Dive into the unique Porsche European delivery program with guest Michael Myers, who shares his personal journey from ordering a 911 Carrera T to experiencing delivery in Leipzig, Germany. The discussion covers the challenges of securing limited delivery slots, the appeal of factory tours, and the cultural contrasts between Leipzig and Stuttgart. Listeners get insights into the planning, spec choices, and the immersive experience of taking delivery abroad, including track driving and exploring Porsche’s manufacturing heritage. The episode also touches on the evolution of European delivery from a cost-saving option to a coveted lifestyle experience.
On this episode we welcome PCA member Michael Myers, who not only purchased his first Porsche but decided to do European Delivery. If you’re not aware, you can pick up your Porsche at the factory in Germany and tour Europe. Michael shares his experience from the initial attempt to purchase a 911 to picking it up in Germany to touring Europe and then shipping it to the US. If you’ve wondered what this bucket-list experience is like, this is the episode for you. Be sure to check out the sponsor of this podcast, Pirelli Tire: https://www.pirelli.com/
"Before we get into it, we're going to talk about kind of a best kept secret, which is the Porsche European delivery program."
This program lets you get your new Porsche car right from the factory in Europe, so you can visit the factory and drive the car there before it gets sent to your home country.
The Porsche European delivery program allows customers to pick up their new Porsche directly from the factory in Europe, often in Germany, combining the delivery with a travel experience. It typically includes factory tours, special pricing, and a chance to drive the car in Europe before shipping it home.
"But before we get into it, let's thank our presenting sponsor, Pirelli. Pirelli tires have to achieve the highest levels of performance, safety,"
Pirelli is a company that makes tires, especially for fast and fancy cars. Their tires help cars stick to the road and keep you safe.
Pirelli is a renowned Italian tire manufacturer known for producing high-performance tires used on sports cars, luxury vehicles, and in motorsports. They focus on delivering tires that combine safety, performance, and comfort.
"... delivery back in 2017. And so after getting the M2, I was thinking, what's next? So Porsche seems t..."
The BMW M2 is a small, fast car made to be fun to drive. It has a strong engine and handles well around corners. People like it because it gives a sporty feeling without being too expensive.
The BMW M2 is a compact high-performance sports coupe from BMW's M division, known for its sharp handling and powerful turbocharged engine. The 2017 model year marked the introduction of the M2, which quickly became popular among enthusiasts as a more affordable yet thrilling M car. It is often discussed as a benchmark for sporty compact cars.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that has been made for many years. It's known for being fun to drive and having a unique shape with the engine in the back.
The Porsche 911 is a legendary sports car known for its distinctive design and rear-engine layout. It has been in continuous production since the 1960s and is highly regarded for its performance and driving dynamics.
"So I just waited till the 992 Carrera T came out. But when I went to the dealer in 21, the Carrera T wasn't out yet."
The Carrera T is a special version of the Porsche 911 made to be light and fun to drive. It has a manual gearbox and fewer extra features to keep it simple.
The Porsche 911 Carrera T is a lightweight, driver-focused variant of the 911 Carrera in the 992 generation. It emphasizes driving purity with features like manual transmission and reduced weight.
"So they had me do a demand order for a Carrera S. Oh, so I had to take an allocation for an S or a T."
A demand order means you ask the dealer to get a car made just for you because they don't have it ready to buy. You have to wait for it to be built and sent to the dealer.
A demand order is a special order placed by a customer for a car that is not currently in stock at the dealership. It often requires waiting for the manufacturer to build and deliver the vehicle.
"So they had me do a demand order for a Carrera S. Oh, so I had to take an allocation for an S or a T."
The Carrera S is a stronger and faster version of the Porsche 911. It has more power and extra features to make it more fun to drive.
The Porsche 911 Carrera S is a higher-performance version of the 911 Carrera, offering more power and additional features compared to the base model. It is part of the 992 generation.
"Oh, so I had to take an allocation for an S or a T."
Allocation means the dealer only gets a certain number of cars from the factory. So, you might have to pick from what they have been given instead of choosing any car you want.
Allocation refers to the limited number of cars assigned to each dealership by the manufacturer. Customers may have to accept the available options within that allocation when ordering.
"And, you know, I originally wanted to get PTS, but when that came around, you know, I wanted to agree. When that came around, they weren't taking any more PTS orders."
PTS means you can pick special paint colors for your Porsche that are not usually available.
PTS stands for Paint to Sample, a Porsche program that allows customers to choose unique or custom paint colors beyond the standard options.
""And so when you mentioned that you wanted to do the factory delivery, did the dealer know all the different options, or did you do the research yourself and said, this is what I want to do? I did the research myself. So they have to sign off on the European delivery, obviously,""
Factory delivery means you pick up your new car right at the place where it's made, usually in Europe. It's a special way to get your car and can come with extra benefits.
Factory delivery is a program where a customer takes delivery of their new car directly from the manufacturer's factory, often in Europe, allowing for a unique experience and sometimes special perks.
""And as far as the track driving experience of Leipzig, that's not available at a Stuttgart delivery.""
Stuttgart delivery means you go to the Porsche factory in Germany to get your new car. You can see how the car is made and sometimes drive it on special tracks.
A Stuttgart delivery is a program offered by Porsche where customers can pick up their new car directly from the factory in Stuttgart, Germany, often including a factory tour and sometimes special driving experiences.
"...d I'm going to start off with one. It wasn't the Carrera GT built in Leipzig? I think so."
The Porsche Carrera GT is a very special and fast car made in small numbers a long time ago. It has a powerful engine and uses light materials to go really fast. People talk about it because it's rare and shows how good Porsche can make cars.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a limited-production supercar produced in the early 2000s, renowned for its V10 engine and advanced carbon fiber construction. While often associated with Leipzig production, it is a highly collectible and iconic model representing Porsche's engineering prowess. It is frequently discussed due to its rarity and performance heritage.
"...the four doors I believe are. The McCann and the Panamera. Yeah."
The Porsche Panamera is a fancy car with four doors, so more people can ride inside comfortably. It drives fast like a sports car but also feels nice and smooth, making it good for everyday use. It's Porsche's way of making a car that's both sporty and practical.
The Porsche Panamera is a luxury four-door sedan that blends Porsche's sports car performance with the comfort and practicality of a saloon. It represents Porsche's entry into the luxury sedan market, offering powerful engines and advanced technology. The Panamera is often compared with other high-end four-door cars for its unique combination of speed and luxury.
The Porsche Cayenne is a big car that looks fancy and can carry more people or stuff than a sports car. Even though Porsche is a German company, this particular car is made in a country called Slovenia. It's popular because it drives well but is also useful for everyday things.
The Porsche Cayenne is a luxury mid-size SUV known for combining Porsche's sports car performance with the practicality of an SUV. Interestingly, it is manufactured in Slovenia, which is notable as Porsche production is often associated with Germany. The Cayenne helped Porsche expand its market by appealing to SUV buyers who still want sporty driving dynamics.
"It was a Porsche, but it was like a PDK Boxster. Not there's anything wrong with that."
The Porsche Boxster is a small sports car with two seats and an engine placed in the middle. It's fun to drive and has a roof that can be opened, making it great for sunny days.
The Porsche Boxster is a mid-engine two-seater sports car known for its balanced handling and open-top driving experience. It is a popular model for enthusiasts looking for a sporty yet practical Porsche.
"Did you have the front end PPF or whatever to protect it? So no, I didn't want to, I drove it uncovered."
PPF is like a clear sticker on your car's paint that keeps it safe from little scratches and rocks while driving.
PPF stands for Paint Protection Film, a clear protective layer applied to a car's exterior surfaces to guard against scratches, stone chips, and other minor damage.
""And so you're breaking in the car on the German roads. So does that put a damper on things a little bit because you're not winding it out or were you not, you're okay with that?""
When you get a new car, you have to drive it gently at first so the engine and parts get used to working together and last longer.
Breaking in a car refers to the initial period of driving a new vehicle carefully to allow its engine and components to settle and wear in properly, which can improve longevity and performance.
"Because there's no formal break-in period. It's people debate it online all over the place. So you kind of just make up your own break-in schedule."
When you get a new car, there's a time at the start when you need to be careful with how you drive it so the engine and parts last longer. This is called the break-in period.
A break-in period is an initial phase after purchasing a new car during which the engine and other components are treated gently to ensure proper wear and longevity.
