Running Report 1 - November 2001

Background:

My name is Richard Terry, I am a sales manager working for a large American software house based in Slough, UK. I am married with two daughters, a mad dog and am rushing headlong towards my 31st birthday.

I have owned my C4 for around 20 months now and have driven around 15,000 miles over that period. This is the first Porsche that I have owned, although I did hire a 3.2 Carrera for a month two years ago to see what they were like to live with.

I had been working towards owning a 911 for about six years – one of my goals was to own one before I was 30 and I achieved this with ten months to spare !

Initially the car was my weekend car, but then I started driving it to the office when the weather was good, and one thing lead to another and now the car is used every day come rain or shine, short trip or long.

Choosing the Car:

You know how it is – you know exactly what you want and then go and buy something completely different ! This is what happened to me. I wanted the last of the 3.2’s – a 1989 3.2 Cab in Baltic blue with linen leather interior. I looked around for a while, and found exactly what I wanted in Camtune back in November 1999, however there was something about it that didn’t add up so I didn’t buy it.

Into the New Year and I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Then I stumbled across Charles Ivey in London and they had a 1991 Baltic Blue C2 Cab in the window. I took it out for a test drive and found it really easy to drive, easy to manoeuvre, and had that fantastic shove in the back. The down side was that it had comfort seats (which I found really uncomfortable), it was a bit oily around the back and it was over the odds in the money stakes !

Needless to say, this opened up another avenue for my research and I started looking for C2’s as well as 3.2’s. Then I found Hendon Way Motors who had two 964’s in Baltic Blue – one a C2 and one a C4. I drove the C4 and it was just what I was looking for … right colour, right options, and right price ! OK, so neither the bodywork nor interior was perfect, but the mechanicals seemed strong and there was about an inch and a half of paperwork to go with the car – all very reassuring.

As such, I became the proud owner of G255WKJ, a 1990 C4 Cabriolet in Baltic blue with linen leather, blue piped heated sports seats and a/c. It came with a two-year warranty, refurbed D90’s and number of other extras all for the princely sum of a fiver short of £25K. The car has had four previous owners and at the time of purchase it had 79,000 on the clock, it now has just over 94,000.

Having said all this, if I were to do it all over again I would do only one thing differently – I’d get it inspected by a specialist before I bought the car. That way, some of the things I’ve had done over the past twenty months would hopefully have been picked up and I could have knocked a bit more off the asking price !!

First Impressions:

I took delivery of the car at around 5:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, straight into the rush hour on the north circular (for those of you who don’t know what that is, just picture a three lane, five mile car park !). As such, I revelled in pushing buttons, raising and lowering the rear spoiler, fiddling with the radio, and wondering if I had enough petrol to reach the M40. It also struck me how easy the clutch was and how light the steering was compared to the 3.2 I had had a blast in two days previously. However, there was little opportunity to try too much of the loud pedal. Then I got an opening down the slip road to the M40 and it was time for my foot to meet the carpet. Oh. My. God. All I remember was the car on my right suddenly going into reverse and thinking “I’m going to enjoy this car !”.

Fast Impressions:

On an un-named deserted road, at an un-named time (the names have be changed to protect the innocent), the speedo has read the naughty side of 160 and it was still pulling like a train … enough said.

Tweaks and Changes:

As I have mentioned, the car is a C4 and so is setup to understeer. Since buying the car, I have been working on dialling that out as much as possible. I have had the geometry reset twice, and have had a larger rear anti-roll bar fitted. As a result of the last geometry reset, the car is just about perfect, with fantastic bite into corners and no understeer that I have found (yet !).

I have also had a mild attempt at the go-faster stuff and the car has had the cat replaced by a straight-through stainless steel pipe, the standard air filter has been replaced by a K&N air filter and the air box has had a few holes added ! So far, I have resisted the temptation to go down the hot film and re-chip route, but it could just be a matter of time.

Cosmetically, after six or so months, I replaced the D90’s with a set of 17” Cup 2’s shod with S-02’s all round. Also the car has been to the bodyshop twice – once accidentally when I remodelled the back of a Polo at 2mph, and the other (deliberate) time was to repaint the front of the car and repair some work/damage done by the previous owner. I have used Bodytechnics in Slough and the service has been first class. Next up for attention is the interior – I am toying with either re-connolising the seats or getting them recovered.

The result of the work can be seen on the attached pictures – I must try and get some taken with the roof down and in natural light !

Servicing:

On top of the tweaks/changes, the car has had two services and four visits to the garage for various bits and pieces. I have used both JZ Machtech and GT One. My personal preference is GT One, but only because they are easier to get to and had plenty of recommendations from other members of the 964 register - the results have been excellent, so I have no reason to change. In the next report, I will go into the detail of what has been done in these visits and the costs (gulp !) involved.

Looking Forwards:

Hopefully the next six months will be quite quiet as I am not intending to do anything more to the car (bar fill it up with petrol and oil as needed) until springtime. At that point, I may retire the car back to high day and holiday status and acquire something a little more luxurious for the day job – we’ll have to see what the finance committee allows !

After that I will look at getting the interior sorted out, replacing the shocks and springs and maybe looking into the hot film/chip performance enhancements. Once all that is done, I can focus on my next goal, which is to take it on the Wheeltorque trip to Spa and Nurburgring next October/November – any other volunteers ?

Running Report 2 - May 2002

Not much to report since the last time around as I have added to my collection of cars, as I threatened to do last time around. This has meant that my 964 has been promoted back to a high days and holidays car, and I now have a 540i for the day to day stuff.

Having said that, I was pleased that I have gotten through the winter months without having to do anything to the car bar put petrol and oil in it.

