I'm looking for someone in Austin (Central Texas) with a 997.1 GT3 to send me a PM so I can ride in and even drive one, please.

I am not looking to test the performance of the GT3, there is no need or desire to explore that on any car but my own. What I'm I want to feel first hand is the daily driving experience on a city street, as I plan for the GT3 to be my daily driver (clutch feel, road feel on a street like Lamar Blvd, etc). Unfortunately there are none for sale in Austin, and Texas is a big place so getting to Dallas or Houston is a big trip. Also I'd like to meet a GT3 owner face to face and talk shop a bit too.

How I got here: I have been seriously shopping Euro Delivery M3 and ED Cayman S. Of course wisdom states these are two very different vehicles. I've finally realized that my problem was I hadn't decided what I wanted, a sports sedan or a sports car. After some soul searching and lots of test driving, I realized a sports car is really what I want and it's a good time to own one now, as I've got few responsibilities. Of course before I go galavanting off to Deutschland for a Cayman S, I decided I really owed it to myself to consider the 2007 997.1 GT3. At this point I'm sold on the GT3 for a lot of reasons. To answer my ED desire, I'll just own a GT3 here and do a Porche Experience travel group in Germany. There are lots of great tracks in America.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I have also cross posted on Rennlist. Just so you know I'm not off my rocker, it was with a recommendation that I am posing this question (which I would not have done without encouragement).

 

RUF in Dallas has plenty of GT3s and they are less than 200 miles away...

 

Word... going to a dealer should be easy

Jason

 

It's a 7 hour round trip to Dallas, but yes I'll certainly be doing that next weekend given no other choices.

 

You might consider attending one of the local PCA events or Cars & Coffee the 1st Sunday of the month. I'm certain you'll get some face-time there.

 

I met with a very generous fellow this morning who allowed me a short drive down Lamar Blvd in his GT3. I'm going to share my impressions in appreciation of the trust necessary for such an action. Though I lack the combination of journalistic and driving experience of Chris Harris (or either vocation on their own really), I'll do what I can.

It was Sunday morning, just about the perfect time of the week for a leisurely drive. No traffic to speak of, and though it was 40 degrees and overcast, the road was dry and visibility was good. In no particular order from my experience in the 0-45 mph range...

Impressions
shifter, clutch: The shifter is heavy and notchy much the same as the Z06 I have driven or similar to a Hurst shifter. Very purposeful movement. The clutch was heavy too and it was interesting to me how high it engaged. The pedals were very close together, more so than the Cayman S, which would make for some great heel-toe action (no that's not foot ****).

steering: The steering is telepathic. Amazingly easy to steer, but not unnervingly light as with the newer Audi's such as the TT. You are never fighting the wheel and the feedback is immediate.

brakes: How can you determine anything about brakes at 40mph? Well I can't comment on fade after hot laps or stopping the earth, but they did feel incredible. The braking was immediate but not grabby and just a modicum of modulation was necessary to bring the vehicle to a stop as if you'd hit a wall (no walls were hurt during this drive).

noise, sound, engine: Urgent, exhilarating, sonorous. Though when you're driving without speed in mind, moving up a gear provided a relatively quiet ride and kept below ~3000 rpms she's quite tame. I didn't notice any excessive road noise but I'm sure the tires would howl on Texas intra-state roads; however that's not specific to the GT3. The throttle is sensitive but easy to modulate.

suspension: This is where I compare the DD ride on a GT3 to a Honda Accord; a '94 Accord with 18" rims and an Mugen/Skunk/H&R suspension and ground effects (college buddy's ride). The ride is stiff without a doubt. It's also communicative and confidence inspiring, every part of the suspension all the way through the tires is telling you everything that is going on. I almost went back for that quarter I felt on the road but discretion is the better part of valor.

