The Truth About Buying a Porsche in the UK - Salesman Reveals ALL! | Ep 78 | Drive Torque Podcast

We're not all good at what was that part? Oh, oh, we got to start the

podcast. Yeah, you go buy some beer then and we'll be here. Yeah,

we're not going anywhere. We got to start the podcast. We have

should we do it now? Maybe we should ease in our ease now. I

didn't get that. You have to understand that I've only been

here since January. Yeah, a lot of things. I still don't speak

it English, not yours. Colonials for you. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

whose fault was that? Well, you know, start on that one.

Look upon you creation started that right? So it's not my fault

entirely. Anyway, anyway, welcome back to another episode of

the drive talk podcast. Firstly, I'm in a Christmas jumper

because this is going to be the last podcast going out before

Christmas and I didn't get the memo. Happy holidays, Merry

Christmas and all the rest of it. We are joined by a very

special guest here. Oh, no, he couldn't make it. But I know

right. Miss Anthony Lewis. Good. Anthony. I had the pleasure

of meeting earlier this year. We went through the ordering

process of the Michelin 911. He works Porsche in Reading. He's

a YouTuber. And I'm going to let Anthony tell us more about who

he is and what he does. Welcome. Do I have to? Yeah. Well, I

point to talk about this here for the beer. Fair enough. Fair

to get exactly my time. I mean, it proper chugged it down. I've

still got it's the nerves. Don't yeah, that and don't hand me

free beer. But that's a story for another day. Another podcast.

My name is Anthony Lewis. Is there a camera I'm supposed to be

looking at? I mean, there's you got a couple fine. My name is

Anthony Lewis. I am a Porsche sales executive at Porsche

Center Reading. As the accent gives away, I am from the

States. I am an amateur YouTuber much like Joe himself. I like

you already. And yeah, I am I'm very fortunate. I am very

thankful as well for your guys hospitality to have me here and

just have a conversation about, you know, the stuff that we

all that it drives us all and and and all of that good stuff.

Well, mate, it's a pleasure to have you on because I know going

back to that ordering video is an hour long. I've been thrown

in the deep end a little bit there, been told that I was

going to speak to someone about ordering the Porsche, the

Michelin 911. And I wasn't sure who I was going to get. And I'm

not just blowing smoke up your ass. But when I met you, I was

like this guy, firstly, you're just really nice to talk to. But

you're a proper, you're a proper car guy, proper Porsche guy as

well. And and you would assume most people would assume that

most sales men or women are car people. But that's not really

the case. So yeah, I mean, we hit it off. I really enjoyed all

that ordering process. And we've talked a lot since then, we've

met up for coffees and stuff. And and I actually went down to

see the other day dropping a press card on. And I just thought,

you know what, you would be a fantastic person to have on a

podcast, because you're very opinionated, you love your cars

and you've got a voice for radio.

And I'm also American. That's what he's banking on sells this.

He just he's like, he's got some more American

subscribers. No, not just you were thrown into it that day.

That was like my second week. It was a reading. So also for

anybody that's listening, I just recently moved to the country.

So I've been here since January. It's now end of November. So

when when I met Joe, I was probably second, third week at

Porsche Reading. And I was comfortable doing it because as

I said, I'm an amateur YouTuber. And I did this job in the

States. I worked for Manhattan motor cars Porsche Manhattan in

New York City. So the specking process, the talking to

customers, that part is honestly, it's the fun part. It's the

most fun part about the job. The admin and the rest of it

isn't as much. But you know, it comes along with it. So yeah,

I was I was thrown in there were like, Hey, he's got nothing to

do. You know, he just got here. Have him have him go spend time

with with the YouTuber. And I'm just, you know, clacking away.

But genuinely, I think that that the the things that we talked

about in the way that we did it is how I spent cars with with

my customers and the conversations that I like to have

the opinions that I like to offer the the the the process

should be fun, right? Because also for a lot of people, it's

the first time. Yeah, obviously, you're very well versed in

cars. And so are you. And so it's one of those things where you

should take some time to really make it fun. I it's the most

it's the most fun part of the job outside of handing over the

new car. So yeah, no, I had a blast. It was a good time. It

was a good time. Yeah, I mean, I've got so many questions for

you. I mean, what I think for me that the outcome I want by the

end of this podcast is to unlock all the secrets to specking

like the perfect car.

Wait, don't ask him too many questions, because I know off

the record, although this is on the record, he likes aero kits.

So yeah, I mean, who's spec the aero wheels on the mission in

911? Well, I think that that was nothing to do with him. But

yeah, but because when we, I mean, we feature a lot of

Porsches on the channel. And I guess, although we're specifically

talking about Porsche, because you work for Porsche, it kind of

will map into lots of different manufacturers, because they will

have similar kinds of options and stuff. But we feature lots of

Porsches on the channel. I'm lucky enough to own a couple. But

the press cars we get are always very well options. And I don't

think that's a just a Porsche thing. BMW do the same thing.

The magic bartender's just arrived.

You got to open the mate. Oh, you legend. Yeah. And now you're

behind. Yeah, I know. I'm down. I was being well behaved as

first. Oh, you led. Look at that. Thanks. For those of you that

are just listening and watching the podcast, Patrick has just

walked in and delivered some beers and sodas for us. So thank

you. Excuse us being rude and interrupting, but I'm sure you

absolutely understand. Here's the season. So yeah, so we drive

press cars and then normally what the press teams do is they'll

put lots of options on. So as people review in the cars, we can

see them and talk about them and so on. However, lots of the

options on cars think, really, would I spec that? And some of

them you go, I'll definitely spec that. So it would be nice to

kind of break that down. Almost you kind of must have

options. Sure. The ones that are kind of discretionary and very

personal taste and then there must be some options where it has

a negative effect of the car, whether that's I mean, dog dick

red interior, for example.

Fall in. This guy is straight in. I think it's referred to as

Bordeaux. But no, no, no, no, the really bright one. The bright

red. Oh, when the wheel and everything. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I was looking at buying a used 911 this year and it was

every time I'm calling me. No, no, he didn't know. But don't

worry, he ended up going somewhere else and it blew up on

him. Fair enough. So there you go.

Expected.

Twice. What do you get? What do you get? You look at the picture

online and you go, oh, it's a nice external kind of gentian

blue or something. Oh, yeah, it's nice. You see a few of the

external and then you click to the interior picture and it's

just like, it looks like the inside of a womb.

Well, it's supposed to make you feel at home, right? It's where

we all started. It brings us back to those first moments in

life. I'm gonna do interior bright red. Do you go?

Yes, but at the same time, it's their money.

Oh, yeah, true. It's their money, right? And, you know, from

the, from the wildest specs to the even the most standard

specs, I can kind of, I can kind of weigh in on both because

Joe, you've visited recently.

Oh, yeah, this is an interesting one. Yeah.

So we have a, which I think sold actually. Yeah, but it

doesn't surprise me. It's so one with a blue leather.

Riviera blue. Don't disrespect it. It's got a name.

Riviera blue, right? So it's very, very bright blue, right?

It's Smurf blue as far as like most people are coining it.

And it's a white car, right? So massive contrast, right?

Massive contrast. But you open this thing up. And I remember

I was telling Joe when we were standing by it. Can you imagine

how that car looked new when you got to see it for the first

time when it rolled off the production line or when it, when

it showed up at your centre and you saw it and were like, wow.

Right. Now taste is really subjective, especially when

you think of certain fashion statements throughout time and

throughout the world. Some of them just don't make sense, but

they don't need to make sense to us.

Bit like me and you. We've got really cool trainers.

Who's we?

Well, you've got even cooler spec and then, and then PED.

