what should I know about driving a 911 in California

Hi folks, A work assignment will put me living in California for the next 6-9 months. Dana Point Area, coming from Michigan where my chance to enjoy my C4S are limited to certain months. Now before everyone piles on about driving year round the issue for me is ground clearance as much of my daily drive does not get plowed on a regular basis. I use a Wrangler for the off season. So the question is this, is there anything special I need to know about enjoying a 6 speed 911 in California> The vehicle in question 6 speed Silver C4S tubi style exhaust, Porsche cup 19s and stock wheels for track days sun roof Black leather interior radar detector Stock CDR23 radio

The only thing special I can think of is how far you can make it up the 1 on the weekends and still be back for work on Monday. It may take multiple tries to really find out the answer. Sounds like a blast, enjoy your assignment.

Get used to the fact that in large swaths of Cali, you'll be one of a zillion people driving a Porsche. Last time we were in So Cal on the PCH, we were rolling behind a Koenigsegg Agera. Seriously though, I spent a summer working in Cali, near Lancaster. It's a great state for driving, so much to see. I literally wore out the paper map I picked up at the state Welcome Center. Make a list of great roads, things you want to see - and then knock them out. My recos - PCH, Sequoia NP, Angeles Crest Highway, Solvang, and a donut at Randy's near LAX. Safe travels, my friend...T

you might wanna check cali DMV iirc they want some paper work for an out of state car staying a set time. they take their pollution laws serious there and their LEO,s may be a tad different that what you are used to. compared to nj ny pa arenas .....cali seemed to have nicer drivers on the roads

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That's because pot is legal there.

Don't call it "Cali" and enjoy your time here.

The big thing about driving in California in my opinion has to do with left turns in "controlled intersections" (intersections with signal lights.) In many places in the US, people don't go out into the middle of the controleld intersection on a left turn, and turn when the light turns red. Instead, they stay in the left turn lane while they have a green light. ACK!!! If I'm behind a person who is supposed to do that, and they don't, I kind of am used to it here in Virginia because most people don't know how to make a left turn. But in California, EVERYONE does this the right way. So don't be "that guy" who sits at an intersection, light green, in the left turn lane, who doesn't pull out all the way to the centerline of the cross-traffic...and turn either when there is no oncoming traffic, or when the light turns red.

Don't give your keys to any valet who is a young, bald, shirtless Russian guy.

I daily drive one of our 911 models every day. I live just north of Dana point... No issues other than traffic. Roads are way better than Michigan. I lived in Detroit, Birmingham, flint, Brighton, Milford... Are you commuting?

I'm pretty sure they drive on the left...

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Be sure your insurance is in effect given your new (albeit temporary) change of address. Be sure you have proof of insurance, current registration, and a current/valid driver license. I do not know what constitutes CA residency but legally you may be a resident and should have the car registered here. In that case it will have to be smog checked. Even if you do not become a legal resident of CA, CA law may require you register the vehicle here. If the vehicle is not legally registered your insurance may not apply. So you have to be careful. You need to check out the dmv.ca.gov web site for info on registering new resident or non-resident vehicles. Traffic is generally always heavy, and even when it is light it is heavy compared to other regions. You have to have your head on a swivel, but super situationally aware, and drive defensively. There are a lot of Porsches here -- well in many of the more heavily populated areas of the state -- but LEOs pay attention to them nonetheless. I've been told we Porsche drivers are held to a higher standard than other drivers, so you have to be on your toes. That said I seldom get pulled over even though I drive M-F 60 miles a day. I have a V1 in my Turbo and it helps but it doesn't make the car invisible nor does it matter if the officer decides to pull you over on some other pretext other than speeding. And even then he can pull you over because he "paced" you or somehow determined you were "speeding". Still I'm not hassled and of course always am calm, courteous, and have all my "papers" in order. Current registration, insurance, valid driver license, and I never ever drive impaired. Also, I obey all traffic laws, come to full stop at red lights before making a right hand turn, and at stop signs, and mind my speed especially on city streets. Given the traffic if you speed on city streets you just end up sitting at the next stop light longer while slower moving traffic that you just zoomed past then pulls up along side you. Be sure you leave plenty of room between your car and the vehicle in front of you. It is not uncommon on the freeway to be traveling at the limit only to have traffic come to a pretty sudden slow down even a complete stop. I'm always prepared but I can often hear vehicles behind me with screeching tires and in the rear view mirror seeing some take to the shoulder to avoid hitting the car ahead. All you can find will be 91 octane gasoline. While not ideal it doesn't seem to materially affect the engine. What else? Oh I never park the car with any valuables showing. If I have any valuables with me -- laptop mainly -- I lock my laptop in the trunk. I slide the V1 out of its holder and disconnect it and put it in a door side pocket. I always always lock the car even when running in a convenience store for just a second. When parking the car and preparing to leave it, or when walking up the car I may be overly cautious but I always take a look around to see if anyone is paying particular attention to me. I never venture into the less desirable areas but one wants to be aware of the possibility of being robbed, or car jacked. Lots of nice driving roads and places to see. I prefer the open vistas of the desert although coast road driving is nice as long as one can avoid the summer/holiday/vacation traffic. Often I'd hit the coast highways in the winter on rainy days but with the long running drought one is lucky if he can have a cloudy day nowadays. Oh, I rely heavily on web site 511.org for traffic conditions here in the bay area. I just checked and one can use it to view traffic conditions on southern CA roads/highways too. If you have to drive any distance -- I use it for my work commute of 30 miles -- it comes in handy to let you know of any congestion due to an accident, road debris, or police activity, or high winds or bad weather.