As mentioned above, I have bought a replacement car for the day to day stuff. The reason for this is that I seemed to be doing more and more miles (including regular runs from Reading to Cambridge), and, good as the 964 is, after a 3 hour trip to Leeds you tend to have a bit of a headache ! I also found myself borrowing my wife’s 5 series for longer journeys leaving her with the Porsche, but that isn’t very practical when you have to ferry two small children around (3 year old and 8 months old !).

In the end we decided that I would have her car and we’d buy her a new one. After a bit of looking around, she decided that she wanted an A Class, but we couldn’t find a second hand one to her specification and a new one was going to be the thick end of £20K – hmmm. Then a friend of mine suggested letting Jo keep her 5 series and finding a 540 for me (he had just sold his ‘98 535). Four days later I had found a car which more than matched what I was looking for and all for the paltry sum of £16 and a bit K. This car is 4 years old and cost over £55K new ! Talk about a lot of bang for your buck !

So, from mid Feb, the 964 has spent most of the time in my garage with a weekly blat just to blow the cobwebs away. This has meant that the car is standing for long periods and I am noticing a few things that need addressing. Probably most important is that I have had to put more oil in than I would like. OK, so the car has 98,800 miles on the clock (about 2,000 since my last report), but I didn’t have any major oil loss up until the last service, however since then, the car has been losing a noticeable amount (and most of it seems to be on my garage floor !). Maybe it’s time for major surgery ?

Service

Talking of the last service, here’s what I had done (bar the actual service !):

Replace front lower control arms;
Replace oil return pipe; and
Suspension geometry setup

All for the bargain price of £2K ! GT One had my car for three days to carry out this work and did a great job, however, as I mentioned above, the car seems to be losing more oil now than it did before. I’m not sure whether this is to do with the fact that the car is not now used every day, or whether it is down to the 0/40 Mobil 1 that was put in at the service. Whatever the cause, I suspect the only cure is a rebuild of the engine, so I’d better start putting my justification together for the finance committee !

The replacement of the lower control arms and suspension geometry reset has had a great improvement on the way the car handles – it is very pointy, and feels as though it is on rails the whole time (wet or dry !). I can highly recommend that those of you who haven’t changed your lower control arms get them checked – mine were very worn which resulted in slightly sloppy steering control.

Battery Problem

The downside of not using the car everyday is that fact that the battery discharges itself over time. Previously, the battery seemed to hold its charge for a good fortnight with the alarm on, however, only driving the car around 50 miles a week doesn’t give the battery a chance to recharge itself. This brought itself home when the 540 had to go into the garage to have a leaking petrol tank fixed. I thought I’d use the Porsche instead of the Vectra replacement car I’d been given, however (as with all best laid plans !) when I went to the garage to go to a meeting, the car wouldn’t start – it wouldn’t even turn over. So it was a quick run in the Vectra to Halfords to buy one of their battery charger/conditioners and that has resolved the problem.

The upside of not using the car everyday is the insurance. Last year I had the car on an unlimited mileage business use policy that cost me £1100. This year I was able to put the car on a classic policy through AON for £440 (and get the 540 insured for £650 through AON as well which was £300 less than the nearest quote !!).

Looking to the coming months, I should be getting more use from the car as the weather gets better, but I can see it spending some time with GT One when funds allow to tidy up the mechanicals and suspension.

Running Report 3 - May 2003

It’s been a sad twelve months for G255WKJ. Well, maybe that’s a little harsh … it’s been a sad first eight months and a happier last four months. The reason for saying this is nothing to do with the health of the car, it’s just that it managed a paltry 486 miles in eight months – I want shooting for allowing such a travesty of motoring justice. But don’t worry, I’ve made up for it in the past four months with almost 1800 more miles on the clock.

I’m not entirely sure how the mileage kept down so low, but I think it was a combination of factors such as a hectic work schedule, a flat battery on a couple of occasions (now remedied with a constant trickle charger !), family commitments, and lousy weather when I did have the opportunity to take the Porsche in preference to the BMW. The upside of this has been no need to get the car serviced, keeping the running costs down. In fact, besides the usual dreaded road tax and insurance costs (themselves under £600 combined), I have only spent money on petrol and £40 on a trickle charger - very cheap motoring, all things considered !

Now that we are rushing headlong towards those sunny days, the car has had a regular dusting down and has been put into regular family use for weekend outings. This is so much easier now that my eldest daughter can sit in the rear seat without needing to use a booster seat, freeing that up for my younger daughter. Yes, I live in a house full of women, but both the girls squeal and laugh with delight when I floor it with the roof down, just like true petrolheads !

One memorable trip was on a beautiful Sunday about six weeks ago when we went to Cliveden near Maidenhead. The sun was shining, the roof was down and everything was right in the world. I did get some funny looks as I drove into their overflow parking area and proceeded to park the car in a middle of a field, but I wasn’t too worried – it is 4 wheel drive after all ! Having spent the day wandering around the gardens, we all had an enjoyable picnic and then took the very scenic (and twice as long) route home. Thankfully the roads were quite empty so I was able to drive the car enthusiastically and got the girls laughing like two demented banshees !

Now that I am using the car more regularly, the little niggles that I had forgotten about are re-surfacing. Things like needing to get the wheels rebalanced as there is a vibration at motorway speeds, also the inside lining of the roof is looking a little sad – does anyone know of a way to replace the lining without having to replace the whole roof ? I suspect not, but worth asking anyway. Also, the engine definitely feels as though it needs some tlc, so it’s off to GT One for the once over in the near future to work out what needs doing and how much it’s going to cost !

Having said all of that, there is still something very special about every drive. As you all know, it doesn’t matter what type of day you have had, good or bad, it only takes a few seconds and a few more revs to put a smile on your face and get the heart racing !