"But even on the first day, they generally recommend not going above like 4,000 or 4,500, something like that. Yeah. But with the sixth and seventh gear, I was doing 140 on the first day and the revs were too high. So like every 500 kilometers, I would add like another 500 revs. So eventually, I was able to rev it up all the way. It is a lot of discipline."
Revving means making the engine spin faster. When a car is new, you have to be careful not to make the engine spin too fast right away to keep it healthy.
Revving refers to increasing the engine's revolutions per minute (RPM), which indicates how fast the engine is running. Managing revs carefully is important during break-in periods to ensure engine longevity.
"But definitely different views on the break-in process, I guess."
When you get a new car, you have to drive it gently at first so the parts fit together well and last longer. This is called the break-in process.
The break-in process refers to the initial period of driving a new car or engine carefully to ensure proper seating of components and to avoid premature wear.
"Don't buy press cars is what you're saying. I would definitely buy a press car, actually. Those things have been taken care of and have, in fact, like the clutch has probably already been replaced at 10 miles. Most press cars are European specs."
A press car is a car that reporters use to test and write about. These cars might be driven a lot and sometimes hard to see how they really perform.
A press car is a vehicle provided to automotive journalists for testing and review purposes, often driven hard and with high mileage in a short time.
"So the tags and the insurance is European specific. Like your insurance and the stateside didn't apply to the car. You know, the US insurance company wouldn't insure the car when it was overseas."
Insurance is like a safety plan that helps pay for damage if your car gets hurt or stolen. But insurance from one country often doesn't work in another.
Car insurance is a contract that protects the vehicle owner financially in case of accidents, theft, or damage. Insurance policies vary by country, and coverage in one country (like the US) may not apply when the car is driven overseas, such as in Europe.
"You get the tourist plates. They're good right up until your scheduled drop off date."
Tourist plates are special temporary license plates that let you drive a car legally in another country for a short time, like when you pick up a new car in Europe.
Tourist plates are temporary license plates issued to vehicles for use by visitors or tourists. They allow legal driving in a country for a limited time, often used in programs like European delivery to cover the period before permanent registration.
"...love it. So the first 911, I had driven my dad's Cayman S, 17 Cayman S. That's the only Porsche I had dr..."
The Porsche Cayman is a small, sporty car with two doors and a roof that doesn't open. It's known for being fun to drive because its engine is placed in the middle, which helps it stay balanced on the road. People like it because it's a good way to enjoy a Porsche without spending too much.
The Porsche Cayman is a two-door sports coupe that shares many components with the Porsche Boxster but features a fixed roof for enhanced rigidity and handling. The Cayman S, particularly the 2017 model, is praised for its balanced mid-engine layout and engaging driving experience. It is often discussed as an accessible entry point into Porsche's sports car lineup.
"The first 911 I ever drove was literally the PDK Carrera S around the Leipzig test track."
PDK is a special type of automatic transmission made by Porsche that changes gears very quickly and smoothly, making the car faster and easier to drive.
PDK stands for Porsche Doppelkupplung, which is Porsche's dual-clutch transmission system. It enables extremely fast and smooth gear shifts without interrupting power delivery.
""It's a toll sticker, yeah. It's a toll sticker from Germany on your trip. Expired toll sticker, that had to go.""
A toll sticker is like a special pass you put on your car's window so you can drive on certain roads without paying money each time. You need to have a valid one to avoid fines.
A toll sticker is a prepaid permit that allows vehicles to use certain toll roads or highways without stopping to pay at toll booths. In some countries like Germany, these stickers are required and must be displayed on the vehicle's windshield to show payment.
"But my 2018 M2 versus my 2023 911 Carrera T, the footprint is identical. Yeah, they're both 73 inches wide. The Porsche is a couple inches longer. Wheelbase is a little shorter. But the footprint in the garage, they take up pretty much almost exactly the same space."
Footprint means how much space a car takes up on the ground. It helps you know if the car will fit in your garage or parking spot.
In automotive terms, 'footprint' refers to the amount of ground space a vehicle occupies, typically measured by its width and length. It affects parking, garage space, and maneuverability.
"The Porsche is a couple inches longer. Wheelbase is a little shorter. But the footprint in the garage, they take up pretty much almost exactly the same space."
Wheelbase means how far apart the front and back wheels of a car are. It affects how smooth the ride is and how much room is inside the car.
Wheelbase is the distance between the front and rear axles of a vehicle. It influences ride quality, handling, and interior space.
""It's all fun and games going triple digits on the Autobahn until we go a lot.""
The Autobahn is a famous highway in Germany where cars can drive really fast because some parts don't have speed limits.
The Autobahn is Germany's federal controlled-access highway system known for sections without speed limits, allowing vehicles to travel at very high speeds legally.
"I rented this little Citroen 1.1 liter manual just to get me from Stugart to Frankfurt."
A manual transmission means you have to change the car's gears yourself using a stick and a pedal, which some drivers like because it feels more involved.
A manual transmission requires the driver to manually shift gears using a clutch pedal and gear stick. It offers more driver engagement and control compared to automatic transmissions.
"...n RS, but their media is starting to call it the Taycan Turbo GT. They're building another one because i..."
The Porsche Taycan is a fast car that runs only on electricity, so it doesn't use gas and doesn't make pollution. It still feels sporty and fun to drive, just like other Porsches, but it's better for the environment. It's Porsche's new kind of car for the future.
The Porsche Taycan is Porsche's first fully electric sports car, combining high performance with zero emissions. Variants like the Taycan Turbo GT showcase Porsche's commitment to electric vehicle technology without sacrificing driving dynamics. It marks a significant shift for Porsche into the electric future.
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Welcome to the Porsche Club Insider, your one stop for all things Porsche and PCA.
Here's your host, Vu Gwin and the Insider crew.
Welcome everyone to episode 208.
We are at PCA's national office in our podcast room.
To my right we have Manny Albin.
We have Damon Launey at the controls and a special guest here, Michael Myers. Welcome.
Thanks for having me.
Before we get into it, we're going to talk about kind of a best kept secret,
which is the Porsche European delivery program.
I think bucket list.
Bucket list.
Who doesn't want to do Ukraine delivery when they buy a new Porsche?
Exactly.
But before we get into it, let's thank our presenting sponsor, Pirelli.
Pirelli tires have to achieve the highest levels of performance, safety,
noiselessness and grip on the road surface.
Innovative tires that can even satisfy the most specific mobility needs of the end consumer.
And of course, we want to thank all of you for listening.
If you aren't currently a PCA member and own a Porsche, what are you waiting for?
Grab that VIN, head over to PCA.org and make yourself a member.
If you're looking for that special Porsche, we have the test drive program.
Again, you can sign yourself up and we'll unlock some resources
so that you can find that special Porsche.
So here we go, the Porsche European delivery program.
I remember Mani, back in the 80s, my dad was shopping for a Volvo
and they had European delivery.
And I remember it was a cool opportunity to not only take delivery of your car,
but back in the day, it was also like a cost savings too.
Yeah, Porsche was the same way.
You could save money back in the 80s.
Yeah, but fast forward to today.
I don't think it's necessarily a cost savings measure,
but it is a experience that I think they undersell
because I think you and I have had the opportunity to be a part of a European delivery.
And we know some people that have done it.
And I think if people truly knew what you get,
and I know it's already hard to get allocations for being able to go on a European delivery,
but if they truly knew, they would understand why.
I mean, it's a special experience.
Plus they give you also the choice of taking delivery at Atlanta, the PC Center of California.
So there's different choices to take delivery.
So Atlanta, LA, you could also do what, Leipzig or Stuttgart.
So the reason why we have Michael here is Michael,
you've had that bucket list experience.
Yeah.
So let's talk about you.
How did you land in the Porsche world?
Well, I had done a BMW European delivery back in 2017.
And so after getting the M2, I was thinking, what's next?
So Porsche seems the next logical step.
Logical step, of course.
And having done European delivery for a BMW,
I just knew I had to do it for the Porsche, at least try to.
The slots for US customers are so limited.
So I was really lucky to be able to do it.
But I knew I wanted to push for that.
So the car that you did, the European delivery, was that your first Porsche?
Yes.
OK.
So you're pretty lucky.
Like you are lucky that your first car, your first Porsche that you bought,
and you had the opportunity to do European delivery.
Like how did that come about?
Well, I went to the dealer and like way back in like 2021, my car's a 23.
And a normal car dealer, if you go there and say,
hey, I want to buy a car a year from now, they would think you're crazy.
But this was totally normal at a Porsche dealer.
