Losing my mind...

[Alex L]

I know you are going to think I am a total raving lunatic, but with a month to go before my new Turbo goes into production, I can't help feeling that Cobalt blue may not be the perfect colour for me.

"¦perhaps I just have cold feet, perhaps I just need a sounding-board to vent, I don't know"¦

After all my deliberation I based my 'final' decision based on the colours that I HAD seen on a Turbo - namely, Black, Basalt, GT Silver, Olive Green, White and Cobalt. Cobalt is a solid choice given I just had Black so want a change, GT Silver and Olive are a thousand pounds more and potentially a longer wait, and White was gorgeous but a bit too in your face for me. Cobalt is a solid choice there is no doubt.

I was told by my OPC that if I went with a non-popular colour outside of black or silver then I would be hit for a few thousand come resale. In the end though I decided that being happy with the colour I chose was more important than resale in a few years time, so I ignored them.

However, upon recently selling my black C2S Cab back to an OPC I have discovered that had the car not been black I could have lost MUCH more than I already did on the trade-in. This is info I gleamed from talking to a lot of dealer, not just OPCs.

So this got me thinking"¦.

THEN, I saw my first Arctic Silver Turbo at my OPC a few weeks ago, and it looked gorgeous! I know silver Porsches are common place, but I have noticed that when they are NOT sitting next to 50 other silver Porsches, the colour starts to make a whole lot more sense. But I thought, too late now to change without a lot of hassle, so I put it out of my mind.

This week though I have been looking more closely at how much this "˜upgrade' is actually costing me and it's made me think that perhaps this will be my last indulgence before kids etc. So, if I were to keep the Turbo long-term, would I tire of Cobalt and would it start to look dated?! "¦and I am coming to the conclusion that Silver or Black would definitely age better. I look at my 5 year old Audi S3 in black and it looks as awesome today as when I bought it.

So, to the point:

1) Is it too late to change my order to Arctic Silver should I wish to (Nov build)?
2) IF I do, what do you think of having painted front grill? It looks amazing on white, but I have never seen it in arctic, although the below "˜exclusive' pic in GT Silver looks perfect!
3) Am I just going mad, and should stop finding ways to distract me from the never-ending wait?!

Please help me regain my sanity!

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: rob9974s

The fact that it is worrying you, and that this seems to be a decision for the long term, would indicate that a "safe" colour is called for. Having said that Cobalt Blue appears to be a perfectly safe colour to me, that is, in terms of its being pleasing to you, the owner. You, yourself, describe it as a "solid choice" and I see nothing wrong in a colour being typical of a particular time period or model - if it looks good, then it looks good - end of story. (Others have previously made the point about personal satisfaction versus trade-in value being secondary and if you are talking of keeping the car for some time then any penalty in this respect is going to progressively reduce).

To address your three points:

1) probably too late
2) yes, would look great and add another element of visual personalization
and, despite answer to 1) above might be possible because it is only one panel
3) yes!

As I concluded this morning after a good nights sleep, I think the resale issue is just a catalyst for my ongoing indecision on choosing my "˜favorite' colour.

Jason over in the US (with his cobalt TT) pointed out that if you make such a change this late in the day then the factory will almost certainly bump the build date by a month or two. This is definitely not something I would want to risk "" especially now that I have sold my C2S Cab and am Porscheless.

The painted grille would be only relevant for silver or white Turbos as I don't think it suites any other colour. So I would be changing the car colour AND adding the painted grille.

Perhaps too late indeed to start messing. Plus I haven't seen even a picture of an Arctic Silver Turbo with painted grill so may be quite a gamble. It may just look tacky.

 

[Alex L]

I think painted grilles only works with Silver and White cars myself, definitely not Cobalt:

Here are some GT Silver grilles painted, I assume Arctic would look similar:

 

[pwebb]

IMHO the silver painted grills make the car look rather fussy. Black keeps the reveals more solid looking on a contrasting colour. However, I thought the blue looked rather good with the colour coded version.

So you can't please everyone! Just yourself, at the end of the day.

Peter

 

[Tony M]

Alex, be brave and choose a colour you fancy. The OPCs are full of Black and Silver and there are many used buyers that don't want Black or Silver.

I chose Macadamia for my Turbo based partly on the fact that Porsche themselves would not choose a really dodgy colour for the launch of the Cabriolet.

In the short time I have had the car everyone has passed positive comments about the colour and even those that called me a to**er for ordering Brown have now conceded that it is a 'classey' colour. Some of you may however still think it is an arsey colour !!

Buy what you fancy, not what others think you should have[].

 

[Alex L]

Always a pleasure to see more pics of your car Tony []

 

[garyw]

Alex, I'd stop worrying about the residuals, it seems to be ruining the purchase experience for you.!

As others say, pick the colour for yourself, Cobalt is stunning on the Turbo, I do think the plastic grills look fussy though !!

