As per the above, I run a 640D cabrio as a 2nd car. It’s done on average 4K miles per year , yeah I know, utter waste.

Always look at autotrader, looking at big engined nonsense. Looks like I’ll be collecting a BRG panamera turbo in a few weeks. Just had all brakes replaced, and get this, still under warranty for a 2010MY ! Couldn’t believe it either, only has a few months left, booked in to Porsche for a full health check and any sundry articles being done prior to pickup. apparently we’ll all be driving lectric crap soon anyway. Wish me luck....

What could possibly go wrong. Mind you said the same before every full fat purchase !

Good luck, no substitute for a big engine

Cheers mate, could be a very expensive garden ornament if it all goes tits up.. first issue is it comes with a dreadful John number plate, so 1st things 1st, I'll need to get a cheap plate. dateless would be ideal but SWMBO has limited the purchase to very cheap or you can ram it.. Should have seen her face when I told her I had gone and bought it.

Always better to ask for forgiveness..

Breaking Bad quote:

"There's no replacement for displacement"

Final episode IIRC

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Well tomorrow is accept or reject day, 12 hour round trip whichever way it goes. Either a lesson on impulse buying or the sheer delight of another belter of a sight unseen purchase.. tally ho chaps.

Looks like rain off and on all day. Better get to bed, very early start, let’s be honest won’t sleep much anyway... updates to follow.

I hope it works out - I've thought about a Panamera and & off for many years

Cheers Alistair

Looking forward to seeing this - hope all goes well - piccies needed  2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

So how did it go ?????????

It went, it got bought, pour yourself a drink , cause I certainly am.. give me 10 minutes to type it up

So was intending to leave yesterday @ 6 am.

Couldn’t sleep, don’t know about you lads but buying a car is a bit of a high point , especially given what I was away to look at. Thing is, living north of Edinburgh, most cars down south are cheaper than the equivalent up here, plus naturally, there’s more , so one has to travel for motors, which only adds to the adventure. So far I’ve been down to Essex, euxton, barrow in furness, turd of a place to get to.

Anyhoo, woke at 1, 2, 3, then at 4 it was fook it , get up and go. So I left the house @ 5 am.

ABout 40 minutes in, I hit the weather at Auchterarder, Jesus wept it was mental , very high wind, then the sleet, could hardly see.

It cleared , then south of Glasgow , same again but much worse, with heavy snow, thunder and lightening. Loud enough usually but the car I was trading in was a cabrio, so it was loud as fook. I find it amazing that folk do not drive to the conditions, then lo and behind a car had spun into the near side barrier, I had been down to 40.. Then around Abington, the monster hail started, never seen the likes , could not see the road, case of grit your teeth, coast the throttle , scary stuff.

Then it cleared again around Lockerbie, sun came out road dead clear and a steady 90 ish lepton run commenced, door to door, central Birmingham 6 hours dead.

Then the fun started..

To give a wee bit of background, the one reason I had my heart set on this particular car was simply the colour, they are just so very rare. Last one I saw was last year on AT, but it wasn’t the right time . So the only thing I was bailing at was the ceramic brakes. This one had just had them all replaced along with the pads etc. so that was my objection gone. Would have been better to wait for one with steels but where’s the fun in that..

Prior to going down , I had specialist finance in place, ready and primed, cash paid the day before , yes I checked that this could all be unwound should the car be a turd.

So I rocks up, now the “dealer” worked out of serviced offices attached to a hotel. A lot of stock, some heavy metal so I wasn’t worried, until I couldn’t see the car when I parked. Looked around and knowing the principles ethnicity, saw an Asian dude with a big feck off sheepskin jacket on. OMFG it’s Arthur Dailey and del boy trotter rolled into one.

Greetings done, so where’s the car mate? You know I’ve driven 300 miles and it’s not here.... “oh it’s away getting a wash etc , shouldn’t be long “ now I work in a very customer centric business, why on earth would you leave something quite critical to the very last minute? What I think was actually happening was it was getting an MOT, as I had picked up on the fact it was very short dated.

