Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Exercising the car

I get my exercise in on the weekends, though it’s not just my own body that receives a bit of work out. Like clockwork, my 911 gets taken out for a drive, rain or shine. Much like how the human body needs movement to stay agile and fit, a car’s mechanicals need to get up to operating temperature periodically to be at its best condition. High-strung sports cars especially aren’t meant to sit stationary for months on end; that’s usually the reason for random gremlins to pop-up. Those cars will be reliable so long as it gets driven.

Besides, I bought the Porsche to drive, and not just a pretty object to admire.

Of course, I don’t commute with the 911, so the only chance to take it for a spin is on the weekends. During the warm Summer months it’s a rather joy to do so, and often times I’d spend both days blasting on the local mountain roads. The darker Autumn and Winter months, however, presents a challenge. My particular 911 is not very fun when the temperatures are low and the skies are raining: the Michelin Cup 2 tires, while magical in fair conditions, are nearly dangerous to drive on in the cold and damp. Indeed, track-focused tires are as good as bald tires if you can’t get heat into them, especially so on sets with considerable mileage (like mine).

So during this time of the year, I only take the 911 out long enough for the mechanicals to get appropriately warm, and for the battery to get recharged. Maybe push the engine out to its redline once or twice to get the secondary cam-profiles involved. Other than that, there isn’t much more to do, especially when it’s raining. Try as I might to find openings in the weather radar, some weekends it’s simply impossible. The 911 still needs to be driven, so I take it as smoothly and gingerly as possible; a quick loop on the local highways does the trick, then it’s parked again for another week.

I won’t have to be so careful once the Cup 2 tires are worn down and I switch to a set of tires that’s friendlier in wet conditions, though the Cup 2s have still got at least 5,000 miles of life left, perhaps more, so I’ll have to suffer through this rainy season with continued trepidation. Unlike my brother who tossed away a perfectly good set of all-season tries for a set of summer tires, I don’t have quite that sort of financial resources. Needless to say, a set of tires for a 911 GT3 is multiples in terms of costs compared to my brother’s Audi A3.

Next year, though; next year we’ll have some fun in the rain.

I got lucky this past weekend with avoiding the rainy weather.

I almost moved out?

One thing I’ve always had in mind is that when I do move out of the house, it has to be some place extremely close to work; close enough to get there in around 15 minutes, whichever the method of transportation. Living in the Bay Area I’m quite familiar with the horrid commutes many people have, and the last thing I want is to join that party. If my living situation is going to change, then decreasing the amount of time it takes to get to work is a must-have criteria. Otherwise, I don’t really see a point: there’s no good to having my own place if I’m miserable from the daily commute.

Problem is, obviously, it’s extremely expensive to rent a spot in San Francisco, much less on the west side of the city where the university is. And let’s not even speak of actually buying a house in the area, a downright impossibility, unless the housing situation changes dramatically, or I hit the lottery. That being said, I browse the rental ads on Craigslist periodically to gauge the market, and to see if anything will pop up that’s reasonably affordable, with superb proximity to work.

Last week, one such place did materialize. A mere 10 minute walk from campus, it was a newly refurbished in-law studio renting for $1,600 a month, all inclusive. Squeaking in at just under the 1/3 of income rule for a lease, the place was eminently affordable, somewhat to my surprise (I guess the market has soften a bit). Of course, the most alluring attribute is the closeness to campus; to be able to simply walk to work is an absolute dream. There’s a mall with a Target and Trader Joe’s only two blocks away, so it could not be more convenience in terms of living necessities, too.

Later that week I went and saw the place (it was indeed lovely), and then started on viability calculations before I officially apply. Unfortunately, the math did not rule in the favor of leasing: I can afford the place, but due to rental costs, I’d be saving very little every month (if at all) - house poor, as they say. The problem is the big financial purchase I made this January: my Porsche 911 GT3. Had I bought a way more sensible sports car, one that doesn’t cost four-figures to keep every month, I think I would have handed in the application this past weekend.

