Paul C

France: I was driving into Europe to speed legally, meet friendly people and drink great beer. Esprit: Re-read, I said I had fun in all my cars, my Lotus ownership and experience was ace, please don't wish it otherwise. 996: Yes, you can buy one for £10k, and if you are not one of the unlucky 1 in 10 (Porsche's own failure figures) then you have a bargain. But the failure threads are now almost daily, Hartech rebuilds with the upgrades that stop it happening again are near £10k, if you keep that as a contingency fund then it's fun motoring and you are covered. IF I had to have a 996 then I'd take that £20k, add a bit more and get a 996TT, it uses a different lump and is immune from the problem. Proper supercar too. Kimbers: Each year we booked Hotels, Bavaria year we stayed in 11 places, Berlin year we stayed in three. Booked in advance and secured parking in all, would not have wanted to be street parked in Berlin or Prague anyway. Also street parking is actually very expensive and often the Hotel with parking is cheaper price wise. I used booking.com to find and book all, just saved time and made one bill to pay (or claim if something went wrong!). Will do again, in a less exciting motor probably! But it's way better than flying.

Yes, in Scotland it's a pretty bad word, I did not know until a Friend from Northern Ireland told me. To me it's what our family called the Germans and something from my 'Warlord' and 'Commando' comic, but as a slur it starts with sectarian links, today is strong in Scottish football terrace racism and in Ireland and everywhere else for that matter it's an anti protestant slur. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hun There are people not even born yet that will be arguing over the word long after I'm gone, the world is littered with modern people looking for something historic to fight about.

True to some extent mate, but the last air cooled models (964 and 993) are rising like crazy. Turbo variants are mad too, when I bought mine a Turbo was £50k, have a look today, they are £80k-£100k or more... I think much of this is the watercooled cars engine failures, google 996 and the first page is full of IMS bearing failures, bore scoring and engine rebuilds. Whereas the model before it (993) has a bulletproof engine and excellent reputation. A 1998 Porsche 993/911 Carrera will set you back £35k-40k, the next years model 1998 Porsche 996/911 will be £10k for a very good example. You can buy THREE late '98 Porsche 911's for the price of one early '98 car, such is it's premium over the later model. Some Esprit models deffo seem to be up? S4 look to be the same but G-turbo cars were around £10k now they all seem to be £15k upwards now? Not across the board though, a 111s S1 Elise today is surprisingly (to me) the same price I sold mine four years ago, I know as I was looking recently, until I banged myself on the head...

It was a great three years mate, I so wanted to keep the thing, it sat there for months without use, unplug the charger, no prep, no fluids to check (no fluids at all apart from oil and there's a guage on the dash for that), start it and drive 11 hrs straight to Berlin. Incredible motor. My initial plan was to keep it, use it for days out, stick a kiddie seat in the back, it was the only car I have owned since 1997 that was suitable for family use and even at 130k miles it felt like new, plenty of these are at 200k miles now and engine builds are virtually unknown... But we have a family daily car. And while my Porsche actually paid me to own it (would any ISA make £800 on £16,500 in the same period?), it still DID have the possibility to throw up a bill at some point, and it's not Lotus money guys, 'Porsche tax' consumables like Exhaust/clutch/suspension are £3k a pop. I now have nothing that can throw that kind on unexpected cost at me, I'm not going to be doing overtime to pay for a car again. Never looked like it was going to mind, I mean I did the Berlin-Prague run after deciding to sell it, in fact the fact I did that trip sold the car to the next owner. I never put up an ad, these all sell word of mouth on the forums, Mine was sold in days, the ones on PH that have not sold need a good looking at as to why IMO, as I got five people within hours of just mentioning on a thread it was going to be sold. In the past five years I have done Elise £9500 to £13,000 and the 993 £16,500 to £23,000. While most of the £10,000 increase was taken up in running costs I think both were free to own and both were my favourite and most fun cars regardless of that. The Esprits in contrast lost me £2000 a year. So despite all the fun I have had in all my cars, it has been a lesson that you CAN put a price on enjoyment and I would have to think long and hard over what I bought in the future...

Cheers guys Who dicked around with my thread title?

