First Day, First Drive Experience (long)
10-24-2010, 02:29 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
First Day, First Drive Experience (long)
Hi all -
Picked up my Atlas Grey Metallic 2010 Carrera S yesterday at Holbert Porsche in Easton, PA. I stuck with the 24 month lease with a 67% residual - it was the best value for me, with the 5k cap reduction from PCNA. Going in, It's my intention to buy the car off of the lease. (see earlier post here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...dard-rate.html)
The dealership sent along a driver to pick my wife and me up from the 30th Street train station - we took the 8:20 Amtrak from Union Station in DC. Gorgeous morning, but early for a Saturday. It was a pleasant ride out, but excitement and anticipation filled.
My 1st impression on seeing the car was that the color was really darker than I wanted, but then the subtlety caught me, as i walked around it, and I got to watch that through the day, through the different light. Nice - the Atlas Grey is a subtle color - I am glad that I stuck with my intention there.
Scott Anderson was the salesperson I worked with, and he proceeded to do a very professional delivery. First thing he did was come out with the keys and a dealer plate - they have a test drive loop he sent us out on, apologizing for not joining us. I had told him that I wanted to do a drive before anything else. The car was flawless to my senses, we started out with 32 miles on the odometer, and if anything it was a little tight feeling. It opened up through the day, and at about 100 miles it felt like it woke up and shrugged off a tight jacket, loosening it's shoulders - more on that later. I tested out a bunch of the features of the HVAC system (including the much-desired seat ventilation), windows, sunroof, and drove fairly sedately. No radio or PCM on.
Lots to go through in the car (bless his heart, Scott did it all from the backseat, with my wife and I up front), and he was thorough and patient and knowledgeable. Only place we got vague was in trying to find podcasts on the iPhone - it ended up that they were there as a genre, but I didn't get to find them through the podcast source yet (i.e. - This American Life, New Yorker Out Loud, Slate...) - the individual episodes were all jumbled together, alphabetically.
Anyone else listen to Podcasts through their PCM3?
We went in to do the paperwork, also nicely handled, by Eric Halperin. Nice stories about the history of the dealership, and the old photos all around the dealership were fun to be around. I used to watch Al Holbert race when I was a kid, and it was a treat to be up there buying a car from the family dealership.
Thanks to the posters who responded to my query about what not to forget, I remembered to give the car a thorough going over. I picked up my BMW 330xi in 2002 in the dark, and missed a small dent low on the drivers side passenger door... Lived with that through the life of that car, which I'm handing off to the buyer this AM. Scott grabbed a quart of oil from the parts dept. to send me along with, just-in-case. (see thread here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...nt-forget.html)
We grabbed lunch across the street, then got ready to take off. There was some confusion about activating the trial subscription to satellite radio, but we ironed that out when we realized that SiriusXM isn't Sirius (we have an account we just started when we got my wife's 2011 Ford Fiesta). Disappointed that the channels were unfamiliar to what I've grown accustomed to. Will do some research on that today -- is there a way to use our Sirius account with the radio in my Carrera? Nonetheless, we rode home listening to some good music and some good exhaust notes.
My experience of the Bose wasn't awesome -- it's at it's best at higher volumes, I thought. Speakers need break-in, so we'll report back as we have more to say.
It was nearing 4PM by the time we drove away from the dealership. We headed down 611 in some icky sub-urban sprawl traffic, and I was glad to get on the PA Turnpike west. As I noted above, the car felt pretty "tight" -- I wasn't surprised, but it felt really good about an hour or so later when it felt like it wanted to rev a little higher. The turnpike was boring me, so we got off and headed out on 100S, eventually heading to 1S for our path back home. US One had some nice open runs, and it was great to feel the car ride a little. The concrete can be a little noisy, with some slap over the expansion joints, but I noticed that I could feel the texture of the road below me with amazing clarity -- I could feel the difference between the concrete and asphalt, but also between different concrete textures. Like walking barefoot.
As darkness fell, I was in for some treats -- just as I was looking for the instrument illumination dial, the instruments lit up for me -- literally, exactly as I was wondering how to get some light on them, voila. Whoa. Lights were on at that point -- I wasn't sure if there is an automatic position for the lights (is there? I've been a little spoiled by that in my 330xi), so I did that manually.
The next big treat for my 50 year old eyes was the self-dimming rear and side-view mirrors. I've also been used to self-dimming of the rear view (even the Fiesta has that), but I've been grumbling for a few years about the SUV and poorly-focused headlights in my side-views. I usually point them down or out a bit. The self-dimmers on the Carrera were perfect. It's an option that had me turn away from a number of attractive possible cars (most notably the still-new 2009 Atlas Grey S at Len Stoler Porsche in Maryland -- someone go buy that car!). Overall, the visibility is great in this car.
