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15 Aug 2010, 20:01 (Ref:2744901)
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#1 | |
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Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 853
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Porsche Cayman S
Evening folks,
What car would you buy if you wrote off an almost new BMW M3  My friend Lucy did just that in June  and being a lover of German cars and did not want another Merc, decided to get one of these.See: http://www.porsche.com/uk/models/cayman/cayman-s/ and: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carrevi..._cayman_s.html She found this awesome beast ( see fotos below ) which is an ex-dealer demonstration car. It was first registered in Jan 2009. We had been in the City together running a conference over last weekend and on Sunday she dropped me off to Waterloo Station as I had decided to leave BaBaKa ( the nickname of my Mazda MX-6 ) at home rather than leave it in the street outside the hotel we were staying at. Last October, a Land Rover hit my car up the back and fortunately the damage was non-structural but still set the other driver's insurance company back around £2500.00 !! Now that the car has been virtually resprayed, I am paranoid leaving it anywhere...  I just loved Lucy's machine and it even has a fan that blows cold air into the seat back and cushion to keep you cool from the mid engine located behind. The build quality is simply fantastic and I could see that the car is virtually hand built by the quality of the interior with it's hand stitched leather facia etc. I said to Lucy that her car is as rare as an MX-6 ( which she loves and nearly bought once back in the 90's ) judging by all the admiring looks the Cayman was getting. The car is finished in Ruby Red Metallic which I love ...  She is good for 172 mph with acceleration to match from her 3 1/2 litre, 320 bhp engine ...  ( The car that is ...  )Lucy says that the Porsche is far more predictable at the limit whereas the M3 is rather a beast ...  Enjoy the fotos that I took last weekend.   
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16 Aug 2010, 00:15 (Ref:2744996)
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#2 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 4,491
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Congrats! Nice car man, love the color. Beautiful location too... at least for an American.
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16 Aug 2010, 08:26 (Ref:2745073)
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#3 | ||
 Weasel WranglerVeteran
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,885
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The Cayman is a great car. Quite different to an M3. I'd tell her to be careful at the limit though - being mid engined, if she does accidentally find herself beyond the car's (huge) traction limits, that back end will come round frighteningly fast.
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__________________
"Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose."
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16 Aug 2010, 10:34 (Ref:2745127)
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#4 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 853
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Hi Garcon,
Lucy went on a course with Porsche at Silverstone to get used to her car....  http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsport.../greatbritain/ Know the feeling about mid/rear engined cars on the limit. Back in 1981, I had a LHD Renault Alpine A310 V6 ( which I imported new from France as they never sold them here in the UK ) and one day I was motoring swiftly along the A3 off the elevated roadway at Guildford heading east towards London. A bloke in a silver BMW 635CSi came up behind me and we both put our foot down. When this part of the A3 comes off the elevated section, it becomes 70mph again and after a long straight, there is a fast and long left hand curve. At the speeds we were approaching the Alpine's rear end started to get very twitchy in the curve and I remembered the advice that I was given when I collected the car from Renault Exportation in Paris " Be careful on the limit " !!!!  So I backed off very gently and the guy in the BMW went by laughing his head off .... I pulled over on to the hard shoulder and nearly wetted myself. Brown pants job almost .... Take care Paula Quote:
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17 Aug 2010, 11:34 (Ref:2745851)
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#5 | ||
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Weasel Wrangler Veteran
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,885
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 I used to love those Alpines! Seem to remember quite a few perished just the wrong side of the limit! Glad you survived the scare! Good to hear Lucy went on the Porsche course - they're pretty good at that kind of thing, I understand. |
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__________________
"Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose."
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18 Aug 2010, 10:32 (Ref:2746487)
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#6 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 853
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Hiya,
The A310 was a special car and quite unique in it's day. Here's Youtube footage of one in the same colour as mine. The wheels are non-standard as far as I can tell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWEtr...eature=related In July 1982, I went to the South of France in her ( all my cars are girls ) and on the Autoroute du Soleil, I picked up en route a blue French registered one and a white German registered one. So we motored at high speed in convoy passing everybody. It was so much fun....  Red, White & Blue !!! One of the weaknesses of the A310 with it's rear engine V6 was it's waywardness in cross winds. In November of that year, I had to go to Birmingham up the M1. It was wet as well as windy. The journey was a nightmare because at any speed over 60mph, the car would change lanes when a gust of wind hit the car. Really scary stuff.... I only had her a year and sold it to Chequered Flag in Chiswick for around £8500.00 who sold it for about £10K which was almost the cost of her new with the UK taxes that I had to pay. The guy who bought it re-registered her as ALP 310 from the 'X' reg that I had on her. There's another tale. I collected the car in August 1981 from Paris and drove to Dover. Going on to the ferry I saw a new large Mercedes-Benz and the late James Hunt got out. In the bar upstairs, I overheard him telling some people that being an ex-F1 World Champion he would get a new Merc at a highly discounted price. We followed each other off the ferry at Dover and went through HM Customs 'Something to Declare'. The guy asked me if I had anything to declare and I said " The Car " ....  I had all my various duty cheques already sorted out with Customs, so I just had to give them these together with a copy of the appropriate Customs letter. Then a month later I had to re-register the car with a British registration instead of the WW French plates. Oh yes just outside Paris, I was stopped at one of the tolls by the Police and had to show them my car's export documents and prove to them that I was leaving the country that day. 1981/1982 was one of the worst winters since the war and she was impossible to drive on snow with those big fat rear tyres. Once it took me four hours to get from Maidenhead, Berkshire to East Horsley in Surrey so bad were the roads. I did a couple of 360's in her too..... All good fun and wonderful memories. Take care and happy motoring. Paula Quote:
Last edited by Paulaweybridge; 18 Aug 2010 at 10:38. |
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18 Aug 2010, 12:25 (Ref:2746534)
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#7 | ||
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Weasel Wrangler Veteran
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,885
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Great memories indeed. Thanks for sharing.
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__________________
"Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose."
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18 Aug 2010, 16:20 (Ref:2746635)
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#8 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 853
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You are welcome.
It's nice being able to share memories with all the car enthusiasts on here... Quote:
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