New Commuter/Toy
 

It's finally here.

I have been daily-driving (or at least, 4x a week) my 911, in what has to be the worst Bay Area traffic, since I returned my leased A3 at the end of July. At least I know now that I can’t drive a stick shift during rush hour. My left knee has started to hurt. And with the recent weather, I’ve been pushing my luck with the oil temps.

My search started in earnest with this thread: The Ten Thousand Dollar Sport Sedan. I’ve been watching The Affordable 997 thread with interest but PDK 997s are still over 50k where I live.

For a little while, I thought I would get a 993, the last of the air-cooled, hence this thread. But I wanted a manual gearbox, I thought I could get away with a stick. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t. In late 2016, I pondered on C32 and C55.

Then I almost pulled the trigger on a Macan, hence this thread: Buying a Car Coming Off Lease. My wife thinks it’s still too expensive.

I considered getting a reliable run-of-the-mill Toyota or a Honda, but I wanted something I could also enjoy driving, and certainly read such threads with interest.

So I appreciate this forum with all the varied inputs and insights from other threads, and everyone who took the time to read and respond. Thank you!

After much discussion and sometimes arguments with my wife, I bought something she could also drive and haul three kids, and in her mind, is within a reasonable price: 2011 Cayenne S.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505588873.jpg

Time for a bit of interior cleaning (as you may have seen the Top Gear episode about the type if bacteria you will find in a used car), and maybe a wash and clay tomorrow...

Nice! It's a massive amount of car for the money used.

If you don't mind, how much was it?

How many miles?

Dealer or somewhere else?

Initial thoughts on the thing?

I got it at 57K mi, with remaining 7 months (or 70K mi) on a 3rd party extended warranty from a private party.

I've never had an SUV before. I have a minivan. What I can say after a few hours of driving is that 65mph feels like you're going 40. It's very stable. It has 20" wheels and Toyo tires (don't know the exact model) and there is some tire drone noise around 75mph, depending on the road.

Also, so many buttons. Buttons on the center console, buttons on the ceiling, buttons on the touch screen, but no volume controls on the steering wheel. Have to figure all of them out. Why is the door lock button in the center console? And surprisingly, the cup holders are very shallow.

I don't care much for the perforated leather. Dirt seems to collect in the holes.

I like that you can control ride height.

I'm sure the kids will like the panoramic sunroof.

That's it for now. Will post some more pics tomorrow.

Yep, lots of buttons, probably more because you have an S. I think what they called the "multifunction steering wheel" was an option. In a commuter, I would think that would be a nice one to have.

I can only assume the door lock button being in the center is some sort of through-back or branding that goes back to the "Central locking" that my old '88 targa had which was a button on the console. I have no idea if I have a door lock button on console of the boxster, but I think I might.

Ride height control is nice. I think at highway speeds it drops down if it's not already for better mpg.

I haven't noticed any issues with the perforated leather in the boxster, but I think I put around 5k miles a year on it as a daily driver so it may take a while.

More pics would be great. The missus would like a Cayenne, and I'd like to get her one.

Brilliant! I'm seeing the same car at some point in my future. :D

Meanwhile I bought one of these to clean the interior of my recently acquired "daily". It takes some effort but the results are worth it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505656502.jpg

Here are the 20" wheels with Toyo Proxes S/T w/ Treadwear rating of 420 (before washing):
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505656621.jpg

Here is the perforated leather problem, you will see darker areas, maybe not as obvious in the photos, but more noticeable in real life:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505656821.jpg

You are right, I forgot that my 88 911 has the lock/unlock button in the center console. It's just that I've rarely used it owing to just having two doors.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505656948.jpg

There is no rear A/C control. Dual vents are controlled by the driver and passenger A/C switches. Someone was asking about car seat protectors in the 911 forum. This is what I have. The leather has marks from the PO's car seat. I am hoping this will protect the leather from further marks:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505657098.jpg

Yesterday was interior wipe down and leather cleaning/conditioning, today would be vacuuming and maybe a little carpet stain cleaning.

Nice! A Cayenne S with air suspension. I did the same 8 years ago. Not regretting that one bit. Well, maybe regretting that I didn't buy two. -Like Steve, my wife keeps on wanting to steal it, and she has a nice S-class MBz much like Peter's there.^

Anyway, I expect that you chose wisely. Oh, and have it aligned at what ever ride height you tend to drive. It helps save tires.

There are a ton of buttons on your center console. It looks like it's a bunch of stuff that would normally be on the dash (at least in my car) dual hvac and seat heating, and then you've got all of the suspension setting stuff down there too. I've just got one central set of hvac controls not dual.

My seats don't have nearly the amount of perforations that yours do. It looks like you might have the seat cooling option which may be why yours has a higher density of perfs. That's an option I wouldn't mind having. I like the seat heating more than I thought I would.

Those seat protectors work great, I always used them in my cars when we had little kids.

Very nice!

I remember seeing the "AMMO NYC" guy cleaning some perf'd Cayenne seats on the youtubes a while back.
I think he used a detail brush along with leather cleaner, then used a vacuum to suck the remaining cleaner out of the holes. Seemed to work well. I'll see if I can find the link.


Edit: Here you go:
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NtkDG6pNkI4?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks. I might just try that one of these days.

PO has some form of clear bra type of product on the hood, front bumper, leading edge of front fenders, door edges, side mirrors, and the under door handle (anti-nail scratch :-)). Looks generally ok though there are some pits, nicks and water spots in some places.

Wondering if they're worth keeping on...

Finished claying most of the car today except roof and rear quarter panels.

+50hp at the wheels with this sticker:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1505692173.jpg

My wife has perforated leather in her Quest, we've been using Leatherique for years and it still looks great. Awesome stuff....

wow, good one I like it it is beautiful :D

I noticed something odd listening to my iPod classic (yes I still have one as I have over 6500 songs in my library and want to keep them all in one device). The music was a tad lower in pitch, and I confirmed this by switching to an aux line and listening to a podcast via the aux and then via the iPod cable. It appears this is a known problem as a few folks at 6speedonline.com described the same problem. Something about a bad PCM implementation... Not a big deal, just found that the podcast host's voice sounded lower.