Check out, Scenic Driving Byways: California , great web site with lots of very nice road trips. You are close to the " Indy 500 " aka the 73 toll road. Do it for fun , not crowded short cut between the 5 and 405 freeways. Let someone else be the rabbit and cops will chase them but you can punch it a bit. Check out PCA LA chapter or Orange County or San Diego. Great resource for info and things to do. PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) during the summer is a pill to be kind. Early in the morning is ok , by 8 - 9 am turning into parking lot , especially on the weekends. So Cal is car crazy and lots of cars shows. Big Euro Car event in a few weeks at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. La Jolla, Newport , Balboa all beckon. Count in Malibu also. Solvang et al on the weekends are great too. It is all about the adventure and enjoying a good ride. The state is truly a car oriented experience top to bottom.

1. Hook up with local pca chapter 2. Get recommendation of good indie if you need it 3. Chp mostly uses k-band and not instant on ..but there are always exceptions - I've seen them using laser. So don't rely 100% on radar ..v1 works great .. I also use waze on long trips .. That can help ...

Start doing some left-leg strengthening exercises. You'll need it for when you get stuck in traffic.

lane-splitting is legal in CA...about the only thing "unique" here that I can think of. otherwise, enjoy the roads and the scenery

Another good source for fun roads is http://www.twistypedia.com Lots of great driving here in southern California.

If you can, make the drive up Ca. Highway 1 - at least up to Monterey. Stop at the Hearst Castle - in San Simeone. One of the most beautiful driver's roads in the world. Oh, don't attempt this on a weekend - or you'll be stuck behind innumerable campers.

Clarification re the CHP's radar band: CHP uses Ka (and some local LEO's use K).

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Hey nice.. I have lived in Dana Point for 30 years. Just relocated to Las Vegas.. You and your Porsche will have a blast. Best weather, great roads and awesome resturants. Enjoy!

If you travel on the toll roads (through Orange County), don't forget to pay the tolls within 5 days (even if you forget, you'll get a warning letter in the mail). Toll Camera takes picture of your license plate. Here's the link: http://www.thetollroads.com/ All tolls are paid online (if you don't have the toll tracking device). Enjoy your stay here in So. Cal (where it's summer time, all the time)!!!!

Thanks to all for the thoughtful feedback this is a great community.

