Saaboteur's 06 X51 Carrera 4S
09-18-2014, 12:37 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Saaboteur's 06 X51 Carrera 4S
Been a lurker for a while now. This is my second substantive post, and I hope to keep the thread updated as I progress with modifications and such for the car. They won’t be extreme by any means, but the thread will serve as a diary of sorts. This first post is a bit lengthy, as it details my journey to acquire the car, and the road trip that followed!
Anyway, this is my first Porsche, and I am loving every minute I spend in the car! I am a certifiable ‘car guy’, and have a long list of previously owned cars. The screen name comes from my old 1988 Saab 900 Turbo SPG, heavily modified, which I built in my university days.
My 911 replaces my 2001 supercharged S2000. I have kept a stable of three cars for myself (a bit excessive, I know, but I have my reasons). The other two are my summer daily driver, a 2005 C55 AMG, and my winter daily driver and all around trash hauler / beater, a 2002 Audi A4 Quattro Avant.
As soon as I put myself into the position to buy a 997, I contacted Weissach Performance in Vancouver to enlist their help in locating a car. Naturally, I also kept an eye out on kijiji and autotrader.ca, as well as whatever offerings Kulu Motorcar in Calgary might have. I had three ‘must have’ options – sport seats, full leather and Sport Chrono. Anything else was really ‘gravy’, and whilst I insisted on all of those three to begin with, as the search continued I relaxed the requirements – specifically sport seats, as of those three, the sport seats would be the easiest to add (although of course the most bulky!).
I missed out on one car that Weissach had (a 2006 C2S with my triumvirate of options) plus Techart front lip, rear wing, skirts and wheels. That car went online on a Thursday, an offer came into them on the Friday, and I saw the ad on the Friday and called on the Saturday. Fail. The one day I didn’t keep a diligent watch on the website and autotrader and it bit me!
I then looked at some other cars more locally to me, drove several, got quite serious with one, a 2005 C2S with lots of options and very, very clean. Even went so far as to have it PPI’d. Out of paranoia, I had noticed the left exhaust pipes very slightly darker than the right, and so asked the shop to boroscope the right cylinder bank. They found scoring. Reasoning that I would never buy any other car knowing about bore scoring, and not wanting to buy a car immediately contemplating an engine rebuild, I passed.
Then several days later, Michael at Weissach contacted me about a car they had taken in on trade. I’d been dealing with him in my …no longer a search, it had turned into a veritable quest!! Anyway, the car was known to them, and was of a lovely specification – 2006 C4S, full leather, Sport Chrono, rear wiper, navigation, a few other options here and there, but the kicker was the X51 Powerkit. No sport seats, but I could live with that, add them later, because of X51. Quickly, I gave them a deposit and 10 days later hopped the quick flight down to Vancouver and picked up the car the next day. I arrived on the Thursday evening, and spent several hours catching up with my relatives there before heading off to bed. But I could barely sleep, and I think I was up after only about 4 hours of shut eye! Too excited, obviously, as I was going to pick up the car the next day!
That was last Friday, 12 September 2014. It was a fitting present to myself for my recent 10 year anniversary of being called to the bar. Upon arrival at Weissach, I was greeted by other staff as Michael was away. Even one of the techs congratulated me on the new acquisition as he removed the front licence plate bracket (we don’t use front plates in Alberta).
My relatives from Vancouver posed for some photos with the car (picture two aunties, one in her early 60s, the other in her late 70s, both diminutive women sitting in the 911 with big smiles – very funny stuff!), then showed the car briefly to a classmate of mine who practices in downtown Vancouver, and then I was off. Ahead lay about 1,200km and 13 hours of driving back to my home in Edmonton.
The drive was not an unfamiliar one to me, I’ve done it many, many times in the past, beginning in childhood with my parents as we travelled to visit family in Vancouver, and latterly with my own family. But those road trips were basically always in sensible family vehicles, save for one trip in my old Saab, and most recently in our Land Rover LR3.
