Well, I don’t even know where to begin. This is my first post, so let me start by saying thanks for such a great site and for all the great posts from the members. Your enthusiasm for the Cayman is truly contagious.
I also wanted to send out a special thanks to Gator Bite, as he has really helped me with the Tourist Delivery process and has gone out of his way to help make this dream of mine a reality – Thanks Gator Bite!
I'm also going to try attaching three .pdf
files with some pictures. Hopefully it works. If it does, check them out. If it doesn't I'll try to upload the pictures another way. I had to break the file into three parts to get the file sizes down to the allowed size.
My long road to Tourist Delivery (sometimes also referred to as European Delivery) started almost a year ago back in August 2007 when I finally decided I would take delivery of my first Porsche in May 2008 fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine. I then started researching options and took my first test drive in September 2007 which made me more excited than ever. I had read many amazing review of the Cayman, but nothing beats getting behind the wheel and experiencing it yourself.
After three months of thought and research I finally decided on my configuration and placed my order with the dealer on December 19, 2007. Here is my configuration:
Cayman S
Exterior Color Black (A1)
Interior Color Black Standard Leather (AN)
Standard Seats (369)
Floor Mats in Interior Color (810)
18" Cayman S wheel (401)
Wheel Caps with Colored Crest (446)
Three-spoke Sport Steering Wheel in Smooth Leather (460)
Sport Chrono Package Plus (640)
PCM 2.1 including Extended Navigation (P23)
Bose Surround Sound System (680)
Key Pouch in Interior Color Leather (CPU)
Tourist Delivery
For me, Tourist Delivery was the only way to go. I knew picking up my first Porsche in Germany would be a truly unbelievable experience. It was something I had been dreaming about ever since I was a kid. I must say it was really great, something I will never forget.
The Day Before Delivery Day - Stuttgart
As you might be able to imagine, being in Stuttgart was really exciting. It was all starting to feel real. The day before my delivery day I woke up at 6am excited as ever. I couldn’t sleep. I decided to head over to the Porsche Factory (Porscheplatz) to look around and get a sneak peak of the day to follow. It was only about 15 mins away by the S-Bahn train S6 from central Stuttgart. There is even a special stop on the S6 train for Porsche, Neuwirtshaus (Porscheplatz).
Delivery Day
The day I had been dreaming of my whole life had finally arrived. It had been 159 days since I placed my order, and believe me everyday was excruciating.
We arrived at the tourist delivery center and were immediately treated like Royalty. They took our bags and stored them for us, took us into a special room and provided us with food and drinks. Everybody at Porsche was really great. They really went out of their way to make us feel special. The Delivery Expert greeted us and we completed some paperwork regarding registration and insurance before taking us into the delivery showroom. There I saw my Caymans S for the first time and was speechless. Nothing could have prepared me for how amazing my first Porsche looked. It was a moment I will never forget.
Our Delivery Expert then went over all the features of the Cayman S with us. He really knew his stuff and even programmed our hotels into the PCM nav system for us.
The Factory Tour
There is now way to express in words how incredible the factory tour was. That was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Cameras weren’t allowed in the factory, so I don’t have any pictures to show. If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend it.
VIP Lunch
After the Factory Tour we were given a VIP lunch in the Porsche VIP restaurant. What an amazing meal! Everything was first class. By this time I was getting really anxious to hit the road and drive my Cayman S for the first time. We headed back to the delivery center and were greeted once again by our Delivery Expert. He handed over the keys and informed us he had moved the car outside to the parking lot. We were free to hit the road!
Porsche Museum
We dropped into the museum for a few minutes. By this time I couldn’t think of anything else except getting behind the wheel, so we left the museum rather quickly planning on checking it out more in depth once we return the car.
Off We Go
Our first stop was going to be Baden-Baden just about 100 km Southwest of Stuttgart towards the Black Forest. Porscheplatz is very close to the Autobahn. We just had to take a right, then another right out of the delivery center to hit the onramp. I drove a 30 min loop around the area just to check everything out and make sure everything was operating fine before heading out too far from Stuttgart. Everything was working great, so I unchecked “Highways” from the PCM nav system and headed towards Baden-Baden. I didn’t want to take the Autobahn yet. Instead I took the smaller winding roads to get a feel for the car and made it easier to vary the rpms.
A word about the break-in period. I read tons of discussions on this topic and don’t want to stir anymore up, but I went with what my dealer and Delivery Expert told me. “Go have fun.” My delivery guide did suggest keep in under 5,000 rpms for the majority of the time, but said it was OK to go up to 6,000 briefly.
Baden-Baden was the perfect destination for our first night. It is a spa town with these really awesome Roman style spas. We spent the evening soaking in the numerous pools and spas reflecting on the days events and trying to comprehend the significance of a life-long dream coming true.
The Black Forest
Our journey continued South through the Black Forest to just North of the Swiss border. Again, we stayed off the Autobahn in favor of the smaller, more scenic roads. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing the roads were. These were the scenic winding roads I have been dreaming about driving a Porsche on.
Bavaria
From the Black Forest we headed East through Southern Germany. The nav system found us a nice road along Lake Konstanz along the German-Swiss border.
