My experience, going from a Miata to an early 986 (non-S) before they sorted out a proper suspension, plan on doing shocks/springs/sways/tires/rims right off the bat or you'll very much dislike the car and the cannot-turn-it-off, overly intrusive traction control system. They will understeer like a FWD on crappy all-seasons. But if you buy it with the plans to spend $7k (what the above package costs in P-car land), they're fun. I didn't like the car enough to see if I would love it after dropping 7k, so, ya know. I went back to Miatas.
Redline sounds heavenly, though!
That said, I had a student on track with a 100% stock 987.5 S last weekend with worn tires and probably nearing the end of their life shocks. If my 986 had been like that, I probably would have never gotten rid of it!
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I'm confused, 986's don't have traction control.
EDIT: It was a stand-alone option through 01 and is defeated by hitting the "TC" button on the center stack. No button means you don't have it at all. Mine obviously does not have it.
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I'm confused, 986's don't have traction control.
EDIT: It was a stand-alone option through 01 and is defeated by hitting the "TC" button on the center stack. No button means you don't have it at all. Mine obviously does not have it.
Yeah, my 99 had it. I didn't realize that it was an option.. You could press the "TC" button, but it still didn't actually disable it, but it would light up a thing on the dash. If I recall from looking into it, it was supposed to allow 5-8 degrees of slip before kicking in, and it did make a minor difference, but it was functionally as useless as when it was on. The same fuse controlled the ABS computer as well, which is also the brake proportioning system... Ask me how I know :)
With TC set to "off," I got stuck going up a snowy hill on the way to my house (with snow tires on). Literally crawled to a stop. I had to pull the fuse to get the rest of the way up the hill.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Yeah that's terrible!
Okay so we've learned to never buy a 986 with a TC button!
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Yeah that's terrible!
Okay so we've learned to never buy a 986 with a TC button!
Thinking about it, it really may have been 90% of my problems with the 986... I guess I never really got to experience what the driving dynamics were properly like. I just remember it being the only car I've gotten genuinely mad at while autocrossing.
For reference, I sold it it and bought a Rx-8 (that I still have). It took me most of the season of autocross before I even bothered to turn off the traction & stability system, it's that good. We also left the system on in the 987 I just instructed in and had a great time, so I'm not, like, against traction & stability systems. The 986 was like mid-90s-GM levels of bad.
dps214
Dork
6/21/21 11:34 a.m.
I remember panicking for a second and then realizing that my 99 base didn't have TC. Only slight disappointment there was the non-TC cars only had three channel ABS and the operation of it seemed to be a bit lacking. Mine was stock suspension aside from bilstein struts and new bump stops, front camber maxed out (a whopping -.5*!) and a bit of front toe out, I forget if I ever touched the rear alignment. I pieced together a set of used/borrowed 17x9 wheels and a set of takeoff four year old 245/17 RS3s to put on them. It kind of sucked to autocross (it was fun in its own way but needed some really stupid inputs to get it through a corner well...better tires might have helped that) but was great 99% of the time on the street and surprisingly good on track like that. A front (or realistically both) swaybar would have certainly been an improvement, but unless you're specifically building a track/autocross car I wouldn't say they're necessary. For street use the stock staggered wheel sizes are probably fine too.
