DAW

I came very close to buying a very nice Black 2011 manual 997 Gen 2 C2S with the aero kit & 13.5k on the clock from Leeds Porsche for all the reasons you mention., but I couldn’t bring myself to part with the ISF at the time. I had still been keeping a close eye on the market until quite recently with a view to buying, feeling I needed to own one at some point, so I do totally understand the draw. But the more I read & hear the less they appeal as for me the problems always ruin the ownership experience which is a shame - & I fully expect to have issues given my experience with the other German manufacturer’s over the previous 15 years prior to buying the ISF.

I had come to the conclusion through my own experience that owning German manufactured cars outside the 1st 3 warrantied years was usually costly, but I thought Porsche were supposed to be better than the others - clearly not. What a shame as I like other find this sort of stuff completely unacceptable, especially for the 911 which has been developed over such an extended period. Makes me glad I’m now on my 2nd “F”.

In the run up to the recent Quicksilver Exhaust group buy there were discussions on the forum about how the CAT back exhaust might invalidate the warranty. Some of us contacted our local dealerships & the general view they all took was that a CAT back exhaust is a wear & tear item which is not covered anyway & would therefore not invalidate your warranty. But on the suggestion of my dealer I contacted TWG (who run the Warranty) and basically just had the terms & conditions read to me, which of course states that it does not cover modified cars. Dissatisfied with this “ computer says no” view I re contacted my dealership & asked what they do when they have a difficult warranty issue. Apparently TWG have Regional Managers who deal with this stuff & to my surprise they suggested I contact one directly. I have to say he was incredibly helpful and asked me to send him an email with all the issues set out which he would send to their senior guy, who decides on policy, for his consideration & to provide clarification one way or the other. They came back to me on Thursday, (sorry for the slight delay in posting) and the following is TWG’s response:- “I am glad to be able to confirm the attachment of the Quicksilver exhaust on the RC-F will not invalidate the warranty. I have received the following update this morning,” “The use of the non-genuine exhaust DOES NOT invalidate the warranty. However, should there be a consequential failure of a covered item due to the fitment of this product then it would not be covered" “I can confirm this applies to the Lexus original Manufacturer warranty and the 2-4-1 Retail Warranty for all RCF owners.” Result!! & I have to say that I am massively impressed by this as the Regional Manager/TWG were genuinely interested in customers views & that’s not something that happens very often these days, so many thanks to them. Also thanks to Paul (Big Rat) for providing a lot of the additional info re the Quicksilver Exhaust - I will let him fill you in on the info provided by Quicksilver’s M.D. re it’s development with Lexus. Ordered my exhaust on Thursday 👍🏻

Hi Stuart, Just up the road from you and happy to oblige - I am busy for the next few weekends, but will PM you to arrange a suitable time to meet up.

You clearly were👍🏻 I think any owner of an F is someone who is not particularly interested in the biased views of the motoring press or they wouldn’t have bought one in a he first place. For me at the time my reservations about the RCF were mainly about it’s styling which has really only changed relatively reasently - so you were clearly a man of vision 😉. I also found the early depreciation quite alarming as well!! As far as my experience with the RCF - I haven’t driven it enough to sensibly comment on at the moment. I can see why people miss the touch screen from the ISF as the mouse pad in the RCF is not as direct, but the positive to this is that the screen is in a better position when you are driving. Just for your info the extended warranty & servicing is slightly more expensive but not excessively so.

Have a fun day waking up Cheltenham chaps 😉 Looking forward to hearing them👍🏻

Thanks for the Interesting write up on the Evora. Had been toying with the idea of a 400 at some point myself when they were at a more attainable price & good to know the residuals are good. Have to say I’m not sure if I could live with the build quality niggles you mentioned - although I suspect the driving experience would offset it if it’s generally reliable. Funny you mention the RCF weight issue that the press banged on about at the time, because as far as I could tell it was the only major criticism. Yet as far as I could tell few seemed to feel it was relevant to mention the comparable weight of the C63 or the heavier RS5, only comparing it to the M4. Even against the M4 (which usually has carbon ceramic brakes) it’s usually not far off the pace. Having made the change to RCF myself in recent weeks to me it feels more agile & lighter than the ISF did thanks to the better sterring feel. I’m never going to track my car & for every day road use IMO the weight just isn’t an issue. Given what I’d read in the run up to my 1st test drive I was genuinely surprised at how connected I felt from the minute I drove it. Give one a go👍🏻

Hi Stuart, hope you are well. C63 will requires much deeper pockets to run & you also need to do the usual checks for the issues you unfortunately get with the German manufacturers. I understand early C63's had a problem with head bolts & apparently they can be prone to cracking rims. That said they do make a great noise!! I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on your time with the Evora?

Thanks again for helping organise this & new format sounds good. Just hope it doesn’t clash with some key dates in those months & I can still make it 🤞

Sounds more like the service I used to receive from BMW. Pretty disappointing to hear that Porsche can also treat you like that as well.

The F sport white ISF with 13.5k on the clock is my old car & I agree, which is one of the main reasons why I was so tempted by such a good trade in value.

Ouch!! That’s sounds nasty & a good job it wasn’t any lower - it might have needed more than over styling!! Hope you are ok mate.

Exactly - I’m sure the RCF styling is not to everyone’s taste and that’s fine as it doesn’t matter to me in the slightest . I like the M4’s styling, but they are so common where I live that you almost don’t notice them which is a shame. I certainly won’t see another RCF 👍🏻

I like them both, but the new one has clearly moved things on. I took our Civic in for it’s 1st MOT a couple of weeks ago & they had a nearly new Type R for sale at just under 30k. Apparently the styling of the new Civic is not as popular as the old, especially at the rear & they are not selling as well - not that I can imagine it putting off the die hard R fans!! I really like the new shape, especially the sport & R. Haven’t had the pleasure of driving either yet which will have to be remedied 😉

I saw one in the Brit car series last November at Brands run by a factory team running with around 600bhp alongside McLarens & Ferrari 458 GT cars etc which was pretty impressive!!

They are a really nice car. I thought about one a while back but decided my defective back probably wouldn’t survive the experience 😂😂

That makes two of us 😂👍🏻

Currently have a Civic sport as a second car & it’s an absolutely brilliant car to live with & a blast to drive. When I picked it up last year I took the then current Type R out to sort the road tax for the sport. It was one hell of a drive & a lot more refined than the Type R’s of old (exc R track mode of course 😉). Both that car & the current Type R are the bench mark hot hatches, both holding the Ring record for this type of.car in standard production form, & the aero kit all play their part in that. To me the styling makes them look more like a touing car for the road & I like the way they look because it’s not all just for show. That said when I suggested owning one to my wife she said she liked it, but we would look a bit silly getting out of one at our age, so I can see why the styling is polarising. But you only have one life and if it’s what you want go for it!! You won’t care what the styling is like when you are sitting on the inside and are having a blast driving it 👍🏻

Very nice seats 👍🏻 Would never have crossed my mind that they would fit - nice job👍🏻

Hi Steve Realistically, from a time perspective from where I live, anti clockwise around the top I'm afraid. I'm sure is not going to be as much fun as the run up through Sussex though

Lexus Swindon did my car at relatively short notice before I even picked it up. They managed to get the parts in less than a week.

Me also👍🏻

Thanks Martin, Note sure @Big Rat has finished yet - he should be on commission 😉😂

I'm definately joining

All sorted I am free that weekend & have voted for the Saturday, but can do the Sunday if it works better for some reason. Happy to make my own way there, but equally happy to travel with the Essex/Kent members if they want to travel together?