GT3 Diaries

Intro: 2015 Porsche 911 GT3

Well, that didn’t take long at all. Introducing my very own 2015 Porsche 911 GT3, named ‘Spirit’.

Armed with information on what I am looking for spec-wise in a 911 GT3, the search began in earnest on the Internet. While I was entirely prepared to scour the whole country for the appropriate used sample, my fingers were definitely crossed that something local would crop up. The GT3 is expensive enough as is; if I can avoid having to pay for a flight and or a car shipped to me, that would be most ideal.

I had planned to start on Autotrader, it being the biggest online car shopping site, but I found out Porsche itself has a pre-owned website of its own, showing the used inventory within its dealership network. This is just as well because the terms of my LightStream loan stipulates that I can only buy the car from a dealer, no private parties. So, I input the parameters - a 2015 911 GT3 - into the portal and hoped for a good result.

A quick sidebar on why in particular a 2015 model year car: the engines in 2014 GT3s have a small tendency to catch on fire, so it’s best avoided. On the other hand, the 2016 GT3s have yet to depreciate down to my price range.

As luck would have it, the first result that popped up on the search is the blue beauty pictured above. This GT3 was located at Porsche Fremont, which is just across the Bay from San Francisco. On first impression, this certified pre-owned 2015 GT3 ticked-off a few big wants on my list: steel brakes, satin platinum wheels, and a color that isn’t black/gray/brown. It was looking good thus far.

Next, I did a search of the car’s VIN. Services like VIN Analytics can reveal which month/year a car was made, exactly how it is specced, and the exact date it was sold to the first owner. It’s an invaluable tool when shopping for Porsche cars because of their typically immense options list. Before making the trip to Fremont, I needed to know precisely what’s fitted to this GT3.

Turns out this Sapphire Blue Metallic car is optioned rather nicely, without too much ostentatious items to inflate the price. The rest of my must-haves and must-not-haves were immediately satisfied: extended range fuel tank, front axle lift, and Sound Package Plus; no lightweight bucket seats, and no Sport Chrono Package. In addition there’s some fluff options that I wouldn’t have paid for, from the nice to have: full LED headlights, factory navigation, and aluminum pedals; to the superfluous: full leather/Alcantara interior, grey seatbelts, and leather-wrapped steering wheel.

This 2015 car is in as perfect a spec as I can wish for; the only way it could be better is if the exterior was in Guards Red or Carrera White. But beggars cannot be choosers when it comes to used car shopping, and I was somewhat desperate to find a suitable car as quickly - and nearby - as possible, so I can move on to other things. This Sapphire Blue sample will suffice nicely.

Since the car is certified pre-owned, I did not push for an independent inspection. Porsche Fremont is well known amongst Bay Area Porsche owners for its trustworthiness, so I took their CPO inspection checklist on their word. Still, one must never buy a used car without first putting eyes on the actual vehicle, so a visit to the dealership was next.

I was happy to see the car parked inside the showroom and not outside against the elements. With nearly 24,000 miles on the clock, this blue GT3 was a bit of a driver, considering it was produced rather late in the model year - February 2015. This didn’t bother me at all: these type of cars are meant to be driven, and the examples that get regularly exercised tend to visit repair shops far less frequently. I’d rather buy this than some other 2015 GT3 with mileage still in the four digits.

The whole front-end of the GT3, including the mirrors and A-pillars, were wrapped in paint protection film, which is a nice bonus. I took my time looking at all aspects of the car inside and out, and found it to be solid overall. There’s no overt paint blemishes I could find on the paint, and all four wheels are free from curb damage. Inside, the driver seat bolster does look a little worn for the mileage than I’d like, perhaps the previous owners were more rotund than my 5’10” 170 pound frame. The leather isn’t broken through, though, so it’s something I can live with. Besides, the rest of the interior is in mint condition.

