996 newbie questions

After over 20 years of racing I'm considering hanging up my helmet for good and buying a totally road standard Porsche 996; something that I can take my wife and son on days out in, rather than burning money driving around in circles on my own. I have some newbie questions if that's ok: 1. Cable throttle : Having driven lots of cars with eGas/DBW, including two Porsches, I'm keen to avoid it. I understand from my Paul Frere book that early 996s in 1997 and 1998 came with a directly connected cable throttle. Can anyone confirm when the switchover was, and how to tell from photos of cars in the classifieds? Many ads have an engine bay pic and the throttle body is nice and clear - there's a Bosch module attached to it in many photos - is that the electronic throttle stepper motor? Would I see a cable in such photos on an earlier car, or is it hidden? 2. Child Seat : Will a child seat fit in the back? Our son is nearly 4, so I'm hoping to have a good few years left where he'll fit - is that realistic? No isofix of course, but I'm presuming I can use the seat belt? 3. Footwell space : Would anyone be kind enough to measure the passenger footwell width for me? It's not essential, but it'd be lovely to be able to fit my cello in. It fits in most cars unless a transmission tunnel and gearbox housing gets in the way (some FE/RWD cars), but obviously 996s aren't most cars. many thanks

1. My 99 is a cable throttle. The only way to tell is take the airbox off. I could be wrong here and if so I'm sure someone will correct me. 2. Yep. There are a few models of car seat that fit nicely in the back seat on the passenger side and utilize the seat belt. 3. If no one answers this shortly I'll measure mine later.

Thanks Dana, very helpful. I�ve checked the Fr�re book again and I was mistaken: DBW was introduced on the C4 only in 1999, and only came to the base Carrera (RWD) in 2000, along with the newly introduced Turbo.

I�ll just chime in and say that I have no problems fitting child seats in the 996. Not all seats will fit in the rear but many will. Just take the car and do a test fit before buying one. My 11 year old still fits in the back and all kids love riding in the 996! A cello seems a tight fit but I have successfully taken a 7�6� surfboard in the car.

Best bet to fit the cello is to do a GT3-style center console delete.

1. Cable throttle : Having driven lots of cars with eGas/DBW, including two Porsches, I'm keen to avoid it. I understand from my Paul Frere book that early 996s in 1997 and 1998 came with a directly connected cable throttle. Can anyone confirm when the switchover was, and how to tell from photos of cars in the classifieds? Many ads have an engine bay pic and the throttle body is nice and clear - there's a Bosch module attached to it in many photos - is that the electronic throttle stepper motor? Would I see a cable in such photos on an earlier car, or is it hidden? Cable throttle is very clear to see, just open the engine lid and it is right there on the right side of the throttle body. My 99 C2 (build date 7/98) is cable throttle and I like it. Gives good feed back thru the throttle pedal.

Looking forward to have you join the 996 club. I hear what you are saying about the throttle cable, but don't forget that you can get the immediate throttle response of a cable from the ethrottle with a standard software package. It's the first thing you will notice after the software upgrade. Plus you get substantially more power from a 996.2 if thats important. Regarding kids. I carted my kids around in mine for years after the car seat years. They loved it and sat perfectly in the seat with a seat belt. Cant remember the age that they got to be too big for it, but you will have a number of yearsbto use the back seats. As soon as they were too big, the front and back seats were taken out and the gt3 seats and roll bar went in. Wish I could help you with the cello question. But golf clubs fit just fine.

Thank you. From prior experience with a BMW, I'm wary of software upgrades. I paid a lot of money to a company who promised to get rid of that car's delay, and they just made it smaller. Of course, the 996 one may work, but it's a lot of time and money to invest in a car in the hope that such an upgrade is successful. I can work around the heel and toe problems the delay brings (I used to blip before the clutch went down to get the timing right!), but the timing of brake to throttle transitions on corner entry is all messed up and that can't be worked around, and that's a key part of driving satisfaction and pleasure for me - it sets the balance for the whole corner. I've tried to instruct people on track with the lag and it's infuriating when the very thing you want someone to perfect is made difficult or impossible by the car. The other issues you get with BMWs are "smoothing", where it ignores a lot of small throttle inputs, which I find annoying and disconcerting; and non-linearity, where the top of the pedal does more than the bottom (like 997 and 991 steering - why I'm avoiding those models). It's all just a mess and one I'm keen to avoid. I tolerate it on my daily because I need a reliable, economical and spacious commuting and practical car, but on a car bought purely for driving pleasure it's a huge risk to take. It's one reason I've always owned two cars - to escape from these things that ruin driving for me.

