Chaos

Schwinn

Palmbeacher

I've been driving my 997 daily for going on 3 years and have no complaints. But I attribute that to having made my purchase decision rationally rather than emotionally.

-I live where the climate is warm year-round, no snow, no ice, no slush...no seasonal disadvantage to driving it 365 days, no need to switch tires, etc. And unlike the air-cooled predecessors, the 996/997 have Air-Con that works fine in 80-90 degree 70-80% humidity weather.

-My daily commute is <10 miles each way, always before and after peak hours, on suburban roads with ~1 mile between lights, and no stop-and-go traffic jams. Thus I didn't need feel compelled to numb the Porsche experience by getting an automatic.

-I don't have children, my practice doesn't involve carrying passengers, and we have a Mercedes 4-door for going out with friends, so the lack of a humanly-usable backseat in the Porsche isn't an issue.

-The ride and handling in a stock 997 is much less harsh, and the noise-level lower than the older Porsches, which I tried time and again and could not have felt comfortable driving daily.

simsgw

Yes, that is certainly true. After losing our NSX -- to she who is not named without cursing -- we planned to buy a Porsche from the early 2000's or even late 1900's but didn't really know model designations at that point. We had appointments to drive such examples, but always intending the car we chose as a daily driver. We started with those and kept moving up the food chain. Even an early 997 (as I know it now) left us cold because it had been fitted with the sports suspension. The roads around Thousand Oaks (where they're holding Tiger's golf tournament this week) are splendid test cases for a daily driver: parkland boulevards, heavily trafficked city roads, and fast freeways -- all in the state of decay typical of California roads since our last gubernatorial election. The defects of a sport suspension for daily use were evident.

We were considering an escape to the Mercedes appointment, figuring we are finally too old for a sports car, when the Sales Manager offered to rummage around in storage and bring out "the new Porsche with active suspension", aka the 997.2 of course.

I hadn't gone a block with the new DFI engine before I remarked that "I could see us owning this car." After a substantial loop across different road types, we were willing to negotiate.

The recent 997 models are wonderful examples of designing for dual use. They make a comfortable daily drive but change personality at the sight of a shapely on-ramp.

Gary

Jim 'n' SC

I am blessed to live in Greenville, SC. I live minutes away from Paris Mtn. It's not huge, but it's an
blast of an 8 mile run from bottom to top that really satisfies my 911 urge when I need one!

sjfehr

There's nothing wrong with daily-driving a 997 on rough roads! Just treat every day as if it's a rally, and enjoy your commute even more