Since I posted on another thread and many wanted to know more, I am doing a separate thread on this.

Last weekend at a Porsche Club event, my instructor had the only 991 C2S on the day and he had a very nicely setup one, with X51 Powerkit with 430 HP, ductail, and 7 speed.

Here's my assessment by being passenger on two sessions:

The car was great honestly, the engine sound/exhaust is definitely improvement over 997.2, and maybe a tad better than 997.1 PSE. The HP, power curve, was not that massively different, I didn't feel like it was that much faster. He would get 5-10 MPH faster on the straight than my car, but I really do not know if it was him as a driver, or the car.

A few interesting things:
- He could almost NOT get it to slide, a few times he kinda tried, getting into a corner, opposite lock and full throttle, car even without traction control just would straighten itself. Some say this is great, some say this is terrible on 911!
- In some slow corners, I was FASTER! This was a bit strange, as he's a much better driver. Either it was my AWD, or my tires (MPSS vs. Pzero), or just in general my car could take those better
- He was NOT faster than GT-R or GT3 cars, eventhough he was a great driver. Although I think most of those had better tires
- The front passenger side leg room was horrendous, it kind of goes in to an angle and you have little room for your feet
- Interior is cramped, it just felt a lot less roomy and airy than 997 [cannot understand where did that 4 inches go?]
- Visibility is less than 997
- Interior feels nicer, more upscale than 997 while definitely less sporty
- Car overall was more refined
- The owner did say the steering is not as good as 997 (his previous car)
- The new Gray leather is much much nicer than old. He had a two-tone black/gray and the combo was fantastic. The 997 Gray was fugly and cheap looking, not on the 991.

So, at the end of the day, I did like the car (more than I thought I would). I however, cannot possibly justify the cost of the new 991. Most optioned cars run into 130K+ which is quite ridiculous. I was at the dealer yesterday and honestly the more I looked at both new Boxster/Cayman vs. new 991, the MORE I liked Boxster/Cayman over the 991... they just look so much better, more exotic, and fantastic value vs. 991. If I wanted to buy a brand new car, I'd get a Boxster or Cayman. If used, I get a higher end 997, like GT3 or Turbo as opposed to 991.

PS. Base 991 with 3.4 has very low Torque and is absolutely NOT worth it at all. Definitely skip that if you're in the market. 100% get a Cayman/Boxster S over base 991.

 

Thanks for this.

 

I'm not sure if you read any enthusiast magazines like evo- but many feel the base 991 on passive dampers without PDCC is the best best drive of all 991 models thus far (this is prior to 991 GT3)...

 

Possibly, but the Torque of that car is so low, unless you keep the revs high, it's quite difficult to get it going.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

My experience was different: In a recent NJMP DE day I was behind a 991S w/PSE for several laps in my 997.2S we were both in the green group and I noticed how much fast he was able to accelerate after corners. I maintained a better line and did get on his tail but I had to work hard on getting the point by from him just because as I got on him in the turns he would just leave me behind once we both got back on the throttle. Both cars are PDKs. I was honestly surprised at how quick the 991 was - on paper the difference isnt that significant.

Oh and that amazing PSE sound... I almost wanted to get back behind him to listen to more of that growl

 

Why is that different? He had better front grip, so could get on the power earlier, and has more HP on you. Yet, you still passed him. You can even say something similar for Cayman S apart from the Power.

Oh and PSE is 100% improved over 997.2.

 

Alex, this jumped out at me: "The HP, power curve, was not that massively different, I didn't feel like it was that much faster". I felt that even though on paper the difference isnt great, on the track there seems to be a lot of difference. If he was a slightly better driver, I would have no shot of getting around him.

 

Well, pace is much harder to judge from passenger side, so what I looked at mostly was (1) Max speed at end of straight, (2) Exit speed from one slow corner (3) Overall, the way it took off (pace).

Based on that, he was getting 5-10 MPH more on the straight away, and 5 MPH lower in the slow corner, and felt to have slightly more pace (HP) than mine (more brute force). I got 355, he had 430, which I thought would be felt much more significantly than it did... definitely faster, but not that significantly. In comparison to GT3 (same HP but lighter), it was slower.

At the end of the day, as I said, it's a faster car, it sounds great, it has less of a 911 handling but more front grip, less of a sporty interior (and exterior IMO), more luxurious, smaller cabin (strangely), and poor value in general. A better driver in 997 would catch the 991.