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One year ownership report and the background of my 2019 Carrera T
As the title implies, this thread is a report on my thoughts and experiences of owning a 2019 991.2 Carrera T for just over a year now. To be clear and as some already know I've actually owned two 2019 Carrera T's in that time. There are many threads on this submodel here on Rennlist but this is for my personal experiences with my particular car(s). Hope nobody minds!
I purchased my first 911 in 2006 at age 37 after lusting for one since I was 13. In hindsight I think I picked a good place to start with an April 95 build, Midnight Blue/Blue 1995 993 C2 manual coupe with sport seats.. It had just over 100000kms (62000miles) and was very well maintained which was reflected in the purchase price of just under $50K Canadian.....lots for a 993 of that mileage in that era. The car was everything I dreamed it would be and more. The sounds of opening and closing the doors as well as the smell inside the car are things never forgotten and lost forever when production of the 993 stopped. The way it drove, its handling, and most impressive to me its durability were beyond expectations. It was a 911 so I expected having to manage either front or rear grip more carefully than with previous cars. Wrong. The 2003 Honda S2000 (bought new) was far more "spiky" when really pushing. It's power to chassis balance was fantastic. I owned my dream car and rather than disappoint it exceeded my expectations. Of course I added Bilstein PSS9s and replaced the front bushings as well as sourced a set of real-deal 18" Speedlines (expensive and heavy in equal measure but damn they look nice!).
In April 2008, I decided to add a Guards Red/black 2002 996.2 to the mix for what was to be my "daily driver". Like my 993, it was a manual C2 couple lightly optioned with sport seats, 18" wheels, and had Bilstein coilovers fitted shortly after I purchased the car. The car had about 40000km/25000 miles when purchased and one previous owner. That previous owner took extremely good care of the car as it was indistinguishable from new. Quicker than the 993, similar power to chassis balance and well, more modern feeling of course. I drove it quite a bit adding 10000km/6200 miles in the course of 6 months. But there were a couple things nagging at me. The car was in such nice condition it bothered me leaving it unattended in public parking areas and thus made daily use something beyond my capability mentally. The modern 996 also did not possess that magical sound when opening and closing the doors nor did it have that unique air/oil-cooled smell in the cockpit. And then another 993 came onto my radar.
October 2008 I traded the 995 straight across for that second 993. This time it was a September 96 build 1997 993 C2 coupe in Black/black. Optioned again with sport seats, as well as factory 18' hollow spoke wheels and little else honestly. Purchased with 110000km/68000miles and again in fantastic condition it did have a relatively small accident early in its life ($7K CDN in 2001). To casual observers I had bought an identical car to my 1995 993. To me it was different with the VarioRam and most importantly a story in its past which gave it the "driver" status I was looking for. Well me being me I went through the suspension on it initially adding H&R springs matched to Bilstein shocks as well as new control arm bushings. Looked cool, didn't like the ride and there was a "thunk" from the rear when cornering hard and hitting a bump. Out with that setup and in with Bilstein coilovers again.
In late 2014, I had a friend put me in contact with another friend who had a 1983 911 SC coupe that "needed some work" he wanted to sell. He was not a Porsche guy at all and had inherited the car. I purchased the car for $11K and put about $7K into it (shocks, battery, starter, replica Fuchs. new tires etc). My intention was to sell it immediately at a profit. Instead, I drove this car everywhere for 9-10 months. I loved it. It wasn't perfect cosmetically but it drove great for me. I now had THREE air-cooled 911s. Late spring 2015 and I did list the car for sale locally for $32K more as a "fishing" exercise. Car sold within a week. What a great year that was though in all honesty maintaining and insuring 3 911s and a house with acreage while working FULL time was just too much.
I never did daily either of my 993s. Just couldn't relax with them parked where they were. Instead I used both of them over the next 10 years and enjoying every km/mile. In 2018 a house move and slight downsizing meant I sold my 95 993 after 12 years of ownership, now at 134000km/83000 miles. That buyer sold it after one year to its new and current owner whom I know well through work. I still had my 97 and continued to enjoy it but drove it less and less. Spring of 2022 the car now had 151000km/93000ish miles but I decided I wanted to finally purchase that brand new 911 I'd always promised myself. I placed a deposit for a new 992 GTS manual coupe very late May and sold the 993 in August. after 16 years and just under 80000km/50000miles of ownership I was without a 911.
On September 2/2022, I purchased a white 991.2 Carrera T PDK from the same dealer I had my deposit for the new car with. 34000km/21000 miles and equipped with the PDK, Bose stereo, white gauges and nothing more I didn't expect to gel with the car the way I had with my 993s. It was an interim car and despite my initial and substantial interest in the car when launched in late 2017 (I was VERY close to submitting an order and selling my 993s) my desire had softened significantly due to lack of positive press when the car was new. I was in for quite a shock. The car's very basic specification and lack of extras/options beyond what the T came standard with (Sport seats plus, sport suspension, sports exhaust, the rear glass most importantly) made it far closer in overall experience than I had anticipated.