So I told them right off the bat, I wanted 911,
and I'd like to do European delivery.
So it took 18 months to get the allocation.
But it worked out.
So when you went in and told them that, did you have to say, OK,
I'm only going to buy a 911 if I get European delivery?
Or you said, I'll get the 911 and hopefully you can get me a European delivery.
I was definitely going to take the car.
I spent a lot of time planning the trip.
But I was certainly not going to turn down the car
if I couldn't get European delivery.
So yeah, they did a demand order.
And you tell them you want to do European delivery.
And once you get the allocation, then you got to make contact
with the European delivery department directly.
That's where you get the delivery date from.
If you can get one, the slots are really limited.
And do you mind sharing what was the 911 that you spec'd?
I was a Carrera T.
Carrera T, cool.
Manual, Genshin Blue, yeah.
OK.
But what's interesting, too, is that the journey to get this 911 was,
tell the story, how you had the T, how you had the order in S first?
Or put it up on the list?
So when I went into the dealer in summer of 21, the Carrera T wasn't out yet.
So I was inspired to get a 911 by the 991 Carrera T.
I wasn't in the market at the time.
But I thought, here's this base 911 with all the purest goodies standard.
Fabric seat centers, manual, dark gray wheels.
I'm like, OK, this is perfect.
So my plan was to wait until the next generation when I'd be in the market.
I'm like, here's a 911 I can actually aspire to get.
It's relatively affordable for a 911.
So I just waited till the 992 Carrera T came out.
But when I went to the dealer in 21, the Carrera T wasn't out yet.
So they had me do a demand order for a Carrera S.
Oh, so I had to take an allocation for an S or a T.
But a Carrera T was actually what I wanted.
So I ended up getting exactly what I wanted,
even though we technically put in an order for a Carrera S back in 2021.
So 2021 rewind, when was COVID again?
2020.
2020. So this was after or during?
It was like July of 21 when I first went to the dealer.
So COVID was kind of winding down.
Winding down, yeah.
I was looking to get a car like in 2022,
ended up not getting an allocation until January of 23.
So it was-
You're a patient man.
It was over two years I waited for the car.
It was 25 months from the time I first visited the dealer
at the time I took delivery in Germany, 25 months.
Well, I mean, think about that big jump and push right after COVID,
where everyone just was stir crazy and said,
as my sports ship put it, they had an incredible gross of sales
because people were like, I want to get this before I die.
YOLO.
Something exactly, something happens like this.
I'm going to get it now.
I'm not going to wait anymore.
And so everyone came out of the woodwork
wanting to get their dream Porsche.
Wow.
And how did you spec the Carrera S?
And then you were thinking it might turn into a T or
did you change a spec once you heard that you were going to get the T?
Not really.
I specced out the Carrera S to be as close to the Carrera T as I could.
You know, I had sat in platinum wheels, manual.
I had the fabric seat centers in there, sport exhaust,
sports seats plus, the GT steering wheel, you know, all that stuff.
It's optional with S, standard T.
It kind of specced it out.
And, you know, I originally wanted to get PTS,
but when that came around, you know, I wanted to agree.
When that came around, they weren't taking any more PTS orders.
So I had to settle for Genshin Blue.
Settle. That's a beautiful color.
Beautiful color.
And so when you mentioned that you wanted to do the factory delivery,
did the dealer know all the different options,
or did you do the research yourself and said,
this is what I want to do?
I did the research myself.
So they have to sign off on the European delivery, obviously,
but, you know, all the research, the trip planning and, you know,
where I take delivery, you know, I did the research on that.
I originally wanted to do Zuffin housing,
but there was just no availability there.
So I had to switch to Leipzig, which I was happy to get a date at all.
And it's funny how people say that.
Like, I had to switch, but Leipzig is a very cool experience.
Yeah. I preferred Zuffin housing just because I wanted to tour the factory
where my car was actually built.
Yeah. I think everybody kind of initially started that.
Sure. Yeah.
So I should mention, we have a picture,
and I believe if you're watching YouTube, is this,
so this is in front of the Leipzig factory?
Yeah.
Oh, okay. Okay.
I mean, you know, it's hard to tell in the sense that, like,
it says Porsche and it's a factory, most likely,
but I wasn't aware until...
That's at the very bottom of the cone, right?
Yeah. You can just see the tower at the top of the picture.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
And as far as the track driving experience of Leipzig,
that's not available at a Stuttgart delivery.
True. Yeah.
True, but like I said, I really wanted to tour that factory
where the assembly line where the car rolled off of.
Did you ever make it to Stuttgart to tour the factory?
No. I was there in 2019, ironically,
and passed up doing a factory tour because I'm like,
I said to my wife at the time, I'm going to come back here.
We're going to do a European delivery.
This is back in 2019.
Like, we're coming back here.
I'm going to get a car here one day.
And I'll do it then.
Didn't work out.
So I still haven't had the factory tour in Stuttgart yet.
It reminds me of an apartment in Manhattan
because everything is so scrunched together
because they had no idea they were going to become that big.
So it's a, or a lipstick.
They had all this land to bring in trains
and track the trailers.
It's wide open.
Stuttgart is very compressed.
Yeah. And it's the factory kind of,
the line goes over itself and seeing,
what do they call it?
The marriage?
The marriage at the end where the murder gets put in.
Yeah. I've seen the videos.
We were in Stuttgart in 2019.
So I did the museum tour,
but the factory tour, you know, we skipped it.
I was like, I figured I'd save that for later, but.
So what are the cars that are built or have been built?
And I'm going to start off with one.
It wasn't the Carrera GT built in Leipzig?
I think so.
So it's got a little bit of history in that sense.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was Leipzig
and they had their little space and whatever.
And right now it's what the,
some of the four doors I believe are.
The McCann and the Panamera.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cayenne is built in Slovenia.
Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Interesting.
Well, Carrera GT is a Leipzig car.
It's an impressive facility as well.
They have a museum of sorts of cars.
They have the big track course.
I don't know if they still do.
When we went years and years ago,
they had the off-road for the Cayennes.
And it was like going over these bunkers
that were crazy off-road opportunities.
Yeah. So it's a beautiful, it's huge.
It's huge compared to Stuttgart.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then the town of Leipzig is kind of cute too.
It's.
Yeah. It was a lot more charming than I expected it to be.
I figured it's, you know, old school Eastern German.
I didn't really know what to expect.
I hadn't been to Leipzig before as my third trip to Germany,
but first time in Leipzig.
And, you know, when we drove out there,
we crossed what would have been the east-west German border.
And it was a wide open field where the Berlin wall,
I guess, would have extended maybe.
But our host said, yeah, he goes,
you're going to notice that the roads get much nicer
once we cross into old East Germany
because Germany put all this money,
they said, into East Germany to fix the infrastructure.
It goes, so they actually have better internet
and better everything than West Germany.
It goes, so.
It was younger.
Right. Exactly.
Newer build.
But you also see the architecture over there.
It's very, how would you say, industrial
because they kind of wanted to ramp up the buildings
very quickly and there's not a whole lot of flashiness
or, you know, some of the older buildings
that you see typically in Europe.
It's very different style.
I kind of thought Stuttgart was pretty industrial,
to be honest.
Oh yeah, Stuttgart is too.
At least at Zuffenhausen.
Yeah, exactly.
So, you know, specking out the car is pretty straightforward.
Specking out the European delivery,
once you found out you were going to Leipzig,
was there someone assigned to you
to tell you what your trip to Leipzig was going to be?
Or was it just, hey, buy, take it, land here,
and then we'll take care of you?
They take care of the insurance and registration,
but, you know, trip planning, I did that on my own.
So it's really, you know, once you have the allocation,
you really want to reach out directly
to the European delivery folks at PCNA
to advocate for getting a delivery date if you can.
And once you get that date confirmed,
then it's really up to you to book the trip.
And they put you up for one night hotel
and give you one hotel transfer.
They can pick you up at the airport
or at the hotel to take you to the Leipzig delivery facility.
So they put us up in the Steigenberger Hotel,
which is a really nice hotel in Leipzig.
They did pick out that hotel.
Okay. Did we talk about cost yet?
How much does a European deliver cost then?
So that's changed.
So mine was a 23 model year,
which is the last year that there was no charge
for European delivery.
No charge?
That's the last year for no charge.
And in 24, they started charging like 1500,
and then it went up to 2500 and 25.
And I think now they charge three grand for Leipzig
and six grand for Zaffenhausen.
