Oops wait ....great-grandfather (sorry, got my math all wrong).

So I go for a two year annual oil change on my 997 with 17.5 K oil change and said yes to a preemptive 20 k service. I go back late evening to drop off the Taurus and pick up my car as I walk to the check out counter inside the shop the general sales manager pulls in after test driving the newly arrived black on black 991. The manager invited me to sit inside. The guys there told me that the 991 is to 997 what the 958 is to the 955 and that is a very bold statement. Some magazines rave that the 991 is the best 911 since the 993.

On the 991, I was very impressed with

1. The stance especially from the side view: Looked beautiful, the lower roofline and the rear hump was so much nicer in person than on the pictures.

2. The exhaust: Even at the low speed it was quite a throaty growl.

3. The seating: Very comfortable (even with the standard seats that I sat on) with a tad little extra thigh support that comes in handy for someone with a like me long femur.

The windshield base was clearly farther away from the driver than the 997. The engine access or lack thereof was certainly not to my liking and I am still
not sold on the tail lights and the rear end styling.

So I go closer and we talk 993 with the service manager (great guy who runs a very talented team) who then decides to pull in to the shop with his 993C4S and park it beside the 991 to compare the incremental changes over the years. Wish I had my camera, iPhone was all I had but hey I did my best to capture this reunion.

 

So as I keep shooting the pics, my wife gets tired (There is only that much drooling one's physiology can take before their salivary glands are overwhelmed) of checking out a peridot metallic Cayman R and sends this text: Hey get your a** up here. So I walk back to my 997.2 and as I walk closer I feel my car move me (emotionally) even from a distance and this reiterated why I got her sight unseen even without a test drive. On my way back as Karma would have it all I see is 3.2's some with and some without whale tails and my wife looks at me and nods quietly (conveying to me in an indirect way on why we chose the '86 coupe over the other air-cooled beauties. The Cayman R was great, the 991 and 993 were the best of their respective line ups but .... the 997 and 3.2 it is for me and will be for a long time. En route my pre-teen daughters text us wondering where we were all this time and gently reminded us that they had missed their swim lessons thanks to our delay at the dealership. We blamed our goof up on the 991 and told them how it just took over my attention. So they text back "whats the big deal we are just walking past one in our parking garage". We reply back " ya right ". My wife And i thought that they probably are seeing the usual 997 that is parked in our garage (the guys at my dealership said that there are only two 991s that came to the state and the other one is a fully loaded platinum silver car) .. then my older one shoots this picture of the younger one disapproves the distraction that costed her the lessons and not the car per se. I was flabbergasted. That night I knew how lucky I was to head a family with three other Porschephiles. What else would I want in life.

 

I saw that same black/black at the dealer a bit earlier yesterday. Although it is an S it was otherwise free of the performance options which kept the msrp "down" to the $111K level. The more fully optioned PS one priced out to about $125K but I could not see it in person (saw pictures of it sent to me by the dealer) as it was away being shown elsewhere to customers. My first impression was that the black seems to camoflauge the lines of the 991 a bit whereas the lines seem to "pop" better in the lighter PS color, at least in the pictures of that PS that I was sent. Will go back to see and drive the PS.

 

That's a cool story

 

w00t as always your excitement and fantastic reviews keep me entertained and distracted (so much work to catchup on). I too have mixed emotions on the 991 but think that is simply a testament to how great the 997.2 is. From all the reviews I have read, Porsche have made the 911 better in every way: more civilized, more sport, more comfortable, more advanced, just more. In today's society you need to be special to stand out, there is too much mediocre happening. The 991 is set for success and with all the special variants on the way I imagining big things for it and Porsche. There really is nothing out there that offers the kind of fun, flexibility, customization, reliability, and overall brand ownership experience like a Porsche and more so a 911. Its one of the last remaining "affordable" dedicated platforms built for just one car - not shared, not altered, just pure 911. This is something I struggle with everyday, don't know if I could go without owning or even 2. I never ride my motorbike anymore (whoever thought that would happen) and don't know how I plan on letting go of the 997 without have a 991 in the garage to replace it - even if my soon to be born boy can't be in it for 1+ years.

My only decision right now is will new Targa be out in time?

P.S. w00t you need to get a 991, I need to be wowed again by the w00t mobiles reviews of all the options and super attention to details.

 

BTW my wife now uses car models to explain purses to me - Channel is Ferrari, Hermes is Bentley, this I know all too well.

 

LV and Prada are like Benz/BMW/Lexus... they are everywhere!!!

I think Channel is more like Porsche.... at least in terms of pricing and rarity...

Does your wife have Hermes? I am very afraid of that brand....

 

w00t,

I cannot view the pictures... did you remove them?

 

Opps, that's weird not sure how the pics disappeared. Added them now. The second post with my daughters picture now would make sense to all of you. I am sure you will enjoy that story. Uhn, loved the purse car analogy that wife wife brings up. Cracked me up big time and my nurse right across looked at me in a weird way. Oh , my wife is low maintenance ... hence the two 911s for me. Now you need to work on your wife

 

Lol, I too, am very afraid of that brand. Maybe man's worse nightmare and a woman's best dream!

 

That brand is dangerous!!!!!

 

Definitely different

 

This is the shot I took on day 1 of my ownership. To date remains the best shot for me

 

Thanks Woot.

I too drove the 991. I will agree with you regarding the sound, it does sound a little more throaty, but comparable to my S.

Here is my take,

Interior:
The inside felt exactly the same to me, I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Besides the roof-line, it felt exactly the same. Seats felt identical to my 997 and the controls were all the same. With the exception of the added gauge for Nav/Controls, I thought I was in my car.

Exterior:
It has stance, but nothing drastically different from the 997. Minor tweaks, but as OP mentioned, I'm not sold on the rear end either. Not a fan.

Performance:
This is where you'll notice a difference, they say the car is 70% new, when I first laid eyes on the 991 in a magazine I thought it was a modded 997. To give a layman explanation, the 991 felt like the 997 in Sport Plus Mode, then I pressed the Sport Plus mode and it felt completely like a track setup. I think the 997 lacks here.

Overall, the Exterior/Interior is to similar too the 997 for me to consider a trade. I'd wait for the next generation 911. Porsche claims to have changed over 70% of the car, I'd say it's closer to 40%. I don't track my car so I wouldn't take advantage of this potential gain. Realistically I would just be changing to have a newer model year, I prefer the look of my 997 (Techart wheels/skirts/wing).

Going from a 996 to 997, in my opinion, was a much more drastic change in both look and performance than 997 to 991.

 

Very nice comparison, especially considering that they are vertually the same weight.

ChuckJ