Finally bonding with my 981 Spyder and advice for PDK owners
04-15-2016, 12:10 PM
#1
Finally bonding with my 981 Spyder and advice for PDK owners
I have to say, there were many things I really liked about my Spyder, my favorite being the LWBS and overall styling. But performance wise coming from a 981S PASM PDK with a Fabspeed exhaust I wasn't feeling that huge leap in performance that I felt between say my 987S and my 981S,
Well a couple of things, to new and future Spyder owners.
The engine opens up after some miles and revs and feels noticbaly livelier now then when I first got the car. I'm beggining to think limiting revs between 3000 and 4200 which is the usable range when driving creates too restrictive an RPM band. As soon as I started driving more entusiatically the engine has gotten stronger and feels stronger the next day. Almost like its expelling water from it lungs
For PDK guys. I've been driving PDK for the past 3 years. Prior to that, I've only owned MT Porsche's. Driving an MT is coming back to me but at first I missed the snap shifts of the PDK. Trying to replicate anything near that proved at least to me an exercise in futility. I guess that's why there are guys like Walter Rohl and other guys that don't earn a living going fast. However the MT is so much more involving and I'm thinking it's right for this car. A raw lightweight roadster
I've been through a range of Porsche's mostly Boxsters lately and I've often harkened back to my first 911. A used 84 Carrera Targa that was the first car that was actually mine. I loved and hated that car. It wasn't particulary comfortable, had terrible climate control, no power assisted steering. In case I forgot I was driving a Porsche it was quite happy to spin me like a top on more than one occasion. Thankfully is was always in between cars to a soft landing on grass or flowers. It could be finicky too. I spent half a summer parking on the crest of a hill to get a moving start until a friend tightened a solenoid that came loose and my starter problem was solved. Of course I had to lend him the car for the day but I was young and Porsche mechanics were expensive even then.
So in case you're wondering, why put up will all those issues when there are a variety alternatives. In a nutshell, the Carrera is a car when most other cars were closer to appliances, it smelled like leather and oil, you could read the road through your fingertips like a blind man reading Braille. With the top off and the whirring flat 6 it was pure automotive joy. i must also say that my Carrera was always the car everyone wanted to go shotgun in. Oh and the brakes where some of the best I've experienced up until the Spyder.
Which brings me full circle, the Spyder exudes specialness, in fact I'm glad I got black because I would feel uncomfortable with any more attention. It's the shotgun pick everytime and it is the closest I've come to that Carrera while staying in a thoroughly modern car. Like that 84 Carrera Targa, it is very basic and direct, simple seats, MT, and a top you have to manually open and close. While thankfully it doesn't share the snap oversteer traits of the Carrera, it's the liveliest Boxster you'll probably ever drive. And when your on an open road, with the top down and that roaring, burbling flat 6 is behind you, its pure automotive joy.
Well a couple of things, to new and future Spyder owners.
The engine opens up after some miles and revs and feels noticbaly livelier now then when I first got the car. I'm beggining to think limiting revs between 3000 and 4200 which is the usable range when driving creates too restrictive an RPM band. As soon as I started driving more entusiatically the engine has gotten stronger and feels stronger the next day. Almost like its expelling water from it lungs
For PDK guys. I've been driving PDK for the past 3 years. Prior to that, I've only owned MT Porsche's. Driving an MT is coming back to me but at first I missed the snap shifts of the PDK. Trying to replicate anything near that proved at least to me an exercise in futility. I guess that's why there are guys like Walter Rohl and other guys that don't earn a living going fast. However the MT is so much more involving and I'm thinking it's right for this car. A raw lightweight roadster
I've been through a range of Porsche's mostly Boxsters lately and I've often harkened back to my first 911. A used 84 Carrera Targa that was the first car that was actually mine. I loved and hated that car. It wasn't particulary comfortable, had terrible climate control, no power assisted steering. In case I forgot I was driving a Porsche it was quite happy to spin me like a top on more than one occasion. Thankfully is was always in between cars to a soft landing on grass or flowers. It could be finicky too. I spent half a summer parking on the crest of a hill to get a moving start until a friend tightened a solenoid that came loose and my starter problem was solved. Of course I had to lend him the car for the day but I was young and Porsche mechanics were expensive even then.
So in case you're wondering, why put up will all those issues when there are a variety alternatives. In a nutshell, the Carrera is a car when most other cars were closer to appliances, it smelled like leather and oil, you could read the road through your fingertips like a blind man reading Braille. With the top off and the whirring flat 6 it was pure automotive joy. i must also say that my Carrera was always the car everyone wanted to go shotgun in. Oh and the brakes where some of the best I've experienced up until the Spyder.