So I was not really,
it was like fortunate to get a delivery date.
But you're the last to get-
You didn't have to pay for it.
Wow. I didn't realize that.
Now, it may sound like a lot to do European delivery
with the current pricing and such,
but still I would argue with you that,
what you're going to experience is well worth the money.
Yeah. I wouldn't hesitate to pay the delivery fee
if I was getting a new car today.
Definitely. It's worth the experience.
All right. So once you,
do you want to talk about the,
once he gets there and how it went through or?
Yeah. So I obviously say a lot of people listen
because they're dreaming over,
thinking about doing this European delivery.
So when they gave you your date,
did they give you like a disclaimer that it may change?
Or are they saying this is the dead date?
It's going to happen.
You can set your flights and it's,
or did they say there may be a-
It's firm. They'll confirm it.
Yeah. The European delivery folks at PCNA will confirm it.
Like they give you,
if they have availability,
they'll give you three dates.
And I just quickly picked the first one.
And yeah, they'll give you confirmation.
It appeared on like the Track Your Dream website
the same day, but the date is set in stone.
But they have to balance that date
with the date that your car is ready to be presented.
Yeah. They don't give you the green light.
So the car has to finish production.
Yeah. So once the car finishes production,
and I got the delivery date,
like the same day my car finished production in mid-March.
Man, you had a whole lot of like things lined up perfectly.
It was a big day.
So yeah, they give you the green light.
They tell you it's okay.
This is confirmed 100%.
Go ahead and book your trip.
That's far. How far out was that?
So in my case, I know I was trying to get a delivery date.
So to make my itinerary work,
I needed a summer date.
So not only was I fortunate to go,
I was fortunate to get a summer date.
So it was about five months, a little over five months.
I got the car finished.
I got the date in mid-March,
and the delivery date was late August.
So they actually stored my car for over five months.
Unfortunately outside.
That's all pictures.
Oh yeah.
It's not inside.
Yeah.
Well, they detail it for you before they did.
Yeah.
Now did you obviously with the delivery there,
part of the allure is being able to drive your car on German roads.
Did you manage to arrange all that too?
Yeah. I mean, for me, that was the whole point.
When I got there,
they didn't have tags ready for my car on the delivery date,
despite having the car for over five months.
So the delivery date didn't go that smoothly.
But they give you 16 days.
I think now it's down to 15 days.
You got to pay more and get less.
So I wanted to drive it all 16 days, end up being 15,
but they did let me drive it around the parking lot
on the delivery day.
So the delivery day for me had no tags on the car.
And there's a funny story about that.
They actually, they asked me, they offered a rental car.
First walked into the delivery day.
They said, came up, guy ran up and said,
got to tell you, Mr. Myers, we don't have tags.
Good news and bad news.
We have your car.
The guy said later, he's like,
you know, I wasn't sure if I should tell you right away or not.
And it would ruin the day.
He told me right away.
I said, no, you did the right thing.
So they didn't have tags.
They offered me a rental car.
And I said, no, I'm here to drive my car.
A Porsche rental car or like a?
It was a Porsche, but it was like a PDK Boxster.
Not there's anything wrong with that.
But is that your car?
I came to Europe to drive my car.
Yeah.
So what they did was the next morning,
they sent a courier to drive from Leipzig down to Stuttgart.
Wow.
It's 3 a.m.
Wow.
So he was there at the department of motor vehicles
or whatever they call it in Germany.
At 7.30 a.m.
Because even for Leipzig delivery,
all the tourist plates come out of Stuttgart.
So the guy drove down there.
It's about four, four and a half hours at like 3 a.m.
And got there at 7.30 and got the tags.
And he was back in Leipzig about 12.45 in the afternoon
on the second day.
So we had two nights in the lovely Steichenberger Hotel.
So we were on our way about 45 minutes later,
maybe like 1.30 in the afternoon on the second day.
But they got it done.
They got the tags.
They got it done.
Yeah.
It drove around the parking lot on the 22nd
and on the 23rd we were on our way for 15 days, not 16.
So we just had to drive to the second night's hotel
to get back on track with my itinerary.
What's it like when you pick up the car?
Is there a room that they present the car or?
It's kind of, it's a little anticlimactic.
It's just in a garage bay and they pull the sheet off.
They offer you, you can pull the sheet off if you want.
Maybe a little more anticlimactic when it doesn't have tags on it.
No, you're not going to get ready to go that day.
Because at that point you weren't sure
that you were going to have tags, right?
No, I was sure.
We discussed it in the initial, well,
it should have been the delivery day.
There's a lot of discussion.
They're thinking of options, like the rental car
or potentially starting at a rental car
and shipping my car to some future point
a few days down the road or some kind of nonsense like that.
But as I just said, I'll wait till tomorrow.
So they said they would send somebody down
to get the tags in the wee hours in the morning and they did.
Now, did you consider that you were driving
your car now on European roads?
I'm sure you wanted to enjoy the European roads.
Did you have the front end PPF or whatever to protect it?
So no, I didn't want to, I drove it uncovered.
I didn't want to waste a day or two.
You can find an independent shop over there.
Some people do that.
But if you find an independent German shop,
you're wasting your 15 days.
You're waiting for it.
I wasn't going to waste a couple of days of driving.
So I just threw caution to the wind and went for it.
You do warranty where you think it back here
and the thing starts to peel and you're not going to go back to Germany.
Yeah, I just risked it.
I've always thought about this.
So this car is a zero mile or probably zero, whatever mile car.
And so you're breaking in the car on the German roads.
And so does that put a damper on things a little bit
because you're not winding it out or were you not, you're okay with that?
It really didn't.
When I did my M2, it kind of put a damper on things, absolutely.
But for the 911, it didn't.
And for two reasons.
The first was that I put a lot of miles on it, relatively.
We did 2,300 miles total.
Really?
Yeah.
Wow.
But even on the first day, I was doing 130, 140 on the Autobahn
because the sixth and seventh gears of the Carrera T, the gears are so tall.
So you're not ever revving.
Because there's no formal break-in period.
It's people debate it online all over the place.
So you kind of just make up your own break-in schedule.
That's what I did.
But even on the first day, they generally recommend not going above like 4,000 or 4,500,
something like that.
Yeah.
But with the sixth and seventh gear, I was doing 140 on the first day and the revs were too high.
So like every 500 kilometers, I would add like another 500 revs.
So eventually, I was able to rev it up all the way.
It is a lot of discipline.
Yeah.
I will say with the with press cars, we definitely started from from zero or sometimes less than
500 miles.
And do you think we ever didn't floor it?
Yeah.
So mine had 11.
But yeah, it did take a had to be restrained.
But definitely different views on the break-in process, I guess.
Don't buy press cars is what you're saying.
I would definitely buy a press car, actually.
Those things have been taken care of and have, in fact, like the clutch has probably already
been replaced at 10 miles.
Most press cars are European specs.
So they had to send them back.
Well, I remember Andreas Pruninger saying, he was asked that question and he said,
GT cars break-in is very important.
The rest, he said, and they're pretty much done at the factory.
So like ready to go enjoy it.
Some people do rev it right off the bat.
But I just added 500 revs, like 500 kilometers, something like that.
But right off the bat, we were doing 130, 140 the first day.
But I didn't go any faster than that because it wasn't broken in.
But the revs were shockingly low at 140 miles an hour.
So when you did pick up the car, someone went over the car with you to show you.
Yeah, the delivery day.
So we had an afternoon delivery.
They serve you lunch, which I didn't eat because I was so excited.
No, I was pretty mad because they didn't have a taxi.
Oh, you were mad.
I was pissed.
Aw.
Or they have lunch at?
It's in the Leipzig Delivery Center.
It's like right where they have the museum.
It's in the Konya.
So they had lunch and then there's a factory tour.
And then you have the track session.
And then the last thing is the presentation of the car.
So that was late in the day that they revealed the car.
So they did go over it, even though we couldn't leave that day.
But I basically, like I said earlier, bullied them into letting me drive around the parking lot.
They didn't want me to drive around the parking lot.
But I wasn't taking no for an answer.
And they really didn't want me to.
They were so worried.
But I said, finally, I said, look, it's my car.
I've already paid for it.
I'm not going to take it out on the public streets.
Because with no tags, it didn't have insurance activated yet.
I said, look, put a guy in the passenger seat.
Let me do it.
Put him in the passenger seat.
Let me do a couple laps at this parking lot here.
And so we did.
But I wasn't taking no for an answer.
