I may be just running on the bad press of Amer. Football but I saw a quote today: "never abused" regarding a 911. We're talking about an evolutionary car, designed for and by aggressive drivers; those not awarded civic medals for conformance. Yet how much is too much?

The earlier non-pdk 5 and 6 speed drive 911's can be qualified by review of the over rev's and similar data; but even then can this be said to be 'abuse'? The tires may tell a story of hooning or track use, but aren't both of these part of the raison d'etre ?

Without crashing or even banging up a pcar is there a point where 'normal' exists, but not in a league of the Bimmer of even Hondas (souped up or plain), that these Pcars should be comfortably lived with ?

I attended a test of the new Corvette recently and I pushed the fast pedal with just a bit of joy, and the car swung about nicely. The 'coaches' noticed but the other testers looked at me like 'how dare you'. I understand that driving too fast on public roads, without a monitor or careful review is not advised. Driving as near the limit on a well mapped route without nearby traffic is a different matter (the crazies on the LongIslandExpressway at rushhour aren't allowed to comment; pull'im over and paste the tickets on those reckless fools).

So throw your thoughts, opinions and hates, as well as your very near 'bad behavior' and discuss how or what is ABUSE(s) of a 911.

Note: I posted this on the 991 site since there are now over 32,000 units on the road, versus about 56,000 of the 997's.

 

I abused my 1996 C4S (993) at VIR approaching T10 in 2002 when I executed a 'money shift' and went into first gear instead of third during the first instruction session of the day. You feel a hint of resistance, hear a 'pop', lose all power and all your dash lights come on as you coast to track out. It was estimated by the massive hole in the crankcase the engine went to 16,000 rpm before scattering so totally that there was not one single usable part of the short block remaining. Ever throw a $ 14,000 Porsche engine in a Dumpster? I have!

That's abuse. If things don't blow up, then its called 'driving'

 

Right Wing Abuse: less than 3000 miles a year , all at or less than posted speed limit.

Left Wing Abuse: driving in sport + all the time in the auto mode around town.

Bad behavior: concentrating too much in tight curves and accidentally downshifting to first around 40 mph. (PSE makes it sound like a shotgun)

 

Abuse is running the RPMs high (over 3000) immediately after starting the car, or running the RPMs over 4000 before the oil has reached normal operating temperature. Once the oil is over 200 degrees F, I say go for it and as long as you're not bouncing off the rev limiter, it's not abuse, it's just having fun.

By the opposite token, lugging the engine at low RPMs is also abusive.

Riding or slipping the clutch is abusive at any time. Jamming the gears is abusive. Downshifting into a lower gear not suitable for the speed is abusive. Example: Coming up to a stop, car is still going 50 MPH, clutch is in, driver shifts into first. That's tough on the synchros. I've seen people do that and I just cringe.

As for sliding through turns, etc., that's only abusive to the tires and they can easily be replaced.

I'm one of those freaks that never pushes the car until it's thoroughly warmed up and even then my car never sees the rev limiter. But it wouldn't bother me to buy a used car that saw the limiter a few times.

 

I was going to say something very similar but this is better than what I came up with. lol

 

Not driving it. That's abuse.

 

In the context of a sales listing, I would categorize it as any car that frequents prolonged time at redline and had its suspension tested hard regularly on a track.

It doesn't sit well for me to hear people leasing cars and tracking them regularly. Just because it's a performance tuned car doesn't make it a two year track rental. That kind of regular track use is not good for longevity, and slapping new rubber on it is just a bandaid. the next owner is stuck with more potential repairs.

Best case used would probably be a CA owner that commutes on moving highways.

I buy my own street cars to track, look after them, and keep them. If I were to sell one, I would say as much.

 

Could not disagree more. I lease and track as much as I want. It's a Porsche and designed for it. Im paying a lot and and use as I see fit. Next guy should buy a new car if he's worried about prior owner (me). Of course I maintain properly.

 

I appreciate your perspective and if I were buying a car from you, I would be grateful for your honesty.

That said, I kind of disagree with some of what you said. As Michael_S points out, he's paying for the car and he can use it in any way that he sees fit. As long as he conforms to the lease agreement, he's not doing anything "wrong".

I guess it comes back to the caveat emptor thing. You buy a used car, especially a used sports car, and you take that chance. A really good inspection and (if possible) interviewing the previous owner (admittedly difficult to do when buying a leased car) may identify a track rat. And the odds are kind of against it anyway. Few people are going to track a $100K+ car, not these days when you have no insurance for track events.

 

You're driving a used car. Doesn't matter the mileage when purchased at this point. Let it rip. Ultimately compared to Germans driving in Germany, you're greatly under using the car. They drive at triple digits for miles at a time, only slowing down for speed limited sections and traffic.

 

Using a 911 under lease on a track; well that isn't abuse but it's gonna need rubber a bit faster, and maybe brake linings.

Before I got my 1st 911 I'd not known sufficiently about 'rev limit', paint depth, etc. (nor how much I might smile on that first day ;-) ). I got a Certified c4 and slowly found my range, what I could allow. I learn a lot, quickly finding where the shift points were, but I can't recall ever missing a downshift (the report was clean when I moved to w c4s). Maybe pushing a Mini S around prior to laying out the large 000's for a pcar was smart. And sustained highway speeding is just not what I enjoy. The abuse of my rear tires is absolute though. BTW : to me spilling coffee in my 911 is a sin !

 

I'm venturing into the deep waters of used 911 ownership after years of wanting, and finally deciding to buy. I've had some good advice from a friend who pointed me toward this forum. I found what I thought was the perfect car - 2006 911 4S with 26k miles. Right color, right wheels, etc. I'm still learning the signs of abuse, but got the over rev report on the car. Is this a sign of abuse and reason to pass?
ignitions range 1 - 65535 643.3h
range 2 - 47186 639.4h
range 3 - 2987 635.0h
range 4 - 519 625.2h
no range 5 or 6 numbers and don't have operating hours yet.
Thanks in advance.

 

This is abuse

 

I wonder how difficult getting the fine sand grains out of the suspension will be ? I use my c4s during the mountain winters, and pull the wheels at mid season to clean the sand & salt. This dune rider may have a plan ! or maybe not

 

I would consider 61 launch controls in a row abuse, especially when it is not your own car.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-revi...s-65-7-roa0314