Test drive report

[mik]

Top V8-ing.

[nuttinnew]

My wife's Macan had its first oil change today. Anyway, it turns out that the Cayenne S with a V8 engine takes about 12 months from order to delivery so we're going to put down a deposit on one in a few weeks' time.

In the words of Althea and Donna"Up-sell top ranking".
Don't forget to look at the key, carpet mat, and sill trim options...

[Jobbo]

Don't forget to look at the key, carpet mat, and sill trim options...

We strictly roots - it's GG's spec that has crests in the headrests, not mine! After grabbing the Macan key by accident earlier I did think we should at least get an eBay shell to go round it for a couple of quid - the basic Porsche key is made of pretty crappy plastic. But I wouldn't pay for the painted key option.

[GG.]

Don't forget to look at the key, carpet mat, and sill trim options...

We strictly roots - it's GG's spec that has crests in the headrests, not mine! After grabbing the Macan key by accident earlier I did think we should at least get an eBay shell to go round it for a couple of quid - the basic Porsche key is made of pretty crappy plastic. But I wouldn't pay for the painted key option.

Annoingly my GTS had colour coded keys but clearly one was lost when they took it in PX and so they replaced it with a non-colour coded one (and as that's brand new that's the one I use) Thankfully the car shaped key pisses me off a lot less in practice than I thought it would. At least its not keyless entry/start...

Yes, I'm going to stick to second hand cars as given free rein my self control is negligible - anyway headrest crests are only a couple of hundred quid...

I may play a further game to see how expensive I can get it if I simply option everything I would rather have than not have - no filter

[Jobbo]

I thought you’d already done that with the green one

[V8Granite]

I would definitely try one on air, I think modern systems have multiple chambers and much faster acting dampers than before.

It’s not just a more comfortable ride, it’s better when loaded, less roll, the option of increased height etc.

The Cayenne is a nice looking car too and you do see more colour combinations like Range Rovers.

Dave!

[Jimmy Choo]

That interior is unsurprisingly glorious

That's what happens when you hang around Jobbo too long. His weird taste in interiors rubs off on you.

[IanF]

Love the Cayenne, especially the new coupe. Green is definitely a good choice aswell (Turbo GT in green with gold/bronze wheels looks especially good imho)

Still don’t understand the centre console grab handles though!..

Regarding air suspension, has the Cayenne gone single chamber, or is that just the new Pan? Looks like the new Taycan has something similar (the quick height adjust when opening doors etc is based on that system, I think?)

I was considering the Macan EV for the gf, but I’m having a real adverse reaction to anything EV currently..

[nuttinnew]

https://configurator.porsche.com/en-GB/ ... on-summary

[Gavin]

https://configurator.porsche.com/en-GB/ ... on-summary

It reminds me of 924s of the early eighties for the colours.

[IanF]

https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PRM4IYD1

Annoyingly it doesn’t show the night green seat centres and consoles.

ETA: why does the coupe after the S model show as “new” but the others don’t?

[MikeHunt]

Although I’m not a huge fan of SUVs, I can see the appeal. The strange thing about the Macon and Cayenne is that they both appeal, whereas I see no reason to go for an x3 over an x5, the same goes for q7/q5 and gle/glc.

One thing that has always put me off Porsche is my worry that running costs, are considerably higher than the likes of BMW and Mercedes, especially longer term, if/when something goes wrong it’s unlikely to be cheap and trivial. Presumably you haven’t felt this or you wouldn’t be going back for more?

[Jobbo]

I do think the servicing costs are a bit pricey but the warranty is very comprehensive and you can keep it going a very long time. And low depreciation makes up for the servicing costs.

The customer service is infinitely better than all the Audi dealers I’ve used which gives a nice feel good factor too. Feels like paying more gets you more. And if I keep buying they might let me get a GT3 RS one day. I don’t want one but the profit would pay for all the running costs on the SUVs

[nuttinnew]

https://configurator.porsche.com/en-GB/ ... on-summary

It reminds me of 924s of the early eighties for the colours.

Is that good or bad?

[JonMad]

Superb darts! Lots more configurator playing to come, I expect.

[Jobbo]

Today's test drive was of a 992 Carrera 2 GTS. Tewkesbury Porsche's demonstrator with lightweight pack and full GTS interior Race-Tex in black with red stitching, seatbelts and brake calipers. A nice simple spec but looked good. I'd been tempted to the showroom by the excellent sales chap who we've bought the Macan and now Cayenne from; I happened to send him a spec I'd done for a 992 Carrera 4S and when he saw a 2023 car which nearly matched my spec coming in, he sent me this: https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/details/237LL2

It would have been just under £150k a year ago including first year road tax, and was now under £118k with less than 2000 miles on it. And not surprisingly it sold straight away; another of the sales chaps had a customer lined up who put down his deposit there and then. But I'd made my appointment to see it this morning so still went in; annoyingly, this very car was sitting waiting in the collection area, taunting me My chap did come up with some excellent alternatives though, a couple of brand new unregistered GTSs with discount from new list price and a couple of brand new Ts. Clearly they have a few stock cars to sell - cancelled orders perhaps?