I wanted to drive the car on the first day.
I've been looking forward to this for so many years.
I basically bullied three of them into letting me take it around the parking lot.
I'd love to hear their stories of how many people really drive off with their tags.
Yeah, I wasn't going off the parking lot with the tags.
So the tags and the insurance is European specific.
Like your insurance and the stateside didn't apply to the car.
You know, the US insurance company wouldn't insure the car when it was overseas.
So yeah, the European delivery program supplies registration.
You get the tourist plates.
They're good right up until your scheduled drop off date.
So that so that they covered the cost of that?
Yeah, the European delivery program covers the cost of the
tag registration and the road insurance.
Wow. Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, there's like a deductible, but they go over all that with you.
More importantly, they can take care of everything.
Keep the tag?
Of course.
Oh, yeah.
Got him on the garage wall.
Nice.
Nice. Exactly.
All right.
So tell us a little bit more after you.
They walk you through the car.
Then now you're debating whether or not you get to drive it and then you got to drive it.
Around the parking lot and then you give it back to them.
Yeah, I just parked it out front right where you saw that picture he had earlier.
That was where I parked it after I drive it around the parking lot.
That picture, so we came back to the scene a little afternoon on the second day,
the guy got back with the tags.
They put the tags on and then we were unleashed onto the roads.
So like I said, this was your first Porsche, right?
First Porsche, yeah.
So what was your initial impression of the car?
I loved it.
I had never driven a 911 before I got the car.
So the first 911 I ever drove.
Like not even a test drive?
No, no test drive.
I was all that.
Cut the check.
I want this car.
I know I'm going to love it.
So the first 911, I had driven my dad's Cayman S, 17 Cayman S.
That's the only Porsche I had driven.
The first 911 I ever drove was literally the PDK Carrera S around the Leipzig test track.
Oh, earlier in the day when you were doing the.
That was the first 911 I ever drove.
Yeah, so the first manual 911 I ever drove was my own around the parking lot.
You just knew.
You just knew that was going to be the one.
I just knew I was going to love the car.
People love Porsches.
There must be some special magic in this car.
But as soon as I drove the car, I was like, okay, I get it.
Now I know why people love Porsches.
As soon as we took off in that car, I was instantly in love with it.
Knew I'd put the money in the right place because it was love at first sight.
And you.
And first drive.
Who went with you on the trip?
My wife went with me on the trip.
She's my navigator.
Nice, nice.
And what was her experience through all of this other than seeing you a bit perturbed
because of no tags?
Like, how was she?
Did she enjoy it?
Did she?
I think she managed to enjoy the gourmet lunch that they served.
Yeah, good.
Someone should have.
She wasn't upset.
Yeah, she wasn't that upset.
She was like, are you are you eating that?
Because the food is quite delicious there.
She seemed to enjoy the food.
I think she felt bad for me, but she wasn't upset enough to not eat.
I think it's called the casino, right?
I think it's called the casino.
Yeah, I'm not sure what it's called.
But yeah, she did sample the food.
So now you definitely have to go back.
Like, you have to go back now that your heart rates down and such and do the tour of the factory.
And you can get the casino and so on.
Definitely a bucket list item to tour the 9-11 line at some point.
Yeah, another 9-11.
Yeah.
And for those of you that are looking to do the factory tour,
it's at least three to six months in advance to book your spot.
Yeah, it's open to the public.
I thought about, you know, considered going back last year, but it didn't work out.
But you can reserve it just a public tour months in advance.
So it is availability.
Once they got you your tags and you were quote-unquote on your way,
is that when the European delivery ended?
Like the rest of it, you said what, 2,300 miles?
Well, it ends when you turn the car in at the end of the 16 days.
They didn't manage what you were doing in that 2,300 miles.
Oh, no, they just unleash you into the wild.
Into the wild.
You're on your own until you have a scheduled drop-off date.
You got to make an appointment to drop it off.
If you're watching YouTube, I'm going to start just putting pictures up,
sort of fading them in.
Let me know if you want me to change and highlight something up there.
So for those of you that have never driven in Germany,
it's fairly similar to driving in the United States.
There are some nuances such as no passing on the right,
no sitting in the left lane.
Did Porsche give you sort of a lesson about that?
Or they just said there's the gate.
Good luck and we'll see you in however many days.
Basically, yeah, there's the gate.
Good luck.
And did you, and so I guess the question is,
did you know the rules of the road?
Yeah, it was my third time driving in Germany.
I, like I said earlier, I did a European delivery for an M2 in late 2017.
And my wife and I went back in like June of 2019 and rented an M2.
Obviously, my pre-Porsche days.
So it was my third time driving over there.
So I kind of knew the rules of the road.
And it's a lot more comfortable driving over there for the reason that you stated.
Because no camping in the left lane, can't pass on the right.
They let you merge in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The roads are smooth.
And they're not jealous of Porsches.
That's really surprised me how they would actually celebrate Porsches.
We saw kids with cameras.
We saw people actually stop and let us through circles.
Where I'm like here in the US, they would tell us we're number one.
It's so well choreographed driving.
I mean, there are instances where someone's not paying attention just like anywhere else.
But for the most part, everyone understands the rule of the road.
I think this is hopefully kind of interesting for those of you that are listening.
You never pass on the right unless the traffic like stopped on the left.
And you just naturally pass them on the right.
That's okay.
But you're never passing people intentionally on the right.
And when you go to the left lane, you only hop out knowing that you're going to pass somebody.
And then after you pass somebody, you hop back onto the right.
So it's always clear.
Trucks don't come out on you.
And no trucks in the left lane.
No trucks in the left lane.
And the one thing that we experienced that,
I don't know why we don't do this in the US.
But when you come to a dead stop on the highway,
people in the left lane go over to the left and people
into the shoulder.
And people in the right lane kind of hug the line to the right
to make a path for emergency vehicles.
And they do it every single time they come to a stop.
I'm like, that's genius.
We don't do that.
Yeah.
Really driving in Germany spoils you for when you come back home.
And driving in the US basically sucks.
Yeah, there's so much better over there.
There are some areas in the States, I'm sure,
that is fun to drive.
But for the most part, the roads and, like I said,
the core graph there, the other thing
is they're very specific with speed cameras.
Not that I didn't get one.
But here we have, I would say, what, like a five mile an hour
maybe buffer with speed cameras.
And there's no points on your license.
And no points on your license.
Yeah, in Germany, I think it's like one kilometer over that.
And Switzerland, I think it's zero.
Yeah, they're worse.
You will see that flash and they will chase you down
and you have to pay for it.
And depending on how many times you get those,
you actually lose your license.
Well, I remember when the three diagonal lines,
which meant unlimited speed, suddenly that ended
and there was a speed limit,
everyone throttled down to that speed limit.
It wasn't like, because you hear it would be like,
OK, we're going to keep on going until we see a cop.
Right.
But nope, everyone throttled down.
Yeah, we saw a flashing light in a speed camera in Switzerland.
I was just waiting to get a ticket when we got back home,
but it never arrived.
Yeah, it was somebody else.
I could have sworn it was me at least once, maybe twice,
but we never got a ticket, which is pretty amazing.
And did you know about getting your road tolls
or the little stickers that you have to buy?
Yeah, I knew that from the previous trips.
That one I still don't understand.
Like, how do you know which road needs that?
You just need it.
If you're going into Switzerland or Austria,
I think it's probably the borders you needed it for.
Switzerland and Austria.
Austria will sell you one for a short term,
like maybe a month or so.
I knew this from previous trips.
Switzerland makes you buy an annual pass,
but it is like 40 or 60 euros or something like that.
That's a sticker you put in your window?
Yeah, you don't want to get caught without that.
Yeah.
And let me guess, you kept the stickers on the window.
No, those I pulled off.
You did?
It's a toll sticker, yeah.
It's a toll sticker from Germany on your trip.
Expired toll sticker, that had to go.
Wow, I would have kept mine.
The only sticker on my car is a PCA collector.
The only sticker in my window is a PCA sticker.
Oh, that's my man, my man, my man.
Very good.
When I bang him.
I know, exactly.
All right, so you said you did 2,300 miles.
Where the heck did you go?
That's a lot to cover in Europe.
The main thing I wanted to do was
hit as many outlying passes as I could.
Gross clocknure.
I didn't do that.
I've done that in 2019.
I've done it before.
That was a little far out east where I wanted to go.
That is a great pass, and I would definitely do it again,
but it's a little too far out of where I wanted to go.
