My experience buying a Porsche....Part 1

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it is 11:51pm and I am going to write about my experience when purchasing a Porsche. Every car lover get excited when they are about to purchase a brand new car. It's like their first child or their first love. I am a car enthusiastic for almost 18 years, to me owning a new car is like an achievement or dream fulfilled. During my earlier year in Australia, I was introduced to automobile world by a few of my asian friends. At that time I was really blank on cars. My first impression for Nissan Skyline R32 was "What an ugly sport car!". Now, the GTR R32 is one of my all time favorite car in my dream car lists.

Porsche, I was never fond of the brand cause like Jeremy Clarkson said "Porsche is the laziest car manufacturer ever!!!". If you look at a Porsche, you will know it is a Porsche as it never change much. There are people who hated Porsche and they are loyal customer who forever will love the Porsche brand. In my earlier life, I hated Porsche so much. I always think that Porsche is ugly and never understand why some of its models are so damn expensive (911 Turbo is as expensive as Ferrari, Aston Martin and other supercar marques).

So around July 2009, I was searching for my perfect wedding car that I will be able to use on my wedding day and of course keep forever for remembrance. So here are our conditions ranking from importance to less importance.

1. First condition, my wife has to like the car too.
2. It has to be a 2 door sport coupe or convertible (preferably convertible).
3. It has to be unique in term of rarity (Hence, why I never consider Nissan R35).
4. It has to be in yellow, white or red color.
5. It has to perform to my standard (as close to my current Nissan ER34)
6. Easy to modify

So only a few cars caught my interest at that time and here are the lists, BMW 3 Series Convertible, Audi TT, Audi A5, Chevy Camaro, Nissan 370Z and Porsche Cayman.

I lost interest in BMW 3 Series as I think the interior was so typical BMW interior and the design will not last forever. I was eagerly awaiting for Audi A5 coupe but Audi weren't sure when the car will even arrive for me to see. I was also hoping for a right hand drive version of Chevy Camaro in Australia and had it imported to Brunei until Chevy announced that for a fully converted Camaro will cost over AUD130K. Don't bother getting your calculator as when it reach Brunei it will cost around BND190K ~ 200K at the current exchange rate inclusive of tax. As for the 370Z, I was targeting the yellow version in the showroom as it is limited run for 2009 production only. It cost $78k if I can recall and the yellow cost $3k more. The Z is a nice car and really its bang for your buck, but I lose interest immediately thinking that it will be filled in Brunei road soon....

Porsche Cayman S

Audi TT

Audi A5

Chevy Camaro

Nissan 370Z

Of all the car mentioned above I only managed to test drove the Audi TT and Porsche Cayman S. First lets talk about the Audi TT, I test drove it and it was quick as it was a 2.0 turbocharged version (similar engine to VW GTi MK.4). The interior has one of the nicest leather stitching I ever seen on a standard 2 door coupe. It also has one of the coolest bucket seat design. I almost booked the red color TT with the Quattro and dual clutch gearbox. It was also the one and only Audi TT Quattro in Brunei as the rest were only front wheel. By the way, Quattro is the all wheel version.

Next, Porsche Cayman S, a few weeks before I test drove the Audi TT, I received info that QAF had just launched their new facelift Cayman and Cayman S. So I decided to check it out myself and visited Porsche showroom with one of my friend. When I arrived at the showroom, I was greeted by Cayman and Cayman S. Firstly, the chosen colors for the launch cars didn't suit both cars in my opinion. It was a Sunset orange and Metallic red. Next, the price tag, it cost a staggering $167k for the Cayman S. Which was only a few thousand "cheaper" then a R35.

to be continued....