Quote:
Originally Posted by Freon
Very nice. I've started to consider a 996 as my next car.
|
I drove (2) 996's before I bought my M Coupe. The first one I drove was an '06 carrera, black on black with nav, i think around 55k miles. It was pretty clear that one wasn't taken care of the best... Interior bits seemed they were very worn and falling apart.. Was also not as fast as I expected. While it wasn't slow, I still wasn't blown away. For the money you're paying for that car, seems like you could have the same performance for less money, or a newer car for the same money with the same performance. I think the primary reason people buy those is so they have a porsche, not because it's the "best buy"
I then drove a 01 911 turbo.. The only way I can describe that car is "uselessly fast".. It wasn't "smokey burnout" fast, as in it didn't have crazy amounts of torque like a big V8 does, but it was extremely fast and extremely smooth. The AWD makes so you have basically unlimited grip. I think that car does mid 12's in the 1/4 mile.. Anyway, it's so fast by the time you get into 3rd gear you're doing dang near 80MPH which what seemed like no time at all. I think if you really rowed through the gears in that car like you "should" or "want to", it'd probably only take one time being at the wrong place at the wrong time before you'd be in jail..
At the end of the day, the 996 was a no-go for me for (3) reasons.
1. I'm a little over 6' with long legs, and the leg room was simply not there for me. It was OK for the short drives I was on (less than 30 mins each), but I didn't feel like I could drive 2 hours in that car without being uncomfortable.
2. The regular 996 carrera didn't seem to have the performance for the money. Seems like you can get very comparable performance out of other cars for a heck of a lot less money and maintenance.
3. The 911 turbo is an amazing machine, I'd love to have one some day. I couldn't justify spending 10k more than my M coupe for a car that's 6 years older.. Even if you DIY, prices for 911 turbo parts are ridiculous..
I believe the M coupe is a touch faster than the 996 carrera, and a touch slower than the 911 turbo. Even if performance is equal in the 996 carrera, I was getting a newer car that is simpler to maintain. Even though you don't see a lot of 996's on the road, you see a lot less M coupes, so that was a deal breaker for me...
Besides, there's NOTHING like the sound of a BMW inline 6...