Which brings me full circle, the Spyder exudes specialness, in fact I'm glad I got black because I would feel uncomfortable with any more attention. It's the shotgun pick everytime and it is the closest I've come to that Carrera while staying in a thoroughly modern car. Like that 84 Carrera Targa, it is very basic and direct, simple seats, MT, and a top you have to manually open and close. While thankfully it doesn't share the snap oversteer traits of the Carrera, it's the liveliest Boxster you'll probably ever drive. And when your on an open road, with the top down and that roaring, burbling flat 6 is behind you, its pure automotive joy.
Last edited by Underblu; 04-15-2016 at 03:42 PM.
04-15-2016, 12:33 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
04-15-2016, 03:39 PM
#4
Thanks guys and thanks for the spelling correction to blue44. I'm gong to make that change now
04-16-2016, 05:18 PM
#6
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Well that's almost spooky.
I was just talking to some friends about how the Spyder has a 'specialness' that goes beyond the data, the specs and the figures, and is something that I have not really felt in a Porsche since air-cooling.
I was just talking to some friends about how the Spyder has a 'specialness' that goes beyond the data, the specs and the figures, and is something that I have not really felt in a Porsche since air-cooling.
04-18-2016, 12:12 PM
#7
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I have to say, there were many things I really liked about my Spyder, my favorite being the LWBS and overall styling. But performance wise coming from a 981S PASM PDK with a Fabspeed exhaust I wasn't feeling that huge leap in performance that I felt between say my 987S and my 981S,
Well a couple of things, to new and future Spyder owners.
The engine opens up after some miles and revs and feels noticbaly livelier now then when I first got the car. I'm beggining to think limiting revs between 3000 and 4200 which is the usable range when driving creates too restrictive an RPM band. As soon as I started driving more entusiatically the engine has gotten stronger and feels stronger the next day. Almost like its expelling water from it lungs
For PDK guys. I've been driving PDK for the past 3 years. Prior to that, I've only owned MT Porsche's. Driving an MT is coming back to me but at first I missed the snap shifts of the PDK. Trying to replicate anything near that proved at least to me an exercise in futility. I guess that's why there are guys like Walter Rohl and other guys that don't earn a living going fast. However the MT is so much more involving and I'm thinking it's right for this car. A raw lightweight roadster
I've been through a range of Porsche's mostly Boxsters lately and I've often harkened back to my first 911. A used 84 Carrera Targa that was the first car that was actually mine. I loved and hated that car. It wasn't particulary comfortable, had terrible climate control, no power assisted steering. In case I forgot I was driving a Porsche it was quite happy to spin me like a top on more than one occasion. Thankfully is was always in between cars to a soft landing on grass or flowers. It could be finicky too. I spent half a summer parking on the crest of a hill to get a moving start until a friend tightened a solenoid that came loose and my starter problem was solved. Of course I had to lend him the car for the day but I was young and Porsche mechanics were expensive even then.
So in case you're wondering, why put up will all those issues when there are a variety alternatives. In a nutshell, the Carrera is a car when most other cars were closer to appliances, it smelled like leather and oil, you could read the road through your fingertips like a blind man reading Braille. With the top off and the whirring flat 6 it was pure automotive joy. i must also say that my Carrera was always the car everyone wanted to go shotgun in. Oh and the brakes where some of the best I've experienced up until the Spyder.
Which brings me full circle, the Spyder exudes specialness, in fact I'm glad I got black because I would feel uncomfortable with any more attention. It's the shotgun pick everytime and it is the closest I've come to that Carrera while staying in a thoroughly modern car. Like that 84 Carrera Targa, it is very basic and direct, simple seats, MT, and a top you have to manually open and close. While thankfully it doesn't share the snap oversteer traits of the Carrera, it's the liveliest Boxster you'll probably ever drive. And when your on an open road, with the top down and that roaring, burbling flat 6 is behind you, its pure automotive joy.
Well a couple of things, to new and future Spyder owners.
