996 GT3 collected from 911 Virgin
Discussion
I’m not quite sure how I managed to sleep Friday night. Saturday morning was the collection time for the GT3 at 911 Virgin, a massively exciting day for us! Having decided that we’d arrive in the most stylish manner possible, we set off at around 11am. We could all see the jealousy on Henrys face when we rolled up in our chauffer driven Renault (
). As usual we received a very warm welcome from everyone at 911V, and with our car sat there gleaming in the sun, it was smiles all round to say the least.
So, how did we actually get to this moment? Simple as; about two weeks prior to putting a deposit down, I was sitting at the computer with dad browsing through the classifieds for the 996 GT3 (as you do), and said “be awesome to upgrade to a GT3 wouldn’t it”. After a few minutes, he sat back and said; “well let’s send 911 Virgin an email to say we’re on the lookout for one”. After picking my jaw up off the floor, we sent them an email looking for a Speed Yellow GT3 – the next day they sent us an email back telling us they’d just had a Speed Yellow one in and it was an absolute gem; one of the best rev range readings they had ever seen on a GT3.
After some extra special man-maths, dad decided that he could actually afford the GT3 with no problems, so the deposit was put down the next day. As always, 911V were great from start to finish, and even took a motorbike in part exchange, giving a good price too! The valuation they gave us for the C2 was also a strong shout for a dealer, but we managed to sell the car within one week privately for more. One comment from Tom when we were inspecting the GT3 was that the back-boxes were a little corroded. These were replaced without fuss. With such high standards and a quality after sales service, it really is a worry free buying experience.
The obligatory 'handshake' picture
The drive back home was a frustrating one. All of the Saturday shoppers were out and about and there was never an opportunity to push the car. My first thoughts were that the car never seems to run out of revs – it feels like it’s time to change gear at 6500rpm, even when it will rev to over 8000. The thing sounds awesome; the lack of sound deadening means the car is pretty loud in the cockpit beyond about 3500rpm, but keep it under that and it makes for a reasonable car to cruise in. Secondly, the car feels very, very solid on the road; the steering has pinpoint accuracy which I can see and feel this even from the passenger seat.
The next day we both managed to haul ourselves out of bed at 5:30am – not such a hard feat when there’s a GT3 sitting in the garage. We set off at first light – around ten to six, and did our favourite ‘test route’ which includes just about every variety of road you can think of. After a couple of hours of great fun in the car, we stopped off at a nice little Kent village for some breakfast. So, time to discuss our thoughts on the car.
Stopping off for some breakfast
The engine is absolutely outstanding; the torque figure on paper doesn’t look all that impressive, but there’s plenty there at lower revs, and as soon as you exceed about 5500rpm, the car pulls savagely all the way to its 8200rpm rev limiter. The sound can only be described as incredible. Dad comments that the gearbox is amazingly precise, and there is much more feel in the gear changes than there was in the C2 (which for the record still felt fantastic). The handling is absolutely sublime, and the amount of grip on offer is simply immense. Yes the car has a hard ride, but it remains predictable over rough road surfaces, and dad comments that the feedback through the steering is magnificent. To top it all, a steady 70mph cruise will returned over 34mpg.
All in all, it’s an amazingly fun car to be in and to drive (so I’ve heard), and one that we will surely keep for many years to come.
Our Sunday run included a stop for pictures
It's the small details that make the GT3 look so purposeful
). As usual we received a very warm welcome from everyone at 911V, and with our car sat there gleaming in the sun, it was smiles all round to say the least. So, how did we actually get to this moment? Simple as; about two weeks prior to putting a deposit down, I was sitting at the computer with dad browsing through the classifieds for the 996 GT3 (as you do), and said “be awesome to upgrade to a GT3 wouldn’t it”. After a few minutes, he sat back and said; “well let’s send 911 Virgin an email to say we’re on the lookout for one”. After picking my jaw up off the floor, we sent them an email looking for a Speed Yellow GT3 – the next day they sent us an email back telling us they’d just had a Speed Yellow one in and it was an absolute gem; one of the best rev range readings they had ever seen on a GT3.
After some extra special man-maths, dad decided that he could actually afford the GT3 with no problems, so the deposit was put down the next day. As always, 911V were great from start to finish, and even took a motorbike in part exchange, giving a good price too! The valuation they gave us for the C2 was also a strong shout for a dealer, but we managed to sell the car within one week privately for more. One comment from Tom when we were inspecting the GT3 was that the back-boxes were a little corroded. These were replaced without fuss. With such high standards and a quality after sales service, it really is a worry free buying experience.