From the bustling, cosmopolitan, truly international metropolis of Vancouver, and its lovely mixture of coast and mountains, my chosen route included the meandering low lying areas of the lower mainland; climbed the ferociously steep mountain ranges via the Coquihalla Highway; then through the near desert turned irrigated orchard filled Okanagan Valley; then to the always breathtaking peaks of the Canadian Rockies that straddle the BC / Alberta border; then to the foothills near Calgary, before the flat prairie of the road north to Edmonton.
Certainly, there are other routes, namely going further north via Jasper and the Yellowhead Highway, or south, via Crowsnest Pass, but I always choose the route mentioned above. It has more divided sections, and I just prefer the drive. Furthermore, Weissach gave notice that they would be showing off the new Lamborghini Huracan at a show and shine event in Calgary over the weekend. This was the event at Michael was at. Putting a face to a name was reason enough to pass through Calgary on the way home, I figured!
Leaving Vancouver proper at about 2:00pm on the Friday, I made it to Kamloops about 5:30 and had a quick dinner. Then hit the road again through the Shuswap Lake area. Here the Transcanada Highway becomes a mere two lane affair as it twists its way around the Shuswap Lake and surrounding hills. Lovely drive, especially near Chase and Sorrento. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind a van pulling a trailer so couldn’t attack the corners as much as I wanted to do!
Passing semis and slower traffic in third or fourth gear was a blast, as the PSE gave the engine a lovely warble as I sliced through 160kmh at times. Here I found the X51 very tractable, as even in fifth there is a nice punch through the medium revs.
I finally made it to my designated stop for the evening, the small mountain town of Golden, BC. Again, another night of very little sleep as I suppose I was just still too excited with my acquisition. On the road again in the morning after a quick tire pressure check. The first several kilometres east of Golden are a nice, twisty affair with the road cut into the side of the mountain – so rock faces on one side, and a drop down to the Kicking Horse River below. Unfortunately, again I was stuck behind traffic. So about halfway through I just stopped to shoot some photos before carrying on. Shortly after the twisty bit is the magnificent Kicking Horse Bridge, which seemingly soars waaaay up in the sky, with massive concrete pillars supporting its span. Always a breathtaking sight for the engineering into it. From the west, the road rises up over the bridge, and then you are seemingly flying over the river below, before the eastern span reaches the path blasted out from the mountain rock. Not to be missed if you are in the area (actually, you probably have no choice but to drive on it). You can see it in some of the photos.
Then it was back to much more familiar territory from many Alberta road trips, as Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore and then Calgary are but a few hours away. In Calgary I stopped at the show and shine, met with Michael and Asgar (the Weissach owner), saw the Huracan and a few other exotics, had a quick lunch and then blasted off north towards Edmonton, and home. I had to be home by late afternoon as we were due to head out to a surprise birthday party that evening. Made it home about 5:00pm and that was it!
Anyway, that’s my drive story. I will post pictures of the car along the way home in the following posts. Very, very happy with it, especially the X51. But now I’m spoiled, because whilst I had driven several other C2S and C4S cars, none had the X51 (although I did drive a 997.2 C2S once). The exhaust emits a lovely bark given some revs, and the engine is extremely tractable. And despite its vintage, I found the navigation quite decent – far better than the Mercedes COMAND system in my C55, but not as good as the one in our Land Rover. The car is also equipped with a mObridge Bluetooth and iPod unit, and as I have the same unit in my C55, pairing up my iPhone and connecting my iPod were a snap.
So far, Porsche ownership has been great, and I look forward to many enjoyable hours and kilometres with the car!
I’m already thinking about modifications though, of course, and parts to buy. First will be a car cover I think, as the car will be parked during the winter months. LED interior bulbs, and possibly LED fogs and tails too, but the LED exterior lights aren’t at the top of the priority list. Techart springs (as opposed to H&R or Eibach) as I’ve read good things about them. Wheel spacers for now, and perhaps eventually Champion RG5s. Sport seats of course, but I think I will hold off for adaptive ones, to retain memory function as the car has power memory seats, and I can’t stand buttons that don’t do anything. Oh, and probably over this coming winter I will convert the gauges to metric – I’m a bit OCD about that, and besides, a speedo that reads 330 has got to be cooler than one that ‘only’ reads to 200!
