Ian Harris Shoreham, UK
@harrisclassics
As winter approaches, the salting of the UK roads is a classic car’s worst enemy, so as much as I will find it difficult my 964 is now stored away in my dry garage.
Whenever I put a car away for winter I always like getting them detailed and put away lovely and clean. I buy some dehumidifier sacks and place them in the car to draw out any moisture, put the batteries on a trickle charge and use a good-quality soft indoor cover.
With my 964 off the road for a few months I had been thinking about a new daily; I’ve just sold my VW T6 van and M3 and have been looking at Porsches to buy. I’ve spent months considering what would fit into my car collection, something that is fun to drive, engaging, isn’t at the top of the market money-wise and is subtle, as it will be parked at my work Monday-friday. The car that kept coming back to my mind was the 718 GTS 4.0-litre, my local OPC lent me one last year and I really enjoyed it. My main requirement was that I wanted the bucket seats. I phoned around my local Porsche dealers and was told that they had two demos due in, both the same spec cars, both with the buckets with the exterior colour either black or Gentian blue, what a result!
I chose the blue one, it was almost the identical spec to what I wanted and with only 900 miles on the clock, it was like a new car. To make things even better it was well under the list price new, so I bought the car straight away.
Over the next week I went onto almost double the mileage to 1,600 miles and what a car, it really is the sweet spot for me. Naturally aspirated 4.0-litre engine, manual gearbox, mid engined and a compact package without any big spoilers or low splitters to worry about. It’s spot on, the engine sounds great, chassis is superb, it’s fun and engaging and can be used everyday. In fact on the week I collected it, Chris Harris from Top Gear was driving one and said it was the best Porsche you could buy at the moment, apart from the 992 GT3, now that’s quite the statement!
My first week of ownership has been superb even if the car does make some odd sounds on cold startup. Now it’s time to get the wheels painted; the wheels I had custom made on the 964 are Porsche Satin Platinum, so it only seemed right that I should get the GTS wheels painted the same. My local alloy wheel centre repairs the alloys for Porsche, so I knew they would do a great job and four days later my alloys are now painted and fitted to the car. I personally think they look great, as they match my other car and hide brake dust well, and that will be needed as I’m planning on clocking up lots of miles on the GTS this winter!