The only thing left was the test drive. The goal wasn’t to flog the car mercilessly - there will be plenty of time for that once I’ve bought a GT3, but instead it’s to check for any unusual noises, mainly interior squeaks and rattles. I’m happy there were none to be found. I did take one opportunity - as you do - to rev the 3.8-liter flat-six all the way to its 9,000-rpm redline. It was, in a word, intoxicating. That high pitch, wolf-like howl to a brilliant crescendo was everything I’ve ever wanted.

The brief drive allowed me some initial impressions of the car, too. The steering is surprisingly heavy, considering 60% of the weight at the back, and the 245 section front tires are relatively small compared to the massive 305 section rears; it does feel great to the hand, though. There’s plenty of low speed chatter emanating from the gearbox, and the engine rumbles quite steadily at idle - the feel is pure motorsport. When cold, the steel brakes are alarmingly lacking, but stops with an expected vengeance once warmed up.

Satisfied the blue GT3 checks all the right boxes, I decided to go ahead with the purchase. One hour later, I drove away from Porsche Fremont piloting my dream car. These are the sort of days when car enthusiasm is at its most magical.

And thus brings to a conclusion the journey from deciding to buy a 911 GT3 to actually acquiring the car. In the coming months and years the GT3 Diaries will consist of my ownership experience with this GT3 (will I get ruined by the Porsche tax?), and the roads and locales I will be driving it to. At the end of every month there will be car magazine-style long term updates. Stay tuned!

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Date acquired: January 2019
Total mileage: 23,775
Mileage this month: N/A
Costs this month: N/A
MPG this month: N/A

Financing a 911 GT3

Buying a Porsche 911 GT3 of any vintage is an expensive endeavor, especially if you’re like me and prefers a model made in this decade. Spending six figures on a fun sports car is far from the usual automotive purchase, and I’m most certainly not well enough financially to carelessly drop such amounts of coin. The GT3 represent the prototypical car enthusiast “dream car” for me, and as such it does involve some monetary juggling in order to purchase it.

As mentioned, I am not made of money, I do not come from money, and my salary from employment is solidly middle-class, so long as you discount that I live in San Francisco, one of the most expensive region on this planet. The reason I can afford a car like the GT3 is two fold: one, I’ve been saving religiously ever since I started working, and two, I don’t spend much on other items materialistic.

When you love cars as much as I do, there’s zero qualms with spending such exorbitant sum on the hobby. I just have to cut back on other parts of my budget to bring about the proper balance. Honestly, if that money isn’t spent on cars, it’ll probably be something else; I’m not any different than people who choose to go traveling all over the world; they have their passion, I have mine.

Indeed it’s much easier to hate on the person who’s got the super nice car, isn’t it? Oh, isn’t this some rich douchebag. Few would see a Lamborghini driver and and think the guy must have worked tirelessly for years to afford his dream machine. No, it’s far easier to jump to the conclusion that it’s a silver spoon, or yet another rich tech bro.

I don’t put stock in the perception of me by others; I can’t control their feelings, only me own.

Even with the money I’ve diligently saved, I’m going to need additional financing to buy the GT3. Contrary to popular belief, even rich car folks, who presumably can pay the full cash amount for a car no issues, finance their purchases. It’s the logical thing to do: if interest rate on a loan is lower than the rate of return possible elsewhere, any extra cash beyond an appropriate downpayment is better served not tied up to vehicle.

I of course don’t have such “extra cash”, but nevertheless I need a car loan. How exactly does one go about borrowing money for a used car selling for six figures? The same as any normal car.

If I were buying a brand new car, the process would’ve been easy: get a loan at the dealer. They usually have the best deals because manufacturers tend to subsidize loans on new cars with low interest rates. Obviously I am buying a used car, so rates a dealership can get me will be the same as I can get privately at a bank or Credit Union. To make things worst, the Fed raised interest rates three times in 2018, so the cost of borrowing money have gone up commensurately for everyone.