Here was a modern 911 with many of the features we enjoy in our cars these days. Apple CarPlay, strong and effective AC, parking sensors etc. Performance from the 370HP motor and PDK combo eclipsed the 993s as expected. But the way the car felt and communicated through the controls was familiar and greatly appreciated. The "sport-tex" cloth sport seats plus held me in place even better than the sport seats of my 993s and had similar power up/down manual fore-aft adjustments. Even the admittedly plasticky base dash reminded me of my low option 993s in its simplistic but durable look and feel.
Mid October, I was enthralled with this car.......but there were three other, much lower mileage, and manual transmission T's available at Canadian Porsche dealers. Unfortunately the asking prices of these cars was $20-40K CDN higher than the car I'd just bought a month earlier. On October 11/2022 I submitted a trade offer to all three of these dealers. It was for my car and $20K CDN including any taxes and transportation required. Considering the $40K price gap in asking prices a month prior, I was surprised when the dealer closest (though still requiring some travel on my part) said yes. I was not expecting this outcome and left on a short business trip to Dallas.
I returned late Friday evening a few days after and was still more than a little surprised the deal was happening. 4:30am Saturday morning I'm off with my 3-month old JRT puppy and the Carrera T I'd owned for 43 days. A drive and ferry crossing later and after checking into the hotel (dealer's tab) I showed up to the dealership and did the swap. I now had the car I have today, delivered with 8012km/4980miles, 2-year CPO, and the big 4-year service completed the week before (an important factor in the pricing as my white PDK car was due for this service in the coming weeks). Jet Black Metallic, manual, RAS, Bose stereo, "storage package"/net, and "smoker's package". Nealy identical other than colour but two significant mechanical differences: transmission and RAS.
In that time I've added 3800km/2300ish miles to the Jet Black manual car and had added 1800km/1100ish miles to the white PDK car. Mot exactly epic mileage but enough to form some opinions, likes, and dislikes.
Likes:
-Drivetrain: With either transmission the performance offered is more than enough for my needs. Yes there are quicker, faster, more powerful cars but I'm quite happy with the level of power the car offers right out of the box. The PDK is simply engineering brilliance. I can't say enough positive about this transmission and is performance. I dislike the term "automatic" as it conjures up thoughts of slow, unresponsive, torque converter automatics of old. Yet operating in sport or sport plus modes and letting the car work its magic, it is the essence of automatically upshifting and downshifting at exactly the right time. And of course we can use the paddles or the stick to manually shift gears if desired which is engaging. The manual is.......manual. Used as a 6-speed I find the shift action very good and an joy to use. Some have said 7th is a gear too many. I disagree. This is the car's party trick: Throw it into 7th at any speed 0ver 75mph on the freeway, watch the revs drop, and enjoy fuel consumption and range far exceeding expectations. No buzzing along at 3500-4000rpm at (slightly above) freeway speeds. Also, I love the auto-blip feature. I've driven manual transmissions my entire life including millions of miles in 18-wheelers where no clutch/double clutch, and rev-matching are mandatory. I don't mind letting the car auto blip on downshifts. Call me lazy.
-Chassis: As mentioned earlier, I find the balance and execution of power, ride, and handling to be extremely well judged. You can drive with precision or chuck the car around. Either way the car does as you desire all the while not beating one up with the ride. A note on RAS: I like it a LOT. The white PDK car didn't have it, the black manual car does. I find the low speed maneuvering a MAJOR plus and I do find the car feels just a smidge more on turn in (technically speaking) .
-Interior: I'm quite surprised how much I enjoy the very basic very minimally optioned interior of my car. Go back to late 2017/early 2018 and I would have optioned the full leather Carrera T interior and said something like "a car at this price should come with leather". Now? Simplicity rules. Remember , this is only my opinion. Just enough modern conveniences to make trips enjoyable but no real gadgets. The useability of a 911 and it's folding rear seats works so well for my needs (I believe North American 991 T's only had rear seats deleted when optioned with buckets). I always have the seats folded to make a perfectly flat shelf to throw things on or put my pup's crate on and the seatbelts make anchoring things in easier.
Dislikes:
-Size: There's no hiding from the fact that the 911 has grown in size significantly in the last 25 years. Though still small relative to the more common pickups and SUVs, the larger footprint means less "lanespace" on backroads. What I find intriguing is that overall people and storage space doesn't feel significantly larger though reaching across the car to open the door isn't quite as easy as it used to be.