I did think about selling the 911, though that has its own conundrums and difficulties. I unconditionally adore the car, and letting it go would leave a huge gaping spot in my car enthusiasm. The GT3 is suppose to be the ‘forever car’, so selling it after only one year of ownership would be devastatingly irresponsible. Porsche cars hold their values well, but that doesn’t mean they don’t depreciate: my 911 have loss about $20,000 in value since January, a real, tangible decrease if I actually sell the car. Not to mention I’ll never get the five-figure in taxes I paid when I purchase the car back. Some States let you offset the tax if you trade for another car; communist California sadly doesn’t.

It seems I have to see that process through with the 911 until I can make another huge financial move. I wouldn’t call the car an albatross, but I think it would be wise to accelerate paying off the rest of it so I can have some flexibility. New years resolution for 2020, perhaps?

SF Auto Show musings

One of my Thanksgiving traditions is attending the annual SF Auto Show at the Moscone Center, and this year was no different. Being traditionally Asian, Thanksgiving is not really a celebratory holiday for us - I didn’t even know what a turkey is until our family emigrated here - so there’s no big feast at our house. We simply take the few days off to relax, and because the auto show always happens during the last week of November, I take the opportunity to go outside for a bit and look at cars.

The San Francisco show isn’t one of the biggest, and it seems the scale has been shrinking the past few years. It doesn’t help that the major auto show in Los Angeles is around the same time, so some manufacturers aren’t keen to split their resources like that; LA will always get the nod when decisions have to be made. It’s a down year for the overall car market as well, so surely marketing budgets have shrunken down commensurately. This year, there was almost zero presence from European automarkers, though the Jaguar Land Rover group had a sizable display.

Back in my childhood, I would make it a point to see every single car on display at the show, which I’m sure my parents were very happy about. These days I only look at the models that interest me, of which there are a scarce few. Of primary interest this year was to see the new Porsche 911 - 992 generation - for the first time in the flesh, and thanks to Porsche Livermore, there was one on display at the show even though Porsche itself was not an official participant.

So a quick appearance-only verdict on the 992: it’s rather bulbous, but far less offensive than in photographs. It’s smaller in the metal, too. The rear light-bar design language remains polarizing, and for now I still hate it (the rear spoiler in the up position helps it a little). 21-inch wheels are far too big for the car, and the classic 911 “pontoon” front fender shape is largely gone now; the front is nearly flat like the 911 RSR racing car. The 992 is still quintessentially 911, but I wouldn’t put it high on the list amongst its lineage.

It seems it’s not just me who’s keen for the enthusiast cars: even in a time full of SUV popularity, the brands’ more sporting models still get the most crowds. The aforementioned 992 was mobbed by people the entire time I was there, and the same at the Honda Civic Type R and the Hyundai Veloster N displays. This is what a “halo car” is all about: to create excitement and positive association with a brand, even if the customer ends up buying an SUV instead, because that SUV will be of the same marque as the enthusiast car.

It gives me hope that manufacturers aren’t going to abandon the fun cars any time soon. It’s a great marketing strategy.

Yeah this is still a no from me, dawg. Nice shade of green, though.

The early morning drives

Living in a dense city full of cars and traffic, it’s mighty difficult to find space to truly stretch the legs of my beloved sports car. Even the mountain roads gets congested on the weekends; due to hikers, revelers of nature, and people trying to get to the Pacific Ocean. It only takes one not so cooperative driver refusing to pull over for your obviously faster car to ruin what is suppose to be a joyful drive (there always is one). Of course, I can be a dick about it and pass them crossing the double yellow line, but I’m the type to follow rules of the road absolutely, and also I don’t want to reinforce the stereotype of the asshole (junior) supercar owner.

A good strategy to avoid the crowd and traffic is to get up super early and drive the same mountain roads whilst everyone else is still soundly asleep. It’s an especially serene time as well, perfect opportunity for a bit of meditation and reflecting. Driving on city streets and highways with nary another car on the road, backdropped with the subtle haze of glow from the approaching sun dancing with the darkness of the receding night, is something immensely therapeutic. I’d get up before dawn, so that by the time I’m finished with a few hours of driving, I’m greeted with the day’s sunrise (weather permitting, naturally; can’t be sure with San Francisco’s notorious fog).

