New Owner Observations

Beechwood Porsche finished installing the bra Monday evening and I picked it up for the after dark, 1/2 hour drive home. The Xenon headlights are very bright and have a wide field, which is good as we have LOTS of deer in the area I live in.

Yesterday, the little woman took a half day off work and we went for a drive. I picked a direction and we drove for an hour, then came home a different way. During the trip we got several shouts of, "Nice car!" We encountered only one Porsche along the way, a red 995 or 996. Later, we also passed a red <'05 Boxster. I know of only six other Boxsters in my county, and mine is the only Aqua Blue one.

Bra: The installer did a good job; I can't see the bra-line unless I am standing to the side, or within 2-feet of the front. The material used is not 3M, but I can't remember the name. I talked to the installer while he was doing a new Lamborghini and was told that the material he uses is thicker and stronger. The Lambo was having the entire front-end clip, mirrors, and door edges done, and would take 6-hours to complete. Unfortunately, the bra takes 7-days to cure and I can't wash or wax that portion of the car until next Tuesday. This didn't prevent me from washing, claying, and applying 2-coats of Zainos polish to the back 2/3rds of the car. The windshield was cleaned with Invisible Glass.

PDK: It shifts smoothly on its own, but I enjoyed shifting it manually, except for the two times I went the wrong way. Thankfully, I shifted at 3K so the Tach only went to <6K each time.

Tires & handling: The Michelin PS tires hold the road well and I took curves and corners at much far higher speeds than I would have in a normal car. Steering is tight and the car moves in any direction I want with only a slight movement of the wheel.

Ride: I expected a very rough ride with the 19" wheels, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't bad at all. Perhaps it was because my regular car is an SUV or that I drive a Dodge Charger at work, which also has a stiff suspension. I was going to buy at set of 18" wheels, but at $5k not including the tires, 19" wheels are just fine for now.

Car Problems To Work Thru: The car is decently optioned and has just about everything I might want. Unfortunately, it came w/o manuals, so learning how things work is pure guesswork at this stage. The books are supposed to show-up in two weeks.

One problem I am having is that the PCM recognizes my Verizon iPhone, but won't load the address book into memory, and I can't figure out how to manually make entries into it. I may also have to wait to program the Homelink, which is a minor pain.

The Cruise Control is non-intuitive and a bit confusing.

Lastly, I can't figure out who to check my oil. I know it is done electronically on the dashboard, but haven't found that display.

I did find the TPMS and saw that the left rear tire was overinflated 3lbs more than the right, and a manual tire pressure gauge confirmed it. Interestingly enough, the rear tires heat-up as I drive but the fronts stay right at 34lbs.

Permagrin: We were both smiling throughout yesterday's drive and strangers' accolades didn't hurt. I can see why Boxster owners are loyal to their cars. I was going to wash and add a third coat of Zainos, but have decided to goto town for a short drive and lunch. The third coat will come later.

I joined PCA and the local chapter I will be in (Northern Ohio) is coincidentally have a new member meet-and-greet dinner Saturday night at Beechwood Porsche. We will be there.

We can't wait for our first BRBS, especially the drive down. Whoopee!



Where is the bra?




Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

Is that the first drive excitememtn never seems to fade!

Here is a link to what Porsche calls the iManual

[www.porscheownersmanuals.com]

Enjoy the new car,

Lee

You can search the iManual

[www.porscheownersmanuals.com]

I check it after filling up with gas, it only takes about 45 seconds to read the oil level.

Lee

Nope, although I offered. I also told her that she could drive it to work *once* if she started. The caveat was that if anything happened to it in the parking lot, not only would I execute her, but also anyone parked within 5-spots of the car.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

for the oil, the engine must be running and warm enough. In the winter, my 4 mile trip to work doesn't cut it. You check it in idle and use the OBC stalk and bull in for the menus. Then use the stalk up or down to the check oil setting, then pull the stalk towards you again to engage that function. Depending on various factors, it could take less than 10 seconds, but sometimes more than a minute. I do mine when i park in the garage, or pull up to a gas station so that i know the ground is level. Please note, the oil guage that comes up is not for the entire amount of oil in the car. I believe if all the bars are empty, that means you are quart low, so don't be down two "blocks" and assume two quarts of oil. Maybe a half a cup or so per block. At least that's the way it is in my 997, which until recently really "drank" some oil.

we check it with engine switched off.

Mine usually automatically displays the oil level after a fuel fill up.

I figured out how to check the oil. It is a menu selection on the dashboard and works once the engine is at operating temperature. There is a countdown timer displayed while it looks at the oil, and the timer took 45- seconds for me when I asked it.