So we are going though the paperwork for my BM, and he notices a discrepancy with my car. You see, it was registered 31/12/11, but the model didn’t exist in the UK until 2012, never having paid attention to it, it’s a uk spec car which was delivered to Germany , then sva’d in 2013 by bmw uk.i had never noticed but on the mot cert, it’s listed a a bmw 630, which as a model, didn’t exist for the car. I think due to the date it was 1st registered , there was a cock up at the DVLA when the v5 was 1st produced. Anyway, as I’m sitting thinking about this , I seriously thought it had all gone tits up, then the car arrived..

Monster.

Fancy a drive ? Oh yes. Always awkward jumping in a strange car, especially when the seat is set at midget size, honest to god, I’m a big lad so always feels awkward jumping into a new car. Didn’t drive for too long, central b-ham was dead busy, but OMFG, I’m driving a Porsche turbo.. then all sense went.

So we get back to the “office”, he is humming and hawing about the bm, quite rightly. now due to the fact he already has the cash, I simply say, “I realize this is an issue, I’m happy to get it sorted, so why don’t you repay all the capital, I’ll unwind the deal and if the car is still available when I get this sorted, fine, if not, there’s another one 20 miles away that I’ll fire a deposit on.

You know I had no clue about about the BM, mibbe a bit naivety, it was never mentioned to me when I bought it, never had an issue , but hey ho, every day is a school.

I’m also running through the Porsche paperwork, where’s the last stamp, as the last one here is 10k miles ago.. oh it was done at a blah blah dealer in London , now I’ve come to understand that servicing is everything when it comes to porches, they’re a bit fanatic about that , almost like full fats, buy waaay more pedantic. So do I need to contact the dealer myself, yes was the reply.. Now, I’m not stupid, went into this eyes wide open, understanding that they need even more care than the big cars, but I got the feeling he was trying to play me .

Then the clincher, I ask ; “you have mentioned quite a few times the car still has a full Porsche warranty.” “Yes, I have assumed private purchase so this could be maintained “ honest to god , what a bellend, other dealers must be way more professional. So the clincher: “are you not providing a 3 month warranty because you want me to claim against the full Porsche one which runs out next month ?”............................. yes. Oh ffs.

Now ordinarily I would have ran a fecking mile, but let me introduce you, first pic:

Some of the best cars I've ever bought have been blind, and completely unseen

Best one was when I was 18. Wanted a Fabia VRS. Decided I couldn't afford it, so bought a 525Td estate

Which turned out to be a humongous pile of

2 weeks later, drove past the Skoda dealer, and they had a yellow one sat on the grass outside. Turned round, drive in, I want that car!

Sorry sir, we sold it half an hour ago, but we have a silver one available

That'll do, I have a 525 to p/x

Had that car for 4 years, and all it needed was a coolant temp sensor

Good luck!

I was looking for Panameras as well. In the end my short list was between a Panamera or FFRR SC. I’m doing a similar journey in reverse and going to “pick up” a SC unseen hundreds of miles away. Can’t sleep and hope I don’t have to buy a train ticket back home 😂

At least yours has the nice sports seats in them and the full range of buttons in the centre console 👍

I’m sure it works out, they are pretty solid cars.

Green isn't my colour - but that does look very

Sounds like you've both had to roll the dice a bit, but glad it's sorted. I've taken a few gambles over the years & so far they have paid off.

I've still got a Mini I won on eBay - bought from a guy in Belfast - I flew over there with the cash & he picked me up from the airport & off we drove back to his - what could possibly have gone wrong ?

Very tidy looking car though - you must very pleased

Guys , I’m over the moon. Completely agree regards both accepting a bit of risk.

Plus after all my years, I have a Porsche .

Which is a big thing. To hell with forward planning (which is what I advise all clients to do !)

So if anyone needs a wee lift, hit me up, any excuse after all! Alistair, you should ask me about the drunk eBay adventure with a reliant scimitar.. yes my wife still thinks I’m a cock .......

You know , and I hope this is ok, my father in law was diagnosed with cancer, which was the genesis of all this. If one of you understands this; there are no repeats, be damned with the fall out, as long as you have 2 feet up it’s all good.

Cheers..