[Josh (PA)]

Just a quick update on the 911 ownership.

We've had the car for about a month and half and have put about 1200 miles on it. 300 was the drive home and the rest have been joy ride loops to nowhere. We do really enjoy it and are getting more and more comfortable with the idea of owning it long term.

Its a great GT car, very engaging and 'playful' while still being comfortable to drive from Point A to B. I quite enjoy how much fun it is at slow speeds. My previous experiences with Porsches all left me feeling cold, they were very 'good' in a clinical way, but didn't make me smile. Maybe I'm just getting used to the feel, or maybe I just needed more time behind the wheel, but I giggle sometimes when I'm going under a bridge or around a tight corner.

Some other observations I'm surprised by:
The headlights are awesome. Very bright with a great beam pattern.
There is A LOT of leather in this car. It came with the extended Natural Leather package. I detailed it the other day for the first time and was shocked when I kept finding more and more leather pieces that needed conditioned (the leather was very thirsty).
They did a good job blocking out 7th gear so you only access it when you really want to. 99% of the time the gearbox acts like a 6th speed.
Some things are very smart. The E parking brake automatically disengages when you shift into gear and engages when you park. If you stall just put the clutch in and it re-starts.
The way the rear seat backs fold down to create a carpeted parcel shelf is nice and the frunk is a decent size
The finish on the inside of the convertible top is great. They use semi-rigid panels that feel almost as good as a coupe.

My biggest complaint is the PCM system (navi/music, etc.) is not very intuitive and doesn't even come close to matching the usability of the I-Drive (v3 or v4) system in my 135 and x5. Simple things like there is no 'random' function for the music database. You can't play an Artist, only an Album. It is a PITA to save an address in the maps. Things like that. Pretty minor annoyance but they have a lot of work to do on their functionality to catch up with other mfgs. It does have Carplay, but being an Android guy I haven't tried it yet.

Other negatives: The bose stereo sound sucks. The tweeters are super harsh, there is very little mid range and mid base. The low base is fine, but the brutalness of the tweeter sound makes it unpleasant to turn music up. This is worse when the top is down I assume because the low frequencies can't reverberate off the roof. The Pirelli tires are both very loud and not very grippy, especially when cold. They also have a very pronounced 'acorn effect' when you first drive off in it where the front wheels skip/hop a bit and it feels like you are driving over acorns. I had noticed it in the 981 we rented, so it didn't petrify me when I first felt it in my car, but it did send me on a google rabbit hole trying to find the root cause (the ackerman effect of tires tracing slightly different arcs).

I've hard wired my radar detector so far and I've ordered the SMARTTOP module so I can put the top up and down remotely. Its a lot easier getting in and out when the top is down. I've been very careful not to drag myself over the seat bolsters on the 18 ways. Having the ability to put it up after we are out of the car will be nice (along with the slew of other usability features it offers).

Its at the dealership now getting the water pump and door pocket latch fixed under warranty. I noticed these shortly after I picked it up and wanted to get them taken care of along with the PA inspection.