En route to Richmond, Virginia. Home to great BBQ, big tobacco, and the former headquarters of the Confederacy. It's hot, humid, and laid back. It's not a big city, maybe 200,000 people, but it has a definite air about it of tradition, the real American South, and oozing charm. My host for the day, Tom, the owner of the 911 I was to look at, simply radiated all of these qualities. A modern day Rhett Butler in the opinion of this girl from New York. From the time we walked into his beautiful home to the time I said "I want to do this," we talked cars: Porsche, Lexus, Audi, BMW. He and I went for a long drive, changing drivers along the way and he ended up giving me essentially a Porsche driving lesson. So much fun! I admit I was a little nervous because the thing had so much more power than my BMW. He explained that the shift was probably gentler than I presumed and it certainly was. "Don't wrench it-- it'll glide into the next gear." And it sure did. "You got it- now let's rev it up to 3500 and shift up." Again. Just plain fun driving through Richmond's gorgeous west side of older stately homes and greenery, and out past the city limits. Ok, he advised that I needed to learn to engine brake better so that I wouldn't wear out the brakes sooner than necesssary. Everyone has an opinion about this. But I tried it. I can do it no problem, and have been learning to more than I used to on my old car, rather than pulling it into neutral then braking.
As we drove he explained some of the intricate electronics it had to monitor tire pressure, oil, fuel usage, and many other things. This car does not have a dipstick. Rather, you measure it's oil level electronically. Yet it still had an analog tachometer, fuel, temperature, and other displays, another thing I love about Porsche design- it's simplicity and austerity. Not too many distractions so you can focus on driving.
When we returned to Tom's house we went through the car front to back. He showed me the trunk (in the front end), battery, tire inflation kit--these don't have a spare-- more features in its console and controls, and the engine, which on Porsches is in the rear. The rear tires tend to wear out faster than the front on these cars as a result, but that's just part of the territory. I was pleased it had manual seat adjustments. I know many people want electric seats but when the motors wear out then you have an expensive and unnecessary problem. One of the things I loved the most about this car was the wrap around leather seat design. It makes you feel snug and more plugged in to the vehicle. I had driven almost the same model about 4 years earlier with those seats, and I loved them then. In contrast, one of the models I had driven at the northern Virginia dealer did not have that feature, and I felt like I was sliding around in the cabin the whole time.
Together Tom and I went through its service records, and I visually inspected it. I already acquired a carfax report for it and no accidents. He had obviously taken meticulous care of it. It was still under warranty so Tom agreed to take it to his mechanic for a final thorough check the next week. I had made up my mind.
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