I really wanted to concentrate on basically every pass I could hit
in Switzerland and the Italian Dolomites.
So we kind of headed east from Leipzig out to Kalkum.
There's a couple of nice castles out there.
We did a tour, and then we headed south down to Baden-Baden
for the Black Forest Road.
And from there, we headed south down to the Swiss Alps,
and we hit like 28 alpine passes.
All but one of them in a course of like a week,
just all over Switzerland and northern Italy,
and then came back up and hit a couple into Austria,
and then we kind of looped back up to the drop-off point.
So it sounds like you're as lucky as I am because my passenger,
my wife, she can sit in the right seat or drive,
but when she's in the passenger seat, she does not get sick.
And going through passes like Grossglockner
when the passengers you're talking about,
choosing the right passenger is important.
Well, I remember when I did Grossglockner back in 2019,
and my wife was literally hiding her face.
She was scared.
Scared is one thing.
Scared that there was no guardrail.
She was kind of terrified.
But not getting sick.
She didn't get sick, but she definitely literally hit her face
when Grossglockner.
So I wonder when we're going to do this trip,
the European delivery for Porsche is like,
we're going to do 28 passes.
And she thought it was crazy.
And I was like, I'm going to try to do a top speed on the Autobahn
because we've done that in 2019.
And she didn't mind me driving fast.
What gave her pause was the middle lane.
She was afraid some car in the middle lane was going to cut over
as we were blasted by like 155 miles an hour or whatever.
She was afraid of the other car.
She trusted me, thankfully.
But Alpine passes without guardrails were not her favorite thing.
Isn't that crazy how there's no safety?
Good luck.
It's summer worse than it is.
It's very different from the states where everywhere you drive,
there's a guardrail that may or may not hold you,
but at least you feel safe because you see a guardrail.
Yeah.
So what was it like driving the 911 versus the M2?
How did it feel different for you?
I think gearbox is better.
It's a little more notchy.
BMW is a little rubbery.
But you can feel, portionally, you can feel the grip of the road.
The M2 didn't have as much steering or road feel.
So plus I had more time on the road so I could get it broken in.
And so yeah, it was great.
You could feel everything the car was doing.
You learned to trust it pretty quickly.
So it was definitely a step up in feel.
But size-wise, the footprint of an M2 and a 911,
I think the footprint of the 911 is bigger.
It's identical.
The new M2 has gotten bigger.
But my 2018 M2 versus my 2023 911 Carrera T, the footprint is identical.
Yeah, they're both 73 inches wide.
The Porsche is a couple inches longer.
Wheelbase is a little shorter.
But the footprint in the garage, they take up pretty much almost exactly the same space.
I'm guessing the M2 has better storage.
Yeah, it's got a normal trunk.
And rear seats.
A bigger rear seat.
Rear seats that are actually usable by human beings.
But the seating position, I would think you like the seating position in the 911.
Yeah, it's wonderful.
It's so much more supportive.
And you really drop down low in that seat.
It's got a lot more bolstering.
I got the sofas, the sports seats plus.
They're really comfortable.
And in fact, the most surprising thing about the car to me overall was how comfortable it is.
I knew that it was going to be supportive and everything.
But you could sit in that seat all day.
You just don't want to get out of the car.
Your back and your butt never get tired.
Just literally drive the car all day.
That's the most surprising thing about the 911 to me was how comfortable it is.
You just don't want to get out of it.
Nice, nice.
Were you ever, how worried were you when you went to the hotels every night?
Because for our experience was the hotel parking lot is super condensed.
Yeah, so amazingly, we stayed like a dozen different hotels
because we were just driving all over the place.
And all but two hotels, I managed to get a hotel with a parking garage.
And one of the hotels that didn't have a parking garage was the first night,
which we missed because we didn't have tags.
So when we left, we had to go to the second night hotel.
So the whole trip, we were only at one hotel that didn't have a parking garage.
But some of those parking garages are a little sketchy, a little tight.
So they can be kind of nerve wracking.
Right. So when you said parking garage, many people were like, oh, that's great.
Yes and no, it's covered.
But if you have never driven and seen the parking lot spaces, they're built for
like teeny tiny cars.
And literally a 911 is a full size car.
It's over six feet wide.
Yeah. And actually getting out of a 911 in a typical European parking space,
you kind of have to be fairly flexible because you can't open your door very much.
And you have to slide through the little opening.
And you know, I have to ask, but if we ask my wife, I'm guessing that she'd probably say her
least favorite thing of the trip, probably the most annoying part of the trip for her.
It's just got to be the parking.
The parking.
Because I had was totally OCD about these tight parking garages.
I had her, I always made her get out and guide me.
And I don't think that was her favorite part of the trip.
She didn't sign up for that.
I needed a spotter brand new 911.
It's over six feet wide.
And we're going to wedge it in this little parking garage.
And sometimes even the entry to the parking garage was sketchy.
So I'd have her scout out the entrance.
And I always made her get out and sign up for this on my vacation.
It was my parking spotter as much as my navigator, but I thank her for that because,
you know, it was little nervous to her for doing it, getting those garages.
Yeah.
And my brother did it.
European delivery.
He, he tells a story where he got yelled at by a lady because he was in front of a
castle and they were looking at the map to see where their next stop was going to be.
But he said they're idling.
He said this old woman came up and like bang on the window and told him to shut it off.
Oh, really?
He couldn't understand what it was.
Then he found out that if you're idling, you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to be idling.
No idling.
Yeah.
Clean air.
Yeah.
So let's see.
So you've, you've done the castles that run the tours.
Did you anticipate how much petrol one you're going to burn up and the cost of petrol?
I knew it was expensive over there.
So I definitely anticipated that.
And you know, I just, just put it on the card.
Didn't think twice.
Didn't think twice.
Don't do the conversion.
Yeah.
Just fill it up until it's off.
The one time we were, we had what?
The Panamera turbo.
Oh my gosh.
I think gold.
It's all fun and games going triple digits on the Autobahn until we go a lot.
So you have to go fill it up.
But it stopped.
I did the calculation.
And I think it was like $300 or something like that.
We were like, oh my God.
I did add up the fuel costs when I got back, but I don't remember what it was.
It's probably good that you don't remember.
The Panamera was almost 10 hours a gallon.
U.S. It was, yeah.
I didn't need to fill up too often.
We got the big tank in the car.
How many, how many days was driving?
How many days did you do?
So it was supposed to be 16, but it's 16 if you count me driving around the parking lot
on the first day, but most of the trip was 15 days.
Time with your car in Europe.
That's awesome.
Now, is that a, you could determine that length of time as part of the,
like does the delivery program care that you're going to go driving around for 14 days or a
month or one week?
Like do you have to tell them that?
I think that's changed.
So when I did this in 23, there was like two, what I call the free options at the time.
There was a nine day package and a 16 day package and I chose the 16 day.
And I think now it's just 15 days.
Okay.
Oh, because they have to cover the cost.
So they need to know how long you've got there.
Yeah.
You got to pay now.
And I think it's 15 days.
I think you lost a day, but it was free back in 23, nine or 16.
I was like, well, I'm obviously doing 16 because every free day they give me.
All right.
So now you've done your 2300 miles on all the passes.
Time to go back.
Now, do you determine where it goes back?
There's multiple drop off locations.
Like you could take it back to Leipzig.
There's some locations, a lot of them you have to pay.
There's a fee, but I had read on internet forums that the best place to drop it off was
Sindelfigen just south of Stuttgart.
That gets your car home the fastest and it's free.
So that was, for me, that's where I had to drop it off.
So you make an appointment ahead of time via email.
Before we even left for Germany, I emailed the guy that runs that
and made the appointment for what we knew was going to be the last day of the trip.
And they take care of everything.
That guy takes care of shipping it up to the port in Emden.
And then from there, it's turned over.
I think Volkswagen runs the shipping.
It's just put on a ship with the brand new cars.
Is that when they put on all the white stuff?
The white...
No, the car was sitting in the Leipzig lot for five months with the white stuff on it.
I got a few pictures of that, but they peel that off at delivery time.
So that's one of the scary things about European deliveries.
They ship your car back naked without shipping blocks.
So it's just bouncing around on the boat for two weeks.
Really?
Yeah.
I mean, it's strapped down though, right?
It's strapped down and it's insured, but it doesn't have the shipping blocks
or any protective coating on it anymore.
Is it a container or did they tell you if it's...
It's a regular roll on, roll off carrier with new cars.
