This is our experience during our recent European Delivery experience.


To preface:

• I am a first time Porsche customer.
• We are picking up a '22 992 GTS Manual in SB. Order demand made in November '21. Build started in May '22 and completed production in mid July.
• I was one of the unlucky ones and did not receive the electric steering column. The car has the 18 way seats and leathered column.
• Car came with Goodyears -- I was hoping for PS4S.
• We've done European Delivery before but that was with BMW in 2015. It's only natural of me to compare that experience with this one with Porsche.

Planning and Routing
Even though our delivery will be in Leipzig, we were ultimately dropping the car off in Stuttgart at the end of the trip and therefore, it was just easier to book round trip tickets in and out of Stuttgart.
From Stuttgart, we'd take a train up to Leipzig where we would take delivery of the car. Our road trip starts in Leipzig, working our way down south into the heart of the Swiss Alps. We then drive back up north to Stuttgart, with a day trip in Baden-Baden Germany.

Total distance traveled: 1580km

POIs and Highlights

• Leipzig Germany
• Porsche Zuffenhausen Museum
• Porsche Christophorus Restaurant
• Lucerne Switzerland
• Mount Pilatus Switzerland
• Grimsel Pass Switzerland
• Grimsel Pass Dam
• Furka Pass Switzerland
• Baschi Restaurant Geschinersee Switzerland
• Rhône Glacier Switzerland
• Schaffhausen Switzerland
• V8 Hotel + Motorworld Stuttgart
• Baden-Baden Germany

In retrospect, I would downsize about 20% or so if I had to do it again. Part of the trip felt like we were traveling too much and didn't get enough time to really absorb the locals we were staying.

Delivery Day Experience
With an evening arrival in Stuttgart, we immediately went to the airport hotel to get some rest.

The next morning, we hopped on the S-Bahn to make our way to Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof where we boarded the ICE 598 train to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof. Unfortunately we were unaware of the current S-Bahn construction and got a little lost, however, we gave ourselves a few hours of pad for these uncertain situations. We made it on board the ICE train with plenty of time to spare. It was a relaxing 5 or so hour journey. No stress or drama. We were quite envious of their public transportation and rail system: efficient, affordable, and fast...topping out at 250kph for this route.

It was around early evening when we arrived at the Steigenberger Grandhotel Handelsof -- the hotel that Porsche books a complimentary night stay if you were to pick your car at Leipzig. We paid for a second night for a total of 2 nights. No complaints -- the hotel was excellent top to bottom!


With barely any sleep from excitement, collection day has arrived! We got to the lobby a bit early for our pickup time of 07:45, looking out for what we expected to be a Macan or a Cayenne as our shuttle. Sadly, it turned out to be just a van taxi that Porsche contracted out. For comparison, our 2015 BMW ED pickup vehicle was a nicely equipped 7 series. No big deal, it's just a short ride to the factory.



Delivery Day schedule went like this:

• 30 minute presentation/video of the Leipzig plant: somewhat pandering to be honest but did learn a couple new factoids.
• 45-60 minute track session: fun but it was just going fast around a track. I wished we did other things like the skid pad or slaloms.
• 30 minute off-road session: fun and similar to BMW's Performance Delivery Center in Spartanburg.
• 60 minute car hand-over: this is when I saw my GTS for the first time!
• 60-90 minute factory tour: again, a bit similar to BMW's Munich/Spartanburg factory tours.
• 45+ minutes: Lastly, lunch at their restaurant: Food was fine, but unfortunately we mutually agreed the meal was our least favorite one from our entire 10 day trip. Good views though!

After lunch, we spent an hour touring the small gallery of cars upstairs, went to the gift shop to look around and received our gift (it's a square ceramic plate with Porsche Leipzig art on it), and took some obligatory photos of our 911 on the Leipzig grounds. Our day ended with dinner in Leipzig city center and then back at the Steigenberger for the night.







Overall it was a pleasant experience. For me the highlight was certainly the car handover, obviously! Comparing to BMW's ED program (back when they still offered it), I'd rate Porsche's experience a step below. BMW's experience overall felt more refined. They really made you feel special; sending you to the top floor of the Welt where the VIP lounge is, having you descend down the beautiful staircase where you are presented your car on a rotating platform on what seemingly like a vast stage, and allowing you to drive your car for the first time around a few victory laps in the Welt. Even the planning and paperwork was more elegantly orchestrated by BMW.