Look, listen, the reason I've got these is I'm going on Safari

in two weeks. Anyway, carry on, Anthony. Just say he's going

straight from here, by the way, to to Safari. Yes, he growl.

I'm breaking him in because I only got him. Yes, he's gone from

Heathrow to to Kenya. Right from here. Right. Yeah, his

helipad. Yeah. So we've all got different tastes. Yeah. Correct.

Right.

Well, listen, the brand, right? Yes, exactly. It's brand snub.

Don't you dare insult Michelin? By the way,

the brand whore. Thank you, Michelin. Support by Michelin.

If you haven't noticed. Sorry, carry on. Yeah, Michelin.

No, Michelin's a great tire. I'm just poking. That's the right

answer poking some fun. Anyway,

so yes, to your point, you're going to see some wild spec,

right? But it's not up to you to like it. It's not up to you to

love it. It's up to whoever purchases that car. And that's

the extreme spec. And I remember there was a there was a

situation where I was in Manhattan, and the Panamera,

the new facelifted one had just landed. And it was launched in

one of the most popular colors, Oak Green Neometallic, right?

Oh, exactly.

That's cool. Especially on a Panamera. Yeah. You spec it right

that car is hot, right? So we had one up on the second landing.

And I took a person who had some questions about a Panamera.

We're walking around this car and they were drooling, right? I

had to go get napkins for them. Just just sopping wet out of

the mouth foaming at the mouth. And they said, you know what? I

want one. I really think I want a Panamera. I said, great, you

know, is this something you'd be interested in? No, I want a

black one. Wow. And it's one of those things where people can

appreciate something and like it but not like it enough to own

it, right? Yeah, which is also just a wild kind of idea. It's a

car and most of us are going to be out of it between three or

four years. It's not a wife or a much more important life

decision or even a house or anything like that. Yeah, if

you don't like it, you're going to get somebody else will love

it, right? So what's the big deal? So yeah, Porsche, what I

really love is one of those companies where if you think of

it, I mean, if you want to do it, go for it, you're going to

pay for it rightfully so, but you're going to get exactly

what you want. And that's why, although like 9 11's here in the

UK, especially in London, you go in, you know, there's one on

every street in certain parts of London. But every single one is

going to probably be slightly different. And I think we talked

earlier on about the majority of German brands offering like

configurable, what they called when you go in a configurator,

and you build your car. But Porsche, you know, you can either

love or hate the fact that they offer you a thousand options,

but it is so much fun. We've all wasted so much of our life on

Porsche configurator, building, building our dream spec,

whatever it might be. But it and but at the end of the day,

that's what makes every single one different. I think you're

talking about the press cars, and it must be really difficult

for a press team to actually spec, because you know, it's like

sometimes you're like, oh, I want something with nothing on it,

or I want a car with everything on it. I want it, but they're

never going to get it right. But I did have a Carrera T the new

one six speed manual the other day, bought a car. But that was

in color. Cartagena. Cartagena. Cartagena keeps bothering

me. Watch this. Cartagena. It's a place in Mexico or something.

It's in Colombia. Hopefully. Right. But he kept saying

Cartagena. I said, oh, yeah. Well, there you go. See, it's

such a bad color that even even I can't pronounce it. But no,

to me, that color was like, Oh, but the car was so good. So it

was like a real split. Like, Oh, my God, just get in the thing

because it's amazing. Oh, yeah, this is amazing. Get out of

absolutely. But but but then someone's going to love that

color one person maybe. But it's it but it but it'll look

fantastic in your thumbnail. Okay, I don't know who to shop the

color out. Well, it's one of those things where again, the

press cars aren't there to impress any of us, right? The

press cars aren't for us. It's not the car you ordered. It's a

showcase. It's supposed to grab your attention, right? Same

thing with the amount of spec that they have, especially when

we're in this generation of car where we're talking about

lightweight packages and why sac this and you know, magnesium

this and titanium this across all of the brands, if they didn't

absolutely spec these cars to the nines, well, then, you know,

what are they going to showcase? Right? Hey, this is a car

that you can have. And if you want it can have some equipment

on it. So yeah, those press cars are always heavy.

I see you've just mentioned, I'm going to have to ask this

question now then because I've literally just got out of the

GT3 992.2 press car. Oh, yeah, the wing one. Right?

No, he says that with a wing. Although the touring press cars

really nice. But the GT3 had I mean, when you read all the

bump because it's got the curb weight and then you can drop

the curb weight by quite a lot. What's a bump? Bump. Sorry.

All the press material and the you know, yeah, bump. Sorry. I

didn't realize I was going to have to translate. Yes, we're

both speaking English, but we're both speaking to two nations

divided by a common language. Large ocean. But yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So yeah, so that car had some really punchy options. So

it had the carbon ceramics, of course, which were like, nine

grand or so. And I think, okay, if I saw wing one, I kind of

get that. That's great. They're lighter, less unsprung

mass, get that. It then, oh, yeah, he knows his stuff.

First time he's ever said that about me. He read the bump. But

the two, the two really punchy ones. And this the question I'm

going to ask is, is how many people really, from a driver's

point of view, would notice the difference? Right? Is it had the

magnesium for magnesium wheels, which if I remember rightly

were 13 and a half grand. There are thereabouts? They look

spectacular. And they reduce essentially like the RS style

they reduce the weight by like eight kilos, I think, again,

unsprung mass. And then it had the Visak pack, which from what I

could work out was carbon reinforced plastic bonnet wing

roof, door cards, cage, which looks spectacular. Which you

can't get in the States. Oh, yeah. But that was 19 grand. Sure.

And then it had the carbon buckets, the foldable carbon

buckets, which again, a lighter and that they were like five

grand. So those four packages were like a big chunk of money.

40 grand or something. And don't get me wrong, the car looked

amazing, drove amazing. But my at the end of spending a week

with it and doing 600 miles with it, I'm thinking, if I was

buying one, because they're pretty punchy to start with,

sure. It is speccing those things. Do most people expect

those things? Do they really need them? Or are they doing it

for resale? Are they doing it because they can? Are they doing

it so that when they go down the pub, they go, my car's got

13,000 pound magnesium wheels and a Visak pack? Or is it a

combination of all those things?

The easiest, excuse me, the easiest answer to that question

is yes.

You can come again.

It is, it is. And just to dive in just a slightly little bit

more. You guys have FOMO here, right? Yeah. Okay. We don't

have to, we understand that one.

We're on the same page. A lot of it is FOMO, right? Especially

nowadays, I think when and I was thinking about this on the way

up and on the way over, where car journalism is nowadays, and

where, where we get our information, it's, it's from a

kind of like a shock and awe type of situation.

Are you good? Yeah, you're right there with a bottle.

He's had two bottles. He's had one.

It's like an inbuilt system that he's got. It's like to stop

and get him to drive to two beers.

Did we just experience his first beer? Is that?

I think so. Oh, man.

Oh, no, you wait until later. Anyway, sorry about that.

I think, I think a lot of, I think a lot of car options are

shocking awe. Now at this point, yes, to your point, no, this

option saved me this much weight. This car is faster by

point five seconds. And all of that, that kind of goes with

it. So a lot of it is unnecessary. And I'm a big less

is more guy and Joe and I had a conversation much about our

love for the 911 T. It's just the most epic car that you can

buy out of a showroom nowadays. And when people hear epic,

they're like, well, it's not a revuelto. What's what's epic?

How do you, how do you assign a 911 T a term like that?

It because it's the most fun car to drive. So when you do look

at cars that have magnesium, this and carbon fiber, this and

this and this and this. A lot of it is Riso, right? You don't

want to be one of the cars on the market that doesn't have it.