Credit Unions were where I started my search. From the bit of sleuthing online, the name that came up most often was PenFed. It seems lots of car guys have financed their purchases through them, and particularly, Youtuber Doug DeMuro borrowed money via PenFed to buy his Ford GT. All this gave me great confidence, and PenFed’s rates are amongst the most competitive, too. I was entirely ready to apply when I perchance saw another option.

LightStream was a name that came up often amongst the Tesla crowd. Like most other banks, LightStream offers loans for automobiles, but with one key differentiator: LightStream does not require collateral. In typical car financing, the bank would keep a vehicle’s title until the entire loan amount is paid in full. The buyer doesn’t really “own” the car outright until that is done - the bank has a ‘lien” on it. The title acts as collateral for the bank so that in the event of non-payment, there’s recourse to recoup money.

LightStream lets the borrower keep the title, and are only trusting on his or her word (and credit history) that the loan agreement will be fulfilled. This was immediately attractive to me because it means I wouldn’t have to wait five years to have the GT3’s title in my hands. Even more impressive is that LightStream will match any rate you are able to secure at other banks/credit unions, effectively costing nothing to switch to them for a loan.

It has to be said that in order to quality for a LightStream loan, you must have superb credit, with a score well into the 700s, preferably 800s. People with not so good credit are too much of a liability to be given an unsecured loan at any interest rate.

Applying for loan with LightStream is fantastically simple: fives minutes filling out an online form, and within a few hours, I got an email stating my application was approved. After that it’s only another five minutes or so on the website to complete the process. Depending on the amount you’re asking to borrow, LightStream might not even ask for copies of pay-stubs and money accounts - they did not in my case.

The process was ridiculously easy, and the loan amount was depositing into my checking account the very next day. With the entire potential cost of the car secure and ready, the game was on to find the suitable GT3 to buy.

My 991.1 GT3 must-haves

First, a quick recap: I’ve decided to buy a Porsche 911, in particular the 991.1 GT3. Now is where the process gets a bit complicated.

You see, buying a Porsche car isn’t as straight forwards as the typical mainline manufacturer, where you pick the color, select from the few option packages you want, and on you go. Porsche does things a lot differently: the company is hilariously notorious for its immense options list, where buyers can spec all sorts of things, from the useful (sports exhaust) to the downright ridiculous (deviated stitching in neon green on the leather-wrapped fuse-box door). The notoriety extends to the option prices, too: you want Apple CarPlay in your Porsche? Hyundai will give it to your for free in the Elantra, but i a Boxster, that will be 360 dollars.

Indeed it’s far too easy - and tremendously fun - to spec a Porsche car and have the options alone cost more than a well-equipped family sedan.

Obviously, I haven’t got the sort of monetary reserves to concern myself with special seatbelts and Alcantara sun-visors. However, there are some key options that I reckon are absolutely essential for the full 991.1 GT3 experience. To investigate, I bought myself a brochure (which alone cost 100 dollars used on eBay - the Porsche tax is real) to survey the possibilities back in 2014.

First and foremost in the decision process is the exterior color. Being that I am buying a used sample, I figure I cannot be too picky; I really want to avoid spending months on end hunting down just the correct colored car with the appropriate options. I guess I’m an impatient millennial after all.

So it became a matter of eliminating colors, rather than picking only one. It was rather quick: the only colors taken off the list were any variety/shade of black, gray, and brown. Black was an easy elimination because it only looks good for that one split-second after you’ve just finished detailing. Drive it down a road for a minute and it looks dirty again. I didn’t want gray because having seen a GT3 in that color, all the special lines and curves of the car gets muddied and overshadowed (same is true in black).

Brown got tossed because, well, it’s brown. A GT3 is a thoroughbred sports car, not a diesel station wagon. Anyways, my color preferences are, by order of desire: red, white, silver, yellow, blue.

The next big item after paint is actually the brakes. The 991.1 GT3 comes standard with fabulously large six-piston front, four-piston rear brakes clamping down on iron discs. For just a hair over 9,000 dollars, the car can be fitted with even larger carbon ceramic discs. I’ve always loved the looks of beefy brakes nestled behind alloy wheels, so I wouldn’t have objected to paying more for the carbon stoppers, but for one huge problem: the PCCB calipers are yellow, while the stock steelies are a proper shade of red.