Black is and always has been the safe and most popular colour, doesn't sound right though putting it to a porsche... safe and popular []
The TT is a "loud" car and it carries the colour well, I do worry that your American cousins are tainting your view on the car in terms of it being in the UK

The 997TT was launched in Cobalt throughout the UK dealerships so as Tony points out, Porsche seem to know a good colour []

garyw

PS I worried about the colour even as I walked in the collection hall, I think we all do until we see it for ourselves. Then the drive just concretes what we thought.

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: garyw

Alex, I'd stop worrying about the residuals, it seems to be ruining the purchase experience for you.!

As others say, pick the colour for yourself, Cobalt is stunning on the Turbo, I do think the plastic grills look fussy though !!

Black is and always has been the safe and most popular colour, doesn't sound right though putting it to a porsche... safe and popular
The TT is a "loud" car and it carries the colour well, I do worry that your American cousins are tainting your view on the car in terms of it being in the UK

The 997TT was launched in Cobalt throughout the UK dealerships so as Tony points out, Porsche seem to know a good colour

garyw

PS I worried about the colour even as I walked in the collection hall, I think we all do until we see it for ourselves. Then the drive just concretes what we thought.

Hi Gary

Yes, the purchase experience unfortunately was ruined quite some time ago now. It's been a massively long and stressful process. The only redemption will be when I get in the car and take it for my first drive. Then I am sure all my woes will just fly away!

I am sure I will love my Cobalt TT when I get it. The real issue here I think is that I haven't seen ANY colour TT and said to myself "that's the one".

To me at least they range from 5-8 out of 10 rating colours. I guess I am just searching for that 9 or 10 out of 10 combination. A more metallic and richer midnight blue or even a very dark red would hit those scores. But going the paint to sample route is always risky as you don't really know what the car will look like until you come to pay for it. Plus you would be waiting for an additional 6 months as a result.

For ME the top colour scores are:

* Cobalt is a 7 out of 10 colour on the Turbo.
* Black is an 8, but as I say, I want a change.
* Dark Olive is a 7.5, but is a grand more expensive for MY08 and a long wait
* White is a 7, but I am not quite brave enough to drive around in a white car
* Arctic silver (only seen one myself) could be a 7 it could be an 8. I'd need to stick it next to a Cobalt car outside to decide.

So yes, Cobalt is a safe bet. I just hope I don't regret going safe later down the line.

 

[Sandy59]

I would stick with the Cobalt myself, it's a stunning colour.
My OPC's launch turbo was cobalt and I doubt they'd have picked a 'dodgy' colour especially for launch.
There will always be someone looking beyond silver and black so doubt it will be that hard to shift.
I'd leave the grills in black, you can always get them done later.
You only live once, go with what you like !!

 

[Sandy59]

Slightly different looking with GT3 wheels - hopefully picture attached

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: Sandy59

Slightly different looking with GT3 wheels - hopefully picture attached

That's my mate Jason's (atomic80) Turbo over in the US.

I have a LOT of pics of his car on my PC, and is the principal reason why I started wanting a Turbo in the first place.

 

[chrismouzou]

hi alex

i wanted cobalt blue but opt for black, added an extra item to car only two weeks ago opc e mailed porsche to get item added,have a collection date of 25th oct factory collection,will post some pictures soon,also having 4days in europe after collecting car,nurbergring reins-home,

tony your car looks immaculate





chris

 

[Monty2]

As many of UK days are dull and sometimes wet, the attached photo of a fair spread of 997 colours (incl. my own Lapis Blue) may make you feel happier. Cobalt is a great colour like my estoril blue 3 series Beemer or my special order Carribean Blue Audi allroad. However Cobalt like my own Lapis hates gravel rash and the light colour primer coat really shows up on blues and blacks, not so with greys or silvers in my opinion.
Does look "happy" in cobalt though.

Paul

 

[Jamie Garside]

Cobalt looks good, painted grille - not so good!

 

[Andy Rodgett]

Slightly biased but I think the Turbo does look striking in cobalt! Not sure about the grills being anything other than black though as too fussy already to my mind.
The pale base coat unfortunately does indeed show up any stone chips which then glare at you despite best efforts to ignore them!
Perhaps the GT3 rims would distract peoples attention!!
Andy

 

[Alex L]

Just found a pic of itclear's silver beauty with the grille painted:

Think it's GT Silver though not Arctic.

I think it looks great like this.

 

[Alex L]

Found some examples of Arctic with painted grille:

 

[Alex L]

Just talked with my Sales guy and he says my Nov build doesnt have a set date so the order is still technically open!

Going to get busy with the configurator I think...

 

[garyw]

mmmm[:-] Not liking the grills, sorry.... but hey its not my car []

garyw

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: garyw

mmmm[:-] Not liking the grills, sorry.... but hey its not my car []

garyw

Each to their own

I think it makes the front look more aggressive and balances the white front number plate better.

The DAJ option is the best thing about getting a white TT in my humble opinion. I just never thought it would work on a Silver car, until now.

Hmmmm, may change interior to cocoa too now as that option is a possibility with silver.