But at the same time, when I approach my customers with that

thought process, I still say, well, it's just going to belong

to a different market, right? Just like the yellow cars and the

pink cars and the green cars, it will still it will just be in a

separate market. There is no Porsche knock on wood that isn't

desirable. But some of them just may be desirable by a slightly

quirkier person or quirkier line of sight.

You look at sorry to interrupt, you look at the forest,

actually, and Pat's a big fan of this, the forest, the non

visac forest is there's hardly any. But when you see them,

they're actually, and I agree with Pat on this one, they're

actually prettier, because they haven't got the two tone like

the bonnet and carbon, it's all you know, it's all painted one

color and and actually they're much rarer. Like if you look

online, finding a non visac four RS is is is much harder.

I said that sorry to cut you off. I said the same thing to you

when you were in the showroom at Reading about that spider

RS that we were standing. Yes, I love the spider. Oh, that was

a non visac. It was a no, it was a was a visac. You said yeah,

yeah, that's right. And and I remember telling you if I could

build this car if I could own one of these absolutely wouldn't

be because I want more of that lovely color. Yes, I don't get a

visac pack on a spider RS anyway, because you don't get all the

benefit as many benefits. Well, to your next point, or to kind

of also answer the question, I think nowadays, for some reason,

I just had that thought of you remember that top gear episode

with Jeremy Clarkson, where he went to specter Ferrari. Not

seen that one day. It was old, old, old. I think it was a 430

maybe even a 316 he was fighting for his life to not order

red. Yep. Right. But he was sat with his with the salesperson

whoever it was. And he's losing sleep and and all sorts of

stuff like that. But thinking about how cars were spec'd and

ordered back then, compared to how they're ordered inspect

nowadays, it's too easy to click a box. Yeah, when you're on a

configurator, it's too easy to tick. Well, I must have it, right?

It's just Oh, I have it. Tick, I have it, right? So it's not

necessarily the thought process of will this benefit me? Is it

better? Does it better the car? Does it better my enjoyment?

Tick, I have it. Yeah. And also, I truthfully believe that I

truthfully truthfully believe that with human nature, we think

more is better. Right? Because if you guys have ever had the

conversation, maybe amongst yourself or amongst other

people, when someone says, Well, yeah, I'm coming in, I'm

interested in a C4S. Okay. Well, why do you feel that you need

four wheel drive? Oh, it's four wheel drive? I didn't know.

Oh, right. Okay. I just thought four was better. I'm getting

it. I'm getting a sense that there might be someone in this

room that thinks that higher numbers are better. Well, he likes

bigger badges, GTS. And then he needs GTS interior pack. Of

course. And he needs GTS stickers everywhere.

It's a race car driver. Yeah, look at his shoes.

This guy, this guy, you've been doing your homework. This guy,

he's just ready like a book, man. He just breathes lap time.

He just breathes lap time tense. I'm surprised he hasn't got

his Porsche. You know those factory jackets that Porsche, I

nearly wore it just to wind you up. He wanders around and he

probably he probably like walking up the stairs like broken

into sectors. Yes. I can do that better. Yeah, I'm too tense.

I was really enjoying our conversation. I'm so sorry. We

really are. Oh, no, you're not. Oh, this bit. Well, I hope

that I hope that answered the question as far as it's a bit of

FOMO. Yeah, it's a bit of it's better if I have it. It's a

better of I'd rather have it than not. And also, especially

from where I used to work in the States, Manhattan Motor

Cars, the place that I worked, we were in my main building, we

were Porsche Bentley Lamborghini and Bugatti. Yeah, that's

interesting. We need to talk more about sure. But within the

entire group, shout out Manhattan Motor Cars, if anyone's

listening. Yeah, guys. We had Koenigsegg. We had remats. We

had Lotus. We had Rolls Royce, right? So obviously, all of

them can tell he's a cargo because he said it right.

Right? Yes. Um, but it's one of those things where, yes,

guy. Well, it explains the sweater. Yeah. I just I don't

mean to say this in any sort of, you know, kind of any type of

way. But when you're talking about a certain level of wealth,

what's the difference between, you know, 200 and 240

grand? You know, my, that was my, my next point I was going to

say is, to me, the base price is a aspirational could never

afford it. So every pound over that is like, if you're getting a

GC3 allocation, there's a good chance you've got a good amount

of cash and you bought lots of cars, and it really doesn't

matter. Yeah. Just like when you, I mean, we, you know, we can

talk about Porsche press cars, but Ferrari press cars are on

another stratosphere. Give us some numbers on it. So I had the

two Ferraris, they got the pure Sangui. Sure. They're FUV.

Okay. The press car I had this year. What's that? Fuck you.

No, no, no, it's a Ferrari. They don't, it's not an SUV. It

looks a lot like that Mazda. It does. It looks a lot like

especially in the red. I don't know what it is. It looks a lot

like that Mazda. Guys, I really like my relationship with

Ferrari. Sorry about that. Yeah, yeah. He's dying. He's

really got his fingers crossed. He's going to be invited up to

the electric Ferrari launch, along with millions of others

have been already. There you go. But anyway, so the the pure

Sangui press car. So three options that are on that car,

just to give you an idea, I'm going to start with the the

cheapest of those. It's got the painted shields on the front

with nine and a half grand bargain. There's an amazing video.

There's an amazing video like a time lapse showing of the guy

actually paint it. It's quite amazing. I got to have one.

Good to have him on the back as well. The paint that's rotating

mass. The paint was an extra 23,000 pounds. Was it not going

to come with paint? No, it would have had paint on it. But if

you wanted the blue paint, oh, it was 23 grand. It would have

come in primer aka crayon and then and then truck for you

people listening in the state. Not his day. I feel like I

should move to that side of the couch because I feel like we're

ganging up on him. No, you just gave me some. No, no, no,

just that they do that to me all the time. Yeah, he's just a

whipping boy. And then and then the last thing it had an

interior carbon pack and the carbon had like a little gold

weave in with it. And I thought it was a misprint on the spec

sheet. But that interior pack was 60 grand. 60. So what was

the what was the the price of that? Oh, it was it was about

15 grand shy of half a million. And the base price was at 350.

Yeah, so I'm 150 grand sanguine. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, let I put

out it. You haven't driven one because for I don't think they

are unbelievably good to drive. They have the infanombs. No.

Is it okay? And this is not just because you're sitting here.

Turbo KN turbo GT. Oh, one of my favourites. Oh, is it better

than the Ken? Okay, because it's got an NAV. But twice the

money. But yeah, more than twice the money. It has some

really clever tech in it. The suspension is really, really

clever. It needs to be because it's a big heavy thing. Yeah,

I know, but it doesn't have it's got the same suspension as the

F80 basically. Oh, we're still talking about SUVs. Anyway, can

we move on? Let's get on with that. Yeah, we don't have to

talk about we could talk about anything. Just not as a nice

thing. I reckon I'm really just trying to sell half a million

pound. We are going to talk about KN electric pretty soon. Yeah.

