991 cab. pro's and con's?

[HoraceM]

Evening all. I have a 997 Gen 2 Turbo "S" coupe and am considering my next car being a 991 Cabrio, either a Turbo or "S".
Has anyone had experience of the cab vs. coupe, and could offer me some advice as to the pro's and con's of the cab, ie. cleaning the hood, noise and draughts etc. when driving.
I've read that the 991 has a softer ride (if required) than my 997. Is this correct? Anyone had both?
Any thoughts would be appreciated
ATB
Horace Marks

 

[Lancerlot]

This question would be better posted in 991 forum! []

Regards,

[font="comic sans ms,sans-serif"]Clive[/font]

 

[tscaptain]

It is now.....[]

 

[kjhurley]

Hi Horace,

Whilst I have never had a Turbo, I have owned both a 997.2 Carrera 'S' coupe (for 4 years) and a 991.1 Carrera 2S cab (for 2 years) and I thoroughly enjoyed both cars.

In terms of your specific questions, the 991 to me did have a slightly softer ride than the 997 and despite the canvas roof, I actually felt that there was slightly less road noise in the cabin on long journeys. The ability to take the roof down undoubtedly provides a different driving experience, but even here buffeting / wind noise is managed effectively assuming you deploy the windbreak. I certainly found that this made the car great to drive during the warmer parts of the year. (You forget what a difference a better sense of sounds and smells outside the cabin make to enjoying your surroundings!).

In 2018, I went on both the Spring and Autumn Factory Tours organised by the PCGB with the Cab and both were great. One particular highlight was driving all the way from Stuttgart to Prague with the roof down in glorious sunshine, whilst it was also good on both trips to be able to take advantage of the de-restricted autobahns to get a better sense of the car's capabilities!

Cleaning the hood was never a problem, although I did have a GTechniq coating applied to the car after I picked up the Cab, and this included a deep clean of the hood and a special coating for the canvas. Thereafter, it really required little maintenance and was easy to keep clean, even after a pretty dramatic bird strike after coming off the Eurotunnel in France on the Spring 2018 Factory Tour (!)

It therefore depends what you are after - any 997 or 991 is obviously more than capable. You could argue that the 997 remains closer to the 911's 'roots' and that the 991 feels a slightly bigger and weightier car, but having a few more creature comforts and technological advances never goes amiss.

Good luck in making your decision.

Keith

 

[Lancerlot]

"Cabs are for posers and coups (sic) are for drivers!" So says the old adage. []

In the past monocoques without roofs weren't too hot on torsional rigidity and in use, would shake, rattle and roll. They were a poor relation in terms of handling and maintenance too. Nowadays modern, sophisticated materials and CAD/CAM design systems have greatly improved the models but there is still a weight penalty from additional body shell stiffening, roof operating system etc. and it's more to go wrong too! []

Personally I would never spec a cab, but I have driven plenty and am always surprised how nice they are and how well Porsche have overcomee deficiencies. Cruising around on a fine day with the top down is a wonderful experience. Such a pity that in the UK, there are so few opportunities to do this.

I had my 997.2 TTS for 6 years and still consider it one of the finest 911's I have owned. However, my 991.2 TTS was better in terms of performance. Only owned for 2 years, I now miss it hugely. Handling and road-holding are greatly improved, the suspension setup is better and uprated PASM, PDCC and RWS all serve to aid the cause. The cabin is a more commodious place to be as well. The PCM update offers more connectivity and better features. A bonus, notwithstanding the increased engine power, is consumption figures are far better. []

A tip, if buying off the forecourt, is to thoroughly examine the brakes, particularly rotors, since these are hugely expensive to replace; also pads - particularly the rears - since they are prone to premature wear because of the active PTV system.

Will be interested to hear how you get on. [8|]

Regards,

[font="comic sans ms,sans-serif"]Cliv[/font]e

 

[HoraceM]

Hi Clive,

Yes, re the adage, I've done a bit of driving, after a 997 Turbo and an "S" Coupe, and I'm old enough now not to have to prove what a fantastic driver I am - or not! and now I'm thinking of doing a bit of posing, (with a few more creature comforts than my Westfield). The more "refined" ride side of things appeals to my wife as well, so I think I'll give this some serious consideration.

Keith, thanks for your comments as well. My car was Gtechniq'ed and I'm sure the hood treatment would be a great way to keep it as per.... It's nice to know that the buffeting has acceptable, but like the (rear engined) handling issues of years ago, after this amount of time they should have fixed it!

Mine is always cleaned, garaged and covered after virtually any journey, so never really gets dirty.

OK time to start looking, methinks.

ATB

H.

 

[Mike Pink]

Had an 87 targa and a 93 964 Turbo 3.6. Now have had a 991.1 C4S Cab since 2016. Little obvious scuttle shake but it is a much bigger car (thankfully with a bigger n/a engine and beautiful sound track). Would I buy a coupe? Yes, but would still buy a cab too. Great to drive when not trying to break the lap record on a track. Solid and calm inside. But do hanker after a smaller, lighter “classic” - shame they're mostly out of my price range (and in reality have worse brakes, less adjustable seats, no a/c (unless you give up the passenger footwell) and offer less crash protection (not that that ever tops the reason I buy cars). The modern cab roof is a work of art too - someone told me there are Kevlar panels to save weight?

 

[DrSimon]

Hi Horace,

I have a 997.2 turbo cab and absolutely love it. The car is a weekend toy and is garaged so the canvas rarely sees rain. I have waterproofed it with Fabsil Gold, which makes the water run off instantly. With a wind deflector I can get the roof down in temperatures around 15 degrees and over. I'm not a driving god and never track the car, so I'm not worried about any difference in chassis stiffness compared to the coupe version. The wind noise is absolutely fine, again with the wind deflector you can have conversations at motorway speeds.

My last three Porsches have been convertibles and I doubt I would have a coupe, although there is an itch for a GT3 at some point!

 

[HoraceM]

I'm liking this last comment, it's what I was hoping to be reading. Re the previous one, I'm not into noise, my Westy has too much of that already, and as for the GT3, although I have plenty of fillings, I'd still like to keep them exactly where they are, so a bit of softer suspension most of the time is just fine by me.

H.

 

[DrSimon]

Hi Horace,

Just to add, I took my car up to the Highlands a couple of years ago for a road trip. The weather was fantastic (late May) and I had the roof down pretty much the whole time. Driving a turbo cab through such beautiful scenery was an incredible experience. With the roof down the views were spectacular. I just couldn't imagine doing the trip in anything other than a cabriolet. When I wanted to press on a bit the car was utterly brilliant - as you'd expect from a turbo. But when I just wanted to waft about admiring the stunning landscape the turbo turned into the perfect GT. IMHO for these reasons the turbo is the perfect all-rounder, especially when you can have the roof down in seconds.

Simon

PS. Add a Sharkwerks X-pipe to the car and even the soundtrack is perfect!

 

[991JAW]

Horace

Mine is a C4S cab and all I can say is about the not a real drivers car is that via the 991 reg visit to Millbrook we took part in a timed auto test through cones , my hairdressers car was only 0.1 of a second behind a 991.2 GT3.

I know it's about the driver but all the same 0.1 seconds....

N/A engine and sports exhaust with the roof down ...perfect.