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I think the most important thing to know is that Porsches are a dime a dozen out here, so if you're accustomed to ANY kind of street cred for having a 996, prepare to be disappointed. Beyond that, enjoy. Dana Point is awesome, and PCH (Highway 1) between Dana Point and Seal Beach is a lot of fun to cruise. PCH through Laguna Beach (north of Dana Point) on the weekends has a lot of traffic - but if you cruise it Saturday or Sunday between 9 and 11 AM, ALL of the really nice cars will be out...Lambos, Ferraris, Bentleys, and a good amount of classic sheet metal. The 5 freeway between Dana Point down past the San Onofre nuclear plant and along Camp Pendleton down to Oceanside is the unofficial California Autobahn between 10PM and 4AM. Cruising speed at this time is generally at least 90MPH in the fast lane, sometimes over 100. The speed limit is 65 almost everywhere in CA, 75 in rural areas, so even though everyone else may be going 100MPH, you can still get busted for 20+ over. Don't be that guy. The Grand Prix PCA region - which is north of where you'll be - has a Breakfast Club at the Glory Days Beachside Grill every so often. Google it and see if there will be one while you're out here. If you want to go to the most bitchin' Cars-n-Coffee-type-event ever, look up Supercar Sunday. It's up in LA County, but you have to see it at least once if only to meet some of those people who really can afford $10,000 annual maintenance visits... If you have a concealed carry license, it is probably no good here - do the research, and don't get pulled over with a handgun you're not licensed to carry. We have ridiculous gun laws here; unless you're a LEO, best to leave the guns home. Be sure to post up once you're here - we'll do some kind of San Diego-area meet-up so we can drink some beer and welcome you to the People's Democratic Republic of Kalifornia. If you're a history buff, Dana Point is named after Richard Henry Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast. It's a good read and provides a very interesting picture of what California was like when there were no real cities, just ports to put into for trading furs and the like. The annual Dana Point Tall Ships Festival is an amazing sight - I worked as a cannoneer once during the mock cannon battle between several tall ships, which was epic fun even without cannonballs. Things to be wary of: Parts of oceanside, especially at night (intoxicated marines and gang members); hookers (not in Dana point - just in general. We have lots of prostitution stings); PCH traffic on weekends; traffic on all roads every weekday @ rush hour (7AM-9AM; 4PM-7PM). If you drive into downtown LA (60-70 miles north of where you'll be), traffic ALWAYS sucks. I am not exaggerating. You can find yourself in traffic in LA at 4AM on a Sunday morning. Don't break the carpool rules - the fine when I last checked was $491. Don't drive your 911 to Tijuana. If you go to TJ, do NOT bring a weapon of any kind unless you want to rot in a Mexican prison. Do not try to bribe a Mexican cop - if they are corrupt, they will suggest a recommended bribe. And for the love of God, don't buy any drugs in Mexico and try to bring them back into the US. However, you CAN bring back a 750ML bottle of tequila, which I highly recommend.

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You will love Dana Point. Great open roads but if you head up to LA here are the warnings... Traffic is literally a nightmare... I have lived in LA for 11 years and no matter what time of day whether it be 2am or 2pm there is dead stop traffic. I have 19" rims and I live my life on pothole patrol. Also if your car is lowered you will scrape all over town but if you leave it stock you will only scrape sometimes and will become very good at diagonal angles lol... Beware also of valets and car washes (if you actually are crazy enough to go to one) who don't know how to drive a manual... Crazy I know but I had my clutch replaced and watched a guy stall my car 3 times before I ran down the driveway telling him to "Get out of my car I will park it myself." Now that the negative is out of the way some of the best driving experience lives literally 20 min outside of the city. Look up Angeles Crest. I have never driven a road like it. Also Malibu Canyons can be good during the week but forget the weekends... As for driving you are in a great place. Cheers and welcome!

Aug 6th Super Cars and Coffee in Palos Verdes at the mall off of Hawthorne Blvd and Silver spur. About 40 miles north of you. Next to the Starbucks .... usually. Again a drive through Santa Monica to Santa Barbara on PCH is great. To San Luis Obispo even better on a weekend. With all of these people it will be very good.

Approach angles for parking lots and certain intersections. Otherwise the roads are going to be significantly better than anything Michigan has to offer. You can literally go a week without hitting a pot hole. Also, you're going to blend in. 911s are plentiful in SoCal.

You don't need to register your car in CA unless your are permanently moving here Definitely check out the local PCA clubs. Here in San Diego we have a ton of events. Its around a 45-90 min drive depending on traffic www.pcasdr.org Also you can search for driving events on www.motorsportreg.com If you track your car, there are about 5 nice tracks within a 5 hour drive, most 2-3 hours and 1 less than an hour POC is doing a track weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana in early September and PCA SDR has a DE/TT in Oct We also have our Performance Driving School (PDS) in September. If youhave never done one, it is one of the best events you can do https://www.motorsportreg.com/events...n-diego-731136 There are 100's of miles of great fun roads to drive in So. Ca. Dana Point is behind the Orange Curtain, so YMMV Just kidding, it's a nice place Also NEVER refer to it as Cali! When will you be coming out here?