Anyway, this is my first Porsche, and I am loving every minute I spend in the car! I am a certifiable ‘car guy’, and have a long list of previously owned cars. The screen name comes from my old 1988 Saab 900 Turbo SPG, heavily modified, which I built in my university days.
My 911 replaces my 2001 supercharged S2000. I have kept a stable of three cars for myself (a bit excessive, I know, but I have my reasons). The other two are my summer daily driver, a 2005 C55 AMG, and my winter daily driver and all around trash hauler / beater, a 2002 Audi A4 Quattro Avant.
As soon as I put myself into the position to buy a 997, I contacted Weissach Performance in Vancouver to enlist their help in locating a car. Naturally, I also kept an eye out on kijiji and autotrader.ca, as well as whatever offerings Kulu Motorcar in Calgary might have. I had three ‘must have’ options – sport seats, full leather and Sport Chrono. Anything else was really ‘gravy’, and whilst I insisted on all of those three to begin with, as the search continued I relaxed the requirements – specifically sport seats, as of those three, the sport seats would be the easiest to add (although of course the most bulky!).
I missed out on one car that Weissach had (a 2006 C2S with my triumvirate of options) plus Techart front lip, rear wing, skirts and wheels. That car went online on a Thursday, an offer came into them on the Friday, and I saw the ad on the Friday and called on the Saturday. Fail. The one day I didn’t keep a diligent watch on the website and autotrader and it bit me!
I then looked at some other cars more locally to me, drove several, got quite serious with one, a 2005 C2S with lots of options and very, very clean. Even went so far as to have it PPI’d. Out of paranoia, I had noticed the left exhaust pipes very slightly darker than the right, and so asked the shop to boroscope the right cylinder bank. They found scoring. Reasoning that I would never buy any other car knowing about bore scoring, and not wanting to buy a car immediately contemplating an engine rebuild, I passed.
Then several days later, Michael at Weissach contacted me about a car they had taken in on trade. I’d been dealing with him in my …no longer a search, it had turned into a veritable quest!! Anyway, the car was known to them, and was of a lovely specification – 2006 C4S, full leather, Sport Chrono, rear wiper, navigation, a few other options here and there, but the kicker was the X51 Powerkit. No sport seats, but I could live with that, add them later, because of X51. Quickly, I gave them a deposit and 10 days later hopped the quick flight down to Vancouver and picked up the car the next day. I arrived on the Thursday evening, and spent several hours catching up with my relatives there before heading off to bed. But I could barely sleep, and I think I was up after only about 4 hours of shut eye! Too excited, obviously, as I was going to pick up the car the next day!
That was last Friday, 12 September 2014. It was a fitting present to myself for my recent 10 year anniversary of being called to the bar. Upon arrival at Weissach, I was greeted by other staff as Michael was away. Even one of the techs congratulated me on the new acquisition as he removed the front licence plate bracket (we don’t use front plates in Alberta).
My relatives from Vancouver posed for some photos with the car (picture two aunties, one in her early 60s, the other in her late 70s, both diminutive women sitting in the 911 with big smiles – very funny stuff!), then showed the car briefly to a classmate of mine who practices in downtown Vancouver, and then I was off. Ahead lay about 1,200km and 13 hours of driving back to my home in Edmonton.
The drive was not an unfamiliar one to me, I’ve done it many, many times in the past, beginning in childhood with my parents as we travelled to visit family in Vancouver, and latterly with my own family. But those road trips were basically always in sensible family vehicles, save for one trip in my old Saab, and most recently in our Land Rover LR3.
From the bustling, cosmopolitan, truly international metropolis of Vancouver, and its lovely mixture of coast and mountains, my chosen route included the meandering low lying areas of the lower mainland; climbed the ferociously steep mountain ranges via the Coquihalla Highway; then through the near desert turned irrigated orchard filled Okanagan Valley; then to the always breathtaking peaks of the Canadian Rockies that straddle the BC / Alberta border; then to the foothills near Calgary, before the flat prairie of the road north to Edmonton.
