PistolPete

Drove in this afternoon. What a skyline from the road! Looking forward to exploring more via foot and maybe tram tomorrow. With the rain predicted for Sunday I'll hit the aquarium then.

From Ward Island last night:

[/url] by Peter Moy, on Flickr

RealityGT

^Sic pic!! Really great shot, Pete..

Zookie

terrible picture, I don't see any strippers!

goatfarmerdave

Do yourself a favour. Show up at the aquarium before it opens to be first in line. Only 15-20 minutes early. If you go later in the day there will be a ton of people and blocking of tanks if quite a frustration. Being the first ones in is a much better experience.

PistolPete

LOL

Got it. I'm staying at the Delta next door so I plan to be there ASAP!

I think I may run to the tunnel exhibit first before it gets packed, would you agree?

Thanks,
-Pete

Turbodan

great pic and congrats on taking the ferry over to wards island, not many tourists would do that this time of year. You may have heard but the island was basically flooded at the beginning of this summer.
Great idea doing the aquarium as it is world class. I was skeptical when it opened but have been a few times and it is really great,
Enjoy the city. Which dealers are you going to or did you go to?

PistolPete

I did see some signs indicating flood damage on Center Island and the pier area. As a person who got a front row seat to Superstorm Sandy 5 years ago in NYC I know firsthand what a nightmare that could be.

So far I've stopped by downtown Porsche and had a nice chat with one of the salespeople about the differences between the US and Canadian market.

One thing that caught my attention was the amount of winter tires on wheel sets on display for sale. You guys don't hesitate driving these cars in the winter!

I think I'll head to Porsche Center North Toronto before heading back to NY tomorrow morning. I'm told this is a "factory" dealership and the facility is brand new. Maybe I'll get a closeup look at a 991.2 GT3 if I'm lucky.


Here's a photo album of my trip so far:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmapCuiC

Mumbles

Hi Pete, what camera equipment do you use ? great shots !

2RedPorsche

I checked out your photo album and wow, you do some great camera work! Glad you're enjoying your visit!
Too bad you didn't stop at Porsche Center Oakville on your way to Toronto from Niagara, they have a red 991.2 GT3 in their showroom.
Enjoy the rest of your stay and keep the pictures coming!

PistolPete

Thanks guys. I mainly use a Nikon D800e SLR body with a collection of lenses I've accumulated over 20+ yrs of this hobby. I was into cameras way before Porsches!

Thank you for the tip about the 991.2 GT3 at Porsche Center Oakville, I'll definitely stop by there on the way back to the Niagara Falls crossing tomorrow afternoon. I'll skip Pfaff because it's a bit out of the way, especially with work day traffic.

I've got a ton of Porsche event and track photos over the years if you want to check my albums out some more.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pistolpete13/albums

JimV8

+1 on the pics. The shots of the water going over the falls are exceptional.

PistolPete

On my way home today after a great extended weekend in Toronto. Thank you all for the tips and suggestions!

I had visited downtown Porsche on Saturday and had a nice chat with Ab Hamid about cars, the difference between the Cdn and American markets, and how Toronto is booming right now. I was left with a good feeling about the dealership and the people who work there.

Today I hung around the hotel until 10AM or so when traffic lightened up a bit and managed to do a grand tour of the 3 remaining dealerships in the area. I visited Porsche Center North, Pfaff, and finally Oakville.

On a side note, why is the Don Valley Parkway bumper to bumper at 10:30AM? Is it like NYC where nobody works and people just drive around all day?

First up was Porsche Center North and here are my impressions in no particular order.

- Someone needs to fixed that crater marked road leading to the dealership. Easily the roughest road I've seen so far in the area.

- Where is the customer parking? Nothing was marked and I ended up parking all the at the left side with the service cars. Later I saw what looked like four customer parking spots in the front.

- The facility is enormous and easily beats any of the dealerships in the NYC area. The receptionist was friendly and was OK with me taking a few photos. Strange thing is, no one came up or bothered me for the 30 minutes or so that I was there. That's OK, gave me more time to look at the cars!

- I got lucky as they were rolling a new Carmine Red 991.2 GT3 onto a trailer for transport to the new owner. I was able to get a ton of photos and video of the engine startup.

Pfaff was next.

- Holy cr@p this place is enormous. I've never seen a lot or building so large and all devoted to Porsche. Only Champion Porsche in FL may come close, but it's a coin flip.

- So many used GT cars. Six GT4's (I'm partial to that because I own one), six GT3-RS's, two new 991.2 GT3's, and I lost count of "normal" GT3's scattered about.

- I counted at least 30 sales desk position and the place was buzzing with activity. No one came up and bothered me again so I had the freedom to roam to the basement (more goodies there) and the 2nd floor lounge.

- I was so overwhelmed by the amount of cars inside the building that I didn't even bother to wander the outside lot. Besides the wind was building up today. Winter is coming!

Last stop was Oakville

- I was a little underwhelmed by the lack of GT cars after Pfaff. Only one GT3-RS and a Carrera GT in the service bay.

- Lot's of wheeling and dealing for Macans and Cayennes.

- No salesperson bothered me again although a few did eyeball me before running away. I'm beginning to suspect I didn't fit the typical profile of a Toronto area client? (Flannel jacket, sneakers, and a camera. Tourist alert!)

Anyway, it was a fun day and the grand tour lasted a bit longer than expected. I'm back in NY but not home yet. Will be hitting Letchworth State Park tomorrow before the final push back to NYC.

In the meantime here are a few quick snapshots I got of the dealerships.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm7k4AJx

RealityGT

^Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay, Pete!

DVP = Don Valley Parking Lot.. lol It's a fuking miserable stretch of highway.. There is a small window from 11:30am - 12:30pm where it's empty.. after that it's rush hour traffic throughout the day until 8pm..
If there is a sporting event, forget about it..

Pfaff owns Canada in regards to High end sports car sales.. There building is less than 10 min from my home.. I fight myself to not visit every day.

Downtown Porsche (IMO) are the biggest fuking crooks... The GM gave my GT4 allocation to a previous customer, at the 11th hour because he was unable to order LWBS for his first GT4.
I had a commission # and everything, but they tore up the contract. They had the ***** to offer me that customers used GT4 afterwards as a consolation prize.
At the time I was at the 3rd largest law firm in the country and had litigators chomping at the bit to chase them, but I let it go as I didn't want the negative karma..
FU Downtown Porsche... I hope you go out of business now that Porsche North Toronto is in such close proximity.

We need more porsche corporate stores to keep these crooks honest.

moab

I love Downtown Porsche. Bought a couple of Porsches from Pfaff and they have always been nice to me when I service the cars downtown.

I'm sure DP was scared of your litigators

PistolPete

Wow, what a nightmare experience with the GT4. Sorry to hear about it.

Being a factory store, and a new one at that, I assume there are no games or dealer markups for in demand GT cars like we have in the States right now.

Was it first come first serve for the current GT allocations at Porsche Center North Toronto?