But before we jump too far forward, I want to just can we just

talk about your life before you came over to the UK, because

you've not even been here a year. No, no, approaching a year,

but I haven't been approaching a year. So can you tell us about

Manhattan and that dealership because I'm intrigued. I love

the fact that there's more than just Porsche there. And just

set us and then and then combine that and and talk about the

difference between average customer back there and and the

average customer in UK if there is a difference and and why why

you think that might be there's definitely a difference. There's

definitely a difference as there should be. But Manhattan is a

very interesting place. New York City is a very interesting place

and cool place. Why? Because every you walk around every corner

you see a movie set. Okay, you know what? And fair play, because

a lot of things I'm jaded to. There's a lot of things that I'm

jaded to. It's probably like us. It's probably like us, especially

me with London, I grew up spent 25 years in London. I still

appreciate bits of it. But you as a tourist probably go in and

go, Oh, wow, there's big Ben is this and so it's it's by the

same with you when I go to New York. I've only been a couple of

times. I'm like, Oh, my God. Wow, this is just like being

Ghostbusters. Okay, dated himself there right after tomorrow

I'm waiting for the big waves come in and I feel like he just

tried to reference it wasn't the Michelin man in the Ghostbusters

movie. No, it was the Pillsbury Doughboy. Correct. But you're

not I think Michelin missed a trick. If I'm being honest, I

was between two brands now. Anyway, anyway. So yeah, I've

been in the automotive industry my entire life. I cut my teeth.

So they say if you guys have that term, I grew up as a car guy.

My father was for his career. He retired recently. He was a

Jaguar Land Rover technician. Cool. From England. He would have

been busy them. Very. I was never hungry. And I never I never

wanted busiest job in the world. Absolutely. Fixing Jaguar Land

drivers. Absolutely. You're so accurate. I can picture my

childhood home and the imagine the amount of oil stains in the

driveway. Just because it was unreal. So I grew up as a Jaguar

or just a car guy. But you know, mainly around the Jags off

because my father grew up in England. He had an apprenticeship

here and then moved to the States. What does he think of the

Type 00? You know what? Fortunately, he got out before

Jaguar disappointed him. You know, it's like it's like that

child who's like, Oh, so you you're going into accounting. All

right. No offense. I need accountants listening. But it's

like, you know, your dad wanted you to be a doctor. I just want

you to know that. So I did grow up as a as a car guy. And he

taught me everything that I know, because for my most of my

career, I was a technician. Yeah, I used to fix cars. And I was

really fortunate to be able to just be around the right people

at the right time, because he set me up with one of his long

time friends who owned a mom and pop shop, we would call it

just somewhere you'd go for your tire, your timing belt, your

oil changes. And I learned the ins and outs of how cars worked

through that. The the owner of that shop, his son worked in a

Porsche performance shop, just a privateer performance shop. And

once I got bored working on Toyota's, he's like, Well, hey,

why don't you come, you know, check out what I've got going on.

And the things that I learned throughout that experience is

honestly, what has brought me here to the UK, the culmination of

information that I've gained over the years. And throughout

that, you see different stages of, you know, what the car market

is like, what car people are like. And eventually I became a BMW

technician, a factory chain BMW technician. And that's when I

started working in Manhattan, I worked for BMW Manhattan for

about nine, 10 years. Before I moved into sales with BMW BMW

motorcycles, Joe, we've had that conversation. And then I started

working for Porsche for Manhattan motor cars for the past four

years prior to me moving into the UK to do the job here. So

there's a lot of similarities. I remember when I was moving over

here, obviously terrified. But it's like, Okay, at least we speak

the same language and the cars are the same, right? The steering

was on the other side, but the cars are the same. And I'm, I'm

confident in my product knowledge. I get here and I find out

that we don't speak the same language, because there's 14

different versions of the English language, depending on

which part you're from. I could tell you some stories. I

probably wouldn't be able to understand them. Depending on

the accident. I in my before I did YouTube, I was a trainer in

telecoms. And I did a lot of work in the States. used to go to

Irving a lot. Okay, not here in and San Diego, because Qualcomm.

And I used to find teaching in the States more difficult than

teaching in countries where English wasn't the first language,

because the language barrier. And I was teaching once. If you got

into your cockney rhyming slang, if you get on the dog,

yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I, I use lots of

colloquial terms. And it used to get me to so much trouble. I

go, Oh, you know, said one day, I said, it's a bit belt and

braces. And they're like, well, I said, you know, belt and

braces when you wear so, so your trousers don't fall down. You

wear a belt and braces. And they're like, trousers, right? And

pants, pants, right? Yeah. Braces, suspenders, no, no, no,

suspenders are tights for ladies. Those are tights. Yeah. And

it was just like, oh, and then at lunchtime went, right,

let's have some lunch. I'm absolutely Hank. And there's

just this faces looking at me going, what, you know, Hank

Marvin? Starving. Hank Marvin, starving, right? Got it? And

then they're like, Oh, yeah, okay, Hank. And then I explain,

you know, cockney rhyming slang, apples and stairs, pears,

double strug, Hank Marvin, starving. And then they're like,

who's Hank Marvin? You're correct. Yeah. I was in the

shadows. Cliff. Anyway, there you go. And that was that. You

used to get that all the time. So yeah, very. So that is what

I'm dealing with on top of, you know, MOT Scotland, Ireland,

MOT, DVLA registration, because when I first met you, I was

talking about plates. And I think even then you're like,

what plates? Right? And I was like, no, well, the number

plate, obviously now you know, it's a big part of your job.

But there's there is a lot. It's amazing, isn't it? How

they're very similar. But there's so many differences.

There's a lot of differences. There's a lot of differences.

But again, I came over with at least the confidence in

knowing that I know the automotive industry, and I

know Porsche to what I feel to be adequate enough to be able

to have conversations like the one that we're at. The other

thing is we totally bugger up all our cars by putting OPF

filters on. You don't have that in the States, right? So all

Porsches in the States sound epic. Yeah. All the ones over

here a bit like, unless you unless you're from California,

because you know, they like to

have that sonny's fault, isn't it?

Yeah, well, he didn't help.

Oh, wait, what? California got got OPF filter.

Well, not necessarily OPF, but they're very strict on any

sort of modification. You can get states ref what they call

we think America's like one big country, but not really. It's

like 50 states that kind of all

it's Europe that speaks one language.

Yeah. If you think about it, because each state does its own

its own thing, each state will have its own jurisdiction,

police, multiple versions of police. New York alone has, you

know, the police that I have interacted with in my life. You

know, you've got your local PD, right? Long Island has Suffolk and

Nassau County, right? Because it's two different counties of

Long Island, then you're going to have NYPD, New York Police

Department. Yeah, the ones in the films. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So

wait, that's three. Yeah, but then you'll have an in a Pogue

song.

Just ignore him. You and I just ignore him carry on a sheriff.

You have sheriffs. We have sheriffs. We have state troopers. Oh

my God. Those are the guys you don't want to get pulled over

by. You have cool police cars, though. Not when it's lit up

behind you. We're not like, wow, that's a nice crown. We have

no, we have like voxel astros. We have the basically the

crappiest car you can buy. All your police stickers on your

police cars are a state. You're the funniest thing. Yeah. It's

the funniest thing. Yeah. We have some cool cop cars, but

largely you don't want to interact with one in the

States, depending on the state that you're in, because I've

got some stories from multiple states of one. Anyway. But back

to the question at hand, the differences between the markets

is it's great. It's, it's, you know, you have to you have to

imagine a city like Manhattan is very, very wealthy. And the

the store that I worked for with some of those brands to your

point, right about the GT three, you know, 30,000, 35,000

pounds worth of options. It wasn't uncommon, especially with

how our dealership was set up, set up rather the, the Porsche

center, the Porsche store was the first one, but each dealership,

each brand was kind of individually its own dealership

within one building, right? So the Lamborghini had a showroom

Bentley had a showroom, we got a showroom and Porsche had a

showroom. Would you rotate or would you, would you sort of

So by brand, by, by brand law, I should say, you have to be

certified for a brand. I can't just go and say, yeah, I'm

selling Lamborghinis now, if my customer, if my client was

mine, right, and he was all of a sudden interested in a Bentley

or interested in Lamborghini, I would carry that over, because

I think most of us have enough of the brand knowledge,

especially being around them 24 seven to carry those multiple

conversations. And you know, we're involved in the other

brands, product launches and new vehicle releases. So yeah, it's

one big happy family. But if someone comes in and says, you

know, I'm looking for a Bintega me, the Porsche guy is not

gonna say, cool, I'll take you the Bentley people. Yeah, you

know, my customer, I can, I can assist. And if you think about

it, which is crazy to think about, you, you know, you mentioned

238,000 pounds for a for a GT three with all the kit. Imagine

that in the States, someone's, you know, specking all that up.