Well, was struggling for a title then... But hey! general chat topics today are death, fishing, depression, council tax, religion and scottish independance... Just a quick hello to say what I've been at, spoke to Bibs yesterday and said I would. We have been enjoying Porsche 993 ownership more than I have enjoyed any car. I bought it for £16,500 three years ago and have not looked back. They are amazing cars. We have been taking it into Europe and generally having a great time. Here's some highlights, if I may indulge, which I intend to... Last year we did a 2100 mile week, we got out of France as soon as humanly possible (obviously), and went to Gent in Belgium, lovely town and I'll stop there often en route into Europe. We then Drove to Wurzburg, this town is at the top of Bavaria and not that great at all, despite being hyped as 'the start of the romantic road'. However after 600km we are happy to eat and have a beer so it works for us. Then onto Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a lovely medievel walled town, very pretty, nice bars, good sausage. Then Augsberg, some interesting history (we blitzed the hell out of it as they built Messershmits there). Then Meersburg on lake Constance. Went to chitty chitty bang bang castle. Then Fussen, I ate the best steak of my life so far here. Went up Germanys tallest Mountain. Munich, city of building sites and beggars, but ace beer halls. Change of tone, Went to Daccau Concentration camp, we have also done Auschwitz-Birkenau on a trip into Poland, Daccau is not as bad by measure, if it's even possible to say something like that... 'Work will set you free', yeah, right... Saw 959 on Autobahn. Bad Kissingen, pretty, small. Octopus for tea. Bruges. We now ALWAYS have a stop there on way back when using the tunnel. Chocolate willys and fannies and tits. This year we got the 993 serviced in March and had not used it since, only 130,000 miles on the clock so not even run in, so... The morning of the world cup final I embarked on the longest drive of my life, got the hell outta France asap and I took the 993 to Berlin, 800 miles and only about 4 miles of roadworks, oh how I missed cruising at three figures without looking at camera detectors, bridges and coppers, it was a hard drive staying alert for so long but one of the best of my life and a real adventure. The day I drove my Porsche to Berlin and got there in time to get to a pub and watch Germany win the world cup. Took very few photo's this time... Went to that big tower... Ace view, presumably the French Embassy... That domey building... Found a beergarden, rare outside of Bavaria... I had a bad night after much beer and sausage so Vicki drove to Prague... :oops: A pregnant lady driving out of Berlin city center, firing a 993 down the autobahns and into a very busy central Prague, listen up you 'men' who say the they are to hard to be daily drivers! We had beeps and waves as we drove in, really nice. Our hotel had secure parking and Prague was lovely but in honesty too hot and too busy. We always holiday March or Oct/Nov time, it's the first holiday I have had in July since I was little. I'll come back to Prague but for a winter break, it is lovely. We were unaware you need to buy a toll permit for your window, make sure you don't miss the booths on the motorway on the way in! Saw a bridge... The Brazil goalkeeper... And the inventor of the helicopter, and his son... Off to Bruges then, a 9700km run and some more good stints on the autobahn. Checked and 1300 miles in and the car needed a top up of about 1/4l of oil, way less than factory spec when new! (last of the air cooled/beetle proper Porsches this one) not bad when you think we were seeing near 30 degrees everywhere and were nearly always over 100mph, mostly around 120mph, sometimes 150mph... The working Aircon MADE this holiday! Saw a really nasty crash just in front of us on the Autobahn, must have been bad as I had to steer round a suspension spring, hope everyone was alright, they looked to be all out and walking around with people helping them... We had been to Bruges before so took no photo's, but I snapped this before we got in the car to leave that morning... And that was this years blast! :thumbs: Happy happy times... "Those runs down to Goodwood where we picked up points..." "That time we saw the F40..." "Hang on... "Dude... Where's my car?????" Sold two weeks ago. I have had a great time in the 993 and there are no tears, it has been one of the best things I have ever done. I had it 3 years and did just under 10,000 miles, nearly half of which were in Europe. And here's the REAL payback... In the time I owned it, they have rocketed up in value. ALL of my servicing, MOT's, Parts, Insurance and even tax were covered by the rise in the cars value. Bought for £16,500, sold for £23,000 with 132,000 miles on the clock, It cost me nothing to own, in fact it made me some profit so it would have been more expensive to bank the money and not buy it. Could I have had a more positive experience? No. So now it's cash in the bank, Ok not great as in two years time the car will have gone up £5k and the cash won't. But in the UK I can go months without using the car, nice days now see me on the bike and am up to 100 mile circuits now over the rolling Cotswolds, I don't 'need' a car, we both have work cars and a family car. Now for the first time in 17 years I don't have to tax/MOT/Service/Insure/repair a performance car at all. I have a baby on the way and I have removed what has been the greatest expense from my life, saved myself £2000+ a year and put a big sum in the bank. My folks, the shops, the cinema, my friends, the pubs, the schools, the doctors, the dentist, the parks, the countryside are all walking distance - I can have the simple life for a bit, it's all good guys. It's all been very very good. And very very different. You probably won't see me in a Lotus again, I loved the Elise most, but if I buy again, and they are not too much money then, it will be a 993 again, they simply do everything. Right, wander to parents to show 20 weeks scan photo, then pub lunch and see how my two horses go...