I hear you. Funny how track experience influences what you like and don't like as you are negotiating the car around the track. If you are near Chicago, or will be at Road America this weekend for the IMSA race, send me a pm. You are welcome to drive my 996.2 with software to feel the response to measure versus a cable 996. I've driven the cable and ethrottle 996s, as well as 997s and 991s on the track. Never once crossed my mind that I was missing any throttle response on my 996.2 with software in comparison to the other models. What I did think about was that my 996.2 was more fun to drive on the track and more responsive to my inputs than a 997 and 991. The 997 was a bigger version of the analog 996 on the track. The 991 is a big car that just drove itself with the techo wizardry. Fast but no engagement. Don't get me wrong, everyone of the 911s are special and awesome. You just gotta find exactly what you are looking for. Hope you find the perfect one soon!

Thanks GC. Thank you for the kind offer and that sounds fantastic, but I'm in the UK. Yes, we all have different priorities in a car. For me it's all about the controls and how I interact with the car, then after that handling.

Quotes source post: 18283352

It took me close to 6 months to find the best fitting seat that wouldn't cost a fortune and am very happy with the Harmony Defender 360 for my now 4 yo (he was 3.5 when I got it. His legs fit snugly but not squeezed while the seat is pushed all the way back and down. I ran the seatbelt across the seat and it's held in very tightly. Here's a pic for reference. Apologies for the dirt, had the weather mat for snow in the winter.

Quotes source post: 18284699

Having driven several 996s, I agree with this. Actually, I�ve found the 996.2s seem to have a more immediate throttle response than the 996.1s under 4200 RPM, probably due to the additional torque and intake manifold design improvements.

Quotes source post: 18285107

We need to be careful to define throttle response here. When people talk about DBW/eGas lag they mean top of the pedal response, from a closed throttle. This obviously only affects brake to throttle transitions, heel and toe (as I mentioned above) and pulling away from rest (interestingly, BMW fit a clutch delay valve in the linkage to help with this by lagging the clutch by a similar amount, which sadly feels awful and many keen drivers remove it). Once you're on the throttle, DBW is generally fine for adjustments, although is often/usually frustrated by the aforementioned smoothing and/or a non-linear throttle map. The EFi itself actually has a small top of pedal lag as well, even with a cable, because the throttle only opens the airway - you obviously then need fuel, which has to be squirted in and is generally a little slower than a carb sucking it in. I think the DBW lag is caused by an Oxygen reading being taken and a calculation being made on top of the usual EFi process I've just described, but I'm no expert in this area - I just saw a bunch of graphs a BMW owner produced and posted on a forum when he investigated the issue. In theory, DBW needn't have this lag. Most purpose built racing cars nowadays have DBW. My Lotus 2-Eleven did too - all are fine. I've yet to drive a road car that is though, thus my hunt for an early 996.

Gives you a good excuse to test a few out and see.

I recently took a vacation where I drove down south in my 996 and my wife and daughter flew. As a result, we were forced to test out the car seat that I had read was both extremely easy to install and went in with little to no side to side movement. This particular seat was the Britax Marathon Clicktight, which opens up and uses the belt to create a lot of tension on the seat internally. Highly recommended since it is very safe and can be installed in a minute or two. Also appears to be substantially cheaper in the US versus Canada, even with exchange, if you happen to be in the US. Many threads include owners putting towels in to wedge the seat into position, but this seat requires no adjustments of that kind. Pictured below (forgive me for the post-trip dirty interior):

Many thanks to Twitchet and Coussa for the seat suggestions. I�m in the U.K. and unfortunately those seats aren�t sold here. I�m fairly sure they�ll be an equivalent though, so it�s just nice to see two seats in 996s as confirmation of how it works. Headroom looks like it might be a bit tight once they get to 7 or 8 though!

Correct, my 9-year old doesn�t fit with a child seat in the back anymore. But you can remove the seat cushion to create more space. I usually put her in the back without a seat though, that works fine as well.

Quotes source post: 18288309

In the U.K. it�s law that children under 9 years old or 135cm tall (4�5�) must use an additional child seat. I�m guessing therefore they�ll just be a time when we can�t go out as a family, and either my wife or son will be in the passenger seat in the front. I�m guessing it�s not long after 9 that they wouldn�t fit in the back anyway, even without a child seat?

Have you driven a 996 with the electric TB ?

Quotes source post: 18288374

No, but I’ve driven a lot of cars over the years. For Porsches, I’ve driven an early cable throttle Boxster and two later DBW Caymans. The difference for me was night and day, and it is this and other modern traits that I am trying to avoid by owning a fun car for weekends and sunny days. I would honestly like to try a DBW 996 to make sure, because it gives me more choice, but there are plenty of cable throttle examples from ‘98 and ‘99, so rather than take any risks I’m looking at buying one of those. I’ve yet to drive any DBW road car, other than SVA specials like my 2-Eleven, that hasn’t had undesirable characteristics from its DBW throttle. Some are immediately obvious, and some become depressingly apparent over time, thus the risk in a purchase after a short test drive. I have a good daily already, and my second car must be good to drive and devoid of these modern traits - that’s the only reason for me owning it.

Quotes source post: 18283609

It's so funny, I owned my car for a couple of years and never noticed how obvious the cable throttle body was. Now, after your pointing this out to me, I see it every time I open the lid.