Driving was awesome, though I was frankly a little worn out from the long day, and the anticipation. And of course just getting to know the car a little. Not a transcendental drive, but this is certainly the best driving car I've ever driven. Neither my wife nor I found the right seat position -- I tried a few different positions, but my 50 year old butt and low back couldn't find the right combination of fore-aft, lumbar, and seat-back rake to keep me fully comfortable without getting my low-back cranky. The best I found was toward the last of the drive, where I came forward more and higher with the seat base, back more with the rake, and up a little with the steering wheel. That had the seat back supporting more of the whole of my spine, not putting my upper body weight all on my lumbar.
We found a great family-owned Chinese restaurant in a shopping center off US 1 right north of the Baltimore Beltway for a bite to eat -- gave us the energy to enjoy the rest of the trip, even through the 'hood in Baltimore as we made our way through the city to 95 to the Beltway, where I let a few BMW and Mercedes trucks whip by me in the left lane as I brought the Carrera around the curves to the Connecticut Ave exit past the Mormon temple at about 90 -- my fastest run of the day.
Finally home to take the '98 Z3 out of the garage and (holding my breath to see if it'd fit, praying it wasn't too wide) drive the Carrera in. It fit, but I'll pad the walls today to make sure an incautious move doesn't scratch the door seam.
The car is a little dirty, with bug guts and dust and brake dust. I may just wash it off this afternoon, after doing some more garage prep (making sure there isn't a ladder to fall onto the car, or anything especially dumb like that.
Will check tire pressures and oil level (what, no dipstick, only a digital reading?!?), then pick my wife up and go for a ride when she gets off work at 4 (she swapped with her partner to get yesterday off for our adventure!).
Thanks again for your encouragement and support!
Cheers,
Marc
Picked up my Atlas Grey Metallic 2010 Carrera S yesterday at Holbert Porsche in Easton, PA. I stuck with the 24 month lease with a 67% residual - it was the best value for me, with the 5k cap reduction from PCNA. Going in, It's my intention to buy the car off of the lease. (see earlier post here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...dard-rate.html)
The dealership sent along a driver to pick my wife and me up from the 30th Street train station - we took the 8:20 Amtrak from Union Station in DC. Gorgeous morning, but early for a Saturday. It was a pleasant ride out, but excitement and anticipation filled.
My 1st impression on seeing the car was that the color was really darker than I wanted, but then the subtlety caught me, as i walked around it, and I got to watch that through the day, through the different light. Nice - the Atlas Grey is a subtle color - I am glad that I stuck with my intention there.
Scott Anderson was the salesperson I worked with, and he proceeded to do a very professional delivery. First thing he did was come out with the keys and a dealer plate - they have a test drive loop he sent us out on, apologizing for not joining us. I had told him that I wanted to do a drive before anything else. The car was flawless to my senses, we started out with 32 miles on the odometer, and if anything it was a little tight feeling. It opened up through the day, and at about 100 miles it felt like it woke up and shrugged off a tight jacket, loosening it's shoulders - more on that later. I tested out a bunch of the features of the HVAC system (including the much-desired seat ventilation), windows, sunroof, and drove fairly sedately. No radio or PCM on.
Lots to go through in the car (bless his heart, Scott did it all from the backseat, with my wife and I up front), and he was thorough and patient and knowledgeable. Only place we got vague was in trying to find podcasts on the iPhone - it ended up that they were there as a genre, but I didn't get to find them through the podcast source yet (i.e. - This American Life, New Yorker Out Loud, Slate...) - the individual episodes were all jumbled together, alphabetically.
Anyone else listen to Podcasts through their PCM3?
We went in to do the paperwork, also nicely handled, by Eric Halperin. Nice stories about the history of the dealership, and the old photos all around the dealership were fun to be around. I used to watch Al Holbert race when I was a kid, and it was a treat to be up there buying a car from the family dealership.
Thanks to the posters who responded to my query about what not to forget, I remembered to give the car a thorough going over. I picked up my BMW 330xi in 2002 in the dark, and missed a small dent low on the drivers side passenger door... Lived with that through the life of that car, which I'm handing off to the buyer this AM. Scott grabbed a quart of oil from the parts dept. to send me along with, just-in-case. (see thread here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...nt-forget.html)
We grabbed lunch across the street, then got ready to take off. There was some confusion about activating the trial subscription to satellite radio, but we ironed that out when we realized that SiriusXM isn't Sirius (we have an account we just started when we got my wife's 2011 Ford Fiesta). Disappointed that the channels were unfamiliar to what I've grown accustomed to. Will do some research on that today -- is there a way to use our Sirius account with the radio in my Carrera? Nonetheless, we rode home listening to some good music and some good exhaust notes.
My experience of the Bose wasn't awesome -- it's at it's best at higher volumes, I thought. Speakers need break-in, so we'll report back as we have more to say.
It was nearing 4PM by the time we drove away from the dealership. We headed down 611 in some icky sub-urban sprawl traffic, and I was glad to get on the PA Turnpike west. As I noted above, the car felt pretty "tight" -- I wasn't surprised, but it felt really good about an hour or so later when it felt like it wanted to rev a little higher. The turnpike was boring me, so we got off and headed out on 100S, eventually heading to 1S for our path back home. US One had some nice open runs, and it was great to feel the car ride a little. The concrete can be a little noisy, with some slap over the expansion joints, but I noticed that I could feel the texture of the road below me with amazing clarity -- I could feel the difference between the concrete and asphalt, but also between different concrete textures. Like walking barefoot.
