Monetthecat

I thought people might be interested in a detailed review of Porsche’s “Drive” program offered in various locations in Germany and Switzerland.

This review is based on the Stuttgart location which is located at the museum (Zuffenhausen). Probably other locations are similar, but cannot be sure.

I debated doing another Euro delivery, but the timing wasn’t good. We purchased the 911 GTS last year and our new A7 wasn’t going to be built until late September. Since I was retiring in July and I knew that my wife didn’t have any interest in visiting Stuttgart and the museums (incl Mercedes), I did a 3 day rental and negotiated with her for a hall pass to go to Germany a week before she would arrive and start the “real” vacation.

I booked the Porsche Drive online in January (2018) for August rental. Reserving a 911 GTS RWD to be as close to my car as I could. Interesting was that no credit card information was needed. Only drivers license. Received a confirmation email, but other than that not a peep. It was almost so simple I question if I did it right.

Note with PCA membership you get a 10% discount also. In March I emailed Porsche just to confirm the reservation and asking if they needed a credit car. They email back saying no credit card was needed.

A week before the trip I called the museum to verbally confirm and make sure that traveling to Austria wasn’t an issue. No issues with Austria and all EU countries are permitted. I asked about the GTS and they said they would try, but reserve the right to swap cars as needed.

Morning of rental I arrived at 9am. Long line for museum tickets, but separate desk for Drive with no line. They asked for passport, license and credit card. Asked if they needed my Int’l DL and they said “sure”, but I suspect its not needed. I took a seat and in < 5 min I was collected and shown my car. It was a C4S Cab. I was fine with that and in fact excited about the cabriolet. Living in Chicago I’ve never had any interest in the cab.

Normally they would spend some time showing you the car, but I said all I needed was for the system to be in English and I’d be good. We spent time looking over the car for any issues. This included the rims for any scuffs. For a car with 17K kilometers on it it was in great shape. Some minor wear and tear on the inside. Credit card was ran with the rental fee plus a 2.5K (Euro) security deposit.

Car was moderately equipped. PDK, Sport Chrono, PSE, Bose, LED lights, carbon fiber trim, adaptive sport seats. No SIM card so no Google maps or traffic display, but Apple Car Play worked fine. Checked tire pressures and tire tread depth and no issues. No entry and drive so you need the key at all times. Spent 10 minutes setting the car up to my preferences. Simple things like auto-zoom for nav. Then stored to the key.

Loaded Baden-Baden to the nav and drove off. Road works along much of the way. In fact I think most of Germany is under road works. Took 90 min to get to Baden-Baden and then went down Hochstrasse (highway 500). Nice drive and glad I did it, but I wouldn’t do it again. Arrived in Lindau around 3pm.

Next day spent driving the Alpine passes in Western Austria incl Silvretta, Flexen, Hahntennjoch, Arbergstrabe and Hochtannberg. Hit Silvretta first at 7am and was mostly empty. Great drive so turned around and did it again. Shout out to Stefan Boger and his series of books detailing many of the great drives in the Alps (Swiss, Austrian, Italy, etc)… I also now understand the thrill of convertibles. Weather was perfect in the 70s so the top down made the drives all that more enjoyable.

Next day blast back to Stuttgart. Mostly Autobahn and nice to open the car up. Love driving in Germany. Makes driving in the USA all that much more painful.

Dropped the car off around 10am. I could have driven longer as I only put 1,000 kilometer on the car, but needed to catch the train to Munich to pick up my wife the next day. They did a quick inspection and had no issues.

All in all it was great. In many ways better than Euro delivery as it was less stressful. No worries around break-in, rock chips, parking situations. I’ve done Euro delivery twice and tell people its great, but I don’t need to do it again.

Couple tips if you do this
1) If you have a specific car in mind it might be best to call directly
2) BYOM - Bring your own music. I loaded a SD card with tunes. Could have used my iPhone, but SD card made it simpler.
3) If you are uptight about car cleanliness bring some Armor All Micro Shine wipes. They come in packs of 12 and allow you to clean off the car if dirty. I would never use these on my personal car, but for a rental they work great.
4) If traveling to Austria and Switzerland you need a vignette (highway sticker). You can pre-order and have them mailed to you or purchase at a gas station close to the border
5) If you do this in Stuttgart come in a day or 2 early and visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums. I did the Mercedes museum on a whim and glad I did. They have a display of all the Silver Arrows since the 30s and it was impressive.

Any other questions let me know or PM me.

HiAperture

Thanks for the review! Re the PCA membership discount, do you show them that at the desk when you pick up the car?

Monetthecat

I had it with me, but they never asked to see it. However, when I booked online you have an option to select being a PCA member and it shows the discount when you finalize