But it's not like in the North Sea by itself outside, right?
It's inside the...
It's in the belly of a ship.
Yeah.
It's not exposed to the elements.
Yeah, it's fine.
But you just have envisioned that the top of the ship with the waves crashing over it.
Waves crashing over your car on the deck.
Saltwater splashing up against your...
They just strap it down to the deck of a fishing boat.
But you were saying the blocks.
What are the blocks that you're talking about?
Shipping blocks.
Like new cars come with the shipping blocks and the suspension.
Just to protect it from bouncing up and down on the ship, yeah.
Oh, because they took it off when you're driving.
Those will be removed, yeah.
And the protective coating is removed.
So it's...
I mean, how rough is it at sea?
I don't know.
It came back on damage, so...
Were you nervous though?
Were you nervous like, oh my gosh, you're going to put it all...
I need a little bit.
My M2 six years earlier had come back unscathed, so...
And then honestly, what choice do you have?
Like, it's got to come back.
What choice do you have?
To me, it was worth the risk...
Experience was worth the risk of A, driving on European roads without any PPF,
and B, shipping the car back without coverings or shipping blocks and the suspension.
What was the weather like when you were driving for those two weeks?
Well, it really varied based on elevation.
When we first got there, we flew into Munich and then spent the night there
and then took the train up to Leipzig the next day, and it was really hot in Munich.
But then when we got a couple weeks later, a week and a half later,
to the top of Gothard Pass in Switzerland, it was snowing.
And we went through that, and the next pass we were going to that day was closed to the snow.
So I wanted to go in the summer so the Alpine passes were open,
but you're never safe from snow on the peak of the Alps.
So the next pass was closed to the snow,
and the worst part about that was we had to turn around and go back up Gothard Pass.
It was snowing half hour earlier, and the conditions had worsened considerably
on our second pass through the peak of Gothard Pass.
And you're on summer tires?
We're on a brand new 9-11 on summer tires.
It was snowing much worse when we had to go back through there,
but I'd been on the top of a snowy mountain before years earlier,
so I just hold the nerve for five minutes,
and you get to lower elevation, it's not snowing anymore.
Just get through the peak, but it was definitely a lot worse on the unwanted return journey back to the peak.
Oh, we had that happen at the gross clock.
I remember we hit snow and it was summer tires.
So we experienced a snowstorm and freezing temperatures and 95 degree heat,
so depending where we were, what elevation we were at,
so it was definitely an experience.
Do you or your wife speak German?
I don't speak German.
And you got through no problem?
Most Germans speak English.
The only time the language barrier was an issue was on a particular alpine pass in Italy,
where it's basically a one-lane road,
and if a car is coming the other direction, you have a problem.
So yeah, I met up with a little red Fiat Panda.
This looked like it was from 1999.
So now there's a duel?
So as small as that Fiat Panda is,
there's not room for us to pass in opposite directions on there.
So I literally had to get out of my car, I stopped at 30 feet back,
and I don't speak Italian at all, but I speak hands.
And fortunately, these little ladies trusted me because I was kind of
motioning for them to, I needed them to drop two wheels on the grass.
To my right is a vertical rock wall,
and to my left is about 10 inches of grass,
and then a drop off into the abyss.
So I needed them to get two wheels on the grass
and position them at the right point,
where there was a little bit of concave section to the rock wall
where I could just squeeze by.
So I was out of my car,
directing them with my hands to get them right where I needed
so I could pass them by.
And it felt like it took 15 minutes to engineer the pass.
But it was probably only about five minutes.
Was your wife spotting again?
No, she was in the car at that time.
She was waiting in the car, and I got back in the car,
and she's asked, are you going to have them pass?
I was like, no, they need to stay right where they are,
30 feet up the street, because that's where we can squeeze by.
So that was a real adventure trying to pass.
So that was Gavia Pass in Italy,
which is infamous in my household now.
Some of these passes get narrow at times.
Like even Furka Pass gets down to like a lane and a half at times,
to the point where I had to fold the side mirrors.
It was a little nervous, a car passing by inches away.
But this Gavia Pass, you wish that you had a lane and a half.
It was like one lane wide.
At times it was like a bike path.
So I wouldn't take a 9-11 on Gavia Pass again.
That was actually terrifying, not fun at all.
So that's a little insider tip.
Skip that one.
Skip that one, yeah.
Skip that one.
Were you impressed with all the drivers in Europe?
Yeah, especially in Germany.
They're just so disciplined, no passing on the right.
People here in the US don't drive very nicely,
or they're not very skilled.
But in Germany, you learn to trust the other drivers pretty quickly.
And do you know what we find interesting?
The German sellers, they do like the fact
that they can pass on the right here.
They do?
Yeah, they said it's something they cannot do in Germany.
But here, he goes, everyone done?
I will give that up.
I will give up passing on the right
if we could have everything that they have over there.
I would much rather have.
We'll never have that.
I know.
And how disappointed were you the first time
you drove when you came back from that trip
and you're back into Maryland traffic
where nobody does anything right?
You're just like, oh, so frustrated.
Like I said before, driving in Germany spoils you.
If you go over there and do any kind of driving trip
and you come back here, it's miserable,
at least for the first week.
And for those of you that are listening,
many of you, unfortunately, won't be able
to do a European delivery.
But I still would suggest you get to Germany.
Just doesn't matter what you rent.
You can get, there's tons of manuals,
which is really, really cool.
You can get a manual station wagon, a manual economy car.
You get manual minivan.
But just go and drive on their roads.
Because I think that is an experience worth it's weight.
You can do the Porsche Drive.
You can do the Porsche Drive, yeah, exactly.
But yeah, driving on German roads
is something to experience.
I'd rather do it in a Porsche then.
Oh, of course.
I rented this little Citroen 1.1 liter manual
just to get me from Stugart to Frankfurt.
And I remember thinking of myself,
I am paying penance now for all the passing I did in the 911
because I constantly look at my mirror and moving over,
letting people, because 1.1, it was not happy
to go over an hour.
I'm a diehard manual guy, but I'd take a PDK Porsche
over a stick shift minivan for my European driving.
It was fun just to drive.
And I had to have a minivan.
And so a manual minivan it is.
So do you have a choice when you put the car in the boat?
Could you have continued a experience
and have it delivered at either Atlanta,
or I guess you wouldn't do LA because you live here.
But could you have done it delivered to Atlanta
in addition to what you did in Leipzig?
Or did it have to go back to the Maryland dealer?
No, I'm not sure about that.
I knew years ago I believe you could double up.
Double up?
I'm not sure they allowed that anymore.
I want to say they don't, but it's been two and a half years.
I would ask though.
People used to do that.
I'm not sure you can do that anymore.
I want to say you can, but don't quote me on that.
Well, it's worth asking because I think that would be kind of cool
to continue that little experience.
I know people definitely did it in the past.
I'm not sure if that's still possible,
but it was definitely a thing in the past
where they did your car delivery and performance.
But there you have to drive it home from Atlanta.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which would be cool.
Yeah.
But so you got yours back to the dealer,
and then from there it was your typical reveal
and picking up the car.
And yeah, the car comes in, you know,
of course I put an Apple air tag in it.
I tracked it.
Did you really?
That's funny.
Everybody does that, don't they?
I thought my Porsche does that for you anyway.
But it's not as accurate, and it's not for 24 hours.
You wouldn't know right where the car is.
It was pinging at the port.
It doesn't ping when it's on the boat,
but it's pinging at the port.
And when it stops pinging, you're probably on a boat.
But everybody tracks the ship, you know,
and then when it got back off the boat,
it pinged at the Port of Baltimore.
So I knew where it was sitting.
And then that was the worst week.
The two weeks it was on, the boat weren't the worst.
Oh, it was staying in Baltimore?
Ironically, that was at Rentsport Reunion
while my car was on the boat.
So that was pretty cool.
I got to pass the time at Rentsport Reunion.
Literally the car was on the boat for that time.
That was like four days.
So I came back from Rentsport Reunion
and then had to wait for the car.
But the worst week of the shipping process
is when it gets dropped off at the Port of Baltimore.
Like I'm a half hour from the Port of Baltimore
and it's sat there for a week.
That's the worst thing.
It's like so close.
The two weeks on the boat, at least it's making progress.
Slow progress, but it's moving.
But it's sitting at that port.
You just want to go down the port and get it.
Why can't I go get it?
So that was the toughest week.
But I assume they have the processing
of the vehicle probably take some time.
