Okay, cool... Sorry about that. I am just a little bit over defensive when people start ragging on the folks here who can provide the world with truly first hand experience and without any PC BS. Cheers

 

To the OP...I dig your collection of cars you have/had. The fact that your having a Singer built is very cool. IMO if I were in your shoes, and wanted a 918.. I would do it only if meant that my Carreras GT would not have to go.

 

thanks.

agreed - the CGT must stay.

 

The above are all good points that I have taken into consideration. I attended the 2011 918 long-lead customer schmooze in Weissach on my own travel dime. This was the event where we had to sign NDA's and surrender camera phones, etc. I sat next to and chatted with Frank at the event's dinner in the Museum amongst the 917's on display. It was very clear that the 918 project was very high caliber and Porsche had challenged themselves to produce a masterpiece.

As you can see from my avatar, I already own a CGT. I was curious to appraise the 918 in light of my purchase and ownership experiences of the Carrera GT.

Buying my CGT was a sometimes frustrating and sometimes contentious experience because of the (intentionally?) incomplete communications between PAG and PCNA. The internet (as expected) short-circuited the information wall between the two and caused much confusion about the availability of options like paint-to-sample and what the exact differences were between regular and XT seats, etc. I was told one thing and the opposite turned out to be true more than once. It was as if the mother ship was too busy to bother with "harmonizing" what was being told to different customers in different markets. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth which was partially made up for by being able to select "0911" as my sequence number.

Owning my CGT has been different than I anticipated, but now I'm less dumb about the car business. The CGT was not a line of cars, but a specific, limited scope, short-run project - project #980. This means that there were no ongoing improvements like happen with 911 cars. There is no CGT "facelift" edition from which to borrow new generation replacement parts. That's because there is no further engineering budget to devote to a finished project. It's all done. It's over.

[example whine] I now run aftermarket brake rotors on my CGT because the OEM parts don't cut it for track driving. If one were to say that tracking a CGT is outside the service requirements of a street car, I would point out Porsche's marketing position that the Carrera GT was "the race car experience for the street". A car like the CGT is difficult to fully enjoy in the USA (half of CGT production) without going to jail unless some track time is included. I was disappointed to learn that such enjoyment was going to cost $25,000 + labor every half-dozen or so track events for new rotors. Thus, I spent $24,000 + shipping and labor for a replacement I would only have to buy once- from MovIt. [/example whine]

I bring up the example of rotors as an illustration of the effects of the end of engineering development cycles. No one at Porsche had a development budget to address post-manufactured CGT brake durability. Therefore, the brakes would be forever thus. Once a highly specialized, short run, project car has finished development, production has ended, and they are all sold, the car is officially an orphan.

The only orphan exception I can think of is the homologation of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires to "N-spec" status so that CGT owners in some rule-restricted countries could still legally drive their cars on the street. This process mysteriously coincided with numerous complaints about the "old new stock" tires from CGT owners in the field.

Weird cars seem to require weird tires and weird tire sizes, so tire manufacturers only mold them once in a blue moon. I was buying "new" tires for my CGT in 2008 that had been molded in 2004/2005. I didn't measure their durometer reading for posterity, but they were no better in grip than the worn down, heat cycled tires I just removed. That's because they had been heat cycled for me in a hot warehouse for many years before I could buy them. Not good.

Michelin had on their own volition invented new tire technology (MPSS) that could be had in sizes that fit the CGT. I and many other started using them and they worked well. I sometimes wonder if the "N-spec" versions would ever have been certified by Porsche if not for the clamor of CGT owners who were being pressed to buy a 918. The timing was too coincidental to be random chance.

So, my point in all of this is that Porsche company history is my guide for future expectations. When inevitably battery/electronic technology advances, what happens then? Will there be any development money in reserve to address the 918, specifically. How much? Who says? Do you believe them?

