My Panamera Turbo Saga
 

Hello all,

I started admiring the Panamera when it was released, but considered it an impractical car for me because I'm married with 3 kids, so the 4 seats was very limiting. I was using a 2006 BMW M5 as my daily driver to drive into Manhattan almost every day, and I had a 2008 C2S Cab as a fun/weekend car (mostly, although I drove it to work occasionally). I previously owned a 2002 360 Modena which I sold in the heat of the financial crisis. When the world improved, I took some of the 360 proceeds to buy the C2S, but I never really loved it having been spoiled by the 360. In any case, my plan in the spring of 2011 was to sell the M5 and drive the C2S as my daily driver. I drove the C2S into the city for about 2 weeks in a row and just found the ride to be very stiff given the poor state of the NYC roads, and the MT was killing me on those nights when the traffic was especially bad. So, I started to think about what would come out if you put an M5 and a 911 in a blender....a Panamera Turbo! I seldom drove the whole family around even in my M5, so I figured I could deal with having room for only 4...

I started shopping around the area in February and happily determined that my closest dealer was the easiest to work with and was very fair on both the price of the PTT and the trade-in values on the M5 and the C2S. (I had bought the C2S as a leftover from another dealer.) They were willing to pay a little more for the C2S Cab if I would trade it in around April 1, and trade in the M5 when my new car arrived, which I agreed to. I ordered the PTT March 3 and it was scheduled to finish being built April 17, so with shipping it should arrive mid-May.

Late April arrived and my dealer reported that the car was completed and was waiting at the port for a ride to the US. A couple weeks went by and the status never changed, even though other cars of theirs which finished after mine were on the water already. PCNA investigated and found out that my car had been "irreparably damaged during the shipping process" and that a new car would have to be built. Bummer! I'm highly confident my dealer wasn't playing any games like selling my car to someone else. PCNA agreed to sell the car to my dealership without the YoY price increase because the new car would be a 2012. Thank goodness for small favors! The second car had a scheduled completion date of mid-July.

Then Murphy's Law struck and my M5 started leaking oil. Turns out my oil cooler had gone bad. My first thought was: wrap some duct tape around it! But I couldn't trade in the car knowing there was a significant defect (my conscience got in the way), so I paid to have it repaired. Imagine being the guy who bought that car down the road to bring it home and find it leaking oil? I told the Porsche dealer about my bad luck and they did just the right thing: they said bring the M5 in now and trade it in. That I could buy one of their CPO cars and they would buy it back from me less 30 cents a mile when my car came in, so I bought an '09 C2S Cab with PDK and drove it for the summer. That definitely remedied the situation, especially because I liked that '09 far better than my '08 (other than the colors weren't ideal and it lacked full leather), but the '09 car was a lot peppier and the PDK transmission was a great upgrade from the SMG in the M5, and more DD friendly than the 6MT.

At last, I received word in early August that my PTT was on a ship on it's way here. It arrived at the dealership on Friday (10 days ago) and they would have it ready for me to pick up on Monday. I saw the car shortly after it arrived and I was REALLY excited about how it turned out. Because nearly 6 months had passed since I ordered the car, I had plenty of time to work things out like: getting darker Lloyds floor mats, figuring out my plan on radar/laser, clear bra, and getting the TechArt paddle conversion kit. I picked up the car on Monday and after having it for only 14 hours, dropped it off at Technik1 in NYC Tuesday morning for 3 days of work installing the clearbra, V1 & Blinder, and the TechArt paddle kit. I picked it up on Friday fully geared up and now have put 250 fantastic miles on this car. Technik1 did a phenomenal job with everything. I'll write a separate thread on that shortly. I'm respecting the break-in guidelines (to the extent humanly possible) but I can already feel the power this car has...can't wait to drive it more and more!

Thanks for reading. Here are the specs and some pictures:

Dark Blue Metallic Exterior
Cognac Natural Full Leather Interior
Park Assist with Camera
Sport Package (all the performance features)
Sport Design Package (exterior Aero kit)
Sport Design 20" Wheels painted in GT Silver
Heated Steering Wheel
Adaptive Sport Seats
Porsche Crest on Center Console and Headrests
Tineo Wood Interior
Satellite Radio
Rear wiper

Some more pictures:

And the last:

Congrats and beautiful car. I have the 4S (DD) and am loving it. Our fun car is a M6 convertible. I'm thinking of ways to talk my wife into a swap for a 360, but am not holding out much hope.

Anyways, love the pics, sounds like it was worth the wait!

Sad story at the beginning, but it all turned out great for you. I'm glad you are loving it. Good things come to those who wait.

Enjoy it in good health.

it is a great car and gets better every day

While it must have felt like a PITA to go through all of that to get to it, it sounds like all worked out. I'll also commend you on doing the right thing regarding the M5 oil leak. The way I see it, Karma patted you on the back for doing the right thing. Rep Points for you.

Enjoy the PTT!

Congraz!! No problem the PTT will not lets you down.

contrats!! Sick PTT!!

That is a beautiful car. Enjoy in good health.

Congrats, pics look amazing, love the Cognac. Just out of curiosity, why not order the factory wheel with the paddle shifters? I ask because I often debate whether I'd be willing to give up the multi-functions just for the sake of getting paddles. Is that why you ordered the mutli-function wheel but are going with the Techart paddles as well?

First of all, thanks to everyone for the compliments - I'm really psyched with how the car turned out!

CT Audi: I really wanted to have the paddles instead of the buttons. My M5 had the SMG transmisison and the 360 the F1 transmission, so I was really used to the paddles. However, my salesperson strongly recommended that I stick with the MF steering wheel to facilitate access to all the car's electronics, especially the instrument dial just right of center which can scroll through a lot of different functions. And the MF steering wheel can be converted with the TechArt paddle kit, the three-pronged wheel with paddles can't be made into a MF wheel, so it seemed that was a sensible way to go.

I've only driven the car for a few days, but I would say this is one of the most important bits of ordering advice I got. The MF wheel is incredibly useful to have, and now I have the best of both worlds. Until Porsche makes a stock MF steering wheel with paddles (which I assume will happen at some point), I think this is the best way to go.

Good luck with your decision!

BW

Beautiful Car , Congrats thanks for sharing a great story.

Absolutely stunning car!!

Great color choices and spec. I really love the way the sport design bodywork looks. The front bumper is the perfect blend of aggressive and classy style, and integrates well with the rest of the car.

You must have found the best car dealer on the planet. It sounds like they treated you very well through your trade-ins and mishap with the 2011 panny. Makes you wonder what actually happened to the other car. My guess is someone drove it off the dock or smashed it with a crane.

All great things are worth the wait and you have one great bespoke automobile. Now test out launch control and break-in that engine. :)

What is this part at the top of the steering wheel?

http://i53.tinypic.com/2qk01w2.jpg