07-16-2006, 04:44 PM
There are a lot of people that I see looking around for future ownership of a 968, so after two months of ownership, I thought I would give a driving update.
First thing to know is that the 968 won't feel like it has much power. Driving down to pick up the 968 in a 951 is a bit of a dissapointment, so don't do it. After driving it extensively though, you soon realize that the car is decieving. If you decide to find a good straight on ramp, you will easily be in triple digits by the end. Good? Well although I don't get kicked in the butt with the power, it pulls hard when you want it to. So how fast is the 968? Well I have seen everything from 6.5 seconds to 60 to as low as 4.9 to 60. My car is modified, but I am seeing 5.2-5.5 the couple of times I have used the G-Timer. 1/4 is always different on the G-Timer, but the one time I did it, it read 14.2@100 even. I don't know much about drag racing, so I don't know where that stands. What I do know is that I am slower than a lightly modded 951, even with an MR2 Turbo at 230whp to 70, then back even at over 100, even with an STi from a 20 roll, slower than an E46 M3 by a couple of car lengths from 60-110, and a little faster than a Boxter S (like 98-2002). The airbox modification made more of a noise difference to me than a performance difference, but when added with a chip and exhaust, the car is just generally more powerful throughout the entire power band. How much? I don't know, but I would suggest I gained 5-10whp through the entire process. 18's do slow the car down, but after talking to my mechanical engineer friend, its not the weight as my 18's are 1lb lighter in the front, and 2lbs heavier in the rear, but more over the added height. Running 225/40 fronts, and 255/40 rears, I gained about a 1/2" on the front, and 1/2" on the rear. Maybe more, but thats my best guesstimate. On the track, I can't give you an honest opinion becuase my car is modded. So if you want a modded 968, here is what I can offer you. My Bilstein Escort cups with 350F/400R springs, M030 bars at the middle setting, and my ride height at 24" front, and 25.2" rear, fully corner balanced has a hint of understeer with crappy tires. With the new P-Zero's, the car is much more neutral/oversteer. It just lightly fades out at the end, but nothing close to 'oversteer' like Tiff Needel likes. I am going to go to the stiffest setting on the rear bar, and see if I like that a little better. From a stand still, the car WILL light up the rear tires if you are aggressive. Just last night I was going with my friends MR2T and from a 4500 slip, I left about 50ft of deep marks. No wheel hop, and this was with PZero 255's. I haven't found a good point to roll off with because below 4k and I usually bog out without a lot of slipping, or above 4k and I light the tires up. Looks like I am just going to have to ruin the clutch whenever I race...that brings me to clutches. Porsche 944/968 series cars have weird clutches. They are heavier than most, and new clutches bit much harder than other cars I have driven, even ones with 6-puck race discs. Some people like my clutch, most hate it. I have gotten used to it, but I find myself stalling cars that are real easy to drive now. Tires/wheels....man I almost forgot. Get more rubber...the stock 205/225 combo doesn't do anything for the ability of the chassis. 18's may be to big for some, but perfect for me. I am eventually going to buy some 17's for R-Compounds. Camber plays a huge part on tire fitment. I am going to get my car realigned after soon, but with the 18's and 255's, my passenger side rubs and has apparently less camber than the drivers side. Drivers side I had my one 285 P-Zero in there fine, but I couldn't get close on the passenger, thus why I went down to 255's. 255's are really much more than enough rubber for a 968 stock. If you do decide to go bigger, you may want to check your fender lips. My fender lip can only be rolled about 1mm, so I am going to have to end up adding camber or pulling my passenger fender out which I don't really want to do. I have tried heating with a bat, crow bar, etc...and nothing can roll the fender much. There is some insulation or something behind that we can't get out. Everyone praises an LSD, including me. But after driving this car for two months I will give you an honest opinion of a car without an LSD. I have had an E30 M3, E36 325is with more power than an M3, and all of my other sports cars have had LSD's. This was my first car without an LSD in fact. I just knew it was going to be the first 1000 that I spent, but it wasn't and won't be for a while. Why? Well the only time that I have found an LSD to be even close to needed is if you want to slide around in the wet. The tranny will open up easily