The Long Version: I ended up going to Bestline Autotech for some body adjustments primarily because they are local to me. I had a chance to meet the guys there, including Raymond Lum who is the manager/owner of the shop.

My impressions from dealing with them are positive. The staff was very friendly and easy to deal with. George, the gent who worked on my car was very careful and meticulous with his work, and considering the substandard quality bumper and the time constraints I placed on him, I'm happy with the end results.

I'm not sure how many of the newer cars they work on, but their expertise and specialty seems to be on the older cars rather than the vasser kooler 911's. Rudy Bartling was working on a Ferrari challenge motor which was very cool to see.

While there, i was chatting with one of the guys about having 3 porsche shops within close proximity to each other (Autowerks, Pfaff and Bestline), I noticed that when I mentioned the other shops, he was very professional in his comments about them, acknowledged Courtney as a great technician and was professional in his answer which was really nice to see. (Those of you who know me know that I come from an import background where all the little upstart tuners just trash talk and backbite on an almost constant basis).

The short version: they seem like a good group of guys to deal with, most of their cars were older race cars and some non-Porsche's there too.

The GTA central/west end guys now have another great shop to work with, which makes me wonder what people in northern ontario or down near niagara do when they need stuff done? We have Pfaff Tuning, EU Autowerks and Besline. The East end has G-Tek and HP Cars, so the the GTA is pretty much covered until you get out towards milton or so

 

It's the same group who worked at BRG before it folded. They worked on my car for the last two years, and I was very happy with them...very reasonable, very competent, very responsive. I have taken my car back there this year.

As to the issue of newer cars, I can't speak personally (I have only an old car!), but don't forget they were campaigning Michael Vong's 996, with some success.

 

You forgot Mantis is in Oakville and Refine in Etobicoke!

WTF...you guys sing the praises of all these shops and mechanics so much in ALL your posts it's a wonder why none of the shops step up to be Rennlist Sponsors...they make enough $$$... is there some kick back happening that I don't know about. flame proof suit on.. eh!.

 

true...there's mantis as well. havn't heard anything from them since 06/07

 

Yeah Mantis is still around; used them for my last tech inspection last Sept. Add Hunter Motorsport to the list of p-car shops in the west end (Mississauga).

 

Why would they become Rennlist sponsors? I think they direct their sponsorship/advertising efforts more locally, to groups like UCR.

 

No.

I see sharing experiences with various facilities as an important service we provide each other on this list.

 

I think it's pretty rare in the Porsche world to find great service so we get all excited to share our positive experiences. For whatever reason, the GTA has got a proliferation of professional, well run Porsche shops, including the dealers too. This was NOT the case back in Vancouver where I grew up, with the exception of Weissach and perhaps some new shops that have opened since I moved east.

 

the closely knit nature of the toronto porsche community serves as a check unto itself. chances are if one shop treats a customer poorly, we'll all end up hearing about it.

 

What about Auguste Lecourt in St. Catharines? he's a one man show and you know for sure he will be the one working on your car and no one else. Been there a couple of times and came back happy. And it's quite inconvenient for me to go to Auguste, Mantis is nearby from where I live but I feel more confident going to Auguste.

George in Burlington

 

I just came back from Bestline for the tech inspection. I saw lots of familiar faces around. They handle my car with great care, will definitely go back again.


PS. Nice talking to you Shemmer, hopefully you can make the BMW DE next week.

 

Thanks nice meeting you too, sweet white Cayman, beautiful. Those guys are very imformative and friendly. I've never had any work done but from what I saw I would go back.

 

+1111

Don't forget about Franzel at Autoselect in Newmarket. I had my complete motor and tranny done there last year. After all the work was done he gave me great confidence that I would have a bullet proof driveline and no major issues to deal with for a long time, that feels good. Great experience!!

Nobody beats the old guys when it comes to older cars. They've been around them all their lives and know the cars like the back of their hands. In those days you didn't have computers to plug into cars to tell you what was wrong, you needed to be on the top of your game to troubleshoot problems and build reliable performance cars. Not to say that that's not true today but computer guidance in fuel delivery, air/fuel mixture,timing and spark can be all monitored and adjusted remotely so making adjustments and getting test feedback become a little easier IMO.

 

Can't say enough about Auguste. Yes, he can come across as difficult but trust him and you will never be disappointed.

 

Unlike with my 944 project, I have decided to let pros do most of the work on my new (to me) 911.

I had my car over with Bestline AutoTech and was very happy with the whole experience. I had them do a leak-down and a bunch of maintenance items. Matt did a very thorough job and identified a number of issues and corrected them and the car was noticeably running better than before (and I had thought it had been running pretty well…). All the guys in the shop were very friendly and open. I appreciated that they allowed me into the shop area to see things for myself. When I mentioned how I had been looking for a reputable shop to take my car to and had heard good things about them as well as Autowerks, they were very complimentary about Autowerks, which I felt showed that they (Bestline) were a professional outfit.

Very happy overall and will definitely bring the car back to these guys.