997 Turbo Launch

[bobfair]

Attended my local OPC (Bournemouth) Turbo launch last night who I think did a good job with Posche GB and I left very impressed. Two new cars on display one in Cobalt blue the other in Silver. They looked fantastic in my opinion and certainly better in the flesh than in pictures. A 30 year old 930 turbo was also on display and looked great.
One interesting piece of news is that it seems (not actually confirmed as further testing still required) the dual clutch gearbox will be availabe from model year 08, that is cars delivered from September 07. One of the Porsche GB guys present had driven a car with this gearbox and said it was very impressive. Wont have paddles but changes will be via buttons on the wheel as per Tiptronic or via gear lever as per a sequential box in the racing GT3's.

I was told that Porsche is cuting (modestly) the supply of normally aspirated 997's in the UK over the next couple of years to protect resale values. My OPC told me they had been allocated one Turbo a month for 18 months all of which have deposits against them after which they expect the supply to slow.

Apparently when Clarkson had a go at the Cayman on Top Gear ("Cockster") 150 deposits were cancelled by worried would be owners so understandably Porsche GB were a little upset. As a result Top Gear have not yet been given a date for them to play with a 997 Turbo.

For those of you coming on the 997 Sunseeker day on the 30th the good news is that it is now likely that a manual 997 Turbo in Cobalt blue will be on display courtesy of our local OPC

 

[Alex L]

Very interesting, thanks Bob.

I think Topgear reviews can work both ways. They do indeed influence a lot of people one way or the other. Myself for example, I completely made up my mind to get a Carrera S after Clarkson drove a yellow one round the track on the show. 'Pure Porscheography, a 911 of the old-school' is how he described it at the end. So what Porsche GB lost in Cayman sales they probably made up for in Carrera ones! []

When I saw the two new Turbo's at OPC Reading the other week I really did think they looked much better in the flesh than I was expecting. I still can't get over the huge side air-intakes though; they just stick out far too much when looking head-on for my liking. [:'(]

Once you spec an extra £10k of basic options on the Turbo though I think you are getting a bit too close to Ferrari 430, Lamborghini Gallardo, and AM DB9 prices. That would be one tough decision to choose between those four cars. I think I'll stick with my Carrera S Cab for now though, all the looks plus plenty enough power for our UK public roads. Perhaps if I lived in Germany with Autobahns it would be a different matter...

 

[Guest]

I went to the event held at Porsche Centre Bristol last night. Cobalt Blue and Basalt Black cars on display (both manual) and an 930 Turbo on an T plate.

All very impressive and the car looks fantastic in Basalt Black. The new wheels finish it off perfectly, although I suspect they'll be getting scuffed rather often.

Very impressed with the Porsche Cars GB spokesman. He gave a great presentation and was also able to answer some very technical questions.

However, my wallet stayed firmly in my pocket... The wife is expecting, so purchases of this magnitude would not be welcomed!