2000 Porsche 996 vs. 2007 Ford Roush Mustang

[JBaez]

Yesterday, I am cruising along at a leisurely 70mph in 6th gear on a six lane toll road and no one is on it...or so I think. Then I see a new Roush Ford Mustang closing in at high speed in my left mirror. This guy pulls up right beside me and he starts hitting his gas hard and letting off...saying ...."let's go." I have to admit..it was tempting. I had no intention to race. He began to pull in front act like he was coming into my lane. He was getting too close for my comfort.

After a careful look around an visibility of almost 2 miles ahead of me with no one in sight...I decided to let him know how a Porsche 996 can run. I clicked from 6th down to forth and we both took off.... I am not sure what the Roush has under the hood but he tried desparately to keep up and the 8 year 996 stock Carrera continued to pull away as I pulled to 7000 into both 4th and 5th gear, with loads of power to continue accelerating hard..... the Roush was not enough to match to power of the stock 996...I could not believe how quickly the 996 pulled to 140mph where I decided to let off. The Roush guy was shocked..as was I. The power to weight ratio but me heavily advantaged towards the 911. Scary how fast the 996 Carrera is.

I know this guy looked at my "boxster" headlights and was probably thinking the car was a glorified hard top boxster. (No disprect to the boxster, which personally love and am looking for a nice clean one as an extra fun convertible. Has anyone seen this Porsche ad on Youtube from awhile back..it's awesome!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nzYEYWOJBbM

Folks, anyone that has not driven a 996 is in for a real treat. Supercar performance at a bargain price that gets 26 mpg on the highway, with looks that could kill. Yet another day in the fantastic life and ownership of the best car I have ever owned. Thank you Porsche. There is no substitute.

[Don Plumley]

I'll move this to the 996 forum...

[Der Meister]

Hopefully you're not really shocked at how your 996 performs. It is a borderline race car just stock, so be sure to stay in control out there.

have fun.

[Wickd89]

I really need to get one......;-)

[450knotOffice]

Yup. These cars can catch a lot of people by surprise. They have long legs and are just getting into their stride at 100 mph; heck, a bone stock early 996 will do at least 174 mph (official), and the 997's are over 180 now.

Be careful out there though.

[JBaez]

I noticed you have a cobalt blue Cayman. How does it compare to the older 996? Is it as fun and quick? Just curious if the Cayman outperforms the 996 as I had contemplated one but really wanted 4 seats for my kids. How does the Cayman accelerate and handle vs. the 996?

[450knotOffice]

Well, the Cayman is the base model with 245 horsepower, so it's not as quick or fast as the 996. With that said, however, the Cayman is definitely the better handling of the two. It has amazing reflexes and is so easy to point anywhere you please. I definitely notice the much more balanced nature of the Cayman over the decided tail heaviness of the 996. I'm not complaining, however, as the 996 certainly has more traction coming out of tighter corners, which is a definite rear-engine advantage. I had the Cayman out on a tight 1.8 mile 13 turn track last week, and it had a hard time laying down the power coming out of the tight corners, with the traction control kicking in frequently. No doubt, a lot of that has to do with the lack of a limited slip, however, my 996 has no limited slip either and it also has no traction control, but I've been able to launch out of the same corners harder on the same track with it.

[purplxd]

After I was hit on the highway by someone that was trying to bait me into a race in my new (to me) 996 and rolled 3 times in an accident that nearly killed my wife and I, now I leave such driving for the track only.

A respected racer of about 70 years old now once told me "if you're wearing street clothes you shouldn't be racing", I now respect him more and his words of wisdom there.

In my new 996, I'm about the slowest Porsche on the streets....


A

... wake up call ...

[914helo]

Wow! Glad to hear you and the wife are OK.

[Der Meister]

Originally Posted by purplxd

After I was hit on the highway by someone that was trying to bait me into a race in my new (to me) 996 and rolled 3 times in an accident that nearly killed my wife and I, now I leave such driving for the track only.

Yeah, that's a wake up call. You must have been really moving because that looks like a pretty narrow road to roll 3 times in a 996. Glad you and your wife are alright.

[purplxd]

It was more the inner embankment was shaped like a skateboard ramp that put it airborne.

These things happen, and they happen in a split second.


Cheers
Aaron