However, comparing the two cars is a whole different story!

• As a first timer with Porsche, most of what I will say has probably been expressed to death. The drive and feel of this car is unreal! I feel special every time I sit within, and even more so driving it. It made my F82 M4 quite pedestrian and boat-like. The biggest shocker to both myself and the lady is the suspension tuning. It was stiffer and drove much nicer and tighter than the M4, but somehow it was more comfortable and easy going. Going over cobblestones was smooth and a non-issue whereas in the M4, it would somehow feel brittle and crash a bit. Michelle usually gets car sick in the M4 but in the much lowered 911, she was fine for the entire week of driving.
• The frunk fit both our hard-shelled, full-sized carry-ons, as well as a soft camera bag.
• I asked the guys at Leipzig about break in. They said it is more of a precaution and the biggest thing is to not go too hot when the engine is cold. Otherwise from time to time, it's okay to breach the 4k RPM recommended limit. With that said, I took the GTS to a relaxed 163mph on some unrestricted autobahns. It was too easy.
• Luckily I optioned FAL. Even when activated, there was one instance where I scraped the front lip. During drop off, Sal recorded it as damage on the inspection sheet.
• This car gets a lot of attention and respect. It could just be the color...

Some notes and annoyances so far...

• The center armrest lid doesn't stay erect when opened. It's annoying to have to use both hands to plug your phone in while using your forearm to prop the lid open.
• Going from 6th gear to 5th gear is a little difficult. I'm hoping with more time and experience I can get this resolved.
• Changing the instrument console from MPH to KPH is only partially possible. The left digital analog dial is able to do this however, the digital readout in the center dial cannot be changed by the user -- it may be possible through the dealer though. Throughout this trip I would have to ignore the center MPH readout and only rely on the KPH analog gauge on the left...and because the steering wheel blocks that region a bit, I was constantly shifting/craning my neck to read the speedo.
• Most of the connectivity was INOP because it was a US car within Europe. User accounts, satnav, etc did not work. Only local connections like bluetooth and CarPlay worked.
• The rear fog light is comically small (in a silly and cute way).
• The steering column stalks feel cheap to me, with a hollow and thin plastic feel.
• I had to constantly adjust my left pant leg (the leg operating the clutch pedal) because it kept rising up as I use the clutch pedal. This is because of the extra grippiness of the Race-Tex seat bottom. I'm hoping spending more time adjusting the seat further will resolve this.
• For the Comfort Entry feature, the default seat position slides so far back that I have to slouch and reach for the clutch pedal to start the car. Otherwise, I'd have to switch the ignition on, wait for the seat to slide to the proper position before I can start the car. I will have to configure how far it slides back when the car arrives home.

Recommendations

• Some hotels do not have air conditioning so book accordingly. Luckily the hotels we stayed that didn't have AC were cool enough at night.
• Often the interior of buildings were actually warmer than outside even during summer.
• Allocate some time for border crossing.
• There were more unrestricted autobahns than I read/expected.
• Driving in Switzerland was difficult. I was constantly looking at my speedo making sure not to speed. 30kph is excruciating.
• Bring some Euro coins with you for bathroom rest stops. Usually €1.
• Get to your POIs early in the morning to beat the crowds.

Thanks for reading!

 

Car looks amazing.
Thanks for the write up. May have some questions for you. Doing ED Leipzig October 25th

 

Nice summary and stunning photos. I did ED BMW in 2015 like you. I am considering GTS now. We will bring 3 or 4 years daughter( Still order demand). Do we know rear seat is officially rear seat, human can seat ther legally in Germany? Some country does not recognize as rear seat so when the accident happen, it get worse.

 

Sure thing. I'll help all that I can.

My assumption is yes they are real. They have seatbelts and child seat anchors back there for a reason.

 

Outstanding write up! Learned a lot just by reading and looking at the photos. I almost went with the speed blue stitching, I should have done it... it looks awesome. Mine is leather seating, so it was a $3500 or so upgrade. Decided to keep standard stitching and opted for the HG aerokit! Enjoy that baby!

 

Thanks so much for the write up! Could you briefly discuss which destination you would recommend and which of the 20% you would drop?

 

Thanks, wonderfully done write up and pics. Makes me feel like I was there. Fond memories!

