Thoughts From a non Porsche Owner on Driving A Porsche

[Rot 911]

From the Rennlist Board. I wish I was half as eloquent as this guy!

"Guys,
I am a new member to the Rennlist and I know this is the wrong thing to say, but I'm not a Porsche owner yet!

I am still looking for the right car.

To make a long story short, I lived in India until I was 10 and I dreamt of driving a Porsche from the time I was 8. Driving a Porsche in India can only be a dream, atleast for me. I am 27 now and I live in the US. I got a chance to drive one finally, an '86 911 coupe.


The owner handed me the keys and I got in the car. Funny thing, I jabbed the keys into the dashboard on the right hand side of the steering, the owner started laughing so hard he almost fell out of the car.

I got the car started and it felt a bit strange to have the pedals come up from the floorboard, giving the pedals a very unique feel. Didn't like it at first. I put the car into 1st and like any good first time Porsche driver, I stalled it! LOL Well 2nd try I was off and going. Shifted it to 2nd no problem, but 3rd was a problem. I couldn't find it, its not like my Prelude, you had to actually sort of find the gear. I grinded it into 3rd.

I was starting to think, what is all this hype about this car...so far my opinion was that this car stinks. Is this what I've been waiting for, for 19 years??? So I pulled over and just wanted to regroup. At which point, the owner quietly said "You need to learn how to shift properly.". At first I was offended and I quickly said, "I know how to shift". But a moment later I realized what he was saying and what a Porsche is all about.

A 911 is the great equalizer. It puts everybody on a level playing field and readily exposes a good driver from a bad driver. You might think you know how to drive a car, but you don't know until you can efficiently and proficiently drive a Porsche 911. If you are capable of driving a 911 to its limits, you are light years ahead of any other driver on the road.

Well I turned the car around and we headed back to the owner's house. This time I concentrated on driving the car and didn't talk much. Made sure all my shifts were decisive and my clutch work was perfect. All of a sudden I was so in tune with the road and what was going on in the car, I felt like I had hit Driving Nirvana!

Did I say "To make a long story short"?!?! sorry for all the verbage.

Well my fate is sealed, I HAVE to HAVE a Porsche 911. I will, SOON. My budget is $20,000 and I'm sure I'll find a good one for that price range. I now realize that "There is no substitue".

Best regards all,
Abhi "

[johncj8989]

Excellent story!!! That pretty much sums up the Porsche experience. Gongrats, you are no longer a virgin!! Welcome to AMERICA where anything is possible.

Stalling the car in first gear is typical. All those (except one) who have tried driving my 911 have stalled it in first gear.

[widebody911]

When I take my car to the alignment shop, we place bets on how many times the tech will stall it while trying to get it up onto the alignment rack.

The record is 12.

[Typical Fish]

Yeah, "self stalling"; it's a FEATURE to keep you from driving off with the engine too cold; kind of like gauge condensation (you know, for cooling those hot gauges).

[agabriel]

I never stalled mine, but the tires spun a bit while engaging second with my '86. It was a wet day and I wasn't used to it and the tires spun. My dad came along for the test drive and I made a comment about awful acceleration in this particular car. He came back quickly with your spinning the tires stupid.... Needless to say after that I was embarrassed but I did a better job .

I drove a 2002 Ford Mustang GT conv before I got rid of it under the lemon law for a water leak issue. The 911 absolutely beat the pants off the mustang (and a boxster that I test drove) in terms of driving excitement. The lack of what some consider needs i.e. power steering, radiator, etc just seemed to add to the pleasure of the vehicle.

It really is an amazing car. I have always been in to sports cars, so its good that I wasn't driving this at 16...

Anthony

[thamlin000]

The first time I ever drove a 911 was when I was a valet back in high school. Yep, and I stalled it right in front of the owner.

I could only imagine was he was thinking.....

[s_wilwerding]

My uncle leased a 964 a few years ago and it was the first time he had driven a 911. It was raining when he drove away from the dealership. The back end was so squirrelly in the rain that he thought something was broken on the car, before he realized that no, you have to be careful in a 911 on race tires when it rains!

[Kurt B]

When I have to deal with valet...
1) The clutch is tricky, don't wreck my car or
2) Hop in and tell me where to go...

Mechanics tend to stall it, but valets tend to do a pretty decent job. I'll say this, I replaced everything about the clutch and it's smooth as butter (as I said in another post), but still not a Honda. Goes with the territory, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[atlporsche]

I drove my buddy's 996 two nights ago and it was the same feel. couldn't find reverse the first time.

Once i got the hang of it...I realized why they price the cars to keep them out of my young hands...driving nirvana...

sjd

[adamred]

The PO of my car was really impressed when I sat down behind the wheel and didn't stall it for our entire test drive! Every other potential buyer had stalled it at least once.

The record for stalls on mine was the emissions testing jockey trying to get it on the dyno, and then running, must have been at least 6/7 times, eyeing me the whole time, I think he failed it on purpose the b***stahd...

[stealthn]

With my car, I know I'll be needing a new clutch every couple of years...dam bumper to bumper rush hours..

I would have liked to see that test pilot going from 5th to forth