This post-update 997 Carrera 2S with PDK presents smartly in Basalt Black over black leather, set off brilliantly by the correct 19” Carrera S alloy wheels and the bright red brake callipers behind them. It has wanted for little in its 15-year life, including some work on the cooling system that’s a known watch point on 997s and on the brakes, all of which jobs have been well sorted under specialist care.

 For its mileage the wear and tear is remarkably scarce, inside and out, which speaks highly of how well loved it has been. Pick up that baton and it will love you right back, mile after mile.
 
The Porsche 911 is no longer just a long-running line of sports cars; it is a phenomenon. 911s have consumed automotive Instagram culture whole, dominated the wish lists of car reviewers and collectors the world over for decades, set the high bar for any premium sports car that encroaches on its patch… one could go on for nauseatingly long about it.

But Porsche does deserve to be commended on evolving such a tightly defined set of signatures so consistently well for what is now a nice round 60 years since ‘type 901’ appeared at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show. If you’re not sure which luxurious sports car to get, then it’s the time honoured default setting. It’s as simple as that.
 
The 997 of 2004 is the second water-cooled 911 generation, following the precedent set by the then-controversial 996. The return to round headlights was welcomed at the time, as was a much more upmarket interior after the 996, and it is increasingly regarded as a high water mark in the general evolution of 911s as subsequent generations have bloated outwards and become ever more encumbered by electronic oversight – and emissions-related dilution of the flat-six sound and response (in the Carrera versions, anyway).

 In 2008, Porsche introduced direct-injection petrol engines and the Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) double-clutch transmission system across its model range, so the 997 was updated to signify the new technical era for MY2009. The ‘997.2’ received a facelift with LED exterior lights and re-profiled bumpers, plus retuned suspension, a new Porsche Communications Management (PCM) infotainment and phone system, and a redesigned Sports Exhaust option.

 

 
The interior is perhaps the strongest sign of how well this Carrera has been looked after. For a car with 112,000 miles and 15 years behind it, the front seats show remarkably little wear on their leather, just some superficial texturing on the door-side driver’s seat panels and no tears or discolouration whatsoever.

The rear seats are so tidy that they might as well have never been used. The driver’s foot well has some shoe scuffs on it, perhaps inevitably, but that is the worst of the interior blemishes; the transmission lever, handbrake and steering wheel are all in a condition that belies their age too, for good measure. There are no faults to be noted regarding electronics functionality – and that optional Bose audio system sounds great, with fantastic bass.
 
 The seller notes that this car has been fitted with the Sport Chrono Package (Sport & Sport Plus modes, Launch Control), minus the integrated stopwatch clock said package would ordinarily include on top of the dash. This upgrade was fitted post production, along with the PDK sports steering wheel by a Porsche main dealer. Receipts for the upgrade are contained in the car's documents file.

 
The classic 911 silhouette is brought to the viewer in a smart, understated presentation in metallic black with silver alloys – a welcome respite from now-popular black alloys turning the wheel design nigh-on invisible. The 10-spoke, 19” Carrera S wheel design does a fantastic job of filling each voluptuous wheelarch and complimenting the 997’s understated yet plainly sporting aesthetic. Those wheels were refurbished in 2018 and remain in like-new condition today.

The seller notes “a few marks” in the paint, which seem to primarily be on the driver’s door outer sill – if they’re anywhere else on the outside then they’re very hard to spot. Easier to spot, unfortunately, is a small chip in the windscreen a couple of inches in from the bottom-right corner as you look at it from the outside (see photo).

 Other than these tiny points and slightly faded Porsche logos on the front brake callipers, there is nothing much to say against the exterior. It’s just finely balanced, unpretentious 21st-century execution of the iconic 911 design.

 
This being a post-update car with a direct-injection engine, there is no likelihood of the bore-scoring or IMS bearing issues seen on 2004-07 ‘997.1’ Carrera (S) engines, so the owner can confidently exercise their 385-horsepower flat-six when the prevailing road situation allows and enjoy one of the most unmistakeable soundtracks of any sports car series.

 This rings especially true for the example you see here, as the retrofitted Sport Chrono modes allow you to sharpen up the car’s responses and yet separately relax the suspension’s grip of the bodyshell a little by pressing the neighbouring damper button, for an ideal driving setup for British roads.
 
The invoices show that new brake lines and a new rear calliper in September 2016 as a response to corroded brake lines. A couple of weeks after that, the car was returned to Porsche Centre Silverstone with creaking front-left suspension and the invoice from that visit reports fitment of a new track rod end and joint with new associated fittings. 

In April 2018 the rear brakes received new pads and discs. In February 2020 it was the front brakes’ turn to have new discs and pads fitted at specialist garage GT One Ltd. At the same time, the engine cooling system (a common bugbear on 997s as two different types of metal connect and then react to eachother) was replaced with new pipes and hoses – this was accompanied by a complete fluids-and-filters service to the car overall. 

This is all accounted for in a three-page invoice from GT One totalling £2508.31 across multiple described jobs and parts lists therein. In December 2020, the 997 received a new nearside LED taillight cluster for Christmas. Finally, in November 2022, new brake fluid was added during a major service, again at GT One, per the invoice. The car’s MOT was around this time, with an advisory for corrosion on the brake lines. The seller has since had them treated with Waxoyl.
 
Service Stamps:

 
The 997 was among the last 911s to allows its Carrera models the naturally aspirated flat-six engine configuration that built Porsche’s post-356 reputation over 60 years, before the 991.2 had to switch to small-capacity turbo engines across the range to keep or increase the performance while meeting new emissions regulations.

The 991 and 992 are also notably wider, making it trickier to place them freely within a lane on anything narrower than a major main road, so as Porsche steadily succumbs to the flip sides of progress it’s the 997 that increasingly looks like the water-cooled 911 to have for a great-feeling drive.

This is especially true of the 2008-11 post-update cars which benefitted from further troubleshooting of the platform introduced by its 996 predecessor, plus the little step-up in performance and the PDK paddleshift option being much slicker than the old single-clutch Tiptronic-S unit.

The always-cherished example you see here presents itself as if it’s done half its actual mileage, in a specification that won’t look out of place anywhere be it country pub, London business hub or the paddock at a Silverstone track day. That’s the great trick of a Porsche Carrera: it’s the sports car for everything.
 

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