I’m currently the lucky owner of a black, manual, 997 Turbo, and it rocks.
However, it has recently had a few niggles:
-Coolant light on
-Fuel gauge not registering when putting petrol in
-Remote key entry not working
-Tyre pressure gauge inside dash giving funny results
The car had been back and forth to the Silverstone OPC where the guys have been looking after me rather well, even though I can be a bit difficult! On my second visit to try to get this tyre pressure issue sorted out, one of the sales guys walked over and said “you got your license on you, I’ve got a spanking new white 997 turbo outside if you want a go…”
My immediate response was ‘HELL YEAH!’ 
So we jumped in after my license particulars had been photocopied. First impressions on the passenger side were nothing really new outside or inside…except when you start to look in more detail you start to notice little things here, and little things there…like the exhaust tips are much bigger, the dash has a ‘sport plus’ button, rather than just ‘sport’ as mine has…and coolest of all is the new steering wheel and paddles sat underneath, and yes that’s paddles, not crappy thumb fiddlers…and I think that should be there official name.
So off we went down the A43 and into a lay-by so we could switch, I knew from a quick blast by the sales chap that this car felt much faster than my turbo, which quite frankly I found stunning. Coming back to that new steering wheel btw, I know its only a steering wheel, but the thing has an LED display in its arms that as I later found out tells you when you have ‘launch control’ engaged by rather cleverly saying ‘launch control!’
I gingerly pulled off out of the lay-by and headed down the A43…Initial impressions were good, on a smooth road it felt very much like the 1st generation turbo…so certainly not worth upgrading…then we turned off onto the windy stuff.
OPC Silverstone is very fortunately situated in an area that has some awesome back roads, (go to Towcester and set the Sat Nav for Aylesbury on an alternative route to the A43 and enjoy…) it was time to have a proper play in the new 997 Turbo. First impressions off the smooth dual carriage ways and on the back roads was how smooth it seemed to ride the bumps, bumps that would have upset my existing first Gen Turbo, and also the abundance of ‘more’ torque that the car seems to have, the sales guy was telling me it has something like 700 lbs of torque…the car in a lot of situations struggles to put it down making the wheels spin up and the car snake…very cool.
As I was settling into some fast bends being egged on by the sales guy, uttering things like ‘you could of taken that bend faster’, he then told me to pull over as there was long straight ahead.
It was time to try out the launch control. Yikes!
I’ve always wondered about this launch control business as when I had a 360CS with launch control we were urged by the Ferrari garage never to use it, and indeed they never even show you how to use it. The reason being is that you can only use it three times and you have to replace the clutch. Handy.
‘Left foot on the brake, then stamp on the throttle with the other foot, the car will sit at six thousand rpm and the launch control light will show in the steering wheel’ the nice sales chap explained…’once the revs are up, let go of the brake and HOLD ON!’
“£@%^ ME!” I screamed as we absolutely ‘launched’ down the road doing a claimed 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. Now I have a 997 Turbo as I mentioned and I’m used to the power, but this was something else, it was absolutely breathtaking how fast this launch control gets you off the line. Whatever people say to you, there is no way someone with a manual stick can get anywhere near that kind of perfect get away, no way. End.
In essence the 2nd Gen 997 Turbo is an amazing step forward in regards to technology, it really does feel like a completely different car. Would I buy one? I think my answer is no at the moment. The new flappy paddle guff doesn’t feel right to me, you seem to lose a little control. As for the launch control, it’s an awesome bit of kit to show off to your mates, but when are really going to use it?
The other main reason I wouldn’t buy a new 997 Turbo is the shape…why-o-why don’t they make some changes? Buff it up a bit? I have to say that unless you are a complete car bore, the new car looks exactly the same as the old one…so why would I spend over 100k to buy what I already have?
Come on Porsche, sort it out.
(Thanks for the test-drive though! )
Tags: 2nd Generation 997 Turbo, OPC, Porsche Centre Silverstone
