Test Drive Today: Porsche 991 v 997s
Spent a few hours today test driving a new 991 base model And the first drive of a 997s.

Part One:

When I first saw the official pictures of the new Porsche 991, I was very excited. The design was yet another step in the evolution of the 911 but as Porsche does a major step every 7 years or so, this one looked right away to be more of a leap.

It looked more serious, obviously more modern with just more confident curves and a sexy and appealing stance. I immediately started thinking how I would juggle my car collection to make room for this sexy beast.

I have owned 911's for many years and currently own a 1972 Targa, 1990 C4 Cabriolet, 2000 Boxster S and a 2005 GT3. As I recently relocated back to New York City and the cost of parking is equivalent to a nicely optioned Jeep GC Limited, I left all the Porsches at my house in New Jersey and used a BMW X5M as my daily driver.

This didn't work out so well as the weight of the X5M, coupled with run flat tires, seriously in need of repair streets and mostly the urge to just drive fast (too fast) made mincemeat of the tires and a rim or two.

For the past 20 years I've had as many as 8 Porsches in the fleet at one time and rarely if ever did any of them serve as my daily driver. When I bid farewell to the X5M, I turned towards my 2000 Boxster S and said, 'you're it' at least till I figure out what's next in the fleet.

This was four months ago and I have used the Boxster almost every day. As counter intuitive as it may seem it's a better choice in many ways than the mighty X5M. I find myself being a little more careful and not expecting to get away without some punishment if I hit a pot hole or steel plate covering our wonderful streets.

This past weekend I took a new Jeep GC for a test drive and while it was nicely improved over previous generations as expected, obviously it can't give any of the excitement factor of an X5M..I knew this going in of course and the DD is not supposed to be about excitement anyway, or so I thought.

As I have owned many cars and know that as much as I want to deny it, it takes discipline I don't have to not drive whichever vehicle is designated the daily driver. It's like wearing sneakers too often. You know you look like a moron in many social situations but they are comfortable..This is the pattern I have followed for years just about always mindlessly starting up whichever DD I would have, usually an SUV and get spoiled by the ease of entry, more cabin and storage room, better view and mostly an ease of worrying about little things like potholes or feeling small against the traffic.

But after 4 months of driving a pretty tiny car like the Boxster and still having the feeling of excitement, fun and well, just the feeling you should have when you are driving a proper sports car, I said to myself, "Why am I NOT driving a sports car every day?"

This idea started as a passing thought and quickly grew into an obsession in which I started getting angry at having put perhaps a total of 2000 miles a year combined on all of my Porsches. We all know, he with the most miles wins. Garage Queens are pretty and nice but like a supermodel girlfriend, looking isn't all that satisfying without some 'quality time'. Duh.

OK, enough preamble and let's get to the crux of the issue real quick.

Part 2 to Follow...

 

Im so excited, I can't wait to read it!

 

Ok.

 

Looking forward to read your review, please post.

 

Tease!

 

man,...your threads slowly begin to get Johnsgt character

but hey...looking forward to your review!
Thanks!

 

No internet access, still down but heres a preview:

The 997s was silver and the 991 was not an S and was black.

 

Too bad you didn't have a properly equipped S.

 

Y u no bring your cam for this?

 

We're waiting.