Edgy01

A great car,--but why pass up that 918 Spyder??

mjsporsche

Good luck with your new car. It is a beauty.

Swoody

Congrats on the new car! Chukanutt drive is great when dry and NO bike riders are present!

Nip are

Great story thanks for sharing it. I'm very jealous. Now let's get down to business. You gave a good description of the car but I'm curious what you paid for it. Also you mentioned that you chose the 997 over the 991, can you elaborate on your reasons. Lastly if you drove a standard 4S 997 can you comment on the difference between it and the 4GTS?
Thanks again

workhurts

I'm cringing at how close that 918 door is to the pillar.

ElectricChair

Great find, congrats!

malahhaor

Congrads, enjoy responsibly.
This is what i would love to upgrade to from my 06 C4, but with a 6spd.

+1 on that 918 and the pillar

winthorp

It was quite cold that day (a bit above freezing). Hence there were no bike riders on my drive home -- just me, the car and a beautiful view at sunset. Next time I'll bring along my son and wife for a stop at that cliff-side seafood place.

I noticed the proximity of the pillar before getting into the 918 and mentioned it to my sales person. He said that they made sure the door will not hit it when they positioned the car in the showroom. Another problem was me trying to avoid hitting the (all carbon fiber) sills with my boots while trying to get out of the 918 (part of a $7,000 plus carbon fiber package).

myw

congrats.... awesome car.

the_buch

She's a beauty! Chuckanut is great in the southerly direction, and a bit close to the 'wall' in a couple of spots going north

winthorp

In terms of what I paid for the car, probably at the very top end of what 997 Carreras sell for these days in the US. Factors that contributed to that were the condition/ color and desirable options on the car, the car being sold close to the Seattle area and me not wanting to loose the car after looking for almost 2 years.

That was after negotiating down their list price by around $3,000 and having them add in the CPO certification (it was listed without it) and the 4 year service (spark plugs, filters, ... -- a requirement for the CPO) at no cost to me.

The Seattle area is probably one of the worst places to buy a Porsche. Not that many dealers/ cars and a lot of potential buyers that can afford these cars and don't mind paying what dealers ask in order to just get the car.

I thought about buying out of state, but I'm rather particular about the condition of a car making this somewhat tricky. There were lots of cars I drove locally that I didn't want to buy purely based on their condition.

garyinseattle

Nice Car. As a fellow Bellevue resident, I don't think I have seen yours running around town yet. Look forward to picking it out of the crowd of 911's here.

winthorp

I chose the 997 over the 991 because I found the 997 to be the perfect blend of old and new. I'm a bit older myself (late 40s) and grew up with a 911 being the 964 and the 993.

In terms of its design, inside and out, its much closer to the older 911s than the 991 (or the 996). It has old school 911 design elements like carpet on the door panels and the rear tunnel, proper door pockets covered with a lid that opens & closes, a physical handbrake and a center stack for the controls. It's interior actually looks like a 911, not like a Panamera.

The 997 is a noticeably smaller car than the 991, which is one of the things I always loved about the 911s. It's steering felt better to me than the 991s. Driving the 997 made me smile while driving the 991 made me feel impressed yet unattached.

I had the chance to buy a really nice 991 C4 (with PASM), but I just couldn't pull the trigger (didn't even talk to my wife about that car). Once I saw the 4 GTS pulling the trigger was easy. Buying a 911 I feel is all about emotions and how the car makes you feel. You'll know what you really like once you find it.

I had the chance to drive several 997.2 C4S cars (most of them with PDK and some of them with PSE) and now the 4 GTS. I can feel a small difference around 3500-4000 and a bit more towards the red line, but it's quite subtle. I think the 4 GTS sounds a bit better than a C4S with PSE, but that is a subtle difference too. I love the upgraded body parts and the RS Spyder center lock wheels. In fact, the RS Spyder center lock wheels in Silver I feel look fantastic and further contribute to the classic look that I like so much about the 997.

To be honest though, I would have been perfectly happy with a 2011 or 2012 C4S. The reasons I bought the 4 GTS was because of the condition of the car, CPO, the colors and the options. That said, now that I have bought the car and drive it on a daily basis I feel quite lucky that it is a 4 GTS that I ended up with.

Troy997.1

Good stuff mate nice back story

Cherryblock

congratulations!

You have picked up a beautiful Porsche, I love the lines of the GTS4. As transplants to Chicago from White Rock BC, we loved driving Chuckanut and stopping in at the Oyster Bar for a feast! Great memories- thanks for sharing!