Porsche 997 C4S
Discussion
Over Christmas 2024 I spent time dreaming though the classifieds, as is the norm, and noticed what looked like an interesting car sat in a Porsche specialist not too far from where I live. After giving it some serious thought for about 10 minutes, I then moved on to the next contender, or beer, or chocolate, and that was that.
Jump forward to March this year and we find ourselves at our son’s Sunday league game and needed to stop for supplies on the way home. Whilst my wife was in shopping, my son and I went to have a nose around at the forecourt stock of the garage I’d been browsing online at Christmas, which happened to be next door . The car I had seen then was still there, and it looked fantastic!
Monday morning, I called and had a fantastic opening chat with the garage owner and decided I should go and look at it and was invited to test drive it to see if it is for me or not.
Then a conversation happened between my wife and I that was pretty funny, but it ended up with her coming with, to ‘just try it to see if you like it or not. If not, then we know don’t we, so no bother and in the meantime, we’ve spent a little time driving a 911”.
The car is a 997 C4S, in White with Blue leather interior, and it is a manual. My wife and I generally aren’t fans of white cars, and I am usually dead against black wheels too, and she wasn’t joyous about a manual, but something about this car just pulled us towards it.
Then we took it for a drive, where I feared it might all fall apart, but all the boxes were ticked and it was just generally really great!
Over the next 2-3 weeks we went back-and-forth on whether we should or shouldn’t do it, and drove another example because it would be silly to buy the first one you see, let alone drive right? However, on the basis that life is to be enjoyed, we decided to buy a white car with black wheels!
The car has been with us for 2 weeks, and we’re already completely hooked on it. I’ve replaced a broken bonnet/boot release switch panel and then just driven it whenever possible. There isn’t too much to add at this point, but the goal is to just enjoy it and do a lot of preventative stuff and keep it in the same fantastic condition that it currently is in. It’s well used but has clearly been very well looked after, as it sits on 95,000 miles and wears it very well.
Items on the list are switchable sports exhaust, I also fancy a centre radiator, a suspension and steering refresh over time, plus new tyres all around as the existing ones are nearly full tread but are very old.
The car gives a great blend of analogue behavior and driver engagement, but it can also comfortably coast along in 6th at extremely low revs without complaint and do the GT car thing very well indeed. The fact that either of our kids can come along, but probably not both at the same time, is a total bonus and makes having a fun semi-classic car something we can all enjoy. Both my kids absolutely love the thing so it so far seems a bit of a winner and I wonder why it took so long to get around to doing this.
Jump forward to March this year and we find ourselves at our son’s Sunday league game and needed to stop for supplies on the way home. Whilst my wife was in shopping, my son and I went to have a nose around at the forecourt stock of the garage I’d been browsing online at Christmas, which happened to be next door . The car I had seen then was still there, and it looked fantastic!
Monday morning, I called and had a fantastic opening chat with the garage owner and decided I should go and look at it and was invited to test drive it to see if it is for me or not.
Then a conversation happened between my wife and I that was pretty funny, but it ended up with her coming with, to ‘just try it to see if you like it or not. If not, then we know don’t we, so no bother and in the meantime, we’ve spent a little time driving a 911”.
The car is a 997 C4S, in White with Blue leather interior, and it is a manual. My wife and I generally aren’t fans of white cars, and I am usually dead against black wheels too, and she wasn’t joyous about a manual, but something about this car just pulled us towards it.
Then we took it for a drive, where I feared it might all fall apart, but all the boxes were ticked and it was just generally really great!
Over the next 2-3 weeks we went back-and-forth on whether we should or shouldn’t do it, and drove another example because it would be silly to buy the first one you see, let alone drive right? However, on the basis that life is to be enjoyed, we decided to buy a white car with black wheels!
The car has been with us for 2 weeks, and we’re already completely hooked on it. I’ve replaced a broken bonnet/boot release switch panel and then just driven it whenever possible. There isn’t too much to add at this point, but the goal is to just enjoy it and do a lot of preventative stuff and keep it in the same fantastic condition that it currently is in. It’s well used but has clearly been very well looked after, as it sits on 95,000 miles and wears it very well.
Items on the list are switchable sports exhaust, I also fancy a centre radiator, a suspension and steering refresh over time, plus new tyres all around as the existing ones are nearly full tread but are very old.
The car gives a great blend of analogue behavior and driver engagement, but it can also comfortably coast along in 6th at extremely low revs without complaint and do the GT car thing very well indeed. The fact that either of our kids can come along, but probably not both at the same time, is a total bonus and makes having a fun semi-classic car something we can all enjoy. Both my kids absolutely love the thing so it so far seems a bit of a winner and I wonder why it took so long to get around to doing this.
You mention “Comfortably coast along in sixth at low revs”.
I really wouldn’t do this with these engines. It’s not proven, but one theory I’ve heard a few times is that low speeds in high gears is a potential contributor to bore scoring and the subsequent engine rebuild. Warm it carefully, and keep revs up seems to be the best approach. My usual approach is at least 2k revs when at driving at constant speed (as recommended by LN Engineering).
