Ordered in March, finally received the car last Friday. 1,100+ miles on it and counting, all with zero regrets!
I figured I'd share some pictures and first impressions now that I have ascended from the Waiter's Club to the promised land of Valinor, so far consisting of ownership, pretentious accessories which are somehow impossible to say no to, and unexpected upticks in my level of interest in which "deviated" options other Porsches have on them.
The Good
If you are on the fence on whether or not to get one of these cars, just stop thinking about it and go do it. A Porsche with a flat 6 and 6MT is an extremely special and rare thing to behold (preaching to the choir here, obviously). We all must do our part in keeping these incredible cars alive and loved forever.
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I figured I'd share some pictures and first impressions now that I have ascended from the Waiter's Club to the promised land of Valinor, so far consisting of ownership, pretentious accessories which are somehow impossible to say no to, and unexpected upticks in my level of interest in which "deviated" options other Porsches have on them.
The Good
- 100% worth the wait. It's a fantastic car in so many ways. I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to own and experience this car.
- I have never felt a car this balanced. The handling is a like a go kart - mid engine is no joke! You absolutely constantly feel the difference it makes.
- SO happy I did carbon buckets. I find them to be extremely comfortable even on long drives, and I love how much they change the overall experience.
- It's more engaging and enjoyable to (also) drive slowly, than I expected... which is a great thing. I was hoping I wouldn't have to drive it on the limit to get any joy out of the car.
- It's extremely livable. It's not my only car (and I work from home), so it honestly "doesn't really matter to me" if it's aggressive or uncomfortable as long as it's rewarding and engaging to drive. But, to my surprise, I can spend several hours a day in the car and not want to get out. It's comfortable, tolerable, quiet enough when I want it to be, etc.
- Name anything on the car and I can tell you something good about it. Porsche knows what they're doing. I always knew that, but now I really understand it.
- Apple Carplay, physical buttons / controls on everything, and proper gauges. Some people call it dated, but I think it's the perfect balance between modern tech and a proper car. I can stare at that beautiful gauge cluster all day.
- I could go on forever. This car is a serious piece of kit. It's so depressing they're going away.
- The shifter. It lasted roughly 3 business days from when I picked up the car, then "nope!" - it had to change.
- It's WAY too high stock (trucker vibes), and far too light going in and out of gears.
- Stock it's extremely precise, extremely "good feeling", etc... it's a very good stock shifter... but nope. It wasn't right for the car.
- Every other control is so specifically weighted in this car, but even the turn signals are heavier feeling than the stock shifter.
- Long story short, I wound up with a Numeric short shifter along with the optional stiffer springs, and oh... my... god. I have now felt the best shifter I have ever known to exist. Even compared to GT3s and all sorts of other "best shift feel" cars, it's so much better it's not even funny. Now the car feels right.
- The tires are trash. These Pirelli P-Zeros are complete garbage. You can feel how tire limited the car is right away, and it's not a good feeling.
- EDIT:
- I won't change the below bullets, but I just wanted to update this here to mention that I am playing with lower pressures now
- The tires were at 42-44psi (hot) pressure since delivery day!! Paired with 100F+ ambient temp lately... oof!
- The consensus is that my pressures were set to 8-10psi too high 🥴
- They feel like driving on grease, break loose in a strange way, re-gain grip in a strange way, etc. I'd believe you if you told me the sidewalls are made out of jello.
- I've read stories from many people and talked to people who went from these to a Cup 2 and other such tires, and they all agree.
- I give them another few thousand miles at most, then Cup 2s are going on the car. I can't wait to rip these things off.
- The good thing about terrible feeling tires is that you get to feel the car's balance even sooner, so I can thank them for that!
- EDIT:
- The exhaust valve is outright annoying.
- Even with it in the fake "open" setting, constantly hearing it close between 1500rpm - 3800rpm (or whatever it is) just sounds... bad.
- Especially with the windows down, it just sounds terrible. One moment it sound good, the next it's a metal sound then quiet, the next it's a metal sound then ok again. I know it's there for reasons, but it had to go.
- The car now has a temporary solution in place. The vacuum lines have been pulled and plugged as a temporary tactic for forcing the valves open "until further notice". Immediate improvement, so much better to drive at lower RPMs, no more annoying flippy floppy crap at low speeds, etc. Consistent sound. Far better.
- That'll hold me over for another 2-4 weeks, then back go the vacuum lines, in goes my valve controller, and in goes my JCR exhaust. It sounds better than I thought it would in stock form, but you can tell it really needs an exhaust on it. I'm only doing the valve controller because I want to have the ability to force them shut, at times, otherwise I'd be completely content with no valves on the car.
- The tune is lacking.
- It's abundantly clear that the data the tuners have all shared is not made up. The car absolutely pulls throttle the higher up you go, even down to only about 60-70% throttle input.
- It's noticeable, annoying, and an absolute tease to know how much more is in it if only you were getting 100% throttle when you gave it 100% throttle.
- This is a correctable problem. I'll leave it at that.
If you are on the fence on whether or not to get one of these cars, just stop thinking about it and go do it. A Porsche with a flat 6 and 6MT is an extremely special and rare thing to behold (preaching to the choir here, obviously). We all must do our part in keeping these incredible cars alive and loved forever.
Then it clicked with me that they aren't just for the aesthetic.
