First time poster...long time lurker...
Apologize for the long first post

My new to me 2011 GTS arrived today. I was a little nervous as it was mostly sight unseen from Texas. Couldnt be more happy with how it turned out.

More details to follow but first a little background on how I got here.
I sold my e92 M3 about a year ago. Just never loved it like my e46 M3 on the track. I had been wanting to go back to a P car after owning an early Cayman S way back.
So my first shot was ordering a 981 Cayman S. It was pretty nice...PSE, X73, Sports Plus seats, PTV, Sport Chrono and Screaming Speed Yellow. Handled great although the steering wasn't quite what I remembered. Suspension was fantastic if a little low for daily use. The stick was a pain in heavier traffic days and no back seats was a bigger problem that I thought (I have an 8 yr old and an 11yr old)
After 7k miles, I decided to sell it and look for something a little different.

A couple months passed and I was looking online for something that would scratch the itch. A 2012 991 Carrera S was traded in at one of our other dealerships so I decided to give it a try. Pretty nice spec: PDK, PSE, Braunmeister, PDK, Sport Chrono, Park assist Power steering plus etc...
I have been driving it about a month. It is certainly fast and sounds great with the exhaust. The steering feel just isnt what I am looking for. The 991 just drives so much "bigger" than 911s I am used to. The spec was a little off for me since I dont love the look of park assist on the bumper and no use for the extra audio. For the coin I was going to drop on it, I LIKED it but didnt LOVE it.
The honeymoon period didnt last long.

So I went into full research mode and worked my way through every porsche that might be possible.
A gt3 is a little too focused for what I use it for. Even though I do track the car, I also like to use it other times and my wife refuses to go out to dinner in a car with a cage and harnesses (been there, tried that).
Turbos just dont do it for me sound wise and I would probably end up in Jail.
I settled on the 997.2 body style and quickly focused on finding a GTS.
The wide body and bumper ticked the "looks right" button for me and the performance was exactly in my wheelhouse.

After scouring, I found one traded at a Honda dealer in TX.
It was the right color (white) with PDK which were my two big qualifications.
26k miles
Rest of the spec is pretty standard GTS spec: Centerlock wheels, Alcantara wheels, Sport Chrono, White dials, Sport adaptive seats.
Only sport buckets and LSD would have made it perfect.
Arrived in great shape with only some yellowing on the stoneguards to show its not new.

Sitting in it, I could tell right away it is what Ive been looking for. Just fits. feels so much smaller. For some reason it feels faster than the 991 although paper tells me otherwise, The handling certainly has more of an edge to me. I dont know if it is better but I can tell better where the car is and what inputs are doing to it so I am faster in it.

Anyway sorry for the long post. Happy to be here and will post more impressions the more I spend time with it.
Also have some boxes of mods on the way so itll be fun to watch it transform

 

Ryun,

First... Contrats on the very nice looking GTS.

Second... welcome to the Rennlist Membership.

 

Congrats! In August, I moved from a 996GT3 (10 year ownership) to a GTS. Biggest adjustment was going from 6-spd to PDK. The GTS has proved to be the best compromise for all-around use. Enjoy!

 

Welcome to GTS ownership...nice write up. Hopefully the GTS will be arround longer than your previous 981 & 991. Congrats.

 

yeah. The pdk is a bit of an adjustment. The paddles on the gts seem to be more intuitive than the buttons on the 991.

carbongt, my wife said the same thing. I never ended up buying the 991, just used it as my demo for a couple of months. The mods have started so there is no going back for a long while.
A box from Sharkwerks is on the way...this exhaust even with the PSE is way too quiet. much quieter than either of the other cars. Gotta fix that...

 

Congrats And welcome. Sounds like you had an interesting trip getting to this point. The car looks great. Happy modding.

 

+1

The very first thing I did within a couple of weeks of getting the GTS. I'm fortunate that SW is only a few miles from me.

 

That's beautiful car and I wholly agree on the sound needing to be perked up. The X-pipe is a good first step and/or some type of aftermarket exhaust (lots of threads on these options) would really do it justice. (Sadly, for me in CA, going beyond the X-pipe is problematic as so many aftermarket exhausts are automatic failure for emissions inspection so I've never really looked into it.) Even though you didn't ask, a few (of the many) of aesthetic mods:

1. Headlight washers in your white exterior color (Bumper Plugs offers this product).
2. Black vinyl trim on your headlights - the link below shows a picture. I don't know if that on a white car they might look like black eyes. I think there are threads with pictures and opinions of that mod on a white car.
3. Black stone guards? There are lots of threads (with pictures) on the pro's and con's of these if you are really looking to max out the black/white contrast (looks good with and looks good without so I guess I don't have an opinion either way).

Anyway, congrats and enjoy - not the quickest horse in the Porsche stable but ranks way up there on the fun you'll have driving it.

http://www.kistudios.com/997-headlight-trim.html

 

Congrats and welcome to the 997 section.

 

Yup, got the black trims ordered for the headlights.

I am going to do the headlight washers although I considered black but we will see.

I am going back and forth on the black stoneguards so probably just stick with the patina ones till I make up my mind.

Id like to do silver crest and black centerlock pieces but I need to pace myself

 

BTW, I was assuming the package from SW is the center muffler bypass. If not, you might chevk out https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...er-bypass.html

 

Congrats! Nice write up! The GTS was my favorite at Porsche Driving Experience a few years ago. I completely understand your preferences.

 

Here is one vote for the black stone guards. I think they look the best on white cars.

 

Great write-up, Ryun43. I too have recently gone the white GTS route and had a somewhat similar decision process. I was originally going to go the GT3 route but having a wife and 8 year old daughter that both enjoy riding with Dad in the Porsche steered me towards the GTS. No regrets, the GTS is just awesome, you will love it!!

 

Welcome!