until you really throw it out. In the drive, I have done one track day, and tons of hard street driving and I have only had one time where I got wheel lift and inner wheel spin. The turn was completely off camber, and not very realistic to good driving roads. In general the car sticks, and if you follow the general rule of slow in and fast out, you won't have the slightest problem, even with 225/50/16's. If you are jerky, a throttle jocky, or just have a passion of power sliding, the of course an LSD might be essential, but for me its not. Last night when I roasted my tires, the diff never opened. Everytime I am sideways, the diff stays locked well enough that I feel safe. So if its a difference of a couple of thousand between the car you want to buy, save the money. I am sure I will love the LSD when I buy it, but I love the car more than enough now with an LSD. Brakes...there are plenty of brakes to go around. I can get ABS to kick in at 80 with ease if I wanted to. Why am I upgrading...well I can get fade with Hawk HP+ and ATE Super Blue fluid. The stock rotors are good, but not enough for high speed driving. Solution, all OEM parts. I am using 996 TT rotors, 996TT calipers, and custom brackets. Easy, simple, and fast. Should be more than enough to get me to do endo's. Tint...get tint. If your car is parked outside, the rear glass is an oven. With my biotherm (thermometer for food) I have reached as high was 130 degrees inside my car with an exterior temperature of low 90's. Clean your grounds, it helps. Many owners are overly cautious on maitenence, but most of the reason is they driving lower mileage, more pristine examples. Your rubber hoses aren't going to bust if you drive your car daily, and your brake lines aren't going to explode if they aren't replaced. The timing belt doesn't have to be done every 15k miles, but should be to insure ultimate safety. I am confident that I can drive my car at less than $100 a month in maitenence if I chose to. This car is honestly the best Porsche for all around driving that I have been in, or owned. It is fast enough to enjoy, sleek enough to not feel 80'sish, reliable enough to compete with a BMW any day of the week, and cool enough to impress your 12yro neighbor (whether it be boy or girl, thats your preference). Its not a 951, and its not a 911. Its its own car that every Porsche owner should enjoy atleast once before condeming front engine Porsches'.
Maybe more later, but for now back to work!
Wes
First thing to know is that the 968 won't feel like it has much power. Driving down to pick up the 968 in a 951 is a bit of a dissapointment, so don't do it. After driving it extensively though, you soon realize that the car is decieving. If you decide to find a good straight on ramp, you will easily be in triple digits by the end. Good? Well although I don't get kicked in the butt with the power, it pulls hard when you want it to. So how fast is the 968? Well I have seen everything from 6.5 seconds to 60 to as low as 4.9 to 60. My car is modified, but I am seeing 5.2-5.5 the couple of times I have used the G-Timer. 1/4 is always different on the G-Timer, but the one time I did it, it read 14.2@100 even. I don't know much about drag racing, so I don't know where that stands. What I do know is that I am slower than a lightly modded 951, even with an MR2 Turbo at 230whp to 70, then back even at over 100, even with an STi from a 20 roll, slower than an E46 M3 by a couple of car lengths from 60-110, and a little faster than a Boxter S (like 98-2002). The airbox modification made more of a noise difference to me than a performance difference, but when added with a chip and exhaust, the car is just generally more powerful throughout the entire power band. How much? I don't know, but I would suggest I gained 5-10whp through the entire process. 18's do slow the car down, but after talking to my mechanical engineer friend, its not the weight as my 18's are 1lb lighter in the front, and 2lbs heavier in the rear, but more over the added height. Running 225/40 fronts, and 255/40 rears, I gained about a 1/2" on the front, and 1/2" on the rear. Maybe more, but thats my best guesstimate. On the track, I can't give you an honest opinion becuase my car is modded. So if you want a modded 968, here is what I can offer you. My Bilstein Escort cups with 350F/400R springs, M030 bars at the middle setting, and my ride height at 24" front, and 25.2" rear, fully corner balanced has a hint of understeer with crappy tires. With the new P-Zero's, the car is much more neutral/oversteer. It just lightly fades out at the end, but nothing close to 'oversteer' like Tiff Needel likes. I am going to go to the stiffest setting on the rear bar, and see if I like that a little better. From a stand still, the