Z356

Standard operating procedure at all reputable dealers I know is for them to thoroughly check each car off the truck when it arrives at the dealer. If it's not caught then, dealer will be stuck with repairs! So they have a vested interest is this 'inspection'. I know of at least one Cayenne that had paint damage underneath the protective 'plastic' applied at factory for transport. It was not caught at the port, nor at the dealer upon arrival...and the dealer had to fix it at their expense. So now this particular dealer does a better job with their inspections, which is sometimes difficult if multiple cars arrive in a transport and the driver is in a hurry to get to his next destination. So the plastic being intact on parts of the cars so covered might give all a false sense of 'confidence' or 'security'!

And yes, 'Trust, but Verify'. The dealer you have placed your order and holds your deposit should be honest enough to admit to any issues with your car discovered at port or upon arrival at the dealership. But just in case, it is fine to let them know you are looking over their shoulders to make sure you get exactly what you paid for!

So Carrera GT, have you placed a deposit on a future 991 gt3 RS yet?

Saludos,
z356

Carrera GT

I think it's a reasonable assumption that if the car doesn't linger at the port, there's far less opportunity for "quality assurance" concerns. I agree that just having the plastic on the paint doesn't prove much. Still, an "unmolested" car (all the plastic on, all the ship freight dirt on the paint) suggests no clandestine repairs.

As for ordering non-existent cars, I'm in no hurry. My dealer has me front row seating (reserved for suckers, I know) for any new Porsche. I imagine I'll be dumb enough to get the first GT3 no matter, but I have to say, there's some very green looking grass over some other brand fences. A next generation 12C? Secondary market 458? Even the NSX is pretty impressive. There was a time (circa '07-'08) when an RS or even a GT3 had remarkably "good" depreciation levels. Now, they're as bad or worse than a Carrera (at least the Carrera comes with discounting at initial purchase.) That dollar hit is the real cost of owning a given car -- and for an RS, it now resembles much more expensive cars. I think once again, Porsche is "due" for a price reset, but 991 pricing suggests VW is going for reduced supply and maintaining margins -- perhaps they have expectations for currency problems, inflation or continued recession/depression.

For now, I think the 991 will be a great road car. It's far from being a great track car, so we'll just have to wait and see how far VW & Porsche go to make the GT3 and RS (and other) variants appealing to track drivers.

This is very much a "version 1.0" car (some might say a 0.9b beta because things like the power steering, suspension, especially PDCC and the chassis/suspension geometry are entirely unknown quantities.) I full well expect Porsche to go through a five year process of refinement that will dispose of the bulbous bug headlight covers and all kinds of minor blemishes to the design while working underneath to make great strides in the technology and engineering (steering/suspension feel and feedback, power, weight.) Once Porsche starts racing the 991, we'll have something to talk about.

jjoey

I was just informed that mine, along with several other customer cars headed for my dealer (which were on the same boat as mine) have all had status changed to "finished PDI". That suggests that its just a backlog and/or extra QC, rather than my car being held for clandestine repairs...happily.

It was 2 full weeks in port with "arrived" status prior to this change. I guess I am still inching along here afterall...

Z356

Congratulations! Hope you start enjoying your car early next week!

I don't think there is any chance that the 'bulbous bug headlight covers' will be eliminated in the mid-model refresh expected in 4 years or so. I personally don't mind the look of the new headlights. But it wouldn't surprise me if the rear lights get a re-do, just as the 997.2 were quite different from the 997.1. The critique as 'Aston-Martin' copycats must be hurting designer pride in Zuffenhausen and I bet that they are already working on proto-types for the new ones as we 'speak'!

I do agree with you that we have many choices today in the market for high-end sport cars. And competition hopefully keeps PAG on their toes. Still, some Porsche products continue to be relative bargains compared to its competitors. The Boxster Spyder was a case in point, which provides more grins per dollar invested than perhaps any other modern sport car on the market in the past two years!

Saludos, z356

Carrera GT

Coincidentally, I was looking at the Aston taillights with a sort of "how the hell?!" approach and decided they could be a direct link to the 993 taillights. Tenuous, but I think there's a sort of a "What would happen if the 993 was updated for 15 years uninterrupted by the 996 or 997?" sort of resemblance.You'll get no argument from me on the Boxster Spyder.