Well, at least that was what I did with my previous cars. Due to unique circumstances with the 911 GT3, its let’s call it permanent location is not inside the house (we don’t have a garage, sadly). Rather, the GT3 is parked some distance away at a different location, necessitating a 20 minute drive to access. Therefore, to perform an early morning blast on the mountains, I have to add at least 20 minutes on top of the already ungodly hour I’d need to wake up. In my twenties perhaps this would be doable (as if I could afford a Porsche in my twenties), but nowadays with me paying close attention to the quality of sleep, it’s not an enticing proposition.

Just one of the many idiosyncratic realities of owning an expensive car in a crowded urban city.

I met the first owner of my GT3!

A bit of a surprise treat this past weekend: I met the very first owner of my 911 GT3.

It was a surprise because the chance meeting was completely unsolicited, and the car meet I attended on Saturday wasn’t even a Porsche-specific event. While cars costing into the six-figures aren’t exactly common, a plain GT3 is not in the realm of limited-edition Ferraris, where a car’s provenance is immensely important and therefore previous owners are well documented. Porsches produces thousands of 911s each year, so I held zero expectations of being able to meet the first owner of my particular GT3.

It’s a small world indeed.

I knew something was strange when I saw a dude taking a keen look at my GT3 when there was more interesting metal parked in the same lot (a GT3 of the RS variety, for instance). After ascertaining that it was me who owns the car, the guy followed up with a few questions pertaining to the GT3’s origins, and it matched up with what he had speculated: this was the very car he used to own. He had bought it from a Colorado dealership back in April of 2015, and after 8,000 or so miles the GT3 was then sold to a local dealership, putting that money towards a McLaren 570S.

There’s a second owner of my GT3 sandwiched between me and the guy I met on Saturday, and after this serendipity I have some hopes of meeting that person as well. It turns out the Porsche enthusiast community in Northern California is rather small.

A normal person reading this may think it ridiculous that there’s people like me who gets excited about meeting the previous owners of our cars; I get it, but a 911 GT3 is not an ordinary car. It was quite informative and special to chat with the first owner on why he configured the car as he did: picking Sapphire Blue Metallic to stand out in a sea of white and silver colored 911s, and forgoing the option for lightweight buckets because it would’ve delayed delivery for six months (one sympathizes). Super geeky details made interesting because the ordering process for a GT3 - or any 911 for that matter - is intricate and specialized. As the third owner, I never got to experience that process, so it was fun to hear the original owner tell his story.

I received some constructive information, too: the GT3 upon delivery was flat-bedded to a shop for paint protection film, so the paint underneath ought to be absolutely pristine. After the film application, the entire car – including the wheels – received ceramic coating; great news for me because I can stop waxing the car during my wash routine. Lastly, the first owner confirmed he took the car to the track regularly, which doesn’t bother me at all because first that’s what the GT3 is developed for, and secondly these cars are paradoxically more prone to break when it doesn’t get driven hard.

911 GT3s are driver’s car in the truest sense, and I’m glad my car have received the proper amounts of exercise since it’s left Zuffenhausen. Meeting the original owner and learning about his chapter with car gave me more confidence and admiration for my GT3, and I’m grateful for this happy coincidence.

The green lizard was a popular attraction.

718 Cayman GT4: atmospheric 4.0-litre!

It would appear that natural-aspiration is not quite dead just yet.

Porsche a few days ago announced a new generation of the Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder, the top, most sporting models of their respective range. The biggest revelation from the news is the return of the atmospheric motor to the 718 chassis. Not only that, it’s also a return of the flat-six engine to the Cayman/Boxster twin, with this generation of cars having switched entirely to the much-maligned turbocharged flat-four.

Too bad it’ll cost you six figures to get back the good stuff.

Nevertheless, in this day and age of turbocharged this and electrified that, any new sports car that’s still got an atmospheric beating heart is worth celebrating. The day may arrive when the Porsche GT product line will only feature turbocharged engines and or hybrid drivetrain, but for the time being the unencumbered sounds of natural-aspiration remains ever so sweet. Porsche flat-sixes that revs to the sky is precisely why I bought a 911 GT3.

A not insignificant amount of enthusiasts was hoping Porsche would simply transplant the 4.0-litre unit serving duty in the GT3 and GT3RS into the new GT4 and Spyder, though it was always a bit of a fool’s wish. It’s difficult to see how Porsche could’ve done it without hugely inflating the already hefty purchase price, and more importantly, not encroach on the GT3’s performance capabilities. It seems the Cayman will forever be neutered in service of the 911 big brother.

