Living the Legend
Nick Jeffery
Surrey, UK
@npjeffery
@npjeffery
Model 997 CARRERA 4 GTS
Year 2012
Acquired OCT 2018
Model 997.1 GT3
Year 2007
Acquired NOVEMBER 2019
At the time of writing this column, we have been in lockdown for several weeks so all the planned events and trips have either been postponed or cancelled, including a road trip around France and my first PCGB track day at the Anglesey Circuit in North Wales, not to mention the inaugural Das Feuer meet and Goodwood Members Meeting!
I know many fellow enthusiasts have elected to SORN their Porsches, but I decided not to as I am a firm believer in keeping my cars rolling; in my experience, they do not respond well to sitting idle.
Given lockdown restricts any car journeys to those that are deemed to be essential, I decided to keep to a strict rotation, logging when each vehicle was last used. Having already been forced to replace the GT3 battery, I have no desire to repeat this on the other cars…
My first observation has been around how much we historically have taken for granted, and correspondingly how grateful I have felt and how much I have enjoyed those essential journeys. This usually involves delivering supplies to both sets of aging parents, one of which is a ten-mile round trip, the other around 60 miles. Both therefore represent an excellent opportunity to thoroughly warm up each car to normal operating temperature and get a heat cycle through all the main components, including suspension and bushes. I have witnessed neighbours sitting on their driveways letting the engine tick over for 45 minutes but, to my mind, that can’t be doing the vehicle any good.
It has also served to remind me just how much I love driving the GT3 and GTS, even at low speeds and, despite the fact they are both 997-generation cars, how different they are in reality…
The GTS is the consummate all-rounder. You could argue it is all the 911 you will ever need. A much-lauded sweet spot both in terms of the 997.2 generation and the resultant greatness from the sum of its parts. It is a great car to be in, comfortable and well appointed, and equally at home on a mundane trip or blasting along a winding road. I have owned the car since October 2018 and it has proved to be very reliable and relatively low maintenance, only requiring rear lower wishbones so far. It feels heavier than the two-wheel-drive GT3 but there is no shortage of grip and feedback from the steering, and while you have to work it a little harder than the GT3, the rewards are most certainly there when doing so. One observation I would make since owning a later PDK-equipped car (a 2015 981 Cayman S) is while the gearbox must be the same, the software that controls the shift speeds is markedly different, leading me to ponder whether it is possible to get this upgraded?
The GT3 is a different animal altogether. It sounds positively angry on start up, with a lower, much more menacing tone from the central twin exhaust pipes, and has that uneven race car idle you usually hear in a paddock or pit lane. There is a palpable sense of drama or theatre about it from the off. Uncompromising in its delivery, it just feels more alive at all times and spine tingling as you stretch its legs and start approaching that 8,400rpm redline. It’s more twitchy on the road and you can really feel the rear end pushing down into the tarmac under hard acceleration and the lighter front end bobbing around. The only caveat is the lower ride height and being mindful of speed humps or driveways with an incline, as front axle lift was not available as a factory option on first-generation cars and is a costly non-OEM retrofit option. I have already established during lockdown I cannot get it on/off my parents’ drive!
I have no real preference over the interior in each car, although I do prefer the thinner, more basic steering wheel in the GT3 – a real example, perhaps, that less is more…
