david fracolli

Might be moving to Ireland in a couple of months and was wondering if anyone on the list lived there and could help me with a couple of questions?
Thanks,

SidViscous

Haven't lived there. But I visit quite often and my best friend (practically familly) is there. I'm sure I could help with some answers.

assuming I don't get to jealous you lucky bastard. I've been wanting to move there for years.

SidViscous

Couple of quick answers P-car related.

Running a 944 over there would be pretty exspensive. For all practical purposes they have no Porsche's over there, so no experienced mechanics, expect to do a lot of work yourself. Any specialzed parts (non VW) would probably have to be imported. Of course that somewhat depends on where you'll be. Better luck in Dublin of course.

Changing car to right hand drive is brutally exspensive, you'd probably be better off finding one in England and shiping it over. Or live without.

Mielage is good on our cars so you should do okay.

Having said that, if you can get a 944 over there you will have the time of your life. If you think people look at our car here, you will have throngs of people trying to see your car. And there is probably no better place in the world to own a 944. Great twisty roads all over the place, and they all drive like fooking mechanics. You might get a little perturbed when your racing down a back road and get passed by on old Ford Fiesta. It is rumored that the Garda's (police) radar guns are actually empty of electronics, because they can pull over anyone at random as everyone is speeding.

Some of the back roads down by the southern coast would be absolutely amazing in a 944, you'd have to chisel the grin off my face.

david fracolli

I already have offers from numerous "friends" that would be willing to go with me. I think I will end up just putting the 944 in storage. The job is on a 1 year contract basis where the employment firm takes care of everything including transportation.
Was trying to find out what wages were like and what things cost over there?
I will be working for a couple different semiconductor companies as an engineer.
thanks,

SidViscous

Then likely you'll be in Dublin.

As to cost, things are much better for americans now that they are on the Euro. So for the most part expect about the same standard of living for the same wage, but you'll get stuck with worse taxes, but have less payouts for things like insurance. Dinners, clothing, stuff like that will all be basically the same. CD's for some reason are brutally exspensive. Gasoline is just outragous. That and rental cars, can't believe how much they cost there.
IF you can somehow arrange that they pay you in the US and beat the taxes you'll be much better off.

If you want I can find out actually ranges for apartments and the like.

There are some pains in the ***. Don't get caught with your cell phone on in the car, and parking is this wierd disk system. But other than that it's like here just not as many Irish as we have <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

If you want a better idea go down to some of the local stores in the more Irish parts of town. Youshould be able to find a copy of "The Irish times" which will give you a good idea on apartments and the like.

Chances are once you ge there we won't be able to pull you out after a year. It really is one of the best places in the world. If I were you I'd try to bring the 944 with you. Have the company pay the cost, then they don't have to get you something.

And every weekend get inthe car and drive somewhere, it's a lot of fun.

david fracolli

the town i live in is only 10,000 people! Not much here. From what I understand they pay U.S. wagers and have an office in the U.S. so taxes should not be an issue. Thanks for the quick response.

SidViscous

Ahh for some reason I thought Rochester. Where are you? Big Irish population in Montreal and if your upstate upstate it's not far.

wjk_glynn

I'm from Galway in Ireland and though I moved to CA ~6 years ago, I'm still familiar with what its like to live there and I go back on a regular basis.

If you have any questions, just post them and I'll try my best to answer.

Here's a few additional comments.

In the last 10 years, Ireland's economy grew by leaps and bounds. In the early '90s, Ireland was in the poorest category of the EU. Today, it now exceeds Germany (on a GDP per capita basis) and its still growing.

As a comparison, the US GDP per-capita is ~$36,300 while Ireland's is $28,500.

Now of course these are vastly different economies but it turns out that the state of Oregon is very similar to Ireland in relative size, structure and wealth.

* Oregon has 3.4M people, Ireland has 3.8M.
* Oregon's per-capita GDP is $28,000, Ireland's is $28,500.
* Oregon has 2x Porsche Dealers:
Beaverton - <a href="http://sunset.porschedealer.com/" target="_blank">http://sunset.porschedealer.com/</a>
Bend - <a href="http://carrera.porschedealer.com/" target="_blank">http://carrera.porschedealer.com/</a>
* Ireland has 2x Porsche Dealers:
Dublin - <a href="http://www.belgardporsche.ie/" target="_blank">http://www.belgardporsche.ie/</a>
Belfast - <a href="http://www2.uk.porsche.com/isaacagnew/" target="_blank">http://www2.uk.porsche.com/isaacagnew/</a>

All things being equal, you'll find the cost of items before sales tax is the same as in the US. However, in Ireland, sales tax varies from 0-21% depending on the type of item (e.g. 0% on basic food stuffs like vegtables, 21% on consumer electronics).

A few items such as cars and gas have extradordinary higher (by US standards) sales taxes and thats why they cost so much more. Its something like 40% sales tax on a new car and &gt;100% on gas, hence ~$4-5/gallon.

In my home town of Galway (~60,000 people), there's about 10 Porsches of various vintages. The new ones are all Boxsters. I've never seen or heard of a 996 in Galway. The next strret over from my family home has a blue 944S2 with linen interior. There is no dedicated Porsche repair shop in Galway.

Karl.