-"It's not a GT3": Before owning the T, I too had fallen into the mindset of "the GT3 is what all 911s should be". I couldn't have been more wrong. Be it base, T, S, or GTS in either 2 or all wheel drive, the 911 is still the car it has always been. The classy, not overly shouty sports car that doesn't ask for too many compromises. We're in a world of more/bigger is better. This isn't really a dislike per say, more a realization that the GT3 is such an awesome machine because its a 911, not despite.
I find myself more and more in the mindset of keeping this car for a much longer period than I originally anticipated. Instead of spending the money on trading in for a new 992 T, I see me subtly altering the car and keeping it:
1. I want to mount some Apex forged wheels as I like the look, their, slightly more aggressive fitment, and can be happy in the knowledge that they offer a significant weight saving over stock.
2. Secondly, I'm contemplating lowering the car ever so slightly and am reading multiple threads om various ways of doing so. I'll be completely transparent: I do not track the car (maybe the odd auto-x) and this is for looks only but I'm very conscious of not upsetting the ride/handling balance too much.
3. PCCBs: As mentioned frequently in other posts, this is the only option I wish my car had. I've read a LOT about these and understand I don't NEED them. But I want them anyway and am considering ways to make it happen. I could be quite happy with the reduction in brake dust, the reduction in unsprung weight (I am VERY curious of the overall weight difference between the "small" base steel brakes and the considerably larger PCCB setup, and the overall longevity of the system with my use.
Sorry for the LONG post but I find this sort of record helpful to myself when contemplating possibilities in the future.
I'll be editing this post with pics of cars mentioned shortly.
Last edited by timothymoffat; 10-22-2023 at 09:01 PM.
Enjoyed reading your post! Great car. Regarding PCCB’s, you may want to look into Surface Transform too. Less money than stock PCCB’s if you’re comparing against new PCCB’s.
PCCBs: As mentioned frequently in other posts, this is the only option I wish my car had. I've read a LOT about these and understand I don't NEED them. But I want them anyway and am considering ways to make it happen. I could be quite happy with the reduction in brake dust, the reduction in unsprung weight (I am VERY curious of the overall weight difference between the "small" base steel brakes and the considerably larger PCCB setup, and the overall longevity of the system with my use.
As for PCCBs, my used 3 year 1 month old GTS happend to come with them. If I bought the car new, I probably would not have paid the near CA$10K to have them, but once you have them, they are nice simply due to zero brake dust and they do not rust. But it would have been silly to turn down a used car with only 157 kilometers (98 miles) on it because it had PCCBs. The only way I would have walked is if it had a PDK even though I have driven them.
As for unsprung weight, on public roads or even DE days, I would bet a good dollar it would make zero difference. So unless you can do ten hot laps at the world class level and if they are so consistent for all of them to fit into a 0.1 second window, it really does not matter. An expensive addition and they do require care when removing wheels.
BTW, I'll never sell my 993. A good story; I once wrote one up as to how I bought my first Porsche all thanks to life threatening bad luck.
Enjoyed reading your post! Great car. Regarding PCCB’s, you may want to look into Surface Transform too. Less money than stock PCCB’s if you’re comparing against new PCCB’s.
@timothymoffat I have submitted requests to ST for the 991.2 and 992 Carrera/C4/T fitments (same discs). Lots of interest in the new 992 T especially. The cost will be about $15K. If anyone is interested I can add you to the list. Lovely car by the way, enjoy!
Great post, loved the stories of past 911s! My 991.2T is my first Porsche. About 1-year later my wife decided she didn’t want to miss on the fun and we bought a ‘18 Cayman S. Now we have two and perhaps will move backwards in time on my next one but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to let go of my first 911 no matter how many smiles or miles. Cheers and look forward to hearing about you’re continued journey.
Read and enjoyed every word of your (long) post. My 991.2 T was my first Porsche, but hopefully not my last...
You started your Porsche ownership off very well!
Originally Posted by Bxstr
Enjoyed reading your post! Great car. Regarding PCCB’s, you may want to look into Surface Transform too. Less money than stock PCCB’s if you’re comparing against new PCCB’s.
Appreciate that. Considering OEM calipers and other relative pasts and waiting for further info from below on the ST rotors.
Originally Posted by IXLR8
As for PCCBs, my used 3 year 1 month old GTS happend to come with them. If I bought the car new, I probably would not have paid the near CA$10K to have them, but once you have them, they are nice simply due to zero brake dust and they do not rust. But it would have been silly to turn down a used car with only 157 kilometers (98 miles) on it because it had PCCBs. The only way I would have walked is if it had a PDK even though I have driven them.
As for unsprung weight, on public roads or even DE days, I would bet a good dollar it would make zero difference. So unless you can do ten hot laps at the world class level and if they are so consistent for all of them to fit into a 0.1 second window, it really does not matter. An expensive addition and they do require care when removing wheels.