And somebody else walks through and just purchased an

Avenger door. Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm just sitting there

going, the Porsche dealerships, the cheapest car you can buy

correct. Correct. So it wasn't uncommon where someone would go

and speck up a Huracan or a Vuelta because those were there

while I was still there or a Bintega, a flying spur, Bentley

GT GTC, big dollar cars, 300 and above, right? And then just say,

you'll take a turbo s. My wife would love one of these. My kid

needs a first car. Yeah, let me get them a Cayenne Cayenne

GT has 100 grand 120 grand. But when you had just spent that

much money, you know, a couple steps away up the hallway,

wow, it's all relative to again, the level of purchasing and

obviously Manhattan being a big finance, a big finance city, a

very, very wealthy city, you would do some of the some of the

things that you see, and what they spend money on is is a bit

ridiculous from my perspective, not not to put anybody with that

type of wealth down. Because I think that if we all had that

type of wealth, we would be would make some really silly

decisions on cars, right? It reminds me of this one customer

that I had. And he was a really nice guy. And I met him through

the service department, he came in with his Bintega. And he walks

up, I'd like to speak about a Porsche, I saw this, you know, he

shows me a picture on his phone, he saw this, I really like this,

what is this? And I was like, that's a 911 Dakar, what you guys

pronounce as cool Dakar Dakar. Yes, because how it's said

anyway. So he's, he's like, Hey, can I get one of these? I

said, unfortunately, no, you know, it's a really limited

production car, like, let's do some homework and see if we can

find one, but we just don't have one of those lying around.

You're like, if you buy 10 tie cans, then we can have a

discussion. No, because in the States, we didn't do that. Oh,

that's my next question. I'll lead into that. But so he's like,

hey, can I get a Dakar? And I'm good. Excellent.

Working on it pronunciation. And um,

Guy sounds like a legend. We did find one, right? And he's

like, Okay, so how does this process work? I've never bought a

car before. And I said, Well, you haven't been taken process.

Sorry. Just saying how does this process work? I've never

bought a car before, right?

Don't worry, don't worry, he'll get it more before you know,

listen, if it's hard to understand, just put subtitles

on it. Yeah, exactly.

So I've never bought a car before. How does this work? I was

like, well, but you have your Bentayga, you know, you I see

you all the time. You come in for service. That's how we met.

So get my boss that gave that to me. Wow. He's like, Yeah, no,

that's not my car. Just my you know, my boss thought I needed

a car. He was getting a new one. He's like, Yeah, just have my

have my old Bentayga. Wow. So he had never bought a car before.

So we go through the process and I actually find him a car. It

was available. And I said, Here it is. This is what it's

going to cost you. And not in these exact words, but, and I

know we're all watch guys, I basically give him his bill,

right? Because in the states, depending on where you're going

to register the car, it's going to be assigned a certain amount

of tax, right? So even certain parts of New York have different

tax rates. So it's whatever the car is built to plus 8.875% in

New York City, but it could be 6.625%. If you're registering it

to Long Island, or if you're cheeky and you have a Florida

address, it could be even less or Connecticut or this or that.

And I give him the quote. I said, Sir, this is how much money

that car is going to cost you. It's a lovely vehicle. He's like,

Wow. He looks at his watch. He's like, I watch costs more than

that. I was like, Sir, sign here. Press hard. Press hard. I'll

call you when the car comes in. And that was it. And that was it.

That was it. That was it. It's just another level, isn't it?

Yeah, we're from a very large bank in Manhattan. And stuff like

that was an uncommon. Imagine driving a Dakar around around

New York. Perfect New York City car. Perfect with all the

Potholes New York City car. Yeah, it was the one that you didn't

have to worry about speed bumps, potholes, roadworks or what

we call it like to call construction. Yeah, no, that that

car was absolutely epic. And honestly, we ended up wrapping it

a special collar. We did all bunch of stuff with the roof rack

on it. He was really, really happy with it. Yeah, wow, that

cool car. Yeah, but to your other point, we in the States, and

obviously, this is when I was there, things could have

changed. I'm pretty sure they haven't. But you do not need to

buy 10 tech ends to to to get your specialty cars. Okay, in the

States, obviously, it's a little bit more of a free market.

Right. So it's just, it's it's car plus x. x is whatever the

market value of the car is, whatever management, dealer

group, whoever decides that they want to sell that car for it

could be for instance, a 911 turbo s, it could be MSRP.

So you're selling above list plus eight plus 80,000 pounds or

dollars, I should say, plus 100. So that's not so over here, we

obviously get people buy them and then flip them. Right. But

you still could do. Yeah. And what's your thoughts on that?

Because there's so much pushback. And I think, probably, I

don't know whether Porsche or Ferrari get it worse, actually,

with the kind of having to buy a certain number of cars to get a

special car. Right. What's your thoughts on that?

You know, it kind of hurts a bit as a car guy to, to think

about it, right? Because, rightfully so, if we had the funds

and the car was available, we would buy the car immediately.

And you would also still see the customers in in Manhattan in

New York City, who weren't the super wealthy, who would be like,

I've worked extremely hard. I saw that this car cost 200

grand. I am ready. And you have to tell them, no, it doesn't, it

doesn't work like that, at least not buying it here. So, you

know, as far as my personal, you know, thoughts, it's, it's

tricky, because we are car guys, we get attached to these cars,

they're not just pieces of metal. You know, they're not just

something to get us from point A to point B. There's plenty of

cars we would love to have. And if we could afford them, or if

we had the money, we would buy them tomorrow. But at the same

time, it's a business. And at the same time, it's, it's a free

market. And things like that are done in a lot of different

aspects of the way that we spend our money. So if that is who is

in control wants to do it, then it's tricky, right? Because you

say, Oh, well, okay, well, I'm just going to do some shopping.

I'm not going to buy it from you. And then you call around and

it's just the same game.

I guess it's no different. You can't walk into a Rolex shop by

Rolex, right? Right? Yeah. It's one of those things where

it kind of creates a demand or a value in the car that kind of,

I don't know, it's frustrating. I kind of get it in one respect,

but it's annoying that my thought is if you've got the money,

then there's, you know, you shouldn't I think we're we're I

think we're a bit unique in the UK, because we're right hand

drive and right hand drive markets for someone like Porsche is

very small markets, right? Ask Japan, Australia 76

countries in the world that drive on the left and on the

left hand drive. How many on the right on the left hand side? So

that's us. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, how many of those are big?

Let's say Porsche markets for a minute. What's the stat for

the rest? Yeah. Oh, a lot. But people just made it sound like

awesome. No, no, no, no, but he's a good politician, right?

People always say it's us in Japan. That's it. And it's not

No, I said us Japan and Australia probably the major

South Africa. Yeah. But it's a lot of Africa, actually. But

I don't know. It's not it's not as much as left hand drive

markets, but it's not. It's not tiny. And I'm not defending. But

I think I think the difficult thing is it's like, Porsche

obviously limit how many we can get Germany. And then it kind of

works for them in the sense that if we could all have what we

could what we want, then that's no longer something the

special, right? So there's always, there's always that added

thing, the stress of weight. I want one of those, but I can't

quite have it or whatever. So and I think only Porsche BMW try

and do it with some of their models, and it usually just

falls really flat. And it doesn't work. I want an M3. Well,

you got to buy an M1355. Yeah. And then the very next week,

it's on the full court discounted at 20 grand off and BMW.