I got the owner manuals today but haven't gotten had a chance to look at them.

Two interesting things the salesman told me I like everyone to comment on:

1. Porsche says to change the oil no sooner than 10k miles or once a year.

2. The only gasoline to buy is: Shell, ?, and Marathon.

BTW Last week when I got the car, there were five others for sale; now all but one are gone.

Top tier gas list:
TopTier

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2012 06:10PM by KevinR-MedinaOhio. (view changes)

Basically, I noticed that the last time the oil was changed was last July and I wanted it changed at the dealer's expense during their inspection. He said it was not necessary unless 10k miles or one year had elapsed, per the Porsche maintenance schedule. I plan to take it to an indie and get it done next week.

So my choices of oil are Mobil 1 and?

And what weight do you all recommend? It will be driven daily but not tracked.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

Quote
KevinR-MedinaOhio
I figured out how to check the oil. It is a menu selection on the dashboard and works once the engine is at operating temperature. There is a countdown timer displayed while it looks at the oil, and the timer took 45- seconds for me when I asked it.

I got the owner manuals today but haven't gotten had a chance to look at them.

Two interesting things the salesman told me I like everyone to comment on:

1. Porsche says to change the oil no sooner than 10k miles or once a year.

2. The only gasoline to buy is: Shell, Sunoco, and Marathon.

BTW Last week when I got the car, there were five others for sale; now all but one are gone.

With my 996 Turbo I have to check the oil with the engine running at idle and warmed up but the most time it takes is 20 seconds, and this only if I race the engine just before I try to check the oil level. The countdown counter starts at 20 and counts down. (If the rpms are above idle, or the engine too cold, or the car not level enough the reading is not allowed.)

But most of the time it takes just 5 seconds. I pull into a parking space and make sure lights and other things are off and concurrently with that action use the on-board computer stalk to trigger an oil level read and 5 seconds later there it is.

For (1) check/read the owners manual carefully. I believe there is no caveat against changing the oil before 10K miles. What the manual probably says is the oil should be changed every 10K miles or once a year if you do not drive 10K miles in one year. If there is a warning about changing the oil too early then of course obey it.

(When I bought a new 08 Cayman S I changed the oil at 750 miles and again at 1400 miles and again at 2000 miles (at the end of break in).

For (2) you can run any gasoline as long as it is unleaded, has 10% (or less) ethanol, and is of the proper octane rating.

Try to stick to name brand/top tier gasoline and buy gasoline from a busy station to get the freshest gasoline. Word I get is premium gasoline can go stale quicker than lower octane grades of gasoline.

Now in your area one brand of gasoline may have a blend that your engine does not like so you can experiment and see if you can notice any difference. Overall my experience is just staying with name brand gasoline (avoiding the supermarket/discount gasoline) and buying gasoline from a busy station gives me the best experience with my Porsches. For me most of the time this works out to using Shell (V-Power but in CA 91 octane is all that is available) because a Shell station is handy to my home, offers competitive prices -- almost always a few cents per gallon cheaper than Chevron or Unocal or 76 stations that are within a block or two of the Shell station. But sometimes around town or out and about in the bay area I should say I'll use any name brand gasoline and I haven't noticed any problems.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I can only relate what I saw. However, it could have been because the engine wasn't warmed up before I asked for the oil check. When I take it out Saturday, I'll let it warm up, then check the oil level and see if it is done faster.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2012 10:16PM by KevinR-MedinaOhio. (view changes)

As I said in my post, sometimes mine is more than 45 seconds to read the oil. I believe it depends on many factors to allow oil time to drain back down to where the gauge is located.

As far as frequency of oil changes, they used to be every 15,000 or once a year, which ever came first. I'd follow the recommendations in the manual, as they may have changed do to some engine failures in late 90s, early 00 cars. For newer cars, use the 5W 40 weight and once the car gets older, drop to 0W 40. Porsche has a marketing agreement with Mobil One, so that's why they say to use it, but if you don't, just go with a good synthetic. These cars don't use basic oil. If you are doing it yourself, buy a boat load as they take something like 9 quarts to fill up.

Brand of gas doesn't matter, it's the octane that does. Again, that will be in the manual, but I use 93 and get it from Hess because the Shell near me always run a good 4 cents a gallon more for the good stuff. I find Exxon to be the most expensive, but sometimes they have a 10 cent a gallon discount on Thrifty Thursdays. Just don't use Citgo, they are Commies (Venezualan owned and funded).

