TommyV44

I've owned 911s since 1999 and have had 4 to date including the one I'm driving now.

I know there are many people on this Forum with way more Porsche history that I have and I'm just curious why we don't see more PTS/LTS Porsches. From my POV for $5,500 it's a relative bargain. You can be driving a 911 in the color you want that no one else has for such a reasonable $$ amount. Why don't more people go for it?

I've done it twice....once with a LTS (Lipstick red) on my 2006 and the PTS Turquoise blue I have now. I can't really ever imaging not doing it!

Maybe it's the wait but if you time it right you can have it as soon as your current lease runs out or if you own your car you can order it and in the 3-4 months it'll take Porsche to make it you can sell yours (harder to time that a lease but still not too bad).

Whatcha think?

Tom

Marine Blue

Based upon my research this is what i have learned.
1. Buyer wants a custom color
2. Porsche dealer has allocation for custom order
3. Allocation falls within the PTS window
4. PTS Color is approved by Porsche

Everything has to fall into place for PTS to be approved. I tried getting an allocation for a PTS Spyder for nearly 6 months with no luck. Shortly after placing my order they created PTS allocations but they still limited the colors they would approve and the PTS window was one week. Timing and color choice is everything.

TommyV44

Afshin,

I've never heard of a PTS allocation.

As far as I know if Porsche has an allocation to build your car (in my case C4S Cab) and you want a PTS color, they'll take the order. Then, maybe months later they'll tell you whether they can do the color or not and I think they can do a lot of colors unless you're looking for a light non-metallic color in which case you might just be SOL and you need to pick another (that happened to me on my current car).

To me the only challenge seemed to be would Porsche do that color!

Thanks for the info.

Tom

Marine Blue

Tom,

I thought the same thing but what is interesting is that if you visit the Porsche website frequently you will find that PTS isn't always offered. From what i was seeing, there is a small window when they offer it and that window varies depending on model. The PTS window for the Spyder was less than 14 days

TommyV44

WOW!! I'll have to check that out!!!

Tom

Edgy01

PTS is offered during this "window" because there is always some ramping up for them to do on a model, e.g., the 991, now. Then, they impose a cutoff on the PTS orders somewhere late in the production year.

I'm with you, Tom. Here you have the opportunity to order a no-kidding, custom, bespoke car, and people are still ordering silver with a black leather interior. (There's nothing wrong with silver with a black interior, but you sure don't need to custom ORDER one). I say take advantage of one of the last few car manufacturers who allows PTS/LTS. In the grand scheme of things, $6000 is a small price to pay for something really unique and special.

Remember, you can order a PTS car in a color that's not in your face, but is still very unique for you, alone. I get comments constantly on the Blue Turquoise from total strangers who say it's one of the nicest colors they have seen on a Porsche.

Marine Blue

I agree, I personally think PTS is worth it and I was prepared to plunk down the cash to make it happen. Unfortunately the timing for me didn't work out and I picked what I felt was the next best color. I really wanted my Spyder to be painted in Baltic Blue.

Tom as you have already experienced, Porsche has started to limit which colors it will paint. From what I have read here and heard from dealers, many of the older Porsche paint colors can not be sprayed properly and Porsche will turn them down. From what I understand, they will test a color to see if they can spray it and then provide a response to the customer. So you can't really call it PTS since Porsche won't just spray any color you choose.

TommyV44

Baltic Blue is very cool as well!!

I guess they could call it PTAS!! Paint to approved sample! I had no problem with the Lipstick Red interior!

But again it's been my experience that it's only the lighter non-metallics that they have the problem with and those are usually the ones I'm attracted to. I originally wanted Champagne Yellow from the 50s-60s but that was a no-go. The worst part about the approval process is how much time it takes for the yes or no! And if no then you're back to square 1! Still worth it IMO!!

I love my BT and also like the Riviera Blue and Eduardo's Ice Blue too. Arrow Blue is another fav.

Best,

Tom

Tcc1999

There are probably a lot of reasons people do not order PTS but the one that first comes to my mind is cost. Not the $5,500 charge but the fact that you have to get a dealer allocation and your price negotiating ability goes way down at that point. I've heard that what you can negotiate for an allocation may be only half what you could negotiate if you were looking at a car that was on the lot. So, as dealers tend to carry a lot of silver and black, that's what you see a lot of (and a lot of people like these colors). Plus, there is the immediate gratification/bigger discount vs. delayed gratification/less discount. Color just may not have the "utility" for many buyers to spend an extra $5,500 and lose several $K in the negotiation process. Of course, I could be wrong about all of this?

TommyV44

Maybe that's true....who knows.......

It's funny about money.....no one wants to spend more than they have to but I can honestly say that I've never been sorry I spent more to get what I liked ........the only value you can't put a number on is the pleasure that you get every time you look at something....every day.....every glance....every thought....every moment.

We renovated this 100 year old house we live in maybe 20 years ago and I wasn't making any money and wasn't driving a Porsche (and never thought I would be!) and my wife wanted to add a small English Conservatory to the kitchen (8x!2). It cost @ $40,000 and man that was expensive back then...after many arguments I reluctantly relented.....and it's gorgeous!!

I look at that room every day over coffee and marvel.....it would've been worth $300,000 for all the pleasure I've gotten from it.....it was a bargain.

Getting your special 911 in your special color is worth far more than what it costs IMO !!! It's cheap at twice the price!!

Tom

Marine Blue

I think many don't have the patience to go through with PTS/LTS but I guess it really depend upon how long you plan on keeping the car and how much you really like it.

I think many lease and many also trade cars regularly which would make PTS hard to justify.

I do know that when the Spyder was in production there were probably at least half a dozen people who wanted PTS since the standard color options were very limited.