Yeah. No offense. Original Tony Lewis, if you're watching

this, because

he is original. We got Anthony Lewis. Exactly. Anthony

there is a nation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why is it because

we'd say Anthony? Yes, I know. And you know what's funny? You

guys can't figure out how to say my name, or at least maybe

hear my name. I have a list. Yeah, but but so I'm Tony and

Sony. I'll tell Anthony. He's not phony. He's Anthony. They'll

say. So what's your name? Anthony. And they're like, okay,

Andrew. It's like big. Okay, Anthony. It's like Tony. If they

don't hear Anthony, they just hear something else. All right,

Eric, I'll call you later. I'm like, it's not what I said my

name was, or a lot of them will just use my last name. Like,

all right, Lewis, I'm like, oh, whatever. That's fine. But you

guys have nerve because British names and that's not even a

conversation of willing to have British names. Oh, you know,

Henry, whatever, whatever the fuck, you guys have like, there's

no John Smiths here, right? Or or like Matthews, like

everybody like Achilles Achilles. I mean, if I said I

started Greek, isn't it really? It's like a great hero.

Great God. Moving on. What's the next topic of conversation? I

think we talked about translating.

We've talked about so we talked about Manhattan. But is there

any what was the most did you what was the most ridiculous

car you sold there? Or what what has been the most ridiculous

car spec option wise that you've sold since you've been in the

UK? What like, can you think of a standout without naming

anyone? Just give us a bit of an anecdote.

Well, I will say that that Porsche customers are

definitely more tame. I think we all know that compared to

especially when you would see, you know, for instance, we were

we were a Koenigsegg dealer, we were a Bugatti dealer, we were

Rolls Royce, we were Lamborghini, right? And you would you

would see, because I think it once it gets to a point, you

know, of 300,000 dollar cars and above, you're not like,

um, you're not worried about, you know, the the $20,000 in

between or the $10,000 in between. I did a tour of Aston

Martin a few years ago. And it was just when they were starting

to make Valkyrie. And they're saying that one of the Valkyrie

customers had bought at auction, and a meteor, a bit of moon

rock, 80,000 pound bit of moon rock. And he was having that

ground down and put into the paint that was going to be used

to paint his Valkyrie.

I mean, that's a little bit a little bit. It's it's it's more

it's more commonly the camera angle didn't capture that. Yeah,

yeah, there was there was a there was a hand gesture made. But

no, you will see, I will say that the UK is much more tame,

right? Yeah, I think it's tied into the weather. That's that's

just all you're gonna say gray is in there. I mean, yeah,

yeah, I'm not gonna have right. Lovely. I moved here for the

weather. Excuse one second, though. One second. We talked

about the weather because when I first met you, it was a horrible

February March when you first moved over. I remember we did the

ordering video was absolutely bucketing down. You know,

bucketing down, bucketing down rain. Yeah. I've been here for

but I'm sorry to say this to you. You've experienced potentially

the best summer we've had in at least 10 years. So don't expect

anything about that next year. I brought it with me. I brought

it with you. You put it with you. Yes. So you're welcome.

Man, everybody and the you and we get lovely summers. Keep on

selling tycans. Otherwise, it's gonna keep getting as good as

that. You're in the market. He's got plenty. I've got a

lovely turbo less. Yeah, for 50 grand with your name on it.

Cross Turismo as well. Cross Turismo. Oh, mate. Don't we

because we got the McCann and we have brought a cross Turismo.

We drove it down to Cornwall and we're both sat in this

comment. This is really nice. And you know what? That's the

funny thing and we might have bought the wrong car. Well,

especially with Porsche. It's one of those things where

obviously they make very good cars, right? And when I find

myself in their EVs, you get the customers that come in all the

time. Well, that's not a real Porsche. It doesn't make any noise

or why did they make this? And I'm just like, that's really

simple minded, but I just short sighted. Right. But I

understand that that's that's your kind of, you know, approach

to them. But when you do get to drive a Taycan and the McCann

and inevitably the new Cayenne EV, they are amazing cars. And I

think what it really does with the EVs is they really open up

that that that world where now you can have a special second

car. If if you're so able to do so, you know, you can have the

Taycan and the McCann or whatever the EV of choice is

because they do whatever you need them to do perfectly, right?

You never have to warm them up. You can warm them up from an

nap. You're not you're not scraping ice off in the morning.

They're ready to go. There's less road noise. You're less

fatigued when you arrive wherever you get. And now my Sunday

car can be a little raunchier. Because how well the Taycan and

the EV does, you know, all of all of what it's supposed to do is

get me to and from the train station to and from work, keep

me dry, pick up groceries, pick up, you know, the kids and stuff

like that. So I really it's it's honestly it's weird to like

EVs as a car guy. Can I can ask you I'm gonna it's a bit of a

punchy question. What does that mean? Punchy as in, well, you'll

find out when I ask you the question. It's like a fire away.

So does it then so I agree. So I think Taycan, whether it's the

normal one or sport across to Rismo, and I think the new

McCann EV, they drive beautifully. The we always say they

drive like a Porsche. He hates EVs, but even quite I feel like

he hates them because he feels he should go and that was what

I was saying. But but they drive like a Porsche. Yes, they

don't have the noise and everything. Are you surprised at

the depreciation issues with Taycan because it's still a

Porsche and I am I've I was surprised I thought they would

go down but I didn't expect them to tank like they have done.

And I wonder what your thoughts were.

I'm not necessarily surprised because obviously I answer this

question pretty often.

Yeah, I'm just about to order 150 grand Taycan is going to be

worth in three years, right?

Porsche exists in a special space. And I think that because of

that special space, we feel that all cars are protected the way

that the 911 is protected. Yeah, right. And the way that the

718s are protected. Also, I already said that because I've

got one. Also, we've just gone through the bubble, the bubble

of COVID where people have forgotten about depreciation,

and so many people still live in that world of 2021, 2022,

where it's like, why is my cars appreciating?

Well, the magic word equity. Yeah, I always appreciate it,

except for those two years where, you know, there was a

certain yeah, anyway, an effect. And that's when the Taycan

was, you know, that's when it was new. Correct. So it's, yeah,

it's like a double combo. I think it's one of those things

where, you know, if the Taycan is still young, it's still a

kid, still a child, right? 2020 was the first year that we

saw them. So it was five years ago. And it still is in, I think

a not necessarily a realm where it's proving itself, I think

it's proved itself. But it's it's definitely a car where it's

never lost on me, especially from where I worked at Manhattan,

where you would see quite easily every day, you would see

million dollar cars and above, right? I remember at one point

we had a the new Lamborghini Countach in our showroom quite

some time, lovely car, right? My lovely car, we had the

Ventador SVJs, we had Koenigseggs, we had everything, right?

And these are cars that reach a price point where it's like,

what is that? And I wanted it to never, I wanted it to never be

lost on me that that that it's still a car, right? Obviously

loose term and it's capable of some incredible things. But the

essence of a car is to get you from point A to point B, safe

and dry, right? So when you do look at cars like the Taycan

compared to many other EVs on the market, we're in different

air, that car is in different air, it's at forms at a level,

it's designed at a different level. It's, it's from a company

where we don't concern Porsche doesn't concern itself

necessarily with with certain metrics, they are going to

create an epic product. But I do think that because of its age,

because of where EVs still are as far as, you know, only

recently, the the conversation about range anxiety has begun

to become background noise, right? Only recently has has

charging points. And you know, how far can this get me has

started to become less of the conversation, and more of an

afterthought because the cars are getting so good.

