I've driven and owned some fairly quick cars including a stage 1 VX220, a stage 3 VX220 Turbo (280hp), a stage 2 Audi S4 (340hp), an Audi RS6 (508hp didn't own this but drove it a bit) and also had passenger rides in my friends Ferrari 360, F335 and several Porsche 911's so I was looking forward to going out in the 911 Turbo, but I wasn't expecting to be quite so blown away!

Wow! My friend is a member of Club GT, a supercar club from which he has rented the Ferrari 360 and a few others. We picked the 911 Turbo up from the train station in London and even though it's 8 years old, the Aero kit and huge wing still attracted a LOT of attention! People were stopping and having a good look around the car in the carpark. This surprised me a bit as the 996 911 is a common place car now, particularly in London! I suppose the Turbo with the Aero kit does look a bit special.

Apologies for the dark grainy mobile phone photo!

Fire it up, it's loud, but nowhere near as loud as the 360. It still sounds awesome, a completely different noise. Driving around London it's a pain. The clutch is heavy and jerky, the throttle is sensitive and and gearbox is heavy, it gets a lot of looks! Driving back from London to Southampton is where is excels. Wow, it's fast, soooooooo fast! You're up to silly speeds in 2nd and 3rd gear before you've even thought about it. You have to be quick on the gearchange or you're on the limiter before you know it! It pulls so hard, like nothing I've been in before. There's turbo lag, but when the turbos kick in it's mad and pushes you into your seat so you cannot move. The noise is fantastic, it could be a little louder, but it does sound great. The power is effortless. Even in 6th gear at 40mph it pulls hard, then suddenly the boost gauge perks up as the revs increase and the turbos force the car up the road like you wouldn't believe.

It really did take me by surprise. I was expecting it to be fast, but it was really really fast. I'm not having withdrawal symptoms and I want to have another blast in it. It also managed to average 20mpg around London in busy traffic, then onto the M3 and accelerating and braking hard which I thought was impressive. My Audi S4 would average 20mpg, sometimes less if I was driving it enthusiastically and was nowhere near as quick!

Anyone had any experiences in one?

Dan

Edited 24 December, 201015 yr by dan yeates

Not been in one, but this is up there in my top 10 lottery win cars. Probably one of these for day to day, and the latest GT3 RS for track use.

Porsche is one of my fav cars ever, my wife's cousins had a 911 turbo before he bought the Aston DB9 which i a wonderful car but his 911 was unbelievable for power and handling and when i drove it i fell in love. And maybe one day i can afford one.