 

All great points, Mike (although I am not so convinced about the "mysterious coincidence" theory, but you could be right!). To add further insult to injury is the way that they have raised the prices of the replacement parts dramatically over the last several years (a "fender bender" is seriously a $100,000).

Anyhow, the one big difference I have is simply where I live: in Switzerland. I hadn't own a car for 20 years before the CGT because I never had anywhere to really drive it. Now I can take the baby out for journeys to places where I can drive 250km+ (in Germany, no problem), to wonderful country roads in Eastern Europe, throughout the Swiss Alps, to destinations along the Rivera, to -- well you name it. It is a car -- I believe -- that yearns for adventure (the most prominent photos of it show a similar theme). I haven't felt this way about any other car; I just want to keep driving it. Sometimes after a long day, I am so frazzled, that I almost can't imagine wanting to drive the car anymore (I am holding my head in my hands). Until the next morning when I can almost think of nothing else...

Cheers,

Steve

 

The 918 is way out of reach for me at present, but I am beginning to drink the Kool-Aid. I know the following video has been posted before, but wow...

Fast forward to 11:45. The sound it makes is unreal. For anyone who has driven the car; is that the sound of the V8 & both electric motors in maximun attack mode?

 

I just want to add, for the op's consideration, that the smartest way for an enthusiast to buy a specialty Porsche, be it the RS's or the 918s, is to buy them new. The depreciation really is minimal and you would have years of driving time behind the latest and greatest. In that sense, hyper Porsches are still quite the bargain despite the continuous price hikes in the last decade. As a sum of parts, the 918 could very well be the most costly to produce out of the LaF/P1/Pagani, but it is priced the lowest and the most talented if not the fastest or most exotic.

 

As stated earlier, agree with maomao911. Though I acquired my CGT used (and specially done up), I would say for the money it's much better getting the car to your exact specifications than any marginal savings you may reap later on a used one. You are -- at least in part -- buying it for pleasure.

 

I too wouldn't sell the CGT. The latest issue of Automobile mag (March 2014) is worth a read. Georg Kacher got an exclusive -- the first ever road trip in the 918 Spyder, 1082 miles (Stuttgart to Valencia).

 

thanks! will check out the article ASAP

edit: here it is

http://www.automobilemag.com/feature...he-918-spyder/

 

Couldnt agree more..

 

Yes..and one more point: in the previous Sport Auto editon (Jan 14) there is a comparison between C-Gt and 918, in the last two paraghraphs the following points are mentioned:

1) despite being 10 years old the C-GT is on the Hockenheim straight line "only" 10 km/h slower then the 918

2) They write "the C-Gt is the last analog supercar - the 918 is the first digital supercar"

Given that I highly doubt that digital cars will be collector cars one day..anybody selling his C-GT now in order to pay for the 918..must be a complete..OK .- better dont say it.

My Prediction: the 918 will loose in max 3 years the "face value" of a C-GT..so if you have the cash for the 918, my advice would be: buy the C-GT now, add a second hand 918 in 3 years..and you have both..digital and analog...and on top of that you probably made a wise investement decision..

 

that all makes sense. i agree the cgt is a sure thing.

i think its conceivable that some digital supercars may be collectible. for example if the fusion between analog and digital is so seamless as to be totally additive. i think what you are saying is that digital supercars will be continuously improving (in battery tech especially) and thus the 918 will be surpassed in short order (3 years). is there reason to believe that to be true? its not clear what is on the horizon that will approach that level of performance and hybridization. Seems at most 'tweaky' from here .. who is going to actually make a 918-type car with a 20kg weight reduction in battery in the next few years? Maybe 10yrs for the next big jump that would obsolete the 918 in some way.

 

Love my CGT! I would sell my McLaren and F12 before the CGT.

 

Wow!

That's all I gotta say.

The picture says it all about the 918 (unless it's a shameless phony Porsche photo op, lol).

There's real ice, packed snow underneath those wheels, and on top of that incline into the hotel (mind you the ski rack on top).

Whudda Hyper-Brid/Hyper-Supercar

SMH