I'm surprised we haven't seen more write-ups on the 991.2 character from people who have driven them and/or bought them. In seeing a couple professional videos, their assessment was the new engine noise spectrum wasn't a problem but yesterday I heard the new configuration is 35 pounds heavier in the rear. I can't imagine that's good. I notice they have added PASM as a base and perhaps they are doing some tricks with that to compensate. And, of course, rear-wheel steering would also mitigate the problem. But I can't imagine that adding that much weight to the rear and changing the torque curve to come in at 1700 RPM doesn't change the character of the car and we just haven't heard much about that. I'm also looking forward to seeing if sales increase or decrease- a tell-tail sign.

If anyone has any experience here, please come up on the net.

ChuckJ

 

You must not be familiar with Rennlist. The bickering between the bad/good/ugly has been going on for months.

Literally 1,000's of posts regarding .1/.2

 

You are full of crap if you think you can convince anyone here that you can detect 35 additional pounds on the rear axle of a 911. Who are you, Hurley Haywood? As to character, the topic has been beaten to death all over the internet. Here is a link to a little review I did:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...st-driven.html

Cliff's Notes: Yeah, the new car is fast. Real fast. No, that isn't necessarily an improvement.

 

Ok. Here is an impression based on several hours at the track with local dealer sponsored Porsche roadshow.

For reference, I have a 991 C2S coupe with Sport PASM and Michelin Supersports (at 6k miles), PSE, ~15 years of PCA DEs diving and instructing in various Porsches, some time with and SCCA license (driving a cheater showroom stock 280Z). I have had my 991.1 to the track once- and would not go again without a roll cage given how fast it is and how old I now am.

We did leader follow with pro Porsche instructors on an abbreviated road course at Summit Point, and then went with instructors on an autocross type course. The cars were 911.2 coupes and cabs, base car and S of each W and WO PSE). One coupe had SPASM. (There were also Macan GTS and Cayane Ss but that is another story). I have no idea what the tire pressures were. All the cars had P0s and had had several days at similar events. All runs were with a driver and passenger.

Character: All the 991.2 are smooth as silk and make perfectly adequate flat 6 sounds. THE PSE cars burble on overrun rather than pop raucously. The Ss accelerate slightly but obviously faster out of slow corners than my car, The base is about like mine. I got the new cars to about the same speeds on the one long straight involved (best run to ~105, instructors claimed faster driving alone) over a rise before needing hard braking) than I had done in previous events like this with 991.1s last year. I was following an instructor in a Cayman GTS and could have run him over with the C2S.

There is a very obvious difference between coupes and cabs- not in acceleration, but in the speed that can be carried through fast corners using trail braking. The cabs also step out more than the coupes unless perfectly placed. The weight difference in the rear is very much a factor in that behavior. It has been from time immemorial in 911s. None of the cars had rear wheel steering. The instructors all said they would be easier to drive and faster with it. The RWS adds not too much weight BTW- if its 35 lbs it would be easily accommodated with suspension tuning.

The new car's suspension in the SPASM car is just a bit better dialed in than my car; in both SPASM is a large advantage compared to PASM). The Porsche folks claimed that was due to the improvements in the PASM, which now has a larger dynamic range, among other slight changes. The car with Sport PASM was far easier to drive faster that those without. Michelin Supersport tires in any case are worth having.

So, the new cars are just fine, just not so much more fine that I would trade my car for one. It goes nearly as well and sounds a bit better to my ear- apart from the stupid sound symposer at constant speeds, which the engineers have fixed with turbos and two tubes! I very seriously doubt that apart from the smoothness, there is much to detect as a difference in street driving.

The lesson of the day? Enjoy what you got and stop worrying.

PS. The Macan GTS is astounding but too pricy. But after flogging Macans at the track, I now get it. I purchased a Macan S this morning for a DD and will enjoy the hell out of my 991.1C2S (at least until the 991.2GTS is out or if the PDK hating GT3 owners feel they need to get new ones with 6 speeds and the used market is flooded). :-)

 

Thanks, Chuck. That was just what I was looking for.

ChuckJ