Tourist Delivery - Day 3

Here you can see Ina, Julian and Max on the left and the place we ate lunch on the right.



You have to love the German food. I had a nice schnitzel that looked like this (probably not the healthiest meal, but damn tasty):



After lunch we walked back to Julian's school and took a little tour, then it was off to the autobahn. Contrary to popular belief, there are speed limits on most parts of the autobahn. You can drive for quite a while before you see one of these:



That's the sign you want to see. It loosely translates to 'Punch It...!' It means that the previous speed limit no longer applies. If you are in the city and you see this, it means you can drive up to 100 km/h. If you are on the autobahn, it's an invitation to test the limits of your car.

We had started the day with about 550 km on the odometer. Using my modified break in procedure, this would allow us to gently work our way up to about 4,700 RPM. That translates to about 190 km/h (~120 mph).



Honestly, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but this speed quickly becomes boring in the Cayman. The excitement is gone in about 30 seconds. The car is just so good at what it does that 120 mph feels ordinary and relaxed. I guess this is an amazing testament to the car's abilities, but this is going to be a big problem for me once I get my car back home. I foresee many track days in our future......

After varying our speed up and down from about 160 - 190 km/h for an hour or so, we found ourselves in a little speed battle with an Audi A-4 and a BMW 3 something. These guys wanted to show the Porsche that they were fast too. I was doing so good, sticking to the break in so well. It was killing me that these guys were inviting me to a little contest, on a road with no limits where I can legally destroy them, but I have to behave. Arghhhh........

At first, we came creeping up on them at about 190. Then we came up on some traffic which slowed us down. When the traffic cleared, they did the polite thing and moved to the center to allow the faster cars to go by. This gave us the opportunity to use the Cayman's power. Even with our self imposed limit of <5,000 RPM, we left them in our mirror like they were dead. See ya......

I guess this challenged them, because they did eventually catch up and it was obvious that they felt we were competing. We pulled over and let them by. They crept by us. You could tell they were practically flat out and approaching the limits of their car's acceleration. Oh god, the temptation was killing me. But I let them by and watched them approach the horizon without us. Suddnely I experienced a moment of weakness. I remembered what the folks at Porsche told us. They said it's OK to push it to 7,000 but keep it brief. I couldn't take it any more. OK, that's it. I just can't resist this opportunity. I decided to allow myself to push her to 6,000, for just a moment.

I dropped to 5th and nailed it. As the engine came past 5,000 RPM the sound changed. The car left that mellow growl behind and started to sound violent as if the engine was erupting out of control. At about 5,200 I felt a distinct rush of torque, which I haven't seen on any charts. The engine rushed to 6,000 RPM, then I shifted to 6th and kept it on. We caught up to the Audi and BMW so fast it was like we were riding a missile. They moved over and we blew by. I kept her pegged until we hit 6,000 in 6th. OH-MY-GOD. What a freaking rush. We were now doing about 235 km/h (~148 mph) and the excitement was exponentially greater than that of 190 km/h (118 mph). The BMW and Audi were a distant memory and stood no chance of catching us.

The adrenaline rush was amazing. I let out a loud 'Wooooooo......!', which scared the hell out of Ina. Now that's what I'm talking about.....! This is what I signed up for. That was absolutely incredible..... I gently brought her back down to 190 km/h (5,000 rpm) and let her cool down. I then took the next exit and turned the wheel over to Ina for the rest of the ride.

I have more to write, and want to share my impressions of the car, but I am out of time. Stay tuned. I will write more when I can. This car is AMAZING....!

I haven't really driven the car much during the last three days because we were attending a wedding. But we've logged over 1,100 km so far, and I'm starting to get a feel for the car. Here is what I think so far.

The car is quieter than I was expecting it to be. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting to hear way more mechanical noise. The car is actually very quiet, if you are not on the throttle. When you do grab a little of the right pedal, that all changes and it does so very nicely. I now know what all you guys are talking about when you say that the engine is so nice to listen to. But I have found myself laying into it a bit just to get a little more of that sound. That can't be good for the mileage.... But it sounds sooooo nice when you do. Roll down the windows, and I hear more mechanical whirring, but I really don't hear any exhuast sounds. In this regard, it's kind of too quiet.

I was concerned about power. I was afraid that I would miss the rush that I used to get from my 944 Turbo. While driving the CS, I've found that as long as you keep it spinning at 2,000 RPM or more, there is more than enough torque. This car is fast, and I've been shifting at under 5,000 RPMs so far. I can't wait to spend a little time in the 6,000 - 7,000 range. Yeah, I did it once for a short blast, but that was in 5th and 6th gear. I want to feel that in 1st - 3rd. So far, I am very happy with the power output of the car.