Quote
KevinR-MedinaOhio
I can only relate what I saw. However, it could have been because the engine wasn't warmed up before I asked for the oil check. When I take it out Saturday, I'll let it warm up, then check the oil level and see if it is done faster.

how much time has gone by since the engine was shut off and before it was shut off how long the engine ran, really how hot it got before being shut off, the oil level measurement system may require 45 (or more) seconds to deliver a reading.

I've seen anywhere from nearly max the (59:59) to just 5 seconds. I do not bother to check the oil level if the timer indicates the oil check is more than 5 seconds into the future.

Even if the timer just shows 5 seconds I'm aware that if the previous trip was short so short that the engine did not up to full operating temperature (and this can take 10 or more minutes of running) I might (make that will -- force of habit) check the oil level but I take the level reported with a grain of salt, knowing that level reported will be lower than actual.

Also, I take into account the levelness of the car.

AFAIK, the Boxster has no level check and I could check the oil level with the car upside down. I do know that for instance when I park the car in front of the local Post Office which has the car dipped quite a bit to the right (the road has a pretty good crown in that area) when I check the oil level it will show bars lower than it does when I check the oil level with the car on the level. In fact a few times the oil level display has flashed indicating a low level but this is how much the level of the car affects the oil level reading obtained. (Front or back out of level does not have nearly as much affect on the oil's level.)

Check the oil level before the 1st trip of the day, provided of course where the car is parked is level or you have characterized the affect the out of level condition has on the engine's true oil level.

After a gas tank fill up is a good time -- provided the engine was up to full operating temperature when it was shut off just prior to the refueling stop -- because gas station drives at least next to the pumps are pretty level.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I'm not sure if Porsche bench tests every engine, with a subsequent draining and refill of fresh oil, but the age-old wisdom is to replace it after break-in, say, 1000 miles or so. Yeah, I know the filter should catch metal particulates, etc, but still...

place that knackered the drain plug tool bit hole the plug thread wear and the thread wear of the oil drain sump plate hole is negligible. I probably would have been able to use that original drain plug forever.

I know from what I recall seeing in the oil/filter element of my new Cayman engine's oil and oil filter I'm glad I did an early oil/filter change. The engine probably would have been ok, because the stuff was contained/caught in the filter and filter housing but I felt better after the oil/filter change.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I'll give you a call early next week and see if we can meet somewhere to chat.

Quote
MikenOH
I'll give you a call early next week and see if we can meet somewhere to chat.

That's fine. I'll buy lunch.

Kevin

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

With extensive research, I found no way to get contacts from the iphone into my CDR-30.

However, if you have a 4S, you can use SIRI through the unit, eliminating the need to enter contacts.

Congrats, and excellent choice of model/color/everything

(Mine: [s7.photobucket.com])

Everyone's already covered all the salient issues...so some minor comments:

1. The 'puter won't let you over-rev, so don't sweat it.

2. I sweated the 19s myself, since there are a lot of less-than-ideal road surfaces in the Boston area, but it hasn't been much of an issue. While I'd prefer the option to soften the ride (a la PASM), I gave up looking for a PASM-equipped specimen because I got the impression that even on the softest setting, the Boxster isn't much softer than the only setting for non-PASM-equipped cars. So basically, Boxsters are tightly suspended, end of story. I do my best to avoid the bumpier roads. But man, when the roads are smooth and beautiful (such as during our Boston-to-Burlington, VT via I89 trip last week), you're in automotive nirvana. (Of course, right now you're there all the time, which is as it should be!!)

3. Re. the clear bra: Be careful, I've found that it scratches really easily. If you try to wipe it down the way you might wipe down the paint to remove some scum, it can put scratches into the film that are a real PITA to deal with. Just a head's up!

4. I also have a Verizon iPhone and have had no issues whatsoever with the PCM interfacing to it. (But lately I've kept the Bluetooth on the phone turned off, so that it doesn't conflict with the mating habits of my Nolan motorcycle helmet when it tries to talk to the transmitter plugged into the stealth cordless Solo lurking in my tank bag. But that's another story...)

5. Enjoy!!!!!

Quote
Leor ('09S, North of Boston)
4. I also have a Verizon iPhone and have had no issues whatsoever with the PCM interfacing to it. (But lately I've kept the Bluetooth on the phone turned off, so that it doesn't conflict with the mating habits of my Nolan motorcycle helmet when it tries to talk to the transmitter plugged into the stealth cordless Solo lurking in my tank bag. But that's another story...)

The phone mates ok, but the Phonebook refuses to transfer and from what the manual says, there is no way to manually enter phone contacts and store them.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

Leor,

It looks like we have exactly the same car.

Where did you get the Roadster Bag? It looks handy and I need one.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.