Last call for 2002 LBB!

[AR]

Just thought I'd show everyone a picture of my new GT3. It's a little different as it costs a few grand less and comes with an S2000;-) Now if I can only prise off that sodding number plate cover!



Cheers,



James.

P.s, LBB and Monte Carlo Blue couldn't be more dirfferent.

Great looking beastie mate.

Have fun,

Ary

[WhyOne?]

Just thought I'd show everyone a picture of my new GT3. It's a little different as it costs a few grand less and comes with an S2000;-) Now if I can only prise off that sodding number plate cover!



Cheers,



James.

P.s, LBB and Monte Carlo Blue couldn't be more dirfferent.

Good move James - I loved my S2000 & will be interested to hear how you get along with yours.

As for the plate holder - if you dont want to take the bumper off, it is just a case of pulling, and pulling & pulling & the 2 bolts which hold it on will 'pop' through the retaining holes in the bumper without damage. (All of this is apparently true, but I have never done it myself so dont blame me if a big lump of bumper comes away!!!!!)

[Papalazarou]

Good move James - I loved my S2000 & will be interested to hear how you get along with yours.

As for the plate holder - if you dont want to take the bumper off, it is just a case of pulling, and pulling & pulling & the 2 bolts which hold it on will 'pop' through the retaining holes in the bumper without damage. (All of this is apparently true, but I have never done it myself so dont blame me if a big lump of bumper comes away!!!!!)

I've only driven it twice so far. once bringing it back in the pouring rain, then again after I'd spent two days cleaning it. I took the top of the air-box on Sunday and was more than impressed with the sound. For me induction definately beats exhaust!

My observations so far would be; great dynamics; I like the dimensions and the way that everything is to hand, the gearchange is great, the LCD dash is awesome and it's pretty intuitive to drive. However, it showed me pretty early that the NSX has allowed me to get away with some diabolical liberties! In fact, over the last few months I've been amazed at how good it really is.

Hopefully I'll have some more comments soon.


Cheers,


James.

[Senninha]

............. However, it showed me pretty early that the NSX has allowed me to get away with some diabolical liberties! .........

Be respectful and careful James, take your time with the S2k, it deserves your respect and will bite, hard, if you take liberties too early!

If ever you've thought about driver training, someone like Don Palmer, this is the car to take and learn with in safe surroundings.

Not knocking your skills or common sense, just dont want to see you backing it through a hedge and taking a knock on yourself.

Regards, Paul

[Ewan]

James - anecdotal evidence is that the "airbox mod" in the S2000 saps the power a little, especially in hot weather - so though it sounds nice, it's not track-friendly.

If you like that lovely induction noise, I'd definitely get a K&N reusable filter - http://www.knfilters.com/news/news.aspx?ID=1694 - should be about £50 IIRC. I had one in both of my S2000s and considered them money well spent. You might even get a used one (easuly cleaned up) on s2ki.com.

You might want to play with various Cold Air Intake mods - I put a Muz intake snorkel/scoop(http://www.prestigeautoaccessories.c...02671bced5ae1a) onto my 2004 S2000 ... and it seemed to deepen the sound a bit, and made the car feel a bit more spritely. The S2000's air intake is pretty much directly above the radiator - fitting a snorkel can mean up to 10 deg C difference in intake temps (so it is said), and there's a slight ram air effect too.

If I had enough garage space and enough money, I think I'd have an S2000 again, too

Ewan

[WhyOne?]

I took the top of the air-box on Sunday and was more than impressed with the sound. For me induction definately beats exhaust!

It goes sound great with the lid of the airbox, but you will suffer loss of power due to ingestion of hot air from the engine compartment.

I fitted a strange looking device to give me the best of both worlds - see picture below.

This (PRM) kit doesn't really make any power (though I also cut out the faux vents in the front spoiler to let a bit more cool air through to the mouth of the intake) but it doen't loose any either, it sounds tremendous & doesn't have the hydrolock potential of many of the other 'snorkel' type intakes on the market.

All a bit childish, but it kept me happy!!!!

Your right about the gearchange - I have never driven a car with a nicer, shorter, more positive throw.

As Paul rightly says, take care, especially in the wet, until you know the car. It is not as benign as the NSX.

ALso keep an eye on your tyre pressures - particularly the rears, the car is ridiculously sensitive to even a couple of lb's difference across the axle.