Indeed it’s only aesthetics, but I’m paying a relatively enormous sum of money for the GT3 and I really hate yellow-colored calipers. Other than black, it doesn’t match with any other exterior color - and I’m not buying a black GT3. So the stock steel brakes it is, which also saves me the depreciated equivalent of 9000 dollars. A solid win.

With those two big ticket items out of the way, the rest of the must-have options are as follow:

Front axle lift: consists of two hydraulic cylinders perched on top of the front coils, allowing the driver to quickly raise the front-end about an inch at the push of a button. It costs nearly 3000 dollars, but I think it’s worth the massive decrease in chances of scraping the absurdly low front lip. It’s a must-have even considering a replacement lip is only 200 dollars.
Extended-range fuel tank: in place of the paltry stock 16-gallon fuel tank (for that all important low curb weight stat) is a 23.7-gallon unit. The GT3 is projected to get around 15 miles to the gallon on a good day, so the stock tank, after discounting the typical 3-gallon reserve, isn’t likely to net over 200 miles on one fill. I plan to road-trip the car quite considerably so the bigger tank is crucial.
Fun fact: the extended-range fuel tank may be larger but the fuel gauge inside the instrument cluster still acquiesces to the stock tank size. The needle stays at full until level goes below 16 gallons.
Sound Package Plus: this option adds a separate amplifier to give the standard nine speakers some extra watts of kick. It’s not remotely in the same league as the Burmeister system found in less sporting 911s, but I do like my sounds, and this package was the maximum possible on the 991.1 (991.2 GT3 offers an optional Bose system). You may ask why spend more for sound when the engine is already so melodious and captivating; to that I say sometimes I just want to cruise and listen to music.

And that is it; not too particularly picky, if I do say so myself. More importantly these are common options that most GT3 buyers do spec, so the potential number of suitable cars should be fairly decent. However, next to my must-have list I also have a must-not-have list, and unfortunately that’s going to constrict the list of cars:

Lightweight Buckets: while I have no doubts that these option bucket seats are fabulous on a race track, for daily comfort I don’t find them to be optimal. The GT3 will be a weekend only car, and there will be stints of multiple hours; seating comfort is therefore immensely important. The standard 4-way adjustable seats or the optional 18-way adjustable units are what I am looking for.
Painted wheels: the standard 20-inch wheels come in a beautiful satin platinum finish, a hue that looks like a muted variant of my favorite wheel color ever: bronze. Obviously not everyone shares my taste, and Porsche provides the option for GT3 wheels to be painted in either silver, satin black, or gloss black. I absolutely do not want a car with wheels in those colors, and no, I’m not paying more to have a set painted back to satin platinum.
XM satellite radio: Internet radio is a feature I’m certain I will never use. A GT3 specced with this option wouldn’t be a bother if not for the fact in order to get reception, a small rectangular nub is required on the center rear of the roof - like a ‘shark fin’ antenna on a BMW. Exterior appendages that ruin lines and serve zero purpose? Hard pass.
Sport Chrono Package: in the “regular” 911, Sport Chrono Package is quite compelling in that in addition to the stopwatch/clock module on top of the center dash, there’s also extra software components (Sport Plus mode, for instance) to make the car that little bit faster. In a GT3 that’s already maximized for sport, all you get is the clock and connection leads for a lap timer that’s sold separately. The car itself won’t go any quicker, and since I don’t plan to visit a track at all, the Sport Chrono Package is definitely an appendage that serves zero purpose.

Right, so the plan is this: within the suitable price range for a 2015 991.1 GT3, I shall search for cars that isn’t black/gray/brown, with steel brakes, and with my must-have options and none of the must-not-haves. If the original owner decided to pay for superfluous accoutrements like full leather dash or a fire extinguisher when they ordered the car new, then that’s simply a bonus for me.