Nihil27

In a previous thread, I struggled with the notion of balancing fun vs. practicality, until one day when my wife said to shut up and just buy a 997. So we did!

Took delivery of a 2009 C4S last night, which I purchased from another Rennlister. Now I'll start this off by saying I'm a driving enthusiast, but this is my first purchase in this class. I bought this car sight unseen, and had never driven a 4S before. I had previously test driven a 2008 C2S with manual transmission, and a Cayman GTS with PDK. I also drove a Ferrari 458 and an Audi R8 for comparison. Both of those were on a track, though, with double clutch transmissions.

I liked the manual transmission in the '08 C2S I drove, so I bought a manual. Cuz I've always driven manuals since I learned to drive at 14 on my dad's Toyota pick-up.

Whoa.

The manual transmission in the 997.2 C4S makes the car feel like a beast! I think if I had gone with the PDK, it would have felt "too easy" like the other cars I drove. The drive to work this morning went from boring to an event! having that much power under your feet is pretty awesome. And yet it's still easy to drive. Gotta love that.

So after only about an hour of driving time, I'm loving the initial experience, but there are a couple of issues. Hoping some of you may have some advice in this arena:

1) Road noise. The stock exhaust sounds great, and under acceleration the car sounds fantastic at any speed. However, when cruising on the highway at 75 or 80 (I live in Texas, those are legal speeds) the tire noise is loud! Like, get some active noise canceling headphones loud. The tires are Michelin Pilot Sports, I think, with a fair amount of life left on them. Anyone have issues with the noise at highway speeds? I can live with it if there's no solution, I guess it's a fair trade off for the excellent performance in every other aspect.

2) Kids in the back. If you read my original thread above, you know this was the big concern. When I test drove the C2S, the kids hopped in the back on the lot and seemed to fit ok. That was without the carseat and boost seat, though. Last night, we put the seats in the back, and discovered that the older kid's booster seat was too wide to fit, and the younger's carrseat was deeper than the car's backseat, which pushed his legs further toward the back of the driver's seat than preferable. Both kids ended up fitting after a few adjustments, but if anyone has recommendations for seats that are smaller and fit better in the back, I'd love to hear it.

We bought this as a fun experiment, knowing we may only keep the car for a year. So we're fully prepared for all manner of weirdness while trying to make a 911 work as a family car. All in all, though, a great first day with the car.

Cheers

Little Green

Road noise is typically directly to tires. I would double check your tire wear. Things like cupping will cause additional road noise. Get under the car and check your tread depth. The shoulders on mine almost always look just fine while the insides can be severely worn. The tires should not be that loud. Louder than average but not noise canceling head phone loud at all. You can remove the lower seat cushion by pulling straight up on it. Not very comfortable for the kids but is a great option when using a car seat. it will also not deform the leather due to the car seat being on it all the time. Congrats and post some pics.

Tyztoy

Congrats now show us pics.......

snake eyes

pics or I don't believe it

TT-911

I removed the rear backrests and cushion giving plenty more space to fit child seats.


Road noise, the older the tires, the louder they get.
But tire noise is a given on this platform, do a search and you'll find plenty of posts about this subject.

Yinzer

" when my wife said to shut up and just buy a 997. So we did!" she sounds like a keeper. Congrats on the new ride.

abrescia

Congratulations man- I too was going to suggest taking the back cushions out- but either way the kids will make it work. How about those pics?

Airbag997

Congrats. I recently picked up a low-mileage 09 C2S and it had the MPS tires on it as well (original 35th week of 08 with plenty of tread).

Anyway, I experienced similar road noise levels. Very very loud inside. Keep in mind tread life does not equate to quiet. Rubber hardens over time. I immediately swapped them out for some Bridgestone Pole Positions and they were orders of magnitude quieter. Not sure how old your tires are, but if they are original or 6 years or older, they've probably harden too much, hence the noise.

Enjoy the ride!

Chpahoy

TT911- thanks for that picture. My wife was inquiring about child seat in our 08 Carrera S and how it will work. Now I have it in living color.

Own Goal

Ok, what kind of car seats? My grandkids would love to go riding in Pop's silver toy!

Patriot

My 2011 Cayman with Michelin Super Sports is loud also. But IMHO, road noise is mostly a function of the road surface. You'll get a lot of road noise with coarse road surfaces, like what are common in Texas. However, on smooth roads, like I'm starting to see more of, road noise is significantly reduced to the point I can actually have a business conversation over the built in Bluetooth.

Berosucci

"...I struggled with the notion of balancing fun vs. practicality, until one day when my wife said to shut up and just buy a 997..."

I had to laugh - this sounds like one of my conversations. Also, after sending/showing my wife pictures of different color combos, base, S, 4S, GTS, cabrio, coupe, etc - she said they all look the same!

Anyway, congrats. And, pics are a must or, according to others on this forum, it never happened.

Cheers to another 2009 C4S happy camper .

997_Toronto

Congratulations!

Boost XXI

Another consideration with kids in the back of the 997 is whether the car seat is still needed. I use one with my younger child but, the older one doesn't need it. By the time you're using a booster seat, the only purpose is to raise them up enough that the shoulder belt crosses them at the right spot. It should lay across the shoulder, not up into the neck. The rear seats in the 997 are, obviously, designed for smaller people so, while my daughter needs a booster in other cars, the shoulder belt fits perfectly in the 997 without any booster needed.