In case you're wondering, the "Orange curtain" is what many pretentious, entitled highschoolers in Orange County use to refer to the suburban vibe that permeates much of the county. My home town of Fountain Valley epitomizes the "orange curtain" - its city motto is "A nice place to live." Once those entitled kids move out of state or up north and start trying to actually get by in life, they realize that life behind "the orange curtain" wasn't so bad and immediately start working to move back home with Mom and Dad. Back in the day, OC was also a staunchly Republican area in an otherwise rabidly Democratic state - the "orange curtain" also referred to the political climate. Kids move away to Humboldt, burn out a few million synapses, and then move back to OC to get a haircut and go to work. I rode my bike to a "4 more years Reagan/Bush" rally when I was just a wee lad.

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Lets not forget it was the home of B1 Bob as well OC is actually a pretty nice place. Probably the biggest adjustment for you will be the traffic. Basically it sucks most of the time There was a story once (false) that they removed all the street signs in some of the residential neighborhoods in Irvine and Lake Forrest and people drove around for days looking for their homes. All seriousness aside, you will have a great time in So Cal, lots of things to do and of course great weather

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thanks for that.

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You're welcome. To the OP, Here is the link to the to the Super Car Sunday that 5CHN3LL mentioned . http://www.supercarsunday.com/

Just east of you is Ortega Hwy. It's a fun road that's full of twisties out to Lake Elsinore and back, as long as you avoid commuter traffic. Then when you return, you can drink with the locals at Turks at Dana Point Harbor. You're going to enjoy exploring the surrounding areas of your new home.

As you can see, those of us who live in SoCal clearly do not like it. At all.

When I moved to US, I moved to...Dana Point for one year. Salt Creek Grill, Dana Hills High School, PCH, gated community, soccer moms. Was walk on Varsity Singles Tennis. Won the Nellie Gail tournament in the spring, got scholar athlete, and first letter...then moved out.

One more thing, OP - Radar detectors are legal in California. Cops are using laser more often, but KA is still far more frequent (at least in San Diego County) than laser. If you have a detector, bring it, and pay attention to the KA alerts. The highway patrol, especially the motor units, tend to leave their radar on all the time, so you can pick them up from a good distance.

I didn't see it mentioned here. But I like this motorcycle site for good roads... http://pashnit.com/motoroads.htm Ortega can get a bit crowded, but it is a nice road. I've never been, but Palomar comes up a lot in the motorcycle forums and looks a like very fun route. If you're in LA, Angeles Crest, Malibu (aka Mulholland) are the major attractions. If you want a spirited drive, do it early morning or late afternoons during weekends and midday on the weekdays (commuters), otherwise be prepared to cruise. If you want a good drive, you have to make the effort to get to the spots and do it during the right time. Other than that, it's a pretty miserable driving experience...congestion, bad roads, ****ty drivers. So just manage your expectations and be glad when you get the occasional twisty on-ramp or empty hard turn with high visibility. Its annoying, but the right lane is often the fastest in Southern California. Generally, people don't feel obliged to move over if they're slowing down traffic here. Motorcycle lanesplitting is legal in CA, so look out for us in traffic and stop lights. I try to keep it to a reasonable speed and keep the mentality that moving over for riders is a courtesy, not a requirement...but sadly, I'm the minority. Many riders speed excessively in between the lanes and make their displeasure known if you don't move over for them (especially if you're in the carpool lane). Some drivers intentionally block riders, don't be that guy...it's a good way to end up with a broken mirror.

^ Mr. Jonger is correct about the fast lane being slow. We have lots of Prius drivers here who feel that they know best when it comes to what speed we should be driving - so they jump into the fast lane and squat there for endless miles. Fortunately, California does not permit open or concealed carry, so nobody shoots the Priusists.

Watch out for blue-balled dads in minivans who are determined to show you what great drivers they are by closely tailgating your Porsche in rush hour traffic. They will race you at traffic lights, on ramps, dual lane left turns, off ramps and on the Highways.

Great link to car culture in So Cal http://www.socalcarculture.com/events.html

So I have made it to Dana point and now scheduling covered transportation of my 911 C4S

Nice. Welcome to the PDRC.

update, been here a few months and falling into a routine. Long hours at work have subsided so now have a bit more free time to enjoy the California car culture. thanks for the tips and warm welcome