PS - Here's a few links for statistics:

Ireland
<a href="http://www.cso.ie/principalstats/pristat5.html" target="_blank">http://www.cso.ie/principalstats/pristat5.html</a>
<a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ei.html" target="_blank">http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ei.html</a>

US
<a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html" target="_blank">http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html</a>

Oregon
<a href="http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/find.exe/state=or" target="_blank">http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/find.exe/state=or</a>

SidViscous

Karl

Top be honest, been a few times and I aint never seen a Porsche (not arguing, just making a comment) which I always found odd because the roads are so suited to that car.

However, the last time I was there I saw loads and lods of Mercedes and Beemers up Dublin way. And they have to be as exspensive to keep there than a Porsche.

Did like seeing some nice cars last time I was there though.

Tom Carson

Beautiful country, wonderful people, great opportunity. Too bad you’re not taking your car. If you were getting a car there I would definitely get a SatNav system. You cannot believe the peace of mind it will give you.

btw...In the UK there was nothing unusual about seeing a left hand drive…(I had my car in London for over 6 years) and driving on the left takes a couple of weeks to adapt. Following other cars is easy, but then when you need to turn a corner you freak out cuz you forget what lane to use. Passing lorries driving a ‘left-hooker’ was tough cuz you can’t see oncoming traffic. You need to ask your passenger to tell you when it’s safe…and then watch their face as you pull out…total terror.!

I visited Ireland a lot...true, very few P-cars but some. And I did see one while visiting a Nortel plant in Galway.

Very narrow roads (and I thought the UK had narrow roads!) so on 2 lane roads - and most are - expect cars coming at you making their own middle lane to ‘overtake’ and be ready to move out of your lane over to the shoulder. Everyone cooperates…they won’t overtake if you have no place to go but into a ditch. Remember that if you decide to pass…make sure oncoming traffic have a place to yield to.

Very important to learn the rules of the road and what the painted lines on the streets mean and the ‘International’ traffic signs/symbols…(as usual) all the terminology in the States is different…(i.e. in the UK a ‘railroad’ crossing is called a ‘level’ crossing)…often no stop signs at intersections even in busy areas…but the painted lines may mean yield or stop.

Watch out for the Americans driving over there. They just rent a car and go without a clue.

And Karl...you didn't compare annual rainfall!

SidViscous

"Following other cars is easy, but then when you need to turn a corner you freak out cuz you forget what lane to use."

First few days I drove there if I came to a roundabout and I wasn't behind someone I would pull over and wait for someone to come by so I caould follow them.

Also have to watch out pulling into a gas station to trun around or something, that's where you'll turn the wrong way every time.

Funniest thing I saw was one night I ended up in the Mountains and it was pretty dark, not a streetlight for miles. No gaurdrail and a twisty road with cliff faces.

I was driving about 15 miles an hour and was terrified. in the road was written
"SLOW DOWN, HAIR PIN TURN" Or whatever they use for hair pin I can't remember.

Okay I slowed to about 7MPH. A little ways later was written.

"EVEN SLOWER"

Relieved a little of the tension.

wjk_glynn

Hi SidVicious,

Seems like you've been Ireland loads of times! I presume you have some family connections of you work in semiconductor.

You're right that its rare to see Porsches on the road. The only reason I know about the 10 P-cars in Galway is that a friend of my sister works in the equivalent of the DMV and she knew had the registration information (BTW, there's one Ferrari in Galway, a 308, I've never seen it).

When was the last time you were over there?

Hi Tom Carson - Rainfall in Ireland... Does it ever stop :-)

Karl.

Swedeboy

I lived in Ireland for 4.5 years up to early 2002. Which city are you considering moving to?

Getting a Porsche into Ireland won't be too expensive - however the daily running costs will be a killer. As mentioned gasoline prices are pretty high in Ireland - although still one of the lowest in Europe. The roads are ok for a Porsche - but once you get outside of the big cities the roads can get very bumpy.

Also, the insurance will be a absolute killer. They will nail you on being a foreigner, driving a LHD car, driving a sportscar and because they will likely not recognize any no-claims bonus you have built up. Living in Sweden now - the insurance on my 951 is less than a quarter(!) what I was paying for a simple Peugeot 206 GTi 2.0 in Ireland. The main reaons for that are as mentioned the reasonably awful driving standards (one of the highest accident rates in Europe) but also car theft and joyriding - which is a major issue in the big cities.

My advice would be to get something reasonably fast without P-car or GTi image. That is unless you can keep your car registered & insured abroad. And you don't mind running the (fairly major) risk of losing the car to joyriding.

On the other hand it is a great country with a lot of wonderful people. Very relaxed atmosphere and attitude towards life. Coming from upstate New York you won't experience too big a culture schock.

Luis de Prat

Fuel prices are a big disincentive to drive cars in Europe. Particularly sportscars. It's around 3 to 4 times what it cost me in the U.S. That is, it costs me about US$75 to fill up the 951 or the 944S2. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

I've lived half my life in each continent and now live in Barcelona, Spain. I take the subway or trains to get around. I just got a motorcycle license and will be buying a 125 cc scooter to gain some independence. I brought the S2 cab over from the States and my father drives it to work every day, but I keep my 951 cab covered in a garage most of the time.

I only drive it when the withdrawal becomes unbearable, like on Friday/Saturday nights or on sunny Sunday mornings when there's not much traffic and I can go trolling for Boxsters and really open it up. Sometimes I go to the garage just to sit in it and smell the sweet leather interior without even driving it.

Yeah, sportscar ownership is a whole different story here in Europe.

Tom Carson

hey Luis...what's the deal with motorcycles in Spain?

aren't they allowed to stop at red lights?