Plug into a 350 kilowatt charger in the Porsche Stanton. You

don't have to stay there very long. 15 minutes, 20 minutes,

right? 25 if you if you if you need to.

No, I'm just being realistic here. Listen, I'm not I'm

one second. Goodbye. All right, I'm back. Just had to pass

Peda bottle opener. Listen, I had a, I had a Taycan sports

Taycan Tabera sports wheels made the other day press car 190

grand as optioned. I mean, this was like three weeks ago. So

it's probably like 70 grand now. Here we go. But I went bet you

it drove on Michelin. It was I say that about it. Unfortunately,

it wasn't a mission ties. I took it to I need to charge it up.

And I don't have a charger at home. So this is why I always

caveat. Listen, if if I and Lou might be getting an EV very soon

for work. Once we've got that, we'll have a fast charger at

home. And I'm sure my whole outlook and electric cars and

living with him having something is something that we can go to

the shops and and she can go to work on be so much easier,

because it's just charging gets up in the morning. She doesn't

even need to go to petrol stations. I get that. But but in

this instance, I took it down to Porsche Silverstone, not the

experience center here. The other one went up turned up in

their lovely charging stations. Great. They had four bays. They

were all empty. Pugged it in. I think they were 250 kilowatt

there. Pugged it in. And it had 10% range plugged in. I was

getting about two 15 kilowatts to start with it. Then it went

190 180 by the time I was about 40% more down to about it was

going about 120 130. Bear in mind, there was no other cars

taking any juice, right? And these are state these are brand new

charges. They've just installed. By the time I got to and I know a

lot of people go Yeah, but you should charge your AV between

this and that. Well, no, like, that's not how it works in a in

a combustion engine car.

But it's a mindset change. I know. No, but no, but no, but you

claim a range. But actually, then you're told, then you're

told that you shouldn't really do or use that range, you should

actually use this range. So then and then you get down to it. And

I was there for half an hour, 30 minutes on the dot, because it

was part of my video. And in that half an hour, I charge about

60% of the range, which I worked out to be about 140 miles on the

new type that you know, because they're do about 280

realistically. So it's, it's not so much. I know people say, oh,

it's got 800 watt infrastructure. Firstly, you need to find a

charge that does 800 watt this. Is there any? No, 350 watt. But

then you turn up to 350 watt doesn't really give you 350

watt. It gives you 300 if you're lucky. And it only gives you

300 for a certain amount of time before it becomes 200. Then it

becomes one. It's just lots and lots.

Can I just I just want to such I just want to say so. I hear I'm

loud and clear. And I want to use this fact. I want to use I want

to use a British term and tell me if I say no. But I think he's

just waffling. He is.

No, I'm just sending you facts. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I

think I think it's

right. So the 80 20 rule, right? Yeah. There's no reason why you

can't go beyond 80 20. It's a time benefit rule when you're in

public charging. Yeah, stick between that's your quickest way

to get on your way. Yes. And you get on your way 80%. And then

you drive for a couple of hours and you stop and then you do

another quick. I know I'm a small

when you're at home.

Charge. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know I'm a small. That's got real

personal.

Real personal. Listen, no, I'm I know the internet and you guys

think I'm anti TV. But I'm just talking about something that

I've lived with.

Sounds very anti. No, I'm just talking about a real life case.

I'll give you an example. If I couldn't charge an EV at home,

yeah, and around an EV for a week, I'd be anti TV. Yeah, do

not buy an EV if you can't charge at the end. And the

problem is, I mean, that's fine if you've got somewhere to park

off street charging. If you haven't, then it's another

thing entirely. But if you're having to charge, my issue with

public charging isn't the speed because I think actually now

the range of ultra rapid charging is really good. Yeah, it's

the cost. Yeah, because you're probably paying 80 to 90 pence

per kilowatt hour. And that's too expensive. Yeah. So, you know,

bring the cost down and I know Porsche with the Porsche charge

card, it's down at like 30 30, 39. Yeah. And that's about there

or thereabouts for me. But yeah, but we got onto this. No, the

positive side of it. Listen, once it once it's charged, yeah,

then Joe's happy. No, no, and I am and it was a great listen. And

I'm not trying to put down electric cars. I'm not trying to

put down Taycan. Although I think personally, it's, although

it's, it's a brilliant package. It's packaged badly in terms of

ergonomics. That's just my own, that's my own opinion.

Loughlin. Try sitting in the back of any kind of Taycan.

Absolutely not.

I think it's fine. I'm five nine. Yeah, well, it's all

to be that time. I've forgotten my point now. No, but luckily,

but no, it's great to go to the Porsche Center and I'll tell

you what, and I'm sure it's exactly the same with with

Reading. They were lovely. Someone actually came out while

I was there offered me a drink. Yeah. Yeah. And it was really,

and so the experience that side of it was much better than

going to a petrol station or

Well, as far as Taycans are concerned, and, and then I've

got some questions for you guys, which is a little off topic,

but we'd love to just pick your brain about some stuff.

Never have guests ask those questions.

As far as, and they'll be, they'll be way off topic, but

there were three beers in.

It's fine.

As far as Taycans are concerned, right? And as far as charging

EVs and all that stuff, I think, and this is something that I

personally tell a lot of my customers, especially when you

said, Well, what about the values? We do have to approach

Taycans much differently than we're approaching regular cars

and other cars, right? If we all bought a 718, a 911, whatever

it is, we would plan on keeping that car for as long as we

could, right? Taycans, McClellan EVs, Cayenne Bevs, we

have to approach these cars and with the other brands as well.

But obviously, I can speak most confidently about Porsche.

Don't worry about the value and the majority of these customers

are on a PCP. Yeah, right? And I don't think that's not because

they can't afford purchasing the car by by no means. I think it's

strategic. And when I do look at the Taycan and how much J1 versus

J2 has increased in range and charging efficiency. Look at the

Macan. Now we've got the Cayenne EV coming out. These cars are

going to be making such leaps forward compared to the 992,

which is in a long litany of cars that has have already

existed. So if you use the PCP, a way that a PCP is supposed to

work, where at the end of it, you hand your car back and you

start fresh, depreciation is never your concern. No, it's

your down payment in your in your in your motion. Someone's

going to pay for it. And they make amazing used cars. Taycan

car. So if anything, I know that we follow trends and we follow

these conversations of, oh, they lose so much value and they

lose this. Look at how much car you can buy for x for 60 grand

for 50 grand, 50 grand, because EVs are fast to begin with, but

then you're getting a Porsche. Yeah, people think the

battery is going to die. And they don't that the batteries are

lasting. We get 10 year 10 year correct 10 year. And not only

that, but that's and that's just their their coverage. That's

just their warranty. It's going to be a long time before you

start to see a depletion in state of charge, you know, any any

any state where the battery isn't doing what it's supposed to

do, right? Compared to and you know, you're talking about

inefficiencies and we'll move on. But this that the third, you

do if somehow we find a way to not compare them to some of the

necessarily poor petrol vehicles that are out there cars

that throw transmissions that are known for that throw engines

that are known for that. No, no, I'm not

not. All right, I owned a 9 11 99 2.2 for like, like you said,

my father was very busy with Jaguar Land Rover and those are

built here. All right, answer. I don't know if they're built

here. They're in England half a symbol assembled here. Yeah.

Well, ever since not very well in car only. What's that? No.

Yeah, but that was my joke. They're not actually fully built.

They're just like half assembled. But all manufacturers

have some cars that have their issues. Yeah, of course. Yes.

