John McM

Walter and Paul, I have put the details for BB2 and the Grinch on the RSG site.

peterC2S

Thanks for reminding me. When I saw Gary a couple of weeks back and asked him what he had done to it the predictable reply was "nothing."

I was thinking the same thing... Just keep the kleenex well away from any hoses!

Sports Chrono is a glorified (and bloody expensive) stop watch on these. Not needed given its manual - no pdk launch control etc.

I wish. But I may be a buyer for one of the greys.... Just saying so I get first dibs... that's how its done around here right?!

RS ZWEI

Wouldnt you be better at comparing the GT4 with a 968 CS back in the day instead of a 993 C2?

John McM

Nik, at least one magazine compares the CS to the Cayman R. I think the GT4 is a lot more focussed.

RS ZWEI

Speaking of 968's, this is up for auction this week in Japan. Could be a good base for a race car:

mjg

I know it's an auction, but what's the ballpark price?

Moody blue

At the risk of throwing the cat among the pigeons ,and perhaps this has been discussed before, so please forgive a "newbie" to this forum, I don't really "get" the premium that is perceived by a Porsche being NZ new.
All Porsches are imported either new or second hand.
I lived in the UK for 20 years and owned a number of P cars of which
Every one (5 in total) were imported from outside the UK.
Never affected value at sale- it was always about condition and spec. 2 of the cars went onto other countries they had not been previously been sold into.
A good car is a good car where ever it may have been sold.
Is it that Kiwis are better at looking after our cars or our mechanics better? I doubt that .
Interested to hear your thoughts...

996tnz

I'll Taupo register BB2 then. Will put Paul and you down as associate drivers in the notes, but for safety's sake you'll want to do John's recommended 'enter and 'pay by cheque' thing too, and I'll do that too for the Grinch.

The Grinch is fine and ran OK but I only did two of their 5 or 6 lap sessions as her battery was flat on arrival and I didn't have cables on me. Jonno lent me a spare battery to swap in but the terminals were the wrong size, so just used it for jumping. He thought the battery might not take a charge so I kept her idling -and the fan always on. She seemed to run fairly hot (just on edge of red end of our first session (¬210F) then halfway up the red at the end of the second with a check engine light. Jonno took a look and some IR gun readings (80c on the front of the block by the top hose) and said she was fine but the gauge was reading off, so he reckoned it would pay to upgrade it so we can pick up any real overheating if it does happen about $80 and minimal labour. Otherwise he says don't start worrying unless she goes right off the gauge or you get the magic cloud of steam. Lost a session getting her checked over but better safe than sorry.

Also asked him about the clunking CV joints and he recommended original Honda ones next time we replace them as they last better. Plus got some tips on WOFing BB2.

Further on the good news front, I tried starting her off her own battery at day's end and it worked. All power switches off so hopefully the charge holds. Key back with Jonno at HD.

The two 8-10 minute sessions themselves were good fun as we were in the caged car group and there was a decent bit of jousting going on. Mix of everything from GTRs and track specials down to a handful of 2K cuppers. Would've been good to have caught more runs but at least the Grinch got a shakedown pre-Taupo and I got a chance to test some of my own systems too. Dave (2K's Coca Rola) gave me some pointers on beating Racechrono back into submission and I tested the Smartycam I'd just picked up at HD, so all successful on that front.

It really was brilliant being able to leave work an hour early, hit the track and still come home for dinner so I'll keep an eye out for more of these Uncles runs.

nzskater

I think colder climates and subsequent salted roads plays into it a lot, but the main contributor in my mind is the lack of background/history. Having the ability to call a local mechanic and potentially a previous owner makes it easier for the seller to validate the history and state of the vehicle.

This holds true for primarily self serviced cars, that don't have "the stamps" in their service book, although I suspect this applies to newer cars more than older.

I do believe the market is changing, as evident in the number of import owners here, including myself.

Pel

Others may chime in but the majority are willing to pay a premium for a car with known history and generally no stories. NZ new cars offer this. I have heard wives tales of UK cars with corrosion issues NZ new cars don't generally suffer, however this is probably cars that lived there for 10 or so years before coming here. Don't know much about the pitfalls of sing & HK cars (if any) perhaps just air con and the fact it may have more running time than the kms suggest due to lack of open roads & congestion. I think Dave's SC is an import. It would likely sell on this board within days, not making the public market. It's all subjective really... I like NZ new cars but would value an enthusiast owner more.