The engine opens up after some miles and revs and feels noticbaly livelier now then when I first got the car. I'm beggining to think limiting revs between 3000 and 4200 which is the usable range when driving creates too restrictive an RPM band. As soon as I started driving more entusiatically the engine has gotten stronger and feels stronger the next day. Almost like its expelling water from it lungs
For PDK guys. I've been driving PDK for the past 3 years. Prior to that, I've only owned MT Porsche's. Driving an MT is coming back to me but at first I missed the snap shifts of the PDK. Trying to replicate anything near that proved at least to me an exercise in futility. I guess that's why there are guys like Walter Rohl and other guys that don't earn a living going fast. However the MT is so much more involving and I'm thinking it's right for this car. A raw lightweight roadster
I've been through a range of Porsche's mostly Boxsters lately and I've often harkened back to my first 911. A used 84 Carrera Targa that was the first car that was actually mine. I loved and hated that car. It wasn't particulary comfortable, had terrible climate control, no power assisted steering. In case I forgot I was driving a Porsche it was quite happy to spin me like a top on more than one occasion. Thankfully is was always in between cars to a soft landing on grass or flowers. It could be finicky too. I spent half a summer parking on the crest of a hill to get a moving start until a friend tightened a solenoid that came loose and my starter problem was solved. Of course I had to lend him the car for the day but I was young and Porsche mechanics were expensive even then.
So in case you're wondering, why put up will all those issues when there are a variety alternatives. In a nutshell, the Carrera is a car when most other cars were closer to appliances, it smelled like leather and oil, you could read the road through your fingertips like a blind man reading Braille. With the top off and the whirring flat 6 it was pure automotive joy. i must also say that my Carrera was always the car everyone wanted to go shotgun in. Oh and the brakes where some of the best I've experienced up until the Spyder.
Which brings me full circle, the Spyder exudes specialness, in fact I'm glad I got black because I would feel uncomfortable with any more attention. It's the shotgun pick everytime and it is the closest I've come to that Carrera while staying in a thoroughly modern car. Like that 84 Carrera Targa, it is very basic and direct, simple seats, MT, and a top you have to manually open and close. While thankfully it doesn't share the snap oversteer traits of the Carrera, it's the liveliest Boxster you'll probably ever drive. And when your on an open road, with the top down and that roaring, burbling flat 6 is behind you, its pure automotive joy.
__________________
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215-618-9796
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155 Commerce Drive Fort Washington, PA 19034
www.Fabspeed.com
Porsche Performance Specialist
John@Fabspeed.com
215-618-9796
Fabspeed Motorsport USA
155 Commerce Drive Fort Washington, PA 19034
www.Fabspeed.com
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04-19-2016, 10:03 AM
#8
I'm very interested in your race headers for the Spyder. (The maxflow was really the icing on my 981S.) The Dyno shows really great torque and HP gains throughout the rpm range.
04-19-2016, 11:16 AM
#9
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04-21-2016, 06:08 PM
#10
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I agree and said this very thing today. I drove a Spyder at PEC on Tuesday and I felt that Spyder must have been specially tuned, it had so much power, but was assured it was stock. Previously it has been said that the 981 Spyder really erupts at 5-7000 rpm or there abouts.
I generally drive in the 3-5000 rpm range but this morning I drove the Tail of the Dragon up and back and used sport plus the entire time driving mostly in 2nd with some 1st and 3rd gears. Oh my! Much of the drive was in 5000 rpm+ range. It was like it got into a groove and had new found power that I had never experienced. And what an exhaust sound. I did the dragon with the top down and it sounded like my tail end must have been on fire. We then took a break for a few minutes and then found another twisty and when I put into sport plus I instantly wondered where the sound and power band went. It was like it was asleep. Then we began our spirited driving. I was following 2 GT4s, a GT3RS and a 981 Boxster GTS. Much to my delight my 981 Spyder woke up and I knew it was not a fluke. I now believe that these cars actually make changes to their power and sound in response to the type of driving you are doing.
Thrilling!
I generally drive in the 3-5000 rpm range but this morning I drove the Tail of the Dragon up and back and used sport plus the entire time driving mostly in 2nd with some 1st and 3rd gears. Oh my! Much of the drive was in 5000 rpm+ range. It was like it got into a groove and had new found power that I had never experienced. And what an exhaust sound. I did the dragon with the top down and it sounded like my tail end must have been on fire. We then took a break for a few minutes and then found another twisty and when I put into sport plus I instantly wondered where the sound and power band went. It was like it was asleep. Then we began our spirited driving. I was following 2 GT4s, a GT3RS and a 981 Boxster GTS. Much to my delight my 981 Spyder woke up and I knew it was not a fluke. I now believe that these cars actually make changes to their power and sound in response to the type of driving you are doing.
Thrilling!
Last edited by RWR; 04-21-2016 at 08:06 PM.