Well, as per the title and my signature the 997 has now gone and a Panamera is now in it's place.
As some of you know, I had my 996 for around 7 years and we went all over Europe as a family from when the boys were 9 months old. We sold the car to fund the renovation of our 200 year old cottage in 2010.
Fast forward two years and I was keen to return to the good old days and went out and bought the 997 last July without properly thinking things through which is very unusual for me. I obviously had the experience and knew what I wanted but forgot I had bigger kids now
Now this car was awesome in every way, we all loved it. It was more refined, had ever so slightly more space in it but was substantially quicker and better on fuel than the 996 and into the bargain looked fantastic. This car is a capable machine, way more power than is ever needed on the road.A month later we traveled to the Alps in it for a summer holiday as we had done so many times over the years in the 996. It became apparent during this holiday and on several subsequent outings that the car was not really for growing lads in the back (now aged 12 and 9). The seats were uncomfortable with next to no padding and the 12 year old required more leg room resulting in the front passenger seat having to be so far forward the person in the front's knees were touching the dash.
Now, I'd had a Panamera from OPC Reading on loan whilst the 997 was in for warranty work a while back and was thoroughly impressed with it. This was to be the obvious solution to the problem.
The 997 was now due a major service at £1100, road tax at £460 and a set of tyres at approaching £1000 in the next 2-3 months, not inconsiderable (but obviously expected) bills given nothing was even wrong with it!
I have a contact in Inchcape who own Porsche Centre Portsmouth and Bournemouth and he contacted the sales managers of both who offered me lightly used or demonstrator vehicles but all were way above my budget.
Last week, Phil the sales manager from Portsmouth rang me about a new, unregistered car that was in the showroom which they wanted to shift by the end of the month. Spec was pretty high and perfect for me. After a bit of an extended period of negotiation a large (read massive!) discount was offered on the Panamera and a price not far off private sale value offered on the 997 which brought the car into the price category of an 18 month old car with a few miles on it and although above my initial budget represented good value for money and a deal I couldn't walk away from. The man maths calculator came into it's own that day!
The result of which is that this is now mine:
Panamera Platinum 3.0V6 Diesel in white with 20" Turbo Wheels, 8 speed paddle shift tiptronic, rear privacy glass, full black leather interior, 100l fuel tank (gives range over 900 miles touring in Europe!), PCM 3.0 with bluetooth, nav with the full 7 digit postcode finally, electric tailgate and quite a bit more that I can't remember!
Returned 40 mpg on the journey home which is a bonus!
All in all a fantastic touring machine and one which we can get our Spaniel into aswell! Kerry, my wife loves it and the boys are over the moon with the rear accommodation and love the car too. I've been called a footballer though
Plans are afoot for the next touring holiday, a return to Corsica seems favoured at the moment, another later on to Turkey where some friends have an apartment, the start of something good!
Anyway, I know this thing has been divisive in the motoring world let alone the Porsche world so keen to hear feedback both ways.
Cheers
Paul