I really wouldn’t do this with these engines. It’s not proven, but one theory I’ve heard a few times is that low speeds in high gears is a potential contributor to bore scoring and the subsequent engine rebuild. Warm it carefully, and keep revs up seems to be the best approach. My usual approach is at least 2k revs when at driving at constant speed (as recommended by LN Engineering).
Thanks for the kind comments!
It's funny how the black wheels are universally disliked. The photos show them as a 'dark space' when in reality you can see the wheel detail, which makes a great difference to how they sit on the car.
I'll stick with it for now, but it doesn't mean they can't be changed in the future!
It's funny how the black wheels are universally disliked. The photos show them as a 'dark space' when in reality you can see the wheel detail, which makes a great difference to how they sit on the car.
I'll stick with it for now, but it doesn't mean they can't be changed in the future!
Jimmy No Hands said:
Got a bit of PTSD from seeing where you bought it from - don't worry, it's long changed ownership and for the better. 
Enjoy, I sold these used for many years and they were always my favourite middle ground between a C2 and a Turbo.
I understand your reaction about the dealer, but as you say, the 'new' owner has been in there 6-7 years, I believe. He mentioned that it took quite some time to overcome the previous reputation, but to date, he has been nothing but a pleasure to deal with putting up with my indecisiveness and being extremely accommodating in the whole process, and never with any pressure whatsoever.Enjoy, I sold these used for many years and they were always my favourite middle ground between a C2 and a Turbo.
I briefly drove a C2S years ago, but never any other 997 variant. We think the C4S suits our use case as an all-weather, all year round car.
Ultimately this is going to replace our 335i touring which neither of us have really ever truly got along with despite having it for quite some time, and so far that is working out well.
Magnum 475 said:
You mention “Comfortably coast along in sixth at low revs”.
I really wouldn’t do this with these engines. It’s not proven, but one theory I’ve heard a few times is that low speeds in high gears is a potential contributor to bore scoring and the subsequent engine rebuild. Warm it carefully, and keep revs up seems to be the best approach. My usual approach is at least 2k revs when at driving at constant speed (as recommended by LN Engineering).
Thank you for the tip, I'm happy to receive any advice and recommendations. I really wouldn’t do this with these engines. It’s not proven, but one theory I’ve heard a few times is that low speeds in high gears is a potential contributor to bore scoring and the subsequent engine rebuild. Warm it carefully, and keep revs up seems to be the best approach. My usual approach is at least 2k revs when at driving at constant speed (as recommended by LN Engineering).
I was referring to the car feeling happy with the warm up process, which I have been advised to keep it below 2k until the oil temp reads 90 on the gauge. Is that the right way?
The car seems quite comfortable to be short shifted and cruise along in the high gears whilst doing that, although even at between 50-55mph it's at 2k in 6th.
Overall I meant that it seems very comfortable to be driven along both 'normally', or to be thrown down the road with a bit of welly
Blueprint said:
Thank you for the tip, I'm happy to receive any advice and recommendations.
I was referring to the car feeling happy with the warm up process, which I have been advised to keep it below 2k until the oil temp reads 90 on the gauge. Is that the right way?
The car seems quite comfortable to be short shifted and cruise along in the high gears whilst doing that, although even at between 50-55mph it's at 2k in 6th.
Overall I meant that it seems very comfortable to be driven along both 'normally', or to be thrown down the road with a bit of welly
Below 2k until 90 seems excessive, and I especially wouldn't do this in higher gears. My warm-up routine involves a short period idling while I close up the garage, and a gentle drive out of the village - changing up at 2.5k until slotting into 3rd at 30 (exactly 2k rpm). I then build up gradually - after a couple of miles I'll be using 3 - 3.5k, gradually increasing until coolant and oil are up to temp, at which point I'll use the full rev range. I have lowered my personal redline, as the engine is on 99k miles, so I usually shift up no higher than 6.5 out of deference to it being 20 years old and on nearly 100k. I was referring to the car feeling happy with the warm up process, which I have been advised to keep it below 2k until the oil temp reads 90 on the gauge. Is that the right way?
The car seems quite comfortable to be short shifted and cruise along in the high gears whilst doing that, although even at between 50-55mph it's at 2k in 6th.
Overall I meant that it seems very comfortable to be driven along both 'normally', or to be thrown down the road with a bit of welly
Even fully warmed, I don't use any gear higher than 3rd at 30mph, and I routinely drive through 20 limits in 2nd....
I wouldn't be driving the car changing gear below 2k rpm, that's lug city, the engine needs some load and some revs to warm up as soon as possible just drive it normally changing up at a natural point, my 911 was a .2 997 manual I wouldn't have dreamt about short shifting at 2k rpm it would have felt very strange like I was driving a diesel taxi.
Like those people that ruin engines idling them on the driveway to warm them up.
Like those people that ruin engines idling them on the driveway to warm them up.
great cars, I've had mine several years now. loads of info, help and advice if you join this lot for free; https://911uk.com/
limpsfield said:
Lovely cars, the last of the slim 911s. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to the updates.
991 is last of the slim 911s.OP, 3,000 rpm is fine until the oil is at least 90 degC. The engine is torquey but don’t stress it in a high gear if you want to accelerate briskly. It will happily trickle along in fifth or sixth but change down if you decide want to make quicker progress.
Enjoy!
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