I love the PASM. In my opinion the damping rates are perfect in normal mode. The car is taught but forgiving, yet body roll is practically non existant. In Sport mode, it's bouncy and aggressive. It gets annoying if you are on anything but silky smooth roads. But at speeds over 100 mph, the Sport mode feels better to me than the Normal mode. It just feels more connected and less floaty. I am really happy I chose to get PASM. I have spent 90% of my time behind the wheel in Normal mode, and once I felt the damping rates noticably climb while throwing the car through some turns. And on rough roads, including cobblestones, the car is soft enough to protect you from a beating. And guess what, no 'trunk clunk' for me. We've driven on some rough roads, and over some sharp bumps and haven't heard anything that resembles the trunk clunk.

Sport Chrono isn't as exciting to me. I like it, and I use it, but I find that I am pretty darn happy with the car when it's not in Sport mode. In fact, I find that the car is much easier to drive smoothly with the sport mode off. I don't regret buying it. It really does make the car feel stronger when activated, even though it's not. But I am not sure I would call it a must have like I would with PASM. I wouldn't give it back, but I am not in love with it either.

Guards Red is HOT. I was second guessing my color choice all the way to delivery, but I absolutely love the color now. You had better be able to deal with a lot of attention if you chose this color. I can not believe how many people gawk at this car. It's simply amazing. Every time I drive it more people stare, I mean every single time. You would think I was driving a space ship or something. And I love the red stitching. It looks incredible.

So far, the BOSE was a waist of money because I haven't used it for more than 5 minutes. The engine really does sound that good. But I suspect that once I get used to the engine I will be happy I got the BOSE system.

The full leather interior was a home run. It looks and feels so nice, and smells even better.

The thick steering wheel is much better in person than in pictures. It's just right and I LOVE it.

The sport shifter is really nice, but I do find it hard to get it into first at anything above a crawl. I wonder if this will change in time as the parts break in.

The sport seats, another home run. I have spent an entire day in them and found them to be incredibly comfortable.

Over all, I love the car more with every drive. What an incredible package.

OK, before you go complaining about paying $3 a gallon for gas, take a look at this:





Those prices are PER LITER. So do the math. Super is 1.43 Euros per liter. There are 3.8 liters in a gallon, and 1.3 dollars in a euro. So, I'm paying about $7.06 per gallon.....!

Keep in mind that gasoline is traded in dollars, and the dollar has been at historic lows against the euro. If that should correct, which is a guarantee, these prices will go up significantly. Ouch..... Now you know why there are no Suburbans or Yukons on the streets of Germany.

OK, so Ina needed shoes for the wedding we were going to, and typical Ina means that we need to go to the store the day before the wedding to get them. But that's cool, any excuse to drive. We jump in the Cayman and off we go.

We get to the store and I pick the parking spot that is the furthest from the entry driveway, and furthest from the store entrance. I figure this will keep people from parking next to it. While Ina is in the store trying shoe after shoe, I feel this uncontrollable desire to look at my car. It's like a damn sickness.

So I'm watching through the window, and people are walking by and stopping dead in their tracks to stare at the car. It's like these people in Germany have never seen a Porsche before. I was wishing I had my camera, so after that guy walked on, I went to the car to get it. Moments later, here comes another passer by and........



Man, this is funny. I know that some people wouldn't like this, but I can't help it. It's cool to own a car that everyone wants to check out. Then a few minutes later, I get to experience something I have read about here. Yup, a damn minivan pulls into the parking lot and makes a b-line for the spot next to my car. Just like you guys said. Two people jump out an rush into the store. (Neither of them even so much as glanced at the car, weird....) I was kind of pissed, I mean all the spots, and they had to pull up next to my Cayman. Check out this picture. Over my right shoulder is the entrance to the store, over my left shoulder is the driveway entrance to the parking lot. Argh.....



A little while later, I saw those two in the store and they were at the cashier ahead of Ina. That meant they would be heading outside before us. I told Ina, 'got to go'. I wanted to be outside with the car when these people got in so I could ensure they didn't fling their door into the side of my car. As I head out to the car, I can see that it's roped in more innocent victims.



As I approach the car, the gentlemen mutters something to me in German, but I missed it completely. I kindly apologized and said, "Endschuldigung.... Ich bin Amerikanisch.....". He instantly switched to English and started a conversation. "Oh, I said that this is a very nice car." We got to talking. He and his wife were very nice and very interested to talk with me. I shared a little of my adventure with them, told them about the tourist delivery and how much I was enjoying the car. Then the little girl reached out and touched the wing. Her Dad almost had a heart attack and went to stop her, but instead I stopped him. "No, it's perfectly all right. She's not going to hurt anything. If she wants to touch it, that's OK. It's no problem. At her age, that makes it more real."

He then told me that they were from the Netherlands and that he grew up in the same town as Ina. Then his wife was ready to go. We bid each other farewell and went our seperate ways.

Thanks for reading Day 3. I hope you can feel even 10% of the excitement that I experienced. If you'd like to discuss my journey, please visit: http://www.caymanclub.net/cayman-sal...elivery-2.html