Anyway, I haven't bought one. Yet. But I do now know what I want, which is the one I missed out on The new GTSs are still £25-30k more than the year old, 2000 mile one which makes the immediate depreciation very obvious. I was very tempted by a lightly-specced T for £104,850 but they also had a very similar T with more spec for £114k and I preferred that - yet it no longer looked like value against a more highly specced 2000 mile GTS for £118k.

Test driving the demo GTS was great. It's not an intimidating thing; main take-aways were that I prefer a leather not alcantara steering wheel (at first I really disliked the alcantara wheel, partly because he'd turned the wheel heating on); that it feels incredibly rigid and while the suspension is pretty firm it doesn't crash (in normal mode at least) and flows with the road. The performance of the 480bhp GTS is plenty. 4wd is not something I am fussed about; it feels so planted in 2wd form I can't see the point in paying extra for it, but I'd choose a C4 GTS if speccing one new myself. It took me probably 15-20 mins of the test drive to work out what it reminded me of; the similarity in some ways to my 986 Boxster (very Porsche in a straight line) is mixed with a feeling of being keyed to the road and being darty quite like a spicy Impreza from the hawkeye era - most unexpected. A passenger ride in Mark_BT52's Toshi Arai edition is the closest thing I can think of to that part of the overall feel. Anyway, I very much liked it. ETA: just found the demo car as an approved used car: https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/det ... ned-3OEDWV - it has more miles on it than the one I wanted to buy

So what I have left him with is a challenge to find me something like the car he tempted me with originally. I'm not particularly concerned about actual spec on a GTS, so long as I like the car.

Of course, I do still need to go and talk to a Mazda dealer about an MX5; the ND3 with some minor updates is just coming out and there are some really good deals on brand new stock cars which aren't the very latest spec.

[IanF]

Today's test drive was of a 992 Carrera 2 GTS. Tewkesbury Porsche's demonstrator with lightweight pack and full GTS interior Race-Tex in black with red stitching, seatbelts and brake calipers. A nice simple spec but looked good. I'd been tempted to the showroom by the excellent sales chap who we've bought the Macan and now Cayenne from; I happened to send him a spec I'd done for a 992 Carrera 4S and when he saw a 2023 car which nearly matched my spec coming in, he sent me this: https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/details/237LL2

It would have been just under £150k a year ago including first year road tax, and was now under £118k with less than 2000 miles on it. And not surprisingly it sold straight away; another of the sales chaps had a customer lined up who put down his deposit there and then. But I'd made my appointment to see it this morning so still went in; annoyingly, this very car was sitting waiting in the collection area, taunting me My chap did come up with some excellent alternatives though, a couple of brand new unregistered GTSs with discount from new list price and a couple of brand new Ts. Clearly they have a few stock cars to sell - cancelled orders perhaps?

Anyway, I haven't bought one. Yet. But I do now know what I want, which is the one I missed out on The new GTSs are still £25-30k more than the year old, 2000 mile one which makes the immediate depreciation very obvious. I was very tempted by a lightly-specced T for £104,850 but they also had a very similar T with more spec for £114k and I preferred that - yet it no longer looked like value against a more highly specced 2000 mile GTS for £118k.

Test driving the demo GTS was great. It's not an intimidating thing; main take-aways were that I prefer a leather not alcantara steering wheel (at first I really disliked the alcantara wheel, partly because he'd turned the wheel heating on); that it feels incredibly rigid and while the suspension is pretty firm it doesn't crash (in normal mode at least) and flows with the road. The performance of the 480bhp GTS is plenty. 4wd is not something I am fussed about; it feels so planted in 2wd form I can't see the point in paying extra for it, but I'd choose a C4 GTS if speccing one new myself. It took me probably 15-20 mins of the test drive to work out what it reminded me of; the similarity in some ways to my 986 Boxster (very Porsche in a straight line) is mixed with a feeling of being keyed to the road and being darty quite like a spicy Impreza from the hawkeye era - most unexpected. A passenger ride in Mark_BT52's Toshi Arai edition is the closest thing I can think of to that part of the overall feel. Anyway, I very much liked it. ETA: just found the demo car as an approved used car: https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/det ... ned-3OEDWV - it has more miles on it than the one I wanted to buy

So what I have left him with is a challenge to find me something like the car he tempted me with originally. I'm not particularly concerned about actual spec on a GTS, so long as I like the car.

Of course, I do still need to go and talk to a Mazda dealer about an MX5; the ND3 with some minor updates is just coming out and there are some really good deals on brand new stock cars which aren't the very latest spec.

What discount were they offering off new GTS? I hear you can get a £40k dealer contribution on a Turbo S these days..

Eta: I spoke to Oracle finance and they offered very competitive pricing if you are looking to sell after 2 years.

[IanF]

@Jobbo

https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/details/RW6454

Or Targa

https://www.joemacari.com/stock/porsche ... s/10005049

[Carlos]

A manual T circa £100k would be my sweet spot for a new(ish) 911 as a fun car.

[Jobbo]

https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/details/RW6454

That one keeps looking at me - nice spec, nicely Jobbo interior

Discount off a new GTS is about £9k, about £5-6k off a T (that's these specific cars from this specific dealer, not across the board). I can see a lot of merit in a lightly specced T - but since I don't want a manual, a nearly new GTS seems far better value.

I want to enjoy the buying process, so to be honest I'm not going to buy anything unless offered a deal I can't miss. I need to work out if I'll get as much pleasure from buying an MX5