I, like you, have done a BMW Welt delivery, as well as a MB ED and Porsche Stuttgart delivery of my '17 Targa 4S. Dropped the 911 at Leipzig for its shipment home. I was scheduled to do a Leipzig delivery (Stuttgart drop off) last October for my '22 Targa 4S, but alas it got COVID cancelled. Had to be content to take delivery at home. I have a '23 Taycan GTS, supposedly scheduled for December production...we'll see. Porsche does not offer ED for Taycans.

Out of my European Delivery experiences, like you I would rate the BMW experience #1, for the same reasons you listed. The Welt is spectacular. Plus it didn't hurt that BMW gave about a 6-7% discount for ED at the time! Porsche would be #2. And far, far behind would be the MB delivery.

 

From the map, you can kinda tell that Leipzig was the outlier being so far north of everything else. If I had to do it again, I think I would pick the car up in Zuffenhausen. We would have spared up to 3 days worth of travel.

• one day to train up from Stuttgart to Leipzig
• another day driving back down to Stuttgart.
• and considering we would be able to travel from pickup to Lucerne for example, that's a third day spared. Driving 5+ hours right after pickup in Leipzig was not ideal.

One may say the Leipzig pickup includes the track driving experience. True, but to me the experience wasn't enough to fully savor. It was quite abbreviated, essentially driving fast around the track for a dozen or so laps. I honestly enjoyed more of the drive on the unrestricted autobahns and the mountain passes.

Schaffhausen was planned as a short stop for us so it wasn't necessary. Nice though.

We wished we had planned a full day or so in Baden-Baden. We were only there for a few hours and because it was on a Sunday, most shops were closed.

Lucerne was a favorite and could have spent 3 days there alone.

There were a couple POIs not listed that were planned but we didn't get to experience. We got there too late and parking was a big issue. Now we know to get to these places early.

 

Lucerne on my list of places to stay overnight. Looking at hotels there right now.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I am a frequent ED customer, but was forced to pick up my Spyder in Leipzig for the first time about 3 weeks ago. Overall it was a really nice experience, and something new which is always welcome. honestly it exceeded my expectations. The folks there are so kind, and organized as well, sometimes in Zuffenhausen it gets a bit chaotic and nobody really knows what’s going on. The track time was great, the factory tour was amazing, I enjoyed it more than I expected, likely because it was a tiny group and it was like a private tour. The hotel was great and exploring Leipzig was nice, again because it was a new experience.

The only downside for me was that Leipzig is so far away from what I like to do, which is drive in the Alps. It’s quite a distance away, so as mentioned above it definitely kills a full day just traveling. However, the autobahns surrounding Leipzig are mostly empty and very smooth, so it was easy to cut significant time off the journey with long high speed stretches, something which is challenging to find in the area around Stuttgart. Also, the drop off in Leipzig back at Porsche was so easy.

all that being said, my next EDs will be back at Zuffenhausen as the proximity to what I like to do and see is just more convenient. But I am very glad I experienced Leipzig delivery and highly recommend it if this an option for anyone.

 

What made the MB Delivery inferior to the rest? Love to hear the differences.

No doubt the Leipzig delivery experience was terrific in the end and well worth doing! I should have mentioned that if we were touring the northern parts of Germany, Leipzig would be ideally situated.

 

woobiee, in answer to your: What made the MB Delivery inferior to the rest? Love to hear the differences.

I felt that the MB experience was rather impersonal compared to BMW and Porsche. Where especially BMW and also Porsche made you feel special (for reasons mentioned by us already) MB felt second rate. First it was done in a large metal building that was kind of like an indoor practice field with a fake turf floor and there were probably 50 cars lined up ready to be delivered. I felt like the handoff was almost like being tossed the keys and sent on my way. This was a few years ago now, so MB may have revised their delivery methods, if they are even still doing ED. When I'm in Munich, I still make a visit to the Welt because I like it so much, even though no more BMW ED.

 

Kinda sounds like a glorified standard delivery experience.

Agreed, the Welt is great! They rotate/change the exhibits often which is nice.

 

Great read! Happy to have found your thread, and again great to meet you guys on delivery day!

 

Nice write up! Makes me recall my experience doing ED at Leipzig back in 2017.

My 10 day trip was Leipzig - Ingolstadt - Munich - Stuttgart - Heidelberg - Frankfurt

The one regret I had was not going to Nürburgring!