GT3 as a daily driver
My potentially offensive comparison to what some might call a riced out Honda was to encapsulate all one might need to know about the ride compliance. That is to say that if you have daily driven vehicles with heavily modified suspensions, you know what you are getting into. The GT3 has 93mm of ground clearance and with a 5.6 degree approach angle you really need to plan ahead and take most driveways at an angle. It's also important to take my inept metaphor further to the fact that countless cars have had suspensions modified by automotive enthusiasts to the point the effective feel is very similar to the GT3, but without all the goodness that comes with the GT3. A heavy clutch and shifter are to be expected in a vehicle of this calibre, and it's not a unique feature; no PDK here thankfully. The steering and brakes practically serve to make the car safer, as do the incredible feel at the helm and on the brakes.

General impression
The feeling I'm left with is that driving the GT3 is like wielding a really great Henckles chef's knife. The balance is incredible and the piece is very purposeful, a very versatile tool which can make short work of many different jobs in the kitchen. A knife so sharp, when you hand it to someone, you can't resist the urge to implore them to, "Be careful, it's very sharp". And much like the knife, the instrumental value of the GT3 is absolute and undeniable.

 

Great write up..... and even better that you found an enthusiast who was willing to share the experience with you... there are good people out there and then there is great people who want others to see the light! haha and that is what i call this man who let you experience his GT3 and chit chat with you..


ps... be more cautious of a dull knife than a sharp one

 

Thanks for starting my week on a positive note. You started with a good idea, pursued it intelligently, then graced us with a very well-written account of the result. Kudos to your generous benefactor, too.
One of the most rewarding aspects of our shared addiction to these cars is the human factor, and the fact that Prosumer's experience is the rule--not the exception.

 

Great write-up!!

My GT3 sees double duty as a DD and DE machine. It's definitely more than acceptable for street driving. You completely forget about the stiff clutch after a couple days, and you learn to deal with the low clearance and to accept some scraping on the front lip. I just repaint over the scraped areas with flat black paint and it hardly shows. It's pretty easy and inexpensive to replace the front lip if it gets really bad.

 

It's an awesome analogy right? (especially in the case of the 911) In my experience I know a dull knife is actually worse. However most people spend their whole lives on using dull knives and driving dull cars. So though a dull knife may be more dangerous, a sharp knife often catches the uninitiated by surprise.

 

Thanks a lot for the kind words; and thanks on the GT3 owner's behalf too. It was a tough thing for me to ask for such a favor. There was a major human factor here. I learned a lot more from my new friend than I would have from a salesman at a dealership for sure. And I learned a lot more from driving the GT3 casually on a street I have driven for the past 15 years in dozens of cars, than I would driving at a track or some other road.

One thing I have always done when I test drive cars is to drive them home, you can learn a lot at 35mph on your neighborhood street that you drive every day. I even pull into my driveway. The salesmen, if they're shotgun, always react strangely to this.

 

Agreed. Though the GT3 is not a GT car in the Aston Martin, M6 or 911 Turbo sense because it's much more purposeful to the extent that there are compromises in comfort; much like putting a racing suspension on an Accord. It's certainly no more of a compromise than that and many more people are familiar with such modifications.

 

Good write-up and nice of that gentleman to let you drive his GT3. Maybe I missed it, but are you going to get a GT3 now? I could tell you enjoyed the drive, but didn't know if you considered it DD material?

 

That is an excellent question. I'm actually not too concerned about the daily drivability of the vehicle at this point. It came out no worse than a heavily modified econobox with major upsides of everything that comes with a GT3. I've got a spreadsheet tracking all the GT3 on the market in my range; chomping at the bit. I've worked all the numbers on the Cayman S. In order of current preference:

1) The 2007 GT3 is an incredible experience

2) ED 2011 Cayman S, driving it all over Europe is an incredible experience

3) ~2005 NSX would be a great experience

 

No brainer decision. We all may be biased on the GT3 here, but we all came from other cars, and NOONE is looking back. There are guys that like to go Kaboom in a straight line, then there are guys that know what a real driver's car is all about.