Austria
From Southern Germany we crossed the border into Tirol, Austria. This is where I found my favorite road on the entire trip. The road is called Am Plansee from Reutte, Austria to Oberamergau, Germany. It winds along Lake Plansee with some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen. Unfortunately there was this weird storm blowing sand from the Sahara in Africa into Europe, so it looks hazy. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I wish it would have been clearer. Now that would have been amazing.
The Autobahn
By the time I hit the Autobahn I had logged in just about 850 km. I had traveled some of the most scenic and winding roads I could ever imagine. That was great fun and I can’t even say how great the Caymans S handles. Especially on the corners. It’s amazing. Now it was time for some speed!
I got on the Autobahn heading back North and decided to see what the Cayman S could do. After leaving town and waiting patiently a few km out until I saw the beloved speed sign with a black circle with hash marks indicating no speed limit I hit the gas. The response was immediate and aggressive. It took off to 200 km/h with no hesitation. That is about 125 mph which is the fastest I had ever driven previously. I held it here for awhile and quickly became bored at this speed. It felt like cruising at 75 mph. When I backed down to 100 mph to keep my rpms varied it felt almost slow.
I was really impressed on how great the Cayman S handles at these high speeds. It felt solid and safe. The only thing I was bummed about is not being able to see the rear spoiler pop up. I thought I would be able to see it raised in the rear view mirror, but it was neatly out of sight.
As anybody who has driven on the Autobahn could probably tell you, there is a huge urge to drive faster. To push your car and driving abilities to the limit. Well, I was no different. After about an hour of getting used to driving on the Autobahn I hit a nice open stretch of road. I was only going about 100 mph at that moment, and knew now was the time. I had done some research and knew I could make it up to 240 km/h, or 150 mph at about 6,000 rpms. And the Delivery Expert said it was OK to do this briefly, so here we go. This was the time to see what the Cayman S was made of. I moved into the left lane and hit the gas. The Cayman S took off passing the 200 km/h without hesitation. I thought it would take some time to reach 240 km/h, but it didn’t. The Cayman S reached 240 km/h in what felt like an instant. This was the fastest speed I had ever traveled at in a car. My heart was racing, but I felt totally in control. The thing that surprised me, was even at 240 km/h it felt as if the Cayman S wanted to keep going. To go faster! 150 mph was my self imposed limit, so I didn’t want to push it any further. At least not until I have completed my complete break in.
I eased off the accelerator and pulled back into the right hand lane. Wow, now that was a rush! That is what Tourist Delivery is all about to me. Being able to drive an amazing car in the environment it was designed for. From the winding roads through the Black Forest to the high speeds of the Autobahn, now I truly get it. From this day forward I will always have those memories and stories to tell about the first Porsche I bought and the great time I had driving it in Germany.
German Wine Country
With the excitement of the Autobahn behind us, we headed off through the scenic wine country. It was fun to get back to the smaller, winding roads.
Back To Stuttgart
Wow, what a trip. Unfortunately it was time to head back to Stuttgart to get my Cayman S shipped to me in the States. Thanks to Gator Bite’s
FAQ and Tourist Delivery posts, I knew right where to go to get my Cayman washed up and ready to ship. I entered the coordinates into the nav system and off we went. There was a big traffic jam heading into Stuttgart, but the nav system gets real-time traffic updates and routed us around the jam. We were out of that mess in no time.
Gator Bite was right, there is a bug problem in Germany and it took some time to get the bugs washed off. Everybody thought I was nuts for carrying around a bunch of micro fiber towels, a micro fiber wash mit, car wash soap, and a small bucket for two weeks. This was actually the second time I washed the car, which made carrying around all that stuff worth it. I’m glad I did. It made me feel a lot more comfortable keeping it clean and making sure it was washed properly.
Final Thoughts
Sorry cat owners, but I have a new least favorite animal. Not once, but on two occasions I awoke in the morning to head out to my car excited to start it up and hear the engine come alive to find cat prints heading up to the roof to sit. And it’s not like it was just dusty prints. It looked like the cats looked for the nearest mud pit, walked around in it, and then headed straight for the roof of my Cayman S!
And speaking of starting up the engine, don’t you just love the sound of the engine? I especially like how the sound changes once you pass above 3,000 rpms to 4,000 rpms and higher. The sound becomes much deeper and more aggressive. So much for the Bose system I got. I now know there will be only one song I’ll be listening to while I am driving from now on, Flat 6 by Porsche!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. If anybody is considering Tourist delivery, I would highly recommend reading Gator Bite’s
FAQ and Tourist Delivery posts. They were truly helpful to me, and I ‘m sure you will find them beneficial as well. I know Tourist Delivery involves extra expenses and waiting times to get your car, but in the end it has been well worth it. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
My Cayman S has to make it over to the West Coast, traveling through the Panama Canal, to San Diego. Then it gets shipped to me in Arizona. They told me it would be 6-8 weeks, so until then…
Cwinner19
From Dream to Reality – The Story of My Tourist Delivery (European Delivery) Cayman S
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