it will feel once its run in. Much of the difference is down to PDK of that I am sure as it just rockets through the gears so smoothly you just seem to 'woosh' everywhere. Not sure why but I am definately driving it much faster than the I drove the old one. My initial thoughts are that my heavy right foot is down to either a) first day and Im pushing it more to see what it can do b) because the PDK encourages you to blast along as it is so much fun c) because putting Sport Mode on unfortunatly seems essential to get a punchy rapid change out of the PDK and thus the throttle response is also remapped d) the lack of PSE means Im going faster to try to get some audio feedback out of the engine or e) a combination of all of the above?? Either way this car feels like a rocketship compared to my old C2S, so much so that right now Im worried Im going to loose my license. I never felt the old car was slow but the difference is quite dramatic. Irrespective of speed I am missing PSE big time, the Gen2 car sounds like a muted hairdryer compared to the sheer loudness and the delicious pops and burbles of my unplugged PSE Gen1 car. The good news here is that my PSE is on order and should be fitted in around a month - I just pray it restores the soundtrack of Gen1 and that it can be unplugged.

PCM / USB / BOSE / Bluetooth etc...
There is a significant improvement in the Nav functionality and the touchscreen interface is just fantastic compared to the old twisty dial only interface. The only gripe I have so far is that the lady's voice is a little robotic compared to the old voice - she sounds a little like a female Dr Steven Hawkins! and far less pleasing to the ear. Sound quality from the new BOSE is also improved over the old BOSE too and the Ipod interface is also delightfully simple to use. Bluetooth seems to work just fine (although the dealer had to change the mode before my phone would pair as it is a HTC smartphone) - after the initial mode change problems all seems fine and the phonebook synced just fine.

Other bits
Love the LED daylights and the car looks more modern and slick externally. Adaptive sports seats are also much more comfortable than sports seats (I really didnt expect this to at all) and the side cushions seem far less prone to squashing as you get in and out. That said I am not sure they are worth £1350 more than sports seats however - Hmm as I type this I am wondering if the adaptive seats are partially responsible for softer more comfortable ride?? Even without an Aerokit Ive found myself really liking the 'stealth' looks of the new car already it is a more beautiful car to look at if a little less eyecatching without Aero.

Overall its hard to say how I feel at the moment - there is a lot to be very positive about but its not as clear cut as I had hoped. Dont get me wrong I wasnt going to keep the old car forever so at some point it had to go and 2 years old has always been my trigger point previously. I did of course debate keeping it longer and adding X51, something that is now ringing in the back of my mind as something I should have not given up on as right now I'm not sure the new car is an improvement in all areas. I realise however it is very early days to make such conclusions and hopefully a few days into ownership my thoughts will change as I settle into the differences.

In summary the new car is so much smoother, faster, slicker and more modern than the old car but some of the soul and character seems to have gone too. Quite a few unexpected feelings on the first day. On the negative side I am a little worried about the sheer speed of it (haha!), the ride whilst more comfortable has lost some feedback and feel and I am missing PSE perhaps most of all. On the positive side PCM3 is a huge improvement, I am already loving the looks and not missing Aero half as much as I thought I would and oh boy is it fast - The performance that Gen2 with PDK is capable of is very addictive indeed!

 

Totally agree with this. My C2S feels much softer than my old C2 and there seems to be less of a connection with the road. You'll get used to it over the next few weeks, but I still miss feeling every crack in the pavement. Oh well, it is quite a bit faster than the old one.

 

Simple... turn PASM Sport ON, it will be taut again. Beware though that on real-world road surfaces (read bumpy) a more compliant suspension works better - PAG just recognized it now.

 

is your old car manual or tip?

 

was about to ask that myself. i would bet manual.

 

Yes the old car was a manual (I hated TIP, but love PDK)

Adias - great idea!!! I tried Sport PASM this morning on the way to work and its a big improvement - felt more like the old car in Normal PASM mode.

Sport PASM on Gen1 was so bone shakingly hard that I never used it so I (perhaps wrongly) assumed that it was unuseable on Gen2 and never even tried it yesterday! I will be sticking with Sport PASM for now which is 1 less key press as before I was engaging Sport PDK then turning off PASM again.

 

A comment on PDK. When I ordered my '09 C2S I struggled with the PDK option as I have always driven stick. I finally at the dealers recommendation went with the PDK. I have been very happy with the decision. This past week the "happy" feeling with the decision got re-enforced as I was able to extensively drive a PDK optioned Carrera and Carrera S on the track at the Porsche Sport Driving School. I drove it in the manual mode most of the time and I can safely say I could not have shifted a manual faster or smoother than the PDK It is a great transmission. In the auto mode you can still manually shift and if you then do nothing for 40 seconds the computer will take back control and shift for you. At speed I found the paddle arrangement to be very normal and well placed. Several times old habits set in and my hand dropped to the shift lever. I simply bumped it forward for an up shift and backward for a down shift. Remember pull back on the reigns and the horse stops (sic) With the PDK vehicle I was then able to keep my left foot on the dead peddle and thus stay firmly in the seat while cornering. The wave and or transmission of the future and there is no turning back.

 

With so many defections from the 6 speed it soon will be going the way of the ringer washing machine.

 

This should be a revealing perspective for a lot of people.

 

Also, for the 997.1 users, I recently put on the techart lowering springs and found that they are a perfect match for the PASM now, I never drive the car without it Plus, I did the Gundo Muffler hack about 8 months ago hands doen the best aspect on this car is a sweet azz exhaust....I will certainly do this again on my next one (if I can), or try to order one with PSE

Sounds like the 997.2 is a great car, but perhaps they made the same mistake BMW did a few years back with the 3 and 5 series where they messed with the handling? My car is already too damn fast (three spedding tix in 2 months a while back), so lord knows I don't need any more speed I mush prefer handling, torque and sound quality.....three things that perhaps got a tad jumbled in the new 997.2?

 

A simple fix for sound quality and a little more horsepower is to replace the center muffler with the Sharkwerks center muffler by pass pipe. Quick and simple to install with the car on the ground, you lose 10 lbs low and in the rear. The sound is great when you exercise the engine yet at cruise RPM is is a quiet as stock . Torque issues, I don't see a problem, the engine pulls strong from the go.

 

I disagree. The 997.2 handles far better than the 997.1.

 

Ok good to know

 

Yup I'd agree on this. That's one of the first things I noticed. Out of the box and stock vs stock the .2's suspension is improved.

 

Right Alex, but what do we know?