Looks great mate. Vic told me she'd seen on the facebook. They are great when they are new, they can piss on at least two really important things before you get angry with them.

Fair enough mate. As the Cayman and Evora are daily choices and it's all about choice, from cars to the jars in the sweetshop! But... Your drive of the Cayman means nothing compared to the 'older' less tech heavy, raw and twitchy 'driver' 911 cars that gave the 911 its name. That would be to say that driving an Evora gives you a good enough impression of what an S1 Elise would be like. The Evora and Cayman to me are capable and controlled daily drivers from companies that have a history of making wildly impractical Sportscars. Given the choice of the two, I'd buy a Golf for the jams and S1 Elise for the fun, and have enough money left to pay for 20 years worth of holidays, and a Submariner, and a spare Elise.

Absolutely right. Go to pistonheads and look at a late '97 Porsche 911 (993) for price (£35k), then look at an early '98 Porsche 911 (996) for price (£10k). You could buy three, maybe four early 1998 cars for the price of one late 1997 car. There are very few used production cars where a jump to the new model means you pay 75% less. The early mass produced water cooled cars are now hitting a value lower than their engine, While the low volume air cooled cars rise and rise... I have no real love for any modern Porsche, Lotus or pretty much anything come to that. In fact all the cars I'd like to own have already been built!!! I can vouch for the build of the pre late 90's cars, and having a 19 year old car where everything has a part number and is available still feels weird.

Indeed! Don't miss the Wellington Hanger! My dad was ten during the second world war and lived near rugby, they used to play on planes crashed in local fields, I took this video of the Brooklands Wellington to show him. Him and his brothers nicked loads of machine gun shells from a badly guarded wellington crash...

Tip: Update any road angel/sat nav/warning system you have. Those roads: Stow, broadway. Moreton, shipston and fosse way are my playground. In the past few months they have been installing DS2 speed traps under the road. If these are new to you, then the DS2 is a trap under the road that the van parks up and logs onto: there is nothing for you to see, by the time you have seen the van you will have already been over the trap. Three months ago the updates on my POGO started to add these, and if it's quiet and I drive slow enough I can see the fresh loop of tarmac where they have been laid, and the small transmitter box in the grass. You would never see them, and as they are still going in there will be many yet to be on the updates. There IS a speed camera sign before each set so you will have past a sign. But they are tricky, for example, at Shipston on Stour there is a camera sign and the truvelo that has always been there (that the sign has always been for), then 100 yards after you have passed the camera and see open road and freedom! - there is a new DS2 buried in the road, the van parks out of sight round the corner. Keep 'em peeled.

Been watching this thread... Take care with that. If you go up the gears my 6 speeder can see 120mph at under 3,000 revs, the engine is not even slightly working. 14 years of Lotus and I get my first points in the 911, and Vicki is watching the letterbox as we speak after her last drive. It's almost fluid the german thing, from zero to whatever speed you want, cutting through tarmac and MPH like butter, it's a world away from that (extremely fun!) noisy, gripping the wheel bump-fest of wind noise, wiper lifting, front end lightness and occasional check lights you get used to and enjoy in the Lotus...

A late Happy Christmas and an Early happy new year to all of you. Hope you have some drives over the holiday, weather allowing, and I look forward to Donny and a night out with you lot next year.

That's a bit expensive for a drink? £7.50 a pint and you only get to sit down when you are on your eighth? What time we meeting?

As one of the '3' that did, I'm happy for you to take my dosh, and the other 2 if they agree, and buy the man a bottle of something please. I don't want it back.