[NoelWatson]

Mark,

First the background:

Mrs won't drive my car for a number of reasons, and I had heard the new Cayman was a big improvement on the old (which I drove before buying the NSX) - in particular the engine noise was supposed to be much louder.

Saturday morning:

Popped into Chiswick to enquire about tyres and the upcoming service. Had a chat about the cancelled NSX with the Japanese chap there - he reckons it may be resurrected at some point in the future as his contacts in Japan say it was almost finished

As Porsche was just up the road decided to go and see what the new Cayman was like. Unfortunately, the only demo that had was one fitted with PDK. Booked test drive

Saturday afternoon:

Returned with other half to o for a spin. Traffic was quite heavy so I couldn't give it too much welly around the bends.

First impressions:

Where is the noise they had promised me - still sounds very weedy compared to the NSX

Seating position: is quite high - don't feel as low slung as NSX (even though interior is probably better - I don't notice these things)

Gearbox: Changes up very very early to maximise economy. Won't go into 7th even though I asked it to (was testing at 30mph to see if it was fully manual). Gearchanges were seamless, and the creep was almost like driving a proper auto. However, I would much rather have a manual.

Throttle response: Probably as good as the NSX but will reserve judgement until I drive the manual

NOTE: For some reason, if you go to the Porsche site, you can't spec the LSD with a manual gearbox - I guess this will change at some point.

So as we went westbound on the M4 and hit the derestricted sign I gave it full throttle. The gearbox changes down very quickly and the power builds strongly before the gearbox shifts up near the redline. But where is the noise? I couldn't tell if it was any quicker than the NSX - the NSX definitely sounds faster!!

We came back round the roundabout, and I was at the front of the queue at the lights. The car didn't have the sports chrono plus with launch control, but I was still able to nail it from the lights to see the gearbox in action. Again, very impressive, but if i want an auto I will buy an E63 AMG.

So, I hope to go out next Saturday in a manual when the roads are quieter and I will be able to throw it around a bit more.

Non driving:

Porsche man reckons they still won't discount, and an acceptable spec would bump the car up to just north of 50k. I reckon 997GT3s will be approaching this level in a year or so - I need to have a spin in one of those, but for the time being, I can't see me selling the Honda for a while.

Chiswick Porsche were unable to supply me with a manual Cayman to test at their showroom, but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as I got invited to Porsche Silverstone to have a go round their circuit.

http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf...ience_2009.pdf

The drive up their was fantastic - lots of roundabouts on the dual carriageway, and a Transit (it must've been one of the F1 specials!!) and I were having a bit of fun - I flew past coming off the roundabouts and he eventually caught and passed me on the straight - only to be repeated at the next roundabout - great fun. I got there expecting to get straight in the car but had to wait for a couple of hours. Eventually got in the car and the driver showed me what options were fitted. It had the memory seats and 19" wheels, and I think the LSD - more on that later.

So, after he took me round for a few laps it was my turn. I was probably driving the slowest out of all the people on the track, as am always worried about pushing too hard and looking like a tool. First impressions - steering a lot more direct than the NSX - very impressive brakes, but maybe not as quick as the PDK I drove - probably due to the fact it only had 800 miles.

We next moved onto the slope that had a very low friction coefficient. I was surprised to discover that the car could still spin despite the ESP (or whatever Porsche call it) being on. This may be because we were on a very slippery slope, or it may be because the ESP doesn't kick in as early as on other cars and therefore cannot catch everything. For example - in the recent snow I couldn't spin the BMW on sheet ice despite my best efforts.

Next was the kick plate, where you drive onto a flat slippery surface and just before going onto the surface the rear wheels were pushed either left or right by a kick plate. We did this at steadily increasing speeds, and I found that the ESP didn't seem to make a massive difference over whether I span or not. My final test on the kick plate was to hold a slide for the length of the slippery surface - I found this quite easy.

We then went back on the fast circuit and I did a few more laps. I enjoyed being a passenger, and wanted to find out if the car had an LSD, so asked the driver to see if he could tell. What followed next made me truly nauseous. We went round the track in full attack mode (brakes were incredible), went on the skidpad, and the kick plate again, and we finished on the track - we both came to the conclusion that it had the LSD.

So, would I buy one? Probably not, as I don't think it offers that much more than the NSX, but I've asked to go back (I will pay) when the Cayman CS and new GT3 come out - these may be harder to refuse!!

[TheSebringOne]

James, I'm glad you are happy with your new GT3 ish!