Once you got past that pesky Miata, I know you had it made!!!

 

Dropped by at the dealership to get an appointment to fix a dashboard squeaking issue.

The first Macan's were getting delivered and the everybody was busy preparing the launch party tomorrow night. There will be no 500 pound tiger as originally planned though: http://jalopnik.com/peta-smacks-down...1575659291/all. Damn PETA!

 

Great pics...and it looks like great fun!

 

Eye candy for 2,000th post on 6Speed

I attended the Macan launch party at Porsche Hennessy last week. You may have read in a previous post that PETA interfered and that they could not have the 500lb tiger attending the party.

So what kind of feline do you invite when the real tiger has to stay home?
Here's your answer (rest assured I do not consider myself as the eye candy on this picture...)



Well, Tarzan is not exactly my type but fortunately a good friend of mine is better at taking pics than I am:



Nice party overall. The Macan looks good in the flesh, is well finished and could be a cool commuter. Haters are going to hate, but I have nothing against any Porsche model as long as they make the Cayman and the 911 too. Will have to take a test drive one of these days.

 

So, you're the guy wearing the tiger-print tonga, right?

I'm a big fan of the Macan as well. I think it would make for a great second car, especially in northern climes, with a 911 or Cayman/Boxster in the garage as the weekend and nice weather toy.

 

Got the car at the dealership this week to fix a dashboard squeaking and upgrade the instrument cluster software. Needless to say that the squeaking had disappeared when it was time to fix it. The Porsche tech' had heard it when I made the appointment and is committed to fix it, but after a colder week end and a track day, the squeaking was gone . I am 99.9% sure it will eventually come back and the dealership has agreed that I would bring the car right as soon as it happens and that they would squeeze me into the shop schedule and work on it right away.

As some other have already explained, the new software release brings a few changes and improvements. Here's a pic of the instrument cluster TFT display with, I think, some of the new options available (or with a different format than before):



I'll personally keep using the same display setup:



I know it duplicates what I can already read on analog gauges but I find it very convenient to get a quick snapshot of the car condition, esp. on the track or during spirited driving. I wish you could add TPMS to the same screen in fact.

 

OK car, lame sales network...

While I was at the track a week ago (Atlanta Motorsportspark) with Hooked on Driving, a few of us had the opportunity to test drive the C7 Stingray with the Z51 package and manual gearbox (many many thanks to Dave Auer for another fine DE and the opportunity to drive his own car!!!).

Quick pic to prove it happened and am not making up something to bash the 'Vette (I definitely need to lose some weight BTW):



Despite the fact that we could not push it too hard, it gave a good opportunity to get us a better feel for the car. I am not going to write an extensive review, JohnM did an excellent job here: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...7-comparo.html.
Yes, the engine has tons of torque -you can pretty much go around AMP in 3rd without shifting- and the car seems well balanced. Still, despite what many have said, the car is in a completely different league than the 991: the driving/steering feel is nowhere near the scalpel-like precision of the Porsche (or, dare I say, even the E36 and E46 M3's I drove there) and the fit and finish is lackluster. It may be much better than in the C6, but at less than 2,000 miles, a few electronic switches were working erratically.
It is an OK car for its price and is certainly fast and sounds good, but the 991 absolutely deserves a premium. I am not saying this to start yet another "C7 vs 991" or "is Porsche worth the money" thread, these are just a few personal thoughts.

Things unfortunately go downhill fast from there when GM got involved. A lady from Chevy had flown in from Detroit to support the Hooked on Driving/'Vette collaboration and proved ultimately useless without even a good technical knowledge of the car. It seems she was only there to get you to fill a form in case you were interested to know more -which I did, you never know, I am always on the market for something...-.

The follow-up email from the local GM dealer left me speechless: "Hello, My name is XXX, Sales Consultant from AutoNation Chevrolet. I received an internet request from you for a new vehicle. It was from a source called a GM Handraiser. You may have signed something at some kind of event (i.e. football game, carnival, in the mall, etc.) A lot of times people who do these aren't very interested they just wanted the free handout. Hopefully that is not the case here. If there is anything that I can do for you please let me know.".
Based on the circumstances in which I got introduced to the car, my profile and the presence of GM Corporate, they find nothing better than sending me an email speculating I may just be a random guy who has filled a form at a carnival. I have not often seen such poor lead management and salesmanship. I wonder if GM should not start a recall campaign for their dealers and salesmen too

 

Wow such a lame and unprofessional behavior -- this is from top American car company who "wants" to compete with Porsche and the likes?

Seems to me if they really want to elevate Corvette to higher standards they need to do a little house cleaning on marketing and support. Someone is definitely not paying attention to details.

Btw, why you couldn't push it too hard??

 

We were running in 'Sport' mode (not 'Race') and had been asked to stay below 5,000 rpm (which is enough in fact). The car had less than 2,000 miles, so I can understand it.

Also, even though the car is partly sponsored by Chevy, it was Dave's own car (and even with a rebate from Porsche, I would not let other guys drive it on the track). He had track insurance but we signed a waiver to confirm that we were liable in case we blew the tranny -stay focused, you know what I am talking about - or the engine, which was OK for me too given the private nature of the car.

 

This is an important piece of information that I missed - makes total sense. However, one would assume, if a car company is providing car for track test drives, the engine should've been properly broken in prior.

 

Here's a short video shot at Atlanta Motosportspark. Sorry once again for what some will find a poor musical choice, but I had to cover the wind noise. I re-used a song from a BMW commercial from some time ago. I need to wire a mic' to the engine bay one of these days

My 17-year old (turned 18 and graduated few days later) was there with me in his yellow E36 M3 and qualified intermediate solo. I may be blinded by pride, but he was really hauling @ss in a car older than him (engine is stock, just has basic H&R coilovers, and the car is 'gutted'). Looking at our fastest laps, the old M3 was only running 6s behind the 991.


I also drove what will eventually be my younger son's car, a 2002 E46 M3 that is finally ready to track 6 months after we bought it, and was not always quite as successful We are so spoiled with the ton of grip we have on the 911 to slingshot out of a turn that I had to re-learn to get back on the power a bit later. This was only a minor slide, but did I mention I also spun? I learned the car -and my lesson- and got two very fun sessions with the E46 after that.

 

Serge, I feel like I've seen your son posting that E36 on the VW forums... It's hard to miss that shade of yellow!

 

You are right
He started a build thread on the GTI forum where he was posting before: http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64646

 

Hah, knew it! Nice!

 

Lucky man, I wanted to go to this event but was sadly out of town.