Certainly, there are other routes, namely going further north via Jasper and the Yellowhead Highway, or south, via Crowsnest Pass, but I always choose the route mentioned above. It has more divided sections, and I just prefer the drive. Furthermore, Weissach gave notice that they would be showing off the new Lamborghini Huracan at a show and shine event in Calgary over the weekend. This was the event at Michael was at. Putting a face to a name was reason enough to pass through Calgary on the way home, I figured!
Leaving Vancouver proper at about 2:00pm on the Friday, I made it to Kamloops about 5:30 and had a quick dinner. Then hit the road again through the Shuswap Lake area. Here the Transcanada Highway becomes a mere two lane affair as it twists its way around the Shuswap Lake and surrounding hills. Lovely drive, especially near Chase and Sorrento. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind a van pulling a trailer so couldn’t attack the corners as much as I wanted to do!
Passing semis and slower traffic in third or fourth gear was a blast, as the PSE gave the engine a lovely warble as I sliced through 160kmh at times. Here I found the X51 very tractable, as even in fifth there is a nice punch through the medium revs.
I finally made it to my designated stop for the evening, the small mountain town of Golden, BC. Again, another night of very little sleep as I suppose I was just still too excited with my acquisition. On the road again in the morning after a quick tire pressure check. The first several kilometres east of Golden are a nice, twisty affair with the road cut into the side of the mountain – so rock faces on one side, and a drop down to the Kicking Horse River below. Unfortunately, again I was stuck behind traffic. So about halfway through I just stopped to shoot some photos before carrying on. Shortly after the twisty bit is the magnificent Kicking Horse Bridge, which seemingly soars waaaay up in the sky, with massive concrete pillars supporting its span. Always a breathtaking sight for the engineering into it. From the west, the road rises up over the bridge, and then you are seemingly flying over the river below, before the eastern span reaches the path blasted out from the mountain rock. Not to be missed if you are in the area (actually, you probably have no choice but to drive on it). You can see it in some of the photos.
Then it was back to much more familiar territory from many Alberta road trips, as Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore and then Calgary are but a few hours away. In Calgary I stopped at the show and shine, met with Michael and Asgar (the Weissach owner), saw the Huracan and a few other exotics, had a quick lunch and then blasted off north towards Edmonton, and home. I had to be home by late afternoon as we were due to head out to a surprise birthday party that evening. Made it home about 5:00pm and that was it!
Anyway, that’s my drive story. I will post pictures of the car along the way home in the following posts. Very, very happy with it, especially the X51. But now I’m spoiled, because whilst I had driven several other C2S and C4S cars, none had the X51 (although I did drive a 997.2 C2S once). The exhaust emits a lovely bark given some revs, and the engine is extremely tractable. And despite its vintage, I found the navigation quite decent – far better than the Mercedes COMAND system in my C55, but not as good as the one in our Land Rover. The car is also equipped with a mObridge Bluetooth and iPod unit, and as I have the same unit in my C55, pairing up my iPhone and connecting my iPod were a snap.
So far, Porsche ownership has been great, and I look forward to many enjoyable hours and kilometres with the car!
I’m already thinking about modifications though, of course, and parts to buy. First will be a car cover I think, as the car will be parked during the winter months. LED interior bulbs, and possibly LED fogs and tails too, but the LED exterior lights aren’t at the top of the priority list. Techart springs (as opposed to H&R or Eibach) as I’ve read good things about them. Wheel spacers for now, and perhaps eventually Champion RG5s. Sport seats of course, but I think I will hold off for adaptive ones, to retain memory function as the car has power memory seats, and I can’t stand buttons that don’t do anything. Oh, and probably over this coming winter I will convert the gauges to metric – I’m a bit OCD about that, and besides, a speedo that reads 330 has got to be cooler than one that ‘only’ reads to 200!
Last edited by Saaboteur; 02-03-2015 at 09:32 PM.
