Max Newman
Aylesbury, UK @maxripcor 9WERKS Radio
It’s said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I like the sentiment, but don’t necessarily agree. Sometimes I think it gives you the space you need to realise you’re better off without each other. As my interest in Boxsters continued I’d been asking myself whether I’d be happy to live without a 911, and then Karma came calling and I was forced into a week-long 911 hiatus. Karma?
On my way home from a great coffee at The Espresso Lounge in Tring I was met by an error message on the dash: ‘Fault cooling system Visit garage’. Being a yellow warning I cruised on home and searched online for it. There was a recurring theme suggesting that the fault would likely be traced to the change-over valve(s), and not uncommon on 991s like mine. Still – bugger.
I’d already decided to visit local marque specialist – Wrightune in Wallingford, Oxfordshire – to fix the loose piece of trim below the front bumper that I mentioned a couple of issues ago. Editor Lee Sibley is a fan of the company’s no-nonsense approach and Chris Wright impressed me with his straight-talking style when he guested on the 9WERKS Radio podcast. This latest problem was the catalyst to get it organised.
The trim was an easy fix for the guys at Wrightune and the fault was indeed traced to one of the change-over valves (fortunately an easily accessible one). With my 9WERKS membership 10 per cent discount it wasn’t an expensive episode, and I appreciated first-hand the straightforward but bespoke service that Chris offers.
Wrightune is an hour from home for me and logistics meant that I was without the 991, as I said earlier, for a full week; albeit still mobile thanks to the Macan and venerable BMW 335i Touring. As the days passed I asked myself – challenged myself, even – to consider if I could let the 911 go, sensibly bank some cash, and buy a 981 Boxster S with the rest?
I don’t want to appear to be a 911 snob because I don’t feel as though I am – although if there were a place to do so it’s surely in the pages of Total 911 – but there really is something special about a 911. As I’ve said before I’m totally ‘Team Porsche’, but if possible that will always include a 911.
The temperature was struggling to get above zero when I collected the car from Chris, but the drive home was still a total joy. Some of that joy came from things that aren’t unique to a 911, such as a sonorous, naturally aspirated six-cylinder motor instead of the turbo diesel (albeit mercifully six-cylinder) in the Macan. But so much came from the way a 911 goes down the road and how that feels through your extremities. And also the intangible feeling of pleasure and pride that I get from just being in a 911… my 911.
I would definitely like a Boxster of some description though, and it feels like a car I’d like with a manual gearbox. If you recall, when I sold the 997 I left myself without a manual gearbox to enjoy for the first time in nearly 20 years. How I feel about that, some six months later, is another thing I’ve asked myself of late. When I’m day-dreaming about cars to buy, be it a £15k Boxster 987 or a £150k 991 GT3, I often think about the process of stroking a manual gearbox down the road. Yet day-to-day, when I’m out on the road in auto or on the paddles I don’t give it a moment’s thought. I guess that for now, I’m good.