Ownership Diary - 992.1 Carrera 2S

We had a conversation at work the other day:

“If money were no object and you could have any car you wanted, what would it be?”

And I found myself thinking to myself “I’ve just bought it”

So it begins, the ownership diary for my 2019 MY20 Porsche Carrera 2S (992 gen 1). It’s a two owner car with a shade over 35k on the clock when I collected it from Official Porsche Centre - Portsmouth yesterday.

It’s a pretty unique spec, across the board. Clearly originally owned by an enthusiast, not just in the way it’s been cared for (the interior is mint for a 6yr old car) but also the considered approach to the options which are focussed on comfort and day to day utility rather than aesthetics which so many are but lack what you really want.

So the options are as follows:

- Adaptive 18-way Sports Seats
- Adaptive Cruise Control
- BOSE surround sound
- Electric Opening Panoramic sunroof
- Folding & Dimming interior & exterior mirrors
- Front Axle Lift (raises front by 4cm)
- Heated GT steering wheel
- Privacy Glass
- Sports Chrono Pack incl. Mode Switch
- RS Spyder Design Wheels

There are a number of standard spec bits which would be been options in the past: heated seats, Porsche Torque Vectoring plus (electric LSD) and PCM nav. At launch Porsche offered an option for Sport-Tex seats rather than leather. This is a houndstooth fabric and leather mix. A lot of the press cars are specced with it and to high acclaim. It wasn’t my first choice but they’re so comfortable. Warm without being sweaty and grip you nicely. A nice nod to the past as well.

The paint was only available for first 6months of the run and now only available as Paint to Sample (like BMW Individual). It’s a £9k cost option and manages to look classy and understated whilst also looking “wow”!

I built my car on the configurator the other day and it comes out at £135k if I wanted to buy it new today. It feels like a bit of a steal at £80k incl two years Porsche Warranty. VED by the way is great at £195pa as it’s over the 5yr luxury car tax. A third of the cost of the Discovery currently!

In terms of the vehicle itself, it’s wide body (all 992’s are now), RWD, 3 litre, 6 cylinder boxer engine with twin turbo knocking out (officially) 444bhp through an 8spd PDK gearbox. I say officially as Porsche have a tendency to understate their figures and a lot of stock cars have been tested closer to 500bhp. Mine feels every bit this quick. It’s good for 3.3sec to 60mph and 7.8sec to 100mph. It’s quick! Too quick!

I’ve already lamented about how this is a dream come true on my other thread but it really felt like that yesterday. I had to pinch myself several times yesterday.

OPC Portsmouth did a fabulous job at readying the car and the Salesman thankfully showed as much OCD for the little things as I would so the vehicle was immaculate yesterday. I had the full handover bay and silk sheet experience and although I’ve had some issues setting up Porsche Connect and the interior mirror wasn’t initially fitted properly, the latter was rectified in the workshop within 30mins and I filled myself full of biscuits and coffee whilst waiting.



Setting off, I’ll admit to being a little overwhelmed. Last time I drove a 992 was at Porsche Silverstone track, so not on the road and this was the first time driving MY car. I don’t know Portsmouth at all so it was all following the satnav. Immediately I was aware of the car’s presence on the road and people around me started behaving very differently. Some people wanted to race me (which was the furthest thing from my mind), some left enormous gaps presumably expecting me to want to dive into them, others closed gaps but the funniest and loveliest thing was the thumbs up; the teenage lad who emerged from behind his iPhone as his Mum drove past - he’d been filming me and then flinged me a great big grin and thumbs up. I returned the smile & thumbs up. Thinking back to myself at that age and wondering if that was another petrolhead being born and he’d find himself in a 911 one day. Then coming up to LHR on the M25, a Taycan GTS pulled alongside and the lady passenger in her 60’s flung me a big smile and thumbs up. I’ve never had this reaction to any car before. It’s really humbling.

I took the M3 from Southampton (A3 had been a nightmare in the morning), M25 clockwise and then in order to get a bit of country roads in, hit the A10 towards Buntingford and country roads home towards Saffron Walden. Up until the A10, I’d a mixture of flowing traffic at 50mph roadworks, 70-80mph indicated on the cruise control, and crawling & stationary traffic. Average speed of 50mph and average fuel consumption of 36mpg!

On the A10 I came out of the 40mph limit and hit NSL and stupidly (almost forgetting I was in the 911) put my foot down hard (not to the floor but a long way into the travel). Holy god - the back squatted down, squirmed like a fish out of water and then threw me down the road with a violent force that I’ve rarely ever felt. Astonishing, scary, life affirming, head mashing - all in one!

