Our Porsche 911 is the most blessed of the cars in european car's long-term stable and, sadly, it is also the most cursed. The blessings are many. It has a powerful, responsive, torque-happy engine that seems capable of outputting more (a wee bit, at least) than its stated 320 bhp. I've praised the off-theline capabilities of Porsche's engines before, and the addition of VarioCam Plus to the C2 increases said praise twofold. I've also sang paeans to the engines' elasticity, and the 3.6 continues that song.
The six-speed manual transmission offers precise shifting, and the tall gearing perfectly matches the engine's torque-iness and power output. As for the clutch, I don't know of anyone who laments the change from the previous 993 generation. Gone is the Stairmaster-for-one-leg feel. The 996's hydraulic clutch still has a definite resistance to it, yet it also has one of the best demarcated engagement points--ever.
With its stiffer body structure and matching suspension componentry, the Carrera's chassis provides a tightness and controllability that has to be experienced to be believed. I have yet to find a corner the Porsche can't handle. And if I ever do, our long-termed is blessedly equipped with the Porsche Stability Management (PSM, aka "please save me) system. No disastrous tail-out spins for me, thank you.
My homeward commute has a freeway exit that starts out as a long, slightly curved uphill climb, followed by a brief descent and then a left-tilted, left-turn sweeper at the off-ramp. It's perfect for testing both a car's pulling power and its handling prowess. Need I say the Carrera is my favorite ride for this test? I've blasted up that hill more times than I can count, the only detriment being the frequent appearance of slow-moving Camrys that get in my way. The off-ramp's recommended exit speed is a wussy 25 mph. Hah, the Porsche can easily handle triple that.
On the inside, the Carrera's driver's seat keeps me firmly in place, no matter how hard I take the aforementioned off-ramp. Being fully, electronically adjustable, the seat is also very easy to adjust to exacting comfort. And, if fellow staffers don't mess with my memory setting (there are four settings) , a touch of a button puts the seat back to precisely where I want it.
I'm not a fan of the trunk-mounted six-CD changer, as I've discovered that six CDs play through very quickly during a long-distance --7 hours or more-- drive. I find it highly annoying to have to pull over, stop the car, open the trunk, eject the CD cartridge, change the CDs and replace the cartridge. An in-dash CD player, even a single-disc one, would make more sense, especially in an $81,730 car. The cheesy, plastic below-the-stereo cassette holders need to go as well. Does anyone listen to those things anymore? Oh well, at least the 911 now has a glovebox. In addition,the lid on the center armrest storage space isn't as flimsy as the earlier 996 model's, as we haven't managed to break this one.
Ah yes, breaking...as in cursed. Our long-termer has had the worst of luck. First, the engine went mysteriously south. Engineering editor Dan Barnes described the 3.6's failure at 6,118 miles in the October 2002 issue. We still don't know what went wrong, just that it did. The new engine has been without incident since. It is oil hungry, but what Porsche engine isn't? That was back in mid May; we had only had the car for 4 months.
Then in June, a not-to-be-named editor (he knows who he is) rear-ended an older 3 Series. One solid car hitting another--the driver says his foot slipped. Both cars held up remarkably well. Total cost to repair the front-end of our Porsche, including a $300 front-end alignment, was just under $1,900. Not bad considering McKenna Porsche's body shop had to replace and paint the front bumper. There was a delay due to a parts backorder, but the 911 come back good as new. We figured, "Okay, that's the extend of the car's bad luck."
An old adage says that death comes in threes, apparently so does bad luck. This past August, as I was driving to work, a 1989 Jeep Cherokee slammed into the back of the Porsche. I was stopped in traffic, she wasn't and didn't (the driver was momentarily distracted by the antics of another reckless driver). The impact occurred at about 30 mph, causing major damage to the Carrera. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt; I ended up with just a few aches and bruises. The seatbelt pretensioners kept me firmly in place, while the engine compartment absorbed most of the crash. However, the airbag did not deploy, and after the crash I noticed an airbag failure warning script on the central message center. I was actually glad it didn't go off and so avoided a bruised face.
It's been a month since the accident and the Porsche is still in the shop. We had the usual bureaucratic runaround with insurance claims, accident reports, etc., but the major delay has been the amount of damage. The rear spoiler, engine decklid, rear bumper, taillights, basically the entire backside of the car needs to be replaced. The engine has already been removed (it needs repair, too, the most obvious damage being the cracked air manifold) so that the rails can be straightened. The list goes on and on. The original repair estimate was for 58 items at $9,142. As of today, the repair bill has climbed to just over $16,000. Ouch.
We're considering hiring either a priest, shaman or bruja to exorcise the car. I wonder if insurance policies cover hex removal, as the Carrera desperately needs it. Either way, all we really want is our 911 back and for it to stay in one piece. Keep your fingers crossed for the car--it can't hurt and it just might lift that damn curse.