And there's probably a few cars ahead of you
that they have the process to get to your car.
You get priority because you already own the car.
It's not like a new car being shipped.
But it's got to go through customs
because you took delivery of it in Europe.
But you do get priority because you already own the car.
But yeah, it's got to go through customs.
Make sure you didn't smuggle any drugs in
or paraphernalia from Germany or whatever.
Ah, you snuck in an air tag.
What else did you sneak into the car, Sarah?
They didn't find that air tag.
It was still there when I got the car.
I'm sure you're looking the car over carefully
when it came to delivery, but it was detailed
and just like a regular delivery?
Yeah, it was fine.
The dealer took great care of me on the US delivery day.
They made it an event.
The car showed up without any warning.
I just got a text message.
She's here.
They weren't expecting the car that day.
It just totally showed up completely unannounced
on a carrier.
And so I basically zipped right over there
and spent the day and they didn't have it scheduled
to get it ready for me, but they squeezed me in.
So here's a question for you.
Typically when you buy a car and you're taking delivery,
that's when you're doing the paperwork
and paying for it and all that.
You did all of that before you went to Europe.
That car was yours, like paperwork.
Yeah, you got to pay for it before you,
finance it or pay for it before you leave
for European delivery.
So we finalized that about two weeks
before we left in early August.
And let me guess, by the time the car got back to the dealership
and was being ready to deliver to you,
you probably already had tags for that car.
Well, the dealer ordered the tags for me.
Yeah, they had the tags ready.
Yeah, they ordered them for me.
So the dealer had the tags ready before the car came back.
Perfect.
So any, out of all of this, do you have advice,
if you were to do it all over again,
advice to our listeners?
One, hopefully you can get an allocation
for European delivery, but what advice would you share with them?
A couple of tidbits?
I would say, plan the trip ahead of time.
You can't over plan the trip.
You want to have a plan, you might not be able
to get a European delivery date,
but you got to plan the trip ahead of time
because when you get the European delivery date,
and they give you the green light,
that's not the time to start planning.
That's the time to start making reservations.
And I would say, I would avoid big cities.
It's not fun driving in big cities,
and especially in Europe,
if you're not familiar with driving in Europe,
it's a little more intimidating driving in a foreign big city.
So I would get the heck out of Leipzig,
you're as often housed in as fast as I could,
and just avoid big cities.
But the main thing I would say is,
I would suggest making a commitment
to drive the car every day.
Don't park it.
If you want to do some big city tours,
save that for train trip later,
visit by trains later,
or before or after the 15 days,
if you can afford to stay for a long time.
I would say, drive the car every day.
And every day, but not all day.
You want to do some activities.
So we would only drive maybe five or six hours a day,
but take that car out every day.
You got 15 days with it,
and you'll be glad you took it out every day,
even if it's just for an hour.
But drive it every day, but not all day.
Did you bring anything with you for the drive,
like from the States,
to make the, I don't know, drive more comfortable,
or is there anything?
No, no, it fits two luggage bags,
two carry-on bags fit in the frunk.
And we had a, they don't give you a European navigation system.
So you need your Google Maps.
We brought a Tom Tom with us as well.
And plus I had detailed notes
that I spent three and a half years compiling.
So we were pretty well armed as far as navigation,
but it's still tricky at times,
despite having been there two times before,
the navigation can be tricky.
But no, we just have bottled water is the main thing.
So speaking of drinking,
you know how they always kind of laugh
when the US always asks for a huge cup holder in their car?
And I get it, why people drink here
and the type of driving that we do.
But did you find yourself, when you were driving,
especially at speed, like the last thing you want
is to be distracted with a drink
and reaching for a cup holder or something?
Yeah, we only bottled water is allowed in my car.
So that's why, like I see Germans telling us why.
The 911 has a little door pocket
that's just wide enough to take a narrow water bottle.
We just had a bottled water in each of the door pockets.
It can fit a little water bottle.
I mean, nobody has to use the cup holder or anything, do they?
Some do and they ask for it
and they do these little adapters for their big gulps, right?
I'm like, no.
Coffee or sugary drinks allowed, bottled water only.
All right, anything else on the European tour?
Man, that was actually, we're already at the top of the hour.
I want to remind everyone to head over to pca.org
to sign up for PCA's newsletters, performance news,
e-brake news and Mark Fresh all free.
In the news, we're talking about an RS that was spied, but.
It's not officially called an RS,
but their media is starting to call it the Taycan Turbo GT.
They're building another one because it's a constant fight
to who is the king of the new burglaring and Porsche has lost it.
So they're ramping up the Turbo GT even more aggressively.
They're making it wider.
You can see the flares on it, a lot more arrow on it.
It's going to be interesting to see what it.
Thousand plus horsepower.
It's stock.
I mean, the regular Turbo GT, like 1,039, I think.
That's crazy.
But this is going to have a lot more arrow.
Tons of arrow.
So that he can win back the title at the new burglaring.
Still no back seats.
If you get the Wise Dock package, no back seats.
No back seats.
You should have afforded that.
I was going to ask the same thing.
Yeah.
I was going to ask the exact same thing.
Back seats.
That's just crazy to be afforded with the car with no back seats.
Yeah, exactly.
It's even more useless because they have this panel that slopes.
So you really can't even stick anything in the back.
Oh, not even usable?
It's not like where it's just the seats were.
It's just carpeted.
Yeah.
Nope.
It's completely.
As they said, people buying this car probably already have a four-door car.
They can take passengers with.
Right.
Right.
If you have to ask the question, it's not.
Exactly.
All right.
Well, I want to remind everyone, March 6, we will be in Jacksonville
with Workshare Union, Amelia Island.
The judge area is sold out.
We still have some crowd spots, but it's filling up to be another record-setting event.
We're super excited about it.
We'll probably break another record with a number of exhibitors and sponsors.
That will be with us.
Again, we'll be at the Amelia River Golf Course.
And those of you that are going to be enjoying the Amelia Concorde,
just know that that event is actually going to be on Saturday now,
as opposed to traditionally being on Sunday.
So make sure you are aware of that.
Not that I want to jinx anything, but what happens if it's going to rain on Saturday?
Do they move it back to Sunday?
Why do you even say the R word?
Don't say the R word.
Porsche Parade and Lake Placid.
Man, this is really shaping up to be the event to be out.
The largest parade in history.
Largest parade in history.
Essentially, we've sold out of the hotel rooms.
There's Airbnb options.
I know there are some folks that are planning just to come up for the Concorde.
The event itself is June 14th through 20th.
The Concorde, which is open to the public, is on that Monday.
So we look forward to seeing you there.
It's going to be bonkers with a number of people.
So there's only 2,000 people that live in Lake Placid.
I would love to get on some Uber or Lyft forum and say,
if you want to make a lot of money in one week,
come to Lake Placid during this week.
There will be a lot of people who may want to go out and have some drinks in the evening
and don't want to drive to Porsche.
But would love to have an Uber driving back home.
That's a good point too with the population at that level.
And we're basically bringing our population more than what they have.
So I will ask for all of you that are coming to Lake Placid,
just remember, be patient.
This is a cute little town, but this is going to be...
What's your room number?
Yeah, so anyways, if you're looking to race with fellow PCAers,
check out PCASimRacing at PCASimRacing.com.
Of course, we still have swag available.
If you're looking for insider swag, go to PCAWebstore.org.
We have insider bottles, mugs, t-shirts.
If you're looking for a PCA insider decal,
just send us an email with your address information,
your physical address information to podcastatPCA.org.
Well, Michael, thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on...
Man, I think everything the stars all aligned for you.
We did, yeah.
Not only getting the allocations,
but getting European delivery at no cost.
Sounds like 2,300 miles of bucket list driving.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
And impressive part was we returned it without a scratch.
That was the most amazing part of it all.
Yeah, for that many miles.
It's kind of a relief to hand it over at the end.
Here, you take this now.
We managed to go 2,300 miles without wrecking it.
Yeah, and so do you have your sights set on the next one?
Because that's what we do here in PCA is you get your first Porsche,
but immediately start thinking about what's going to be the next one.
Well, I did trade the M2 for a 981 Cayman S last year.
I'm going to open the door and say something to Mr. Cito here,
the BMW guy in the office.
Very good.
Well, I knew something like that would eventually happen.
It already happened.
Folks, thank you so much for listening.
Be sure to like, comment, subscribe,
consider sharing our show with fellow Porsche enthusiasts.
Until next time, stay safe and we'll catch you down the road.
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