Living with a used Porsche 911 sports car

The PDK automatic transmission with paddle-shifters is not too far behind MT, but you will find yourself using it all the time.

BHPian androdev recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

All this feels strange and untrue

And I won't waste a minute without you

That was my Covid isolation corner. Enough has been written about Covid and my story is hardly interesting except that contemplating death and helplessness in the midst of the horror that was unfolding does unlock some parts of your brain. I don’t really know what has been unlocked though. Time will tell. I suppose "live the moment, stop saving and buy a fun car" is not an option for me!

So you pulled my heart out

And I don't mind bleedin'

I came to love you anyway

It took some time to make peace with a used car and all the apprehensions about possible abuse during previous ownership and hidden problems that are waiting to show up. It is very easy to abuse a low-slung car with high revving petrol and PDK - especially when you decide you are going to sell it off.

I procured a diagnostic cable just to do a quick sanity check. Over-revs are reasonable - Range 1&2 are very routine and my own driving has contributed (I was observing how these numbers increase after a few drives). Totale mileage divided by Operating hours gives the average speed of the car during its lifetime. A crazy low avg speed can mean that the ODO has tampered. I think my odo was adjusted but I can't be sure and decided not to worry about it. The service history is kosher, it got a brand new PDK 2 years back. I wrapped up the investigation with a favourable conclusion: just told myself all is well.

VW diagnostic cable and software are awesome. This Porsche stuff has very restrictive licensing (I can't use it with another VIN) and functionality is also not as good as VW.

Just the two of us, we can make it if we try

Just the two of us, you and I

I like long drives, part of the reason why my S-Class thread sees frequent updates. This car lacks comfort and space but I am not going to be deterred by such minor inconveniences. I can do intergalactic travels with just a towel.

However, a bonafide team-bhp member can not deviate from manufacturer recommendations when it comes to the fuel. I am sure the car has been run exclusively on bog-standard petrol for the last ten years before I bought it. I have done some very scientific-looking trial runs to evaluate XP95 and XP100 and came to the convenient conclusion that XP100 is not worth it for my engine. XP100 has a marginally improved air-fuel ratio (Lambda). The ignition angle doesn’t show any pattern. Boost is another parameter to be observed but it is not applicable to my NA engine. These results are for 3rd gear full throttle.

XP100 is shown in red colour

Maybe the car needs multiple tank-fulls to show improvements due to a change in fuel. Overall I feel nobody knows any technical info about these fuels - how they are made, how reliable their RON ratings are, any potential damages to the engine due to additives, etc. I might make a few more attempts to compare other fuels (standard fuel, Speed 97 etc.) and update this thread but overall I don’t feel concerned with fuel for this 2010 era engine.

I will have to find a solution for the spare tire without which I can't plan any long-distance travel. Hoping for something less dramatic than this:

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of change shift

May your heart always be joyful

May your song always be sung

And may you stay forever young

May you stay forever young

To begin a journey with a ten-year-old car requires tempered expectations. It took me some effort to get used to the rattles (coming from OCD S-class). The biggest relief was to discover that one doesn't need to do high speeds to enjoy a car like this. I always oblige the children on the road by doing a throttle blip - it's a humble engine but still a treat for our roads.

The PDK is amazing - I am trolling in MT vs AT discussions on team-bhp. MT is awesome but it's tough to use the awesomeness on every journey. PDK with paddle-shifters in manual mode is not too far behind MT but you will find yourself using it ALL the time. The engine builds up revs and speed really fast, so you need to be very focused to time your shifts. Not exactly a great comparison but Honda City and Polo etc take plenty of time to build the revs (and speed), so there is ample time to look at the road, look at the tacho and check your phone notifications before flicking paddles to shift. There is a reason why the tacho is the central piece on the instrument cluster. Not to forget the sound and precise dynamics. This really sets sports cars apart compared to powerful sedans. Kind of obvious too many I suppose, but I understood many of these subtleties over the last few months of driving this car. I can now relate to why bikers make such a big deal about different bikes.

There is some advantage in getting such a car in your 40s - you are not seeking cheap thrills and putting yourself and others in danger. I still have some way to go but I am heading in the right direction. If roller coasters were sports cars, this car is the gentlest one that lets you experience all the emotions of a roller coaster ride.

I have the annual service due this week and I will post an update after the service visit. Thank you for reading. No, I don't sing songs to my car, just include them to break the monotony.

Got the car back from service. The last scheduled service was done around this time last year, so I decided to send it for a scheduled service. Even though I have only covered around 2.5K km during this period, I prefer to stick to an annual service regime.

As some of you know, the Porsche Bangalore dealership (Friendly Automotive) has been closed and Porsche Kochi (EVM Premium Cars) is catering to the Bangalore market. They are using the Raja Skoda service facility (Whitefield area) to service Porsche cars. To be honest, this facility is much better than the earlier Maruti service facility in Indira Nagar. The good news is that there will soon be a new dealership in Bangalore (by VST group, a familiar name in Bangalore) and hopefully they will have a better infrastructure/servicing facility. Most of the technical staff of the previous Porsche dealership are still around (currently working for EVM) and will be retained by the new dealer.

I was planning to go home after dropping the car but I hung around as I was promised delivery in about four hours. I spotted this lovely red 993 (LHD import) that has come for service - couldn't resist asking the staff if it was for sale.

Here is my mighty white 997 Carrera rubbing shoulders with poor cousins in the service bay.

The service, while minimal, was done very professionally. The technician knew my car very well from the previous owner and I picked his brains to know more about the service in general - did the car miss any required service in the past, or should I go for any preventive maintenance given the age of the car, etc. Past perfect and future perfect, no need to be tense. He has been with Porsche Bangalore for the last 7 years and he seems to know these cars very well. I am glad the technical staff have been retained during the dealership rejig. The service bill came to Rs 38K.

XP100 outlet near KR Puram hanging bridge is relatively a convenient location for me - a serious weight loss exercise for my wallet, but I am going to stick to higher RON fuel at least during the honeymoon period. I also got this 20L can from Amazon (seems to be out of stock now) and I have been using it for pit stops.

I could be wrong but based on whatever research I have done, XP100 seems to be the only high octane fuel in India that has some refining technology behind it instead of just using additives. However, the outlet manager (it's a COCO outlet) told me they might discontinue XP100 due to lack of patronage.

As per the service tech, Porsche dealer sells some additive bottles to be used with regular fuel which are popular among their customers. They are currently out of stock and fresh stock is expected. I will use regular fuel once I got hold of some of these cans.

Some miscellaneous pics from the service visit (engine oil, window cleaner additive):

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