As darkness fell, I was in for some treats -- just as I was looking for the instrument illumination dial, the instruments lit up for me -- literally, exactly as I was wondering how to get some light on them, voila. Whoa. Lights were on at that point -- I wasn't sure if there is an automatic position for the lights (is there? I've been a little spoiled by that in my 330xi), so I did that manually.
The next big treat for my 50 year old eyes was the self-dimming rear and side-view mirrors. I've also been used to self-dimming of the rear view (even the Fiesta has that), but I've been grumbling for a few years about the SUV and poorly-focused headlights in my side-views. I usually point them down or out a bit. The self-dimmers on the Carrera were perfect. It's an option that had me turn away from a number of attractive possible cars (most notably the still-new 2009 Atlas Grey S at Len Stoler Porsche in Maryland -- someone go buy that car!). Overall, the visibility is great in this car.
Driving was awesome, though I was frankly a little worn out from the long day, and the anticipation. And of course just getting to know the car a little. Not a transcendental drive, but this is certainly the best driving car I've ever driven. Neither my wife nor I found the right seat position -- I tried a few different positions, but my 50 year old butt and low back couldn't find the right combination of fore-aft, lumbar, and seat-back rake to keep me fully comfortable without getting my low-back cranky. The best I found was toward the last of the drive, where I came forward more and higher with the seat base, back more with the rake, and up a little with the steering wheel. That had the seat back supporting more of the whole of my spine, not putting my upper body weight all on my lumbar.
We found a great family-owned Chinese restaurant in a shopping center off US 1 right north of the Baltimore Beltway for a bite to eat -- gave us the energy to enjoy the rest of the trip, even through the 'hood in Baltimore as we made our way through the city to 95 to the Beltway, where I let a few BMW and Mercedes trucks whip by me in the left lane as I brought the Carrera around the curves to the Connecticut Ave exit past the Mormon temple at about 90 -- my fastest run of the day.
Finally home to take the '98 Z3 out of the garage and (holding my breath to see if it'd fit, praying it wasn't too wide) drive the Carrera in. It fit, but I'll pad the walls today to make sure an incautious move doesn't scratch the door seam.
The car is a little dirty, with bug guts and dust and brake dust. I may just wash it off this afternoon, after doing some more garage prep (making sure there isn't a ladder to fall onto the car, or anything especially dumb like that.
Will check tire pressures and oil level (what, no dipstick, only a digital reading?!?), then pick my wife up and go for a ride when she gets off work at 4 (she swapped with her partner to get yesterday off for our adventure!).
Thanks again for your encouragement and support!
Cheers,
Marc
10-24-2010, 02:33 PM
#2
Nordschleife Master
Very nice. Congratulations!
10-24-2010, 03:03 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Congrats. You both look very happy!
10-24-2010, 03:10 PM
#6
Nordschleife Master
Re oil. Check it only after a long drive with the engine fully warm, meaning oil temp at around 200F. Check it on a flat surface after idling a minute or so. Make several measurements. Only add oil when the level gets down to the lowest bar.
I suspect many owners measure oil with a cold engine and get false readings. It is not enough to get the 175F coolant reading. It is necessary to reach operating oil temp.
I suspect many owners measure oil with a cold engine and get false readings. It is not enough to get the 175F coolant reading. It is necessary to reach operating oil temp.
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10-24-2010, 03:46 PM
#8
Great looking car. Sounds like you had a nice day. Congrats and enjoy!
10-24-2010, 06:31 PM
#9
Three Wheelin'
Good looking car - I feel for you cleaning those wheels, but they look great on the car - hard to beat the look of Porsche OEM wheels.
10-24-2010, 06:46 PM
#10
Intermediate
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Congrats, you took my car 
I live next to Holberts and was working with Scott on a used C2S. I decided later that this 24 months deal was really good and I should take 2010 they had, when I called him for this car, he told me you put a deposit on it already and then I saw your post here last week. I ordered Dark Blue Metallic with very similar options as your and getting it delivered this week on Friday. I cant wait already.
I live next to Holberts and was working with Scott on a used C2S. I decided later that this 24 months deal was really good and I should take 2010 they had, when I called him for this car, he told me you put a deposit on it already and then I saw your post here last week. I ordered Dark Blue Metallic with very similar options as your and getting it delivered this week on Friday. I cant wait already.
10-24-2010, 08:04 PM
#13
Race Director
Congrat's on the car...you will love it. However your coment about the Bose...nope these speakers will not break in and the problem is deeper than just the speakers.... and Bose will continue to suck mile after mile.
10-24-2010, 08:10 PM
#14
Nordschleife Master
10-24-2010, 08:42 PM
#15
Nice story- great car. I'm sure you'll have many more happy days together.