Planet 9

in my search for a CS, i've ran across two such vehicles. from the research i've gathered, it appears launch cars are cars porsche sends to dealers for introduction of a new model (or significant upgrade). apparently, the dealers are not allowed to sell the cars for a certain amount of time.

does anyone here have experience w/ owning a launch vehicle?

Might want to check out these two previous threads...

http://www.planetporsche.net/cayman-...unch-code.html

http://www.planetporsche.net/porsche...eed-input.html

brad

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22-year PCA Member
PCA DE Instructor

thanks for the link, beez! and my apologies for not posting in the right forum.

i'm curious about this car: eBay Motors: Porsche : Cayman (item 290313387132 end time May-04-09 16:50:30 PDT)

the dealer said they'd be willing to bring it to hilton head for a PPI, and the price seems OK. i'm just a bit nervous about potentially purchasing a car, sight unseen.

My 993 was some sort of launch car.

I bought it used with ~30,000 miles on it, from a private party. I learned a few things: it had a very low VIN, meaning it was one of the first 993's, and it was first officially registered to a private party with ~15,000 miles on it. I called Porsche to register myself as the new owner, and asked them about the car. They gave me a list of all the options and the MSRP. They also told me it was a demo/press car. This was a while ago and I forget all the details, but apparently it was used by dealers as a 993 demo for ~15,000 miles, until it was eventually sold.

When I sold the car, it had >100,000 miles. There were no issues that I could trace back to the fact that it was a demo for 15,000 miles. It was probably driven pretty hard during those 15,000 miles, and that is actually better for those old air-cooled motors than short-shifting and cruising.

On another note, I remember hearing a rumor. I have no idea if it is true or not, so take it with a grain of salt. You know how Porsche tests each new motor on a dyno before putting it in a car? I heard that they take the stronger motors and put them in the demo/launch/press cars. Over the years, different people drove my car (like DE instructors, mechanics, etc). Many of them reported that my car felt pretty strong. Put perhaps they were just stroking my ego...

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’08 Cayman S, 6 Speed, PASM, Sport Chrono, Sport Seats & Steering Wheel, 19” Carrera Sport Wheels, PCM, Bose, Xenon, plus some other stuff not worth mentioning

mwy23: If you're in Hilton Head and they're willing to bring it to Hilton Head for a PPI, I don't understand the "sight unseen" part. You could even drive to Savannah to see it.

Anyway, it looks like a nice car, and the asking price seems fair enough to look into more seriously. Records should show a 2-year service. A talk with the previous owner might also be helpful.

Hope this works out for you.

sorry, i didn't specify my location: seattle, wa. and i guess its not fully "sight unseen" since i've seen pictures of the car.

You should also find out the date that it was first put into service... that date could be either when it was shipped to the original dealer, or when it was bought by the first owner. Since it's an early 2006 car (VIN shows it to be #305) it may not have very much of it's original 4 year warranty left - and since you're not buying it from a Porsche dealer, you can't have it CPO'd - you might want to bargain with the dealer for a good extended warranty that you'll be able to use at a Porsche dealer, if necessary. Read the fine print of the warranty very carefully for its coverage and exclusions if you do this.

brad

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22-year PCA Member
PCA DE Instructor

thanks for the tip beez. i contact hilton head for a PPI but unforunately i was told they no longer perform PPIs. plus, the car was originally in service 1/31/2006... which leaves very little warranty left.