And it's and it's how it's how the brand approaches them. And

one of the things that when customers do come to Portion

Center ready, and they do ask me these questions about, you

know, well, you know, is it going to be this is going to be

that I've heard this I've heard that and I always point to the

workshop. Yeah, literally point to the workshop. And I say

there's a reason why that workshop is so big. This this

showroom is lovely. The front the front of house, all of this

is really lovely. But the workshop is probably bigger, right?

Not twice the size, but maybe one one and a half. You can see

as well. And it's there because these cars are very, very

heavily engineered. They're built by humans and we're the weak

link. Yeah, and there will be an issue. So it's not necessarily

is the car going to break. It's when the car is going to break

and how are you taking care of and how is the vehicle taking

care of once that happens is is more important than I think

trying to find a flawless car that's not going to have any

issues. Yeah.

We're very quickly, very quickly approaching the hour. And

we've got dinner in a few minutes. But wow, can we can we can

we finish on? Before we turn the cameras on, we're talking

about a particular car that was specced and Sondavunch. Oh,

and Sondavunch. Yeah, maybe those two. Let's just cover

those in a few minutes. I only have found out about Sondavunch

special wish. I love you know the German thing. So the Sondavunch

and then so PDK Porsche Doppelge. Yeah. Twin clutch. Don't call

it a TCT. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but you

can't disrespect it because it's a place. All right. Like

that's always been my thing. The same people that say Porsche

versus Porsche. Yeah, I have a stickler with that because it

was his name. Yeah, right. And if somebody called you Joe

Achilles, right, you'd be like, or someone email me Joseph

or Anthony. Well, that's that. I figured you'd need my

you assumed. Yeah, whatever. I've met someone at my mini

dealership and she was like, oh, you you're mates with that Joe

Achilles, aren't you? Exactly. I'm sure I'm sure he would want

you to correct him. I know you didn't because you probably

spent I spent a lot of time in France, like road trips,

whatever. Whenever I check into a hotel, and I'm like, yeah,

Mr. Achilles, and I'm like, Mr. Achilles, Mr. Achilles.

Anyway, here's your car. Go. Yes, it's Sandovan. Sandovan special

wishes is a very, very, very cool part of the Porsche ordering

inspect process and especially with essentially rather with

special wishes, it allows you to really create some some very,

very special cars. And if you Google it and you look through

the history, there's that really, really popular chroma flair

GT2 RS, right? One of the most expensive special wishes cars

ever. Porsche just redid a 993 this past year through their

special wishes department. It's just about that. Okay, you just

had that festival in Dubai. There was that was the second gen

can. Yep. Was that a son of it? Most likely similar. Yeah,

we'll remember do it on any Porsche. Yes, you can. Yes, you

can. So if you see like videos of the special wishes

department, you'll see, you know, a 911 speeds are sat next to

McCann, right? Wow, next to a box or sat next to a Panamera. So

it is more so like, here's a perfect example, you guys have

been on the configurator, and you know, when you the first

couple steps are your color, your color of the car, and you

see paints a sample, then you see pan to sample plus, right?

That paints a sample plus is one of the one of the kind of

steps into looking into what Ken Porsche do, right? I love this

the color of my my drapes and I would love for for, you know,

you to paint the interior or the exterior of my car in this

color. Yeah. So special wishes is just one of those things

where if you can dream it, you can think it and there is a

price threshold, they will not open the door to the special

wishes department in less in the States, it was $15,000.

Yep. As a minimum. And at that point, the pricing just

becomes whatever Porsche says. Okay, so if they want to charge

you 1000 pounds a letter, you know, to have your name put here

in a certain part of the car. Well, that's what it costs. If

you want a specific stitching or a specific color in your

interior, specific shade of color on your wheel or whatever

it is, that's just what it costs. And the reason why you guys

were asking me and for the listeners that are listening

to this, I was sharing a video before that, sorry, I was

sharing a story before we started this podcast about the most

expensive special wishes car that I ever saw go through

Manhattan, New York City, Manhattan motor cars, and I

won't give too many details, only because you know, if I did,

you somebody would figure it out. But it was, it wasn't a

turbo, it wasn't a turbo s wasn't a GT three, it was more of one

of the standard versions of the of the 911. And it was the most

expensive version of that car in the world. We're talking about

a GT, did it have GT? Yes, but we're talking. So okay, in

terms of retail to what it ended up costing, what are we

talking three times the price?

Easily double.

Easily double. And you have to think about that being double in

equipment. And not equipment in the way where you're adding

things like we talked about before with the sports chrono

and carbon fiber, you know, roll cage or lift. No, it's more I

want this to be this color. Right? I want this interior to be

this I want this paint to be this I want the shade of the

wheels to be this I want the mirror caps to be this I want this

very specifically so it's not necessarily how can I be very

extravagant because also in Manhattan when you would be near

the Lamborghini showroom, yep, you see extravagant. Yep, come

out of that out of that show, pinks and purples and yellows and

all sorts of stuff. Wild colored stuff. But this is more so

with Porsche kind of circling back to the beginning of the

podcast with the with the you know, you said dog dick and

dick red. Yeah. Yeah, we can cut that out. It's fun. And

bright blue, you know, colored interiors, it's whatever you

want. Yeah. And if you do want it, there will be a price but

you can have it. Is that so that's an interesting question. So

Ferrari have a very similar thing. But they have a limit. As

in the if you wanted a Ferrari in candy pink. Okay, they won't do

it. Okay, there's certain lines that they just

heads off for a Ferrari California with the GTS interior

pack. Yeah. And they've been like, it's so not even a Roma.

Nope, nothing. I'm Alfie. So are there SF 90? Desperate to

get rid of anything that you couldn't have?

I think mechanically, it would get tricky, right? Like don't

build me a turbo s target, right? I think it would it would

get Oh, that'd be cool. Here we go. Oh, his first lottery

winnings. He's going to turbo s target. Why don't they do a

turbo s target? Let's not get into that. Or we'll save that for

the next podcast. Yes, if you got if I'm fortunate for you guys

to have me back, we are actually you're definitely giving us

a because I think dive into it. Well, no, because I don't we

don't want to miss dinner. Yeah, no, I'm starving. Yeah. So

guys, what we need to do is if you want Anthony back, Anthony,

Anthony, firstly, we're going to put Anthony's details in the

description below because he actually has a YouTube channel

that you used to work on a lot since he's been over here hasn't

done much but motorbikes and cars is really good. Put his

Instagram down there and his email address. Sure. If you want

to go and spend 400 grand on a base Carrera. But I really I've

really enjoyed I've really enjoyed having you on here. I

think you've been you've been super entertaining and I'm sure

that the you know, our viewers and listeners are going to going

to say the same thing. Please let us know in the comments

below. We would love to have you back on in the new year just

say when absolutely. And as this is the last podcast before

Christmas. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but Merry

Christmas and happy holidays as you would probably say in the

States. I think that's happy holidays, man.

When's Thanksgiving? It's that tomorrow. It's tomorrow. So even

though this will come out after that, happy Thanksgiving.

There we go to the Americans. Happy holidays. There we want we

want to encompass everybody. Happy new year, gentlemen. Thank

you very much for the free beer. And we're going to take you out.

We're going to set you up. We'll feed you. I'm locking the door

when I when I get back into my place. But no, genuinely had a

blast. Always love talking about cars. And I know that we'll

continue the conversation. We will. But if there is ever a

space for me to return. Yeah, more than happy. Thank you very

much, guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Cheers.

Cheers everyone. Oh, is it now? Is it now? Still don't know

what that means.

Still don't know what that means. Is that cocking rhyming

slang? Got what that is.

The Truth About Buying a Porsche in the UK - Salesman Reveals ALL! | Ep 78 | Drive Torque Podcast

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