BTW, I'll never sell my 993. A good story; I once wrote one up as to how I bought my first Porsche all thanks to life threatening bad luck.
The points mentioned regarding brake dust and no rust heavily influence my want for ceramic brakes. I fully understand that the ability to actually feel the reduction in unsprung weight is not likely but it's a cool factor none the less. As to selling the 993s, I felt it was time for new experiences from the 911 world. Definitely not a decision taken lightly but with work and home taking up considerable time and the VERY high cost of living here in Vancouver dictating how much I choose to spend, I decided that one Porsche is likely my best approach for now.
Originally Posted by nathan1
@timothymoffat GREAT write up! Makes me remember the early Rennlist days and 993FEST! Maybe we should have a 991CarreraT fest!
Great times and great people. The 993FEST you very generously organized was a truly wonderful event and is a lifelong memory. I like your idea of a similar style event!
Originally Posted by Hinz Motorsport
@timothymoffat I have submitted requests to ST for the 991.2 and 992 Carrera/C4/T fitments (same discs). Lots of interest in the new 992 T especially. The cost will be about $15K. If anyone is interested I can add you to the list. Lovely car by the way, enjoy!
Thankyou and I eagerly await the response regarding rotors. I've looked at your website and am very interested. This is not something I'm in a panic to do, merely an information gathering process with final decision dictated by overall cost.
Originally Posted by spyderbret
I'd be in for a T fest!!! I'm in Vegas and would be happy to help plan and secure a venue!
I'd be in as well!
Last edited by timothymoffat; 10-24-2023 at 08:16 PM.
Sidenote: After over 20 months since placing a deposit for my first new 911, I finally got the call from my local dealer who I placed the original order with. and we went through the figures on this build: 911 Carrera T | Porsche Car Configurator With the price increases during my lengthy wait PLUS a new Federal Luxury Tax our government decided to add from September 2022, the cash needed to go from my current 991.2 T to the new one simply did not make sense to me. When that dollar figure could get me a very nice 718 Cayman (used) or a multitude of different 911s, I just can't see the point.
Maybe I'll end up with two T's one day.....a 991.2 and a 992 (used)! I truly believe the current "market" for new 911s and their allocations has some major flaws and the massive number of sub-1000mile cars proves the point. It has left a bitter taste in the mouth of this 40-year plus diehard enthusiast and 20-year 911 owner. Still going to look at these great cars as they continue to reach their new owners!
Looking forward to a long future with this car!
Last edited by timothymoffat; 02-03-2024 at 05:47 PM.
Nothing like finding your perfect car. And since you've owned older 911s for a long time (993 folder), I don't see you flipping cars as some do.
Still have my 993 and won't part with it, but I also found my "perfect" second 911, my ultra-low mileage 991.1 GTS in 2018. 2018 means 991.2s were out for two years already and for the high price of my 991.1, I could have bought a new 991.2, but it wasn't the "perfect" car for me, neither is a 992.
Sidenote: After over 20 months since placing a deposit for my first new 911, I finally got the call from my local dealer who I placed the original order with. and we went through the figures on this build: 911 Carrera T | Porsche Car Configurator
…
it’s amazing that build is $171k and it doesn’t even have LWBS, sport design package or Burmester. They’ve gotten so expensive even for a “lower” trim like the T. The delta between the 992 and 991.2 just isn’t great enough that the new MSRP is justified in my eyes. Hell, if I get bored and want a new one I’m much more inclined to consider a couple of upgrades to lively the 991.2 up and I still wouldn’t even come close to the MSRP, let alone MSRP + tax/tag/title/fees/ADM/bull**** add-ons/etc. that the dealer tacks on. $171k with tax here is probably closer to $190k, plus whatever add-ons the dealer does, could easily be knocking on $200k. At this price, if it is a weekend toy, you should be asking yourself why you’re not buying a 991.2 GT3, an Audi R8 rwd, Ferrari 458, etc.
it’s amazing that build is $171k and it doesn’t even have LWBS, sport design package or Burmester. They’ve gotten so expensive even for a “lower” trim like the T. The delta between the 992 and 991.2 just isn’t great enough that the new MSRP is justified in my eyes. Hell, if I get bored and want a new one I’m much more inclined to consider a couple of upgrades to lively the 991.2 up and I still wouldn’t even come close to the MSRP, let alone MSRP + tax/tag/title/fees/ADM/bull**** add-ons/etc. that the dealer tacks on. $171k with tax here is probably closer to $190k, plus whatever add-ons the dealer does, could easily be knocking on $200k. At this price, if it is a weekend toy, you should be asking yourself why you’re not buying a 991.2 GT3, an Audi R8 rwd, Ferrari 458, etc.
To be fair my configuration is in Canadian dollars.
10-22-2023, 07:10 PM
One year ownership report and the background of my 2019 Carrera T
