Month: March 2018

When a reader comments and asks for a specific vehicle, I am honored to join the hunt  – whether it’s an enthusiast car or not.  Jerry want’s a pickup truck to commute and handle odd jobs.  One man’s unicorn is another man’s hunting dog.  Or something like that.  And Jerry is a friend.  So with not a lot else I punched in what I might look for.  Four-wheel drive, four door, 6-cylinder (would go for big V8 except he did say commuter!), five-years old or less, 40,000 miles or less.  Some creature comforts – Bluetooth, rear-view camera and sensors (we urban cowboys tend to back into shit), seat heaters.  Not more than 250 miles from home.  The big pickups (F-150 and Chevy Silverados) ruled themselves out.  Good trucks but they suck for commuting.  So as of now (late-March 2018) it came down to one – a 2016 Nissan Frontier.  Normally my unicorn hunt is all about the warranty – high-end cars that break a lot and are expensive to maintain.  For Jerry I’d say this car is neither -unlikely to break a lot, and cheap to maintain.  Still under dealer warranty at 10,000 miles.  Roll the dice.  Spend the warranty money on lottery tickets.  Go for the gold.  Let me know when we’re heading north to pick it up.

Just drove 300 miles in a light rain from Northern Virginia to Fort Bragg in Etta.  It was a great ride.  Bought this 10-year old car in January with 34,000+ miles and rolled it over to 35,000.  I tried not to get emotional.  Been tooling around my community and the Dulles Toll Road for the month and a half I owned the car and resolved that yes, it rides awfully harsh, especially over joints and bumps, and it is noisy, but hey – it’s an iconic 911 and I love it.  So here’s what I think after a road trip:

• Why do other drivers want to screw with a 911**?  Not other sports cars, but “slammed” Japanese cars and pickup trucks and beat-up Camrys.   I admit always wanting the left lane to be mine no matter what I’m driving, drafting cars that won’t move right but always moving right myself for others.  But today on I-95 more drivers seemed to block, and if I eventually passed on the right they accelerated.  More aggressive than when I’m in other cars.  But that only made me love the 911 more because…..

• This thing is stupid fast.  I have no idea why.  I don’t get the engineering.  It’s just a 3.6l six-cylinder with 325hp.  And mine’s an automatic.  Not terribly impressive off the line, but something violent happens at 3,000 rpm in 3rd and 4th gear.  It’s neck-snapping acceleration above 3,000.  My fingers are numb.  Left-lane blockers didn’t stand a chance.  I have no stats but 70-100mph seemed instantaneous.  That said, I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with the car.  Under hard acceleration from a start it seems to hang up in 3rd gear too long, and on the highway it kicks down from 5th to 3rd, revs to 6,000 rpm and seems on the verge of spontaneous combustion.  Maybe I’m just new to 911’s but will have this looked at. I also learned that cruising at an average of 80mph  (once I cleared Northern Virginia Sunday afternoon I-95 traffic jams) I get 17mpg.  I’m good with that.

 

• The 911 is way more comfortable stretching its legs on the highway than futzing around my town. The rear axle seems to have no movement and hammers over the road at low speeds.  The jolts cause me ass pain and make me wonder if I should have bought the Mercedes S600 after all.  And there’s a three-point move I gotta get right to get in and out of the car when parked without stumbling like a clumsy drunk.   But once in, and on the highway, we found our rhythm.  Road imperfections that annoy at 30mph vanish at 70-90mph.  Road noise that intruded while revving up and down the scale around town disappear at cruising altitude (except for North Carolina’s cobblestone-like asphalt on I-95) and I can hear my music.  The narrow-topped seat back (it’s about 10 inches wide – half my back!) that almost had me pass on buying the car, that I notice every time I get in, never became an issue.  The seating position, of which I have one comfortable one being 6’4″, never bothered me.  I was skeptical I would relax on this road trip and I did.

• Beer stays cold in the front trunk.  I stopped in Richmond and bought two big cans of beer to enjoy in my hotel room 200 miles down the road, and was hoping a front trunk and mid-40’s temps would do the trick.  It did.  Having one now. But I also learned that I could fit a circa-27″ suitcase in the trunk on its side, along with two briefcases.  The “back seat” accommodated a full-size garment bag and a backpack full of laptops, and the front seat cradled my guitar and a bag ‘o groceries.  I travel light.  Granted I was traveling solo but I was convinced when I got the car it would only hold a gym bag.  Pleasantly surprised.

Conclusion? Friends and family who hear only my angst over the harshness and lack of modern electronics wonder if I’m regretting this purchase.  I haven’t regretted it, knowing I’ve sacrificed some things to own and experience the legend that is a Porsche 911.  This is a two-year car for me.  If I like it I will upgrade with the next one.  If I get weary of having a sports car daily driver, we’ll part ways.  But this road trip moved my needle more towards increased satisfaction and awe than not.  Stay tuned.

**The Camaro RS (I think) in front of me in the photo was not a challenger (no pun intended).  He passed me around Richmond and we ran together for 150 miles, maybe two hours, and both exited to Fayetteville NC.  Exchanged flashers/thumbs up when we parted.  Reminded me of long autobahn drives back in the day!