John McM

Best plans of mice and men Walter. I fitted battery switches to both race cars so they can be switched off. No battery problems that way. Obviously Johno didn't use that. I'll talk to him on Sunday as we were charged for a new gauge a week or so ago. The crux of the matter is that I won't risk ruining $1,400 of head gasket work by running it until it steams. Something is not right. Hopefully it's a gauge issue.

That aside I'm glad you had some fun. If the Grinch issue persists Sunday may be mostly taming the R.

John McM

I've had five Porsches so far, two NZ new and three imports, two from Singapore and one from the UK.

1990 964 C4 Singapore New - in NZ since 1999
1993 Turbo 3.6 Singapore New - in NZ since 1999
2001 996TT NZ new
2005 Cayenne S NZ new
2012 Cayman R UK New - in NZ since 2013

The experience coming through is that young machines with documented history of being well maintained are where I want to be at. Where it's been imported from is not high on my priority list as long as I can judge its condition and preferably its owner as well. Obviously that's harder with any imported car, but I don't assume that all Kiwi owners are good to their cars. There are are some cheap beggars out there. I know as my 996TT had a cheap PO.

kiwi 911

It's coz we are on an island and six finger in-breads. With most of us, there are only 2 degrees of separation instead of 6.

A nicer way of saying this is it's easier to sell a NZ car as it will most likely be known by club members or people on this site who can vouch for the quality and pedigree of the car. Much harder to do this with a Singapore or Japanese car imported last week.

It's hard to get a premium for a NZ car - stock levels are so low for any desirable Pcar in good condition that beggars can't be choosers and people will simply buy on condition - as you suggest.

I agree with JMc that a car imported early in it's life and with a known history is very desirable too. It's the FOB's (fresh off the boat's) that are of unknown risk.

Generally..............

Singapore cars are not desirable as there are lots of reported issues with the high humidity affecting electrics and rotting cables

UK cars have the risk of being used in winter and being exposed to lime and rust - there are sh*t loads of horror stories out there.

Macca

It's funny but there wouldn't be many multiple P car owners on this board who hadn't owned an imported example!

I've owned 5 Porsches including 2xGT3 & an RS and only one car (current 993 C2 of 14+ years) was sold NZ new. The others were from Singapore x2, Japan x1 and private import from factory X1.

The big difference for me is I imported each and every car so had done full due diligence and received all ownership documents, history, talked to prior owners and workshops etc before I purchased. The exception was Japan and I generally wouldn't by a decent Pcar from here as the auction system doesn't give you visibility to prior owner, any records are scarce and the written language is impossible to decipher using google translate. That being said for a cheaper purchase like the 968 6spd I bought it's less of a concern....

That's my experience in any case. I don't see that a direct import from the factory like my GT3/4 should have any real stigma. First stamp is from "werks 1" Stuttgart (Pre Delivery Inspection part of factory collection) with my name next to it at 8km and minimal time on European roads :-)

Maxem

Yeah it is. Came over in 89 so only exposed to the UK roads for 7 years. Long term NZ placement see's it with no underbody corrosion on components and none in the structure that I can detect. Also a long history here is easily traceable and as stated you can ring guys up. I'd buy a UK Porsche on condition mainly because it's slim pickings here so not a lot of choice unless you wait. But two identical cars side by side I would always chooses NZ new first if it is available. And pay a premium for it but we know with older P cars this is not possible to be so choosey. Normal cars? Never buy a Jappa, or other asian. I went there a couple of times with euro's and it's not been pretty. No history, could be dodgy speedo etc - and I always felt like a cheap **** for not getting the best. For non P cars, I always buy NZ new. Full main dealer history and it is pretty hard to go wrong. You don't need to pay a premium if you look hard enough. I'd do a near new Euro ex UK because of discount but as I say, there is always a NZ one kicking around that can be had for similar money. So I guess I'm one of the NZ New proponents who keep the notion alive.