Steve, that looks fabulous and mean

So you made me go and ebay 997's Mark and I stumbled on this! ............ God help the poor soul who was in that....

Ouch! That would have hurt for sure, but I reckon the driver got out relatively unscathed.
If there was a passenger however....

I like your style

That is shocking

I have a 997 Gen1 C4S, I did as much research as I could about the M96/M97 engines, so I purchased the car from RSJ in Slough, (Mainly for the warranty), had it professionally inspected by Peter Jackson.

The Gen 2 997s with the DFI engine were a bit dearer, but I couldn't find one with the spec I wanted.

I also changed to a Low Tenp Thermostat and, fitted the third/centre Radiator, (mines a manual the Tips came with the third rad as standard), I also use 10/50 Nanodrive oil by Millers and thats changed every 6 months, all 8.4 litres of it....

I had a borescope inspection in July and all good, especially on Cylinder 6. (Tip look at the left hand exhaust tips on a 997, if they are oily/blacker than the ones on the drivers side, worry as Bank 2 is the troublesome side) But I keep £6k spare for a rebuild if required..... I am tempted to go for a Hartech rebuild and take the worry away completely.

I discovered the CSR upgrade by RPM Technik and went for it, (not with them though as despite getting quotes, they promised to get back to me but never did?).
So mine now sits on Ohlins Coilovers, has matt black Ultra Legerra wheels, a Wavetrac LSD (Fantastic improvement ), DesignTek, Titanium Exhaust System (saves approx 46Kg), single mass flywheel etc and has been remapped. It goes pretty well.

The difference in grip from a Coupe to a 911 is night and day, the 911 (before i modified it) gripped like you would not believe. Now? Its in another world.

Its remarkably docile to drive until 4000 RPM when all hell lets loose, it screams like a banshee and the horizon comes toward you fast..... Very fast indeed.

I use it as a daily drive and it really does feel special in every sense of the word.
If I replace it, I can only see a Turbo S ticking the boxes.

Is the Gen 1 C4S the 355bhp version and the Gen 2 C4S the 385bhp version?

Yes although there are Powerkits for both that raise outputs on Gen 1. to 381BHP not sure about Gen 2,

Although traditionally Porsche significantly under report the performance figures of their cars. For example some magazines reported the standard 911 C2/C4s achieving sub 4 second 0-60 times.

I've got some good numbers for both models from Caranddriver that confirm this

Buying guide here:

Classic car buying guide

Well worth a read Engine guide 996/997.1

Both sets of numbers from CarandDriver

Porsche 911 997 Carrera 4 S (2006)
0-30mph: 1.5
0-40mph: 2.2
0-50mph: 3.3
0-60mph: 4.3
0-70mph: 5.2
0-80mph: 6.8
0-90mph: 8.2
0-100mph: 10.2
0-110mph: 12.7
0-120mph: 15.0
0-130mph: 18.2
0-140mph: 23.1
0-150mph: 28.2

Calculated 60ft (18.3m): 2.03s
Calculated 60ft (18.3m): 37.5mph
Calculated 330ft (100.6m): 5.4s
Calculated 330ft (100.6m): 71.2mph
Calculated 1/8 Mile (201.1m): 8.21s
Calculated 1/8 Mile (201.1m): 90mph
Calculated 1000ft (301.7m): 10.61s
Calculated 1000ft (301.7m): 101.6mph
Calculated 0-400m: 12.64s
Calculated 0-400m: 109.7mph
Calculated 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 12.69s
Calculated 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 109.9mph
Calculated 0-1000m: 23.16s
Calculated 0-1000m: 140.2mph

Actual 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 12.8s
Actual 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 111mph


Porsche 911 997 Carrera 4 S PDK (3.8) (2009)
0-30mph: 1.5
0-40mph: 2.2
0-50mph: 3.0
0-60mph: 4.0
0-70mph: 5.1
0-80mph: 6.4
0-90mph: 7.9
0-100mph: 9.5
0-110mph: 11.7
0-120mph: 14.1
0-130mph: 17.1
0-140mph: 20.9
0-150mph: 26.2

Calculated 60ft (18.3m): 2.03s
Calculated 60ft (18.3m): 37.5mph
Calculated 330ft (100.6m): 5.31s
Calculated 330ft (100.6m): 71.5mph
Calculated 1/8 Mile (201.1m): 8.06s
Calculated 1/8 Mile (201.1m): 91mph
Calculated 1000ft (301.7m): 10.41s
Calculated 1000ft (301.7m): 104.1mph
Calculated 0-400m: 12.37s
Calculated 0-400m: 112.8mph
Calculated 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 12.42s
Calculated 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 112.9mph
Calculated 0-1000m: 22.66s
Calculated 0-1000m: 143.3mph

Actual 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 12.5s
Actual 1/4 Mile (402.3m): 113mph

Saw a very nice 997 Targa this morning amongst the traffic chaos of a river that was the A46@Warwick. Looked lovely. I had not realised that the Targa version was available on the 997. I know the 996 and now 997 Targas' do not have a Targa top in the traditional sense of the bodystyle but still.....I'm not so keen on the 911 Convertible varieties as they lose that classic 911 shape but the Targa's are v.nice - especially in the current 991 format with the retro rollover hoop! (OK so they are still big bucks) but they could be enough to make me go all Germanic........