Living the Legend
Our contributing enthusiasts from around the world share their real-life experiences with their Porsche 911s
Latest updates from our comprehensive band of real-world 911 owners
I always find the moment of selecting specification is a real high in car buying. Sometimes that whole journey of just thinking about it, selecting the spec and waiting can take many months, even years. Unusually, this time the need was to decide everything in detail overnight after an early evening surprise call. So you may have guessed, I am back in the 911 camp firmly and squarely, and I hope you like it.
A couple of years back I was on a wait list to be offered the chance to get a 991.1 GT3 RS, only to be told that they had all been sold to other select customers at my local OPC. They were very sorry, but that was all they could say. I put that disappointment to bed and moved on. I decided to get to know my dealer more and to work hard helping them with their business.
Over the past two years I have successfully sent to them half a dozen friends and business connections who have walked in on personal recommendation from me. My reward has subsequently come through in the form of a Gen2 car.
The call was to advise me that they are likely to get only three, maybe four cars this year and that I was lucky to be asked if I wanted to take up the opportunity. The only downside was that I had to finalise spec by the following morning. The news was very well received, and I went straight to the configurator to start thinking.
The obvious starting point is the colour, and I quickly decided that some just weren’t for me. I love the gold satin Aurum wheels, so they needed to work with the colour choice, along with PCCB. PCCB was a natural choice; it won’t be a tracked car because of the Cup, which is ultimately an even better experience on a circuit. However, it left me stuck on three colours, all equally appealing: GT silver, Miami blue or Chalk. With a bit of soul searching in terms of what I wanted I plumped for Chalk, and while it’s a Marmite colour for some, I am very happy with the choice.
Early launch cars in the UK do not come with the Weissach pack, so that was another consideration. There was a moment when I suggested that I would be happy to wait for one of those until I was told that if I give up the first batch slot, a second one is even more tenuous, as Weissach cars have a longer wait list, and delivery is also uncertain.
So what about other options? A full carbon seat selection was a must, but perhaps I should have gone folding as I went for the cage, belts and extinguisher, so luggage will be postage-size only to thread through the bars. Some obvious technology options were added, including Carplay, Bose and so on to enhance the music aspects of any journey. A front lifter for the ramps and speed humps, a dash of carbon with the mirrors, maybe a retrofit of carbon air scoops and NACA ducts would compliment the look longer term, but let’s see.
Other items included the LED headlights, reversing camera and Chrono package. It’s off to get PPF wrapped to keep it protected from paint chips very soon, and meanwhile it is tucked up under a blanket with just 60 miles on the clock, awaiting its first proper day out. I can’t really explain what it’s like after just 60 miles of run-in mileage, however, over the coming months I can feed back dayto-day reality from a 911 diehard.
What I can say is that the Apple Carplay works well, and the sound is pretty good all round. More widely the latest touchscreen is intuitive, helpful
as the car doesn’t have any operational manuals or paperwork yet – these are due from the factory shortly apparently, and me being old school would be helpful. I often find a year or two into car ownership I find a feature I didn’t realise I had on a car, which is always positively exciting.
It looks awesome in my opinion, which is what initially counts most. I love the colour contrasts and the way the colour varies in the light. It looks so perfect with the Aurum wheels and yellow calipers and sits so low on the springs to fill the wheel arches properly.
The ride is compliant on fast A roads and doesn’t jolt as much as I was expecting, so that is good, and the seats once you are snug in them are perfect, very upright and race car-like, but also supportive and well upholstered.
It sounds great, but you really need to get the revs up to get a proper sound, so best saved for those rare moments when you can redline it once the car has settled in and probably had its first oil change. On that point, the dealer suggestion is to get the oil changed after about 1,200 miles, although they say it’s not essential. I will follow that advice, just in case there are any micro specs of metal circulating around as the engine beds in. The way I am going at the moment this might mean this is a while away though!