After that learning experience, I was a little more careful with my inputs. The country roads home I spent relearning the balance, trailbraking into corners to keep the weight on the front wheels and then early on the gas to get the rear hooked up. God it’s quick and fun but I’d probably be quicker around the twisties currently in the 228i as it feels more wieldy and less bonkers. Guess that will change over time as I get used to it.

I got home around 19:00. Fuel economy over about 150miles was 32mpg!

The boys were still awake. My eldest was so excited he couldn’t go to bed and it was so lovely to be welcomed home by them all with the excitement and awe they all had. I was very surprised to see just how much my wife loves it. My daughter came back from a day out with her Mother at 22:00 and in spite of being uninterested previously, she was in awe and demanded a sit in and can’t wait for a drive.

I woke up at 0630 this morning unable to sleep. I gazed out of the window at the car - perfectly beading water droplets all over it. Again, having to pinch myself. I was desperate for a drive but my wife had been up with the boys overnight and needed to sleep in. My youngest woke up at 0645 so I took him down and indoctrinated him by staring out of the downstairs front windows again!

I was supposed to work from home today which would’ve seen me get some passenger rides in during my lunch break but unfortunately I’ve had to head into the City today. At least I got a 6mile drive to the station this morning (21mpg if anyone’s interested!). I stared dopily at the car form the platform. I think this could be the start of a very long love affair!



Bad point? Very few. Unfortunately the wheel nuts are corroded. Quite badly. Classic VAG. I’m a little disappointed they didn’t replace them when the wheels were refurbed. But that will be one of my first jobs and will contact Cambridge Porsche today for a quote, together with new centre caps. They’re not bad (most were replaced) but I don’t like black & white ones, I prefer the coloured centres which pop more against the dark wheels. Otherwise it’s in phenomenal condition for its age. I would put it down as a 2-3yr old car in terms of interior wear. Outside looks new due to repainted front end, wings and doors plus the two stage Polish and ceramic.

I’ll update with more pics, detail and driving experiences over the next few weeks and months.

 

Thanks for all the lovely comments.

I’m 100% in love with it. And actually the family (especially the wife) absolutely gets it now and also loves it.

As it happens, the motorhome is now ready for collection which means the family holiday up in Yorkshire has to be interrupted so we came up here in two cars; wife in the Disco with the boys, my daughter decided to come with me in the Porky. We drove up in convoy. The A1 was unfortunately closed so we had to drive all the way to Bridlington through Lincolnshire up the A15 which was exhausting but a good opportunity to get to know the vehicle.

Superb is the only way to describe it. Sublime handling and the acceleration is brutal. That said, there’s almost as much fun to be had from tickling it along just over tickover. The noise is incredible and I’m not left wanting for the switchable Porsche Sports Exhaust.

So far I’ve done 400miles and managed that on the first tank from Portsmouth. Average is 30mpg.

More later but this is a proper love affair and I can’t stop gazing at it, walking around it, taking it all in and marvelling at how it’s mine!

 

Well, I’m back now from Yorkshire - the initial boredom of Bridlington to the M62 eventually gave way to a fairly easy run down the M18, A1M, A14 and M11. Aside from a stop at Peterborough Services for toilet break and an M&S sandwich, it was a straight run through and journey time of 3hrs 33mins. Astonishingly, the 190.7miles gave way to a 31.4mpg fuel economy. Whilst I the initial run to the motorways was relatively sedate and no doubt helped with the fuel economy, what was very interesting was that at an indicated 80mph, it was still counting up on the mpg. I guess because of the slippery shape of the thing, it will be big speeds before the drag makes a significant dent on fuel economy. Even then, it’s probably more the application of the throttle than the drag.



Another new experience today was again the way in which people behave around the car. I wasn’t tanking it, but it’s interesting how just the sight of a 911 in a rear mirror can dislodge even the hardiest outside lane hogger. You don’t even have to have a great closing speed, people just tend to move out of the way. Quite a regal experience!