car WILL light up the rear tires if you are aggressive. Just last night I was going with my friends MR2T and from a 4500 slip, I left about 50ft of deep marks. No wheel hop, and this was with PZero 255's. I haven't found a good point to roll off with because below 4k and I usually bog out without a lot of slipping, or above 4k and I light the tires up. Looks like I am just going to have to ruin the clutch whenever I race...that brings me to clutches. Porsche 944/968 series cars have weird clutches. They are heavier than most, and new clutches bit much harder than other cars I have driven, even ones with 6-puck race discs. Some people like my clutch, most hate it. I have gotten used to it, but I find myself stalling cars that are real easy to drive now. Tires/wheels....man I almost forgot. Get more rubber...the stock 205/225 combo doesn't do anything for the ability of the chassis. 18's may be to big for some, but perfect for me. I am eventually going to buy some 17's for R-Compounds. Camber plays a huge part on tire fitment. I am going to get my car realigned after soon, but with the 18's and 255's, my passenger side rubs and has apparently less camber than the drivers side. Drivers side I had my one 285 P-Zero in there fine, but I couldn't get close on the passenger, thus why I went down to 255's. 255's are really much more than enough rubber for a 968 stock. If you do decide to go bigger, you may want to check your fender lips. My fender lip can only be rolled about 1mm, so I am going to have to end up adding camber or pulling my passenger fender out which I don't really want to do. I have tried heating with a bat, crow bar, etc...and nothing can roll the fender much. There is some insulation or something behind that we can't get out. Everyone praises an LSD, including me. But after driving this car for two months I will give you an honest opinion of a car without an LSD. I have had an E30 M3, E36 325is with more power than an M3, and all of my other sports cars have had LSD's. This was my first car without an LSD in fact. I just knew it was going to be the first 1000 that I spent, but it wasn't and won't be for a while. Why? Well the only time that I have found an LSD to be even close to needed is if you want to slide around in the wet. The tranny will open up easily until you really throw it out. In the drive, I have done one track day, and tons of hard street driving and I have only had one time where I got wheel lift and inner wheel spin. The turn was completely off camber, and not very realistic to good driving roads. In general the car sticks, and if you follow the general rule of slow in and fast out, you won't have the slightest problem, even with 225/50/16's. If you are jerky, a throttle jocky, or just have a passion of power sliding, the of course an LSD might be essential, but for me its not. Last night when I roasted my tires, the diff never opened. Everytime I am sideways, the diff stays locked well enough that I feel safe. So if its a difference of a couple of thousand between the car you want to buy, save the money. I am sure I will love the LSD when I buy it, but I love the car more than enough now with an LSD. Brakes...there are plenty of brakes to go around. I can get ABS to kick in at 80 with ease if I wanted to. Why am I upgrading...well I can get fade with Hawk HP+ and ATE Super Blue fluid. The stock rotors are good, but not enough for high speed driving. Solution, all OEM parts. I am using 996 TT rotors, 996TT calipers, and custom brackets. Easy, simple, and fast. Should be more than enough to get me to do endo's. Tint...get tint. If your car is parked outside, the rear glass is an oven. With my biotherm (thermometer for food) I have reached as high was 130 degrees inside my car with an exterior temperature of low 90's. Clean your grounds, it helps. Many owners are overly cautious on maitenence, but most of the reason is they driving lower mileage, more pristine examples. Your rubber hoses aren't going to bust if you drive your car daily, and your brake lines aren't going to explode if they aren't replaced. The timing belt doesn't have to be done every 15k miles, but should be to insure ultimate safety. I am confident that I can drive my car at less than $100 a month in maitenence if I chose to. This car is honestly the best Porsche for all around driving that I have been in, or owned. It is fast enough to enjoy, sleek enough to not feel 80'sish, reliable enough to compete with a BMW any day of the week, and cool enough to impress your 12yro neighbor (whether it be boy or girl, thats your preference). Its not a 951, and its not a 911. Its its own car that every Porsche owner should enjoy atleast once before condeming front engine Porsches'.
Maybe more later, but for now back to work!
Wes
