Hey Gang, welcome to the channel. My name is Andy. Okay behind me? It's a 997.2.
The second generation of 997. In my humble opinion, I think
they are one of the best looking 911s ever.
Now over the past 18 months the second gen 997 - like so many things in the Porsche world - has seen values
going through the roof. Which has a lot of people asking, "Does the drive match the price tag?"
Today we're going to see if we can find out. Now before we get into it, if you don't want to miss any of the content I'm dropping
and you want to do me a favour, then hit that subscribe button down below and the notification button as well.
Alright, like I just said, today I get to drive this bad boy.
But last night, I got to film it.
Alright. The day after the night before. I'm finally getting to drive this thing.
So this is a base Carrera with a 6 speed manual gearbox and Porsche sports exhaust.
My first observation of this car driving it home last night is it is just a beautiful place to be.
The interior is absolutely lovely and everything just has a feeling of quality that i think was actually missing
in the first generation 997. Now I have to say that driving this home, my concern was actually that
the car is so refined that when it came time to head to the twisties and actually give it a belting
that it wouldn't actually deliver the excitement that I want from a 911.
Boy was I wrong!
So I needn't have worried about performance because it is unbelievable.
So coming out of a corner like this, the nose tucks in, squeeze the throttle. It sounds great.
Then it just piles on the power. It's unreal.
So between the first gen and the second gen 997 horsepower increased from 325 horsepower to 345 horsepower.
Torque was also increased by about 15 foot pounds of torque.
And you can really feel the difference that those numbers make.
When it comes to a 911, power's really only part of the story isn't it?
Because the real story with these cars is the way they handle, the way they turn in.
And this car is just spectacular in that respect.
High speed sweepers like these that I'm on right now, the car just feels so planted, so composed
The turn in is beautiful and it just inspires confidence.
Now this car is running on stock dampers with lowering springs and spacers
And that combination seems to work beautifully.
There's little to no body roll and yet the car remains really composed on surface changes, undulations
Nothing seems to actually upset the ride quality of the car.
Okay so what's it like when the corners tighten up? Because not everything we drive is high speed sweepers.
Well that is what I think is this car's real party trick.
It just feels nimble, it feels agile and it feels chuckable in the tight stuff.
You jus trip it in. The steering's so sharp, you can change directions mid corner if you need to
and just adjust that. And then...
So it's probably reasonably fair to say that I'm resoundingly positive about these cars that I drive.
Yep, good point. Are there things in this car that aren't perfect?
There's a couple of things I think could be improved.
The shift for me in this 6 speed manual - you can tell that the designer's job and the engineer's job
was to create a manual shifter that can still do the daily commute very comfortably and very easily.
And that's why it's a very light shift. It's a very delicate shift actually.
I would love it if the shift were a little bit shorter
And if it had just a little more resistance going through the gate.
You know, then you'd get that feeling of really having to row through the gears.
The other, let's call it opportunity from my perspective
is the Porsche sports exhaust
It has a lovely note to it and I've filmed this car driving past me many times.And it sounds beautiful from the outside
I think it could benefit from an aftermarket exhaust to really to really just increase that volume some.
This is always my favourite section of road when testing a car.
That is so, so good.
Porsche. Man, they just make such great cars and they always have.
It's hard. It's really difficult not to just be passionate and excited about these cars when you drive them
And end up - I don't know - I think if you're not giggling like a school kid then maybe you've just forgotten
how lucky you are to be driving these cars.
So how does this car stack up and is it worth the money especially when you consider
that these second gen 997s are in some cases going for more than first generation 991s.
Look I think it depends on what you're looking for from your car.
If you are looking for a car where there are fewer on the road and let's not forget that this
that this second gen 997 was released in the middle of the global financial crisis
and that's reflected in the low numbers you see on the road and certainly the low numbers that you see for sale.
So if you want something a little more special. If you want something that has almost the refinement of the 991
but the agility of the older cars then I think this second gen 997 is the absolute sweet spot.
In actual fact, I would say this car feels more akin to a small, humble 991
than simply an updated 997.
Which I think makes it an incredibly compelling argument.
As is always the case when I do these reviews - for want of a better word -
I always end up wanting the car at the end and my ridiculous imaginary dream garage
just continues to expand and, with this car, it's done so again.
I want to say a big thank you to my good friend Anthony for letting me drive this over last few days
I've really enjoyed it and I feel really blessed to be able to do so.
And, as always, thank you so much for watching
you don't know how much I appreciate it. Please share the videos and subscribe to the channel
It lets me know that you're interested in what I'm putting out you're never going to miss the content I'm dropping.
Thank you so much for watching as always and I'll see you on the next one.
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