Indeed, this new 4.0-litre flat-six engine is not of the vaunted 4.0-liter badged 911s of prior: it’s a heavily reworked motor based on the turbocharged 3.0-litre currently serving duty in the 911. The enlarged engine, sans turbochargers, makes 420 horsepower and will spin to an 8,000 rpm redline; all very exciting stats in a vacuum, but compared to the supremely characterful, motorsport-derived 4.0-litre in the 911 GT3, an engine that goes to 9,000rpm, it’s honestly a bit pedestrian.

Relativity is a funny thing.

So I’m sure there’s some disappointment going around, though we should really detach and look at the overall picture: the atmospheric flat-six is back in the 718 chassis – arguably the purest sports car platform Porsche produces. Yes, it’s a great shame one must spend top money to avoid the charmless turbo four; though for a company that will charge you hundreds just to get the seatbelts in a different color, it’s fairly on brand, isn’t it?

An even more delicious prospect: placing this new 4.0-litre engine of the GT4 in a variant of the 992, perhaps a 911 T. That would give me something to ponder about in relation to my GT3…

Michelin Cup 2 tires are phenomenal

The San Francisco Bay Area is experiencing a heatwave, one of the few each year that balances out all of the parties we’ve been having in enjoying our typical mid 50’s weather, no matter the season. This particular heatwave is quite severe, though: not since Labor Day of two years prior - where temperatures in the city reached beyond 100 - has it been this bad. 94 degrees for three days straight really puts a strain on the nerves.

Especially when buildings in San Francisco aren’t equipped with air-conditioning.

Indeed, every time one of these hot weather patterns rolls around, I always declare that this will be the year I finally buy a portable air-con unit for my room, but it still hasn’t happened yet. Admittedly the not insignificant financial outlay for a machine only to be used a few days out the year is not so easily palatable. Add to the fact that usually by the time I’m ready to click buy, normal cool weather have returned, inducing me to procrastinate.

Let’s see if this year will be different, and I may have a secret weapon. Lately I’ve been super diligent on ensuring I get the appropriate quality of sleep, and a huge factor towards that is room temperature. Apparently, humans are evolved to get better sleep when the weather is cool (I certainly do during the winter months), so needless to say the last few days of this heat have not been conducive to me falling into slumber quickly; not when the bedroom is hovering in the 80s at midnight.

So, spend money to assist with something we do for a third of our lives; makes getting an air-con unit reasonable and justifiable, doesn’t it? I might get a chiliPad too while I am at it.

This first heatwave of the year did allow me to take the GT3 out this past weekend, the first chance to assess just what the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires can do when it’s within its optimal operating temperature. The verdict? So. Much. Grip. Astonishingly so. Only now did I realize that driving the Porsche around in San Francisco’s typical middling weather gives almost no information on the Cup 2’s true capabilities.

Is it possible to fall in love with a set of tires?

With the Michelins properly lit up, the GT3’s front-end is simply mighty. The communicative beauty of the 911’s steering shines in letting the driver know via the hands the grip level of the front tires, and in this maiden outing in hot weather, I’ve never felt more confidence-inspiring sensations through the GT3’s rim. I can truly trust the front-end: the tires dig and bite into the tarmac, no matter the amount of steering lock is inputed. The 911’s inherent understeer is still present, but it’s easily correctable when the tires are willing to do the work.

Obviously, the enormous 12-inch wide rear tires welcome the hot weather in equal measure to the fronts. Thanks to the engine being situated behind the rear-axle as is its signature, the 911 offers traction I dare say no other rear-wheel drive car can match. The Cup 2s with proper heat sticks to the ground immensely, but reassuringly so, allowing super fun mid-corner adjustability. Throttle-steer to tuck in the nose a bit or kick the rear-end out for some brief slip-angles: it’s all possible in the GT3, and easily accessible.

The 911 chassis reveals itself splendidly when the tires are on, and I’m ironically eager for more hot weather so I can sample the Cup 2s further it its absolute element. It’s so much fun.

Maybe I will get that air-con unit after all.

From my friend who’s traveling in Europe.