The obligatory 'handshake' picture
The drive back home was a frustrating one. All of the Saturday shoppers were out and about and there was never an opportunity to push the car. My first thoughts were that the car never seems to run out of revs – it feels like it’s time to change gear at 6500rpm, even when it will rev to over 8000. The thing sounds awesome; the lack of sound deadening means the car is pretty loud in the cockpit beyond about 3500rpm, but keep it under that and it makes for a reasonable car to cruise in. Secondly, the car feels very, very solid on the road; the steering has pinpoint accuracy which I can see and feel this even from the passenger seat.
The next day we both managed to haul ourselves out of bed at 5:30am – not such a hard feat when there’s a GT3 sitting in the garage. We set off at first light – around ten to six, and did our favourite ‘test route’ which includes just about every variety of road you can think of. After a couple of hours of great fun in the car, we stopped off at a nice little Kent village for some breakfast. So, time to discuss our thoughts on the car.
Stopping off for some breakfast
The engine is absolutely outstanding; the torque figure on paper doesn’t look all that impressive, but there’s plenty there at lower revs, and as soon as you exceed about 5500rpm, the car pulls savagely all the way to its 8200rpm rev limiter. The sound can only be described as incredible. Dad comments that the gearbox is amazingly precise, and there is much more feel in the gear changes than there was in the C2 (which for the record still felt fantastic). The handling is absolutely sublime, and the amount of grip on offer is simply immense. Yes the car has a hard ride, but it remains predictable over rough road surfaces, and dad comments that the feedback through the steering is magnificent. To top it all, a steady 70mph cruise will returned over 34mpg.
All in all, it’s an amazingly fun car to be in and to drive (so I’ve heard), and one that we will surely keep for many years to come.
Our Sunday run included a stop for pictures
It's the small details that make the GT3 look so purposeful
Congratulations.
6.2 GT3 rocks and seriously missing mine. A strong candidate for the best driver's car Porsche has ever made. Some are more delicate (2.7RS), others easier and better all rounders (997 GT3s), but the 6.2 is great compromise of best attributes - deft, raw and powerful.
6.2 GT3 rocks and seriously missing mine. A strong candidate for the best driver's car Porsche has ever made. Some are more delicate (2.7RS), others easier and better all rounders (997 GT3s), but the 6.2 is great compromise of best attributes - deft, raw and powerful.
tom felty said:
absolutely fantastic mate what a beautiful car
a great write up too
my dad has a C2, same as your old one, how do they compare with acceleration and comfort?
great car, best colour
Enjoy!
Hi tom, thanks very much for the comments on the car. The C2 was very quick, but the acceleration on this is simply in a whole different league - much, much quicker. Comfort wise, there's no getting away from the fact that the ride is rock solid, far more hard than the M030 on our C2. That said, it does have buckets, and the trade off for the hard ride is that it's unbelievably planted even on the rougher roads.a great write up too
my dad has a C2, same as your old one, how do they compare with acceleration and comfort?
great car, best colour
Enjoy!
Old Trout said:
Great looking car - I had a Polar Silver 6.2 GT3 and I loved it - I still miss the immediacy, the very talkative steering and that engine over 6,000rpm. Amazing cars - I am sure you will love it!
Very true, I can't believe how much more powerful the car is; past 5.5k rpm it really does fly. And that sound! Fantastic. We had the opportunity to take it up to a ridiculous speed on sunday, and the way it got there was simply phenominal.SlowlnFastOut said:
Think our Sunday test route may coincide, judging by that pub!
Some great roads around there.
Indeed there are, it is one of our favourite routes. The stop off in the village is a nice break before heading back. It doesn't get much better than an early sunday run when the roads are empty! Some great roads around there.
Indeed - Just the other day I was wondering what had happened with this purchase - seemed to go very quiet and I thought it had fallen through...
Our Sunday run included a stop for pictures
It's the small details that make the GT3 look so purposeful
I see you're back at your favourite car park
Question - how do you keep the car from getting dirty on the way to the photoshoot?
911p said:
Our Sunday run included a stop for pictures
It's the small details that make the GT3 look so purposeful
Question - how do you keep the car from getting dirty on the way to the photoshoot?
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