09-18-2014, 12:40 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Proud new owner, just about to leave Weissach:
In the wilds of downtown Vancouver:
At the top of the Coquihalla Highway:
Outside Golden:
The Kicking Horse River Bridge in the background:
In the Yoho Valley, near Field, BC:
Waiting for road construction, near the Spiral Tunnels (for trains):
In the wilds of downtown Vancouver:
At the top of the Coquihalla Highway:
Outside Golden:
The Kicking Horse River Bridge in the background:
In the Yoho Valley, near Field, BC:
Waiting for road construction, near the Spiral Tunnels (for trains):
09-18-2014, 12:41 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Outside Banff:
Approaching Calgary, in the foothills, near an abandoned gas station:
Near Cochrane, in the foothills with the Rockies as a backdrop (remnants of very early snowfall still visible!):
A sure sign of the prairies:
Home!
Approaching Calgary, in the foothills, near an abandoned gas station:
Near Cochrane, in the foothills with the Rockies as a backdrop (remnants of very early snowfall still visible!):
A sure sign of the prairies:
Home!
Last edited by Saaboteur; 09-18-2014 at 02:00 PM.
The following users liked this post:
Petrastella (12-29-2020)
09-18-2014, 01:36 PM
#6
Congrats. I immediately recognized your s/n from MB World Forums - just sold my C55 and bought an 05 C2s and loving every minute of it. Your car looks perfect as is I wouldn't change a thing to the appearance!
09-18-2014, 01:58 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Hah, seems a lot of guys think alike - noticed that Pacqueras is also on Rennlist now too, he was on the C36/C43 forum on mbworld a lot too!
Been debating consolidating to two cars for myself, the C4S and one all year DD, ie. what more sensible people would do. But I like my C55 so much, and it makes a lovely daily driver. I keep thinking I could get rid of the Audi and the C55 and get into a B7 S4 Avant, but I don't really like the interior on the B6/B7. My B6 isn't all that great, probably a B7 would be better especially with the S4's Recaros. Maybe just will look for a B8 S4 instead...hmmm...first world problems.
Been debating consolidating to two cars for myself, the C4S and one all year DD, ie. what more sensible people would do. But I like my C55 so much, and it makes a lovely daily driver. I keep thinking I could get rid of the Audi and the C55 and get into a B7 S4 Avant, but I don't really like the interior on the B6/B7. My B6 isn't all that great, probably a B7 would be better especially with the S4's Recaros. Maybe just will look for a B8 S4 instead...hmmm...first world problems.
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09-18-2014, 04:51 PM
#10
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Weissach has provided me with their professional photos of the car shot prior to sale. Two of my favourites here, the rest in my Photobucket album:
http://s788.photobucket.com/user/vin...ssach%20photos
http://s788.photobucket.com/user/vin...ssach%20photos
09-18-2014, 06:58 PM
#12
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Thanks everyone, very happy with this car. I just found out from a look through the previous service records that the previous owner installed an RSS crank pulley! And the car already has mesh on the front bumper to help keep crap out of the rads.
09-18-2014, 06:59 PM
#13
Rennlist Member
Beautiful find! Love the wheels and the center console. You don't see leather center consoles very often, looks amazing. Strange that it has the sport exhaust tips without the PSE button on the console. Added after purchase by previous owner?
09-18-2014, 07:28 PM
#15
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Yup, the first post got a bit wordy but I like to explain stuff! 
It's my understanding the X51 cars didn't have a separate PSE button. I was slightly disappointed to find that out, but no matter. It seems to me that the PSE is on 'loud' mode all the time. I don't mind though, it isn't mind numbingly loud.
Forgot to mention that the car also has factory short shifter. It's also supposed to have TPMS but I can't find any sub menu with that anywhere showing live readings - unless it only shows warnings when low? I suppose I should read the manual more thoroughly.
It's my understanding the X51 cars didn't have a separate PSE button. I was slightly disappointed to find that out, but no matter. It seems to me that the PSE is on 'loud' mode all the time. I don't mind though, it isn't mind numbingly loud.
Forgot to mention that the car also has factory short shifter. It's also supposed to have TPMS but I can't find any sub menu with that anywhere showing live readings - unless it only shows warnings when low? I suppose I should read the manual more thoroughly.