There’s so much to say about the car. With just over 500miles of seat time now, a few thoughts off the top of my head:

- the steering is very good! I only starting noticing it today. It’s electric but something jumped out at me on the way home - I could “feel” the road. It took me back a good decade. Somehow Porsche have managed to engineer in a hydraulic feel which has been missing from so many electric systems over recent years;
- there’s an old-skool notchiness to the whole transmission when it’s cold. It feels clunky, shunty and like you really need to look after it for the first few miles. It’s loud on cold start and rumbles along until warm. It’s very charming. Once there is some heat in the oil, it smooths out and then becomes unnoticeable unless you absolutely floor it. Then it slams home gears and sucks great chunks out of the air to propel itself forwards;
- the seats are really comfy. You can feel the fabric when you’re in for a while. They’re so supportive, warm, cool, infinitely adjustable. Very impressed;
- it’s wired (not wireless) Apple CarPlay. I doubt it’s insurmountable but a bit of a pain having got used to wireless systems. I think I’ll have to buy an adaptor;
- it’s so comfortable at 70mph plus The ride flattens out (it’s never jarring unless the surface is really poor) but it noticeably turns into something of a magic carpet ride at around the legal limit;
- on a cruise the 65l tank is good for 425miles!

I’m sure there’ll be more musings from me in the weeks to come. For now I’m grateful to have had so much seat time in the week since I bought it.

I got home today and in the short period I had before shipping out again, I did the DVLA plate change as the V5c had arrived already. Porsche Portsmouth had already made me up some plates so I just needed to drill them and pop them on. Insurance, Tracker, Porsche Finance and DVLA all informed. Looks like my car now!

The only annoyance? Looks like the “Detailer” at Porsche Portsmouth is still on his apprenticeship. In some lights up in Yorkshire I noticed buffer trails on the bonnet and rear wings. Now hidden behind ceramic coating (which beads fabulously). Very annoyed and currently mulling over an email.

Otherwise, I just love it.

 

Well, I'm getting to know it a bit better now. The novelty still hasn't worn off. I'm not sure it ever will!

I'm off to LHR this afternoon for a week in Germany. I'm not looking forward to going but I am itching to get behind the wheel of the 911. I feel like that most days and have concocted some spurious reasons for outings! On Saturday I'd offered to take my daughter out for brunch for some 1:1 time. Instead of going locally, I punted us 30mins up the road to a Farm Shop near Ely!

We then headed to Porsche Cambridge on the way home (which it wasn't at all!) to see about sourcing the coloured centre caps I wanted. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock but have gone away to price up a set plus some new wheel bolts. In the meantime myself and daughter had a lovely time pouring over their showroom models. They've refitted the place in the last couple of years since I owned the Macan & Cayenne and it feels more like a place to hang out and shop than a showroom. Very impressive. I have to say, I felt very much "worthy" parking up in my 992 alongside their stock cars.

Anyway, the first damage / problem has arisen! Yesterday, when cleaning the car, the mitt got stuck in the 911 CarreraS badge on the rear and pulled it partially off. In some ways, I'd have been happier if it came clean away as now I've got half of it flapping and half glued down. I haven't got the time to remove it and polish it up for a debadge and also want a template of where to put a new one. But when I order the other bits, I'm going to have to order a new badge.



In the meantime I've bought some new wire brushes and some Smoothrite Smooth Silver paint and I'll be cleaning up and painting the wheel hubs before it gets cold for the winter. They're really in need of some TLC and badly corroded. The corroded hubs and wheel bolts are really the only thing which let down the side.

Overall, I've done 818 miles with an average fuel economy of 27.4mpg since collection. How that splits out is the 32-34mpg it's able to do on a long run with the odd sliproad poke along. And local, short journeys of between 5-10miles which tend to yield about 20-22mpg. If you have some b-road fun then you're looking high teens, early 20's. But to be honest, there are actually very few places you can use the performance to such a degree and exploit roads as you catch up with traffic fairly quickly. So I feel like 27mpg overall is about right and I think is still very good for the absolute blinding performance on offer.

In terms of downsides - only my compulsion to clean it every weekend! And the fact it's too quick most of the time. But I knew that when I bought it. And again, it's about far more than outright performance for me. I find myself looking out of the window every chance I get to take it in and take a slow walk past it on the drive. It's boyhood dream stuff, still.

And one last thing - I thought yesterday as I was washing it, the age of the car is perfect too. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a new one, but 2019 was hugely important for me/us. It was the beginning of the real upswing in our future together. May 2019 (when this car was registered) was when my Wife moved from Germany to the UK. We've just celebrated 6yrs in the house we bought together in Sept 2019. So it feels right. Soppy, sentimental old bugger that I am!

 

Well that’s LHR done. Nothing like a 992 as a daily!



Solid fuel economy (NB: the 228i averaged a best ever 42mpg on the same route):



Plenty of space for luggage:




And for anyone thinking of nicking it, the S5 tracker fob is with me in Germany so it will trigger an alert!