Drove the boss's '96 911 today.

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

Let's get one thing clear: Porsche makes cars that are not meant for the road, Volkswagen does. Do you really need a road car that does 140mph?

Hmmm... I will say a careful Doch! (German expression for "YES THEY DO!")
The 911s are of the few cars where you have >385ps but you can jump in on a cold morning and drive 5min to the nearest bakery to buy your donats, without ruining your engine.
I can not think of another GT car where you can do this without ruining your engine on the long run.
And it is true, even ElAurens' grandmother could drive it to the bakery every day (mine I would certainly not let her in on mine) it can be an incredibly civilised car if you wanted to and a mad bull the next moment.
True you do not need a road car that does 140mph. Hold on a sec though, why do I see so many 500cc and 1000cc motorbikes on the roads???? (No thanks Raaid, I do not need an answer )
It is not the end speed, it is the acceleration, forward and lateral (taking a turn at 2+ g is a freaky experience). For those without the reflexes for those 1000cc superbikes, this is the closest alternative.
In terms of safety, there is "passive" and "active" safety. Passive safety is rather limited where you crash into a 2,2ton SUV when your 911 is only 1,4tons (sorry for the metrics).
But the active safety margin of these cars is amazing. Provided you have your eyes on the road (which few people do) you will probably never find yourself in a situation where you can not get away from either by braking, avoiding, or accelerating out of it, in a 911.

Anyway, I do not work for Porsche, nor am I a salesman, nor do I own one (because where I live now, the passive safety of an SUV is better than the active of a 911 ) but I happen to be one of those potential customers who happened to test the old 911s and said the same things as ElAurens said, then tested the new ones (10years later) and almost went straight to buy one.
@ElAurens: You need to get a new customer (or a new boss; whatever easier ) with a 911S model 997 generationII (the 2010 production) or 991 (2011 production) and it will radicaly change yor opinion; the new double-clutch 7-speed gearboxes and the new motor management made different cars out of them...

Now time to go back to my IL2...

~S~