European Delivery this past week

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

Sorry that I do not post very much on this thread vs. GCF, but I just went on a week long break with my dad who just purchased a Porsche through European Delivery. He hasn't owned a Porsche in about 20 years, now that we are free of the Mercedes-Benz franchise, he is able to shuck the brand loyalty and go for something much edgier, and personally I love it hehehe.

Porsche Carrera S...Black, Black Interior, Navigation, Sunroof, Power heated seats...Chrono Sports thingy that we didn't use.

It was fantastic driving on the Autobahns, my first time driving out there, and also, my first vehicle where I intensively had to drive stick, and I must say that it is SOOOO MUCH FUN on the open roads...Accelerating in that car was so effortless and the shifting was so fluid, even for a novice such as myself. Now I understand why many of you espouse the straight up manual transmition, I've been stuck in Automatics for so long...well..ever...in the US. However in the city, not so fun....

Few other highlights in the trip:
Porsche and Mercedes Factory tours were pretty amazing, the Porsche 911 assembly is pretty awesome, they have the 1 Man:1 Engine Philosophy like AMG does, and they do a lot of hand assembly, but I guess it leads to more panel gaps. I noticed it in our car, but who cares when you're driving like mad :-D

I noticed that the MB, Porsche and BMW Museums are all being re-built to have awesomely huge facilities. The BMW Museum in Munich was a temporary, but still amazing to see the M3 GTR and their motorbike collections.

Don't know how many German residents are on the forums, but I must express my jealousy at how beautiful your country is, with the rich cultural heritedge and history in the roots our your lands. Trier and Heidelberg were also lovely places to visit.

Finally, road trips to Nurburgring and Hockenheim were worth it, even though we didn't get to drive, we were still able to see alot of fantastic cars being driven on the tracks.

I will host pictures soon, I took alot, and video clips at Hockenheim

LaArtist · Mar 26, 2006

wow gr8.. post pics

Zonda · Mar 26, 2006

Sounds great man, as said, post pics

Great new avatar Artist :usa7uh:

Alx · Mar 26, 2006

Pics and the story of the trip sounds great too me... Put something together that we can read about.

LaArtist · Mar 26, 2006

thnx dude.. the W221 looks evil in that pic

Zonda · Mar 26, 2006

It is

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

As I post this, Photobucket loading pictures now...also saw the new W221 S-Class factory line during the tour. I saw some new CL's with the tape all covered up, but no cameras were allowed :t-banghea

Other notes while driving on the bahns...Germans are insane....and I didn't see as many big German cars on the road as I thought...only saw a few S-Classes, 7-Series Beemers...and NO A8's...but I did see a Q7!! Even in Munich, I didn't see that many big Beemers....

LaArtist · Mar 26, 2006

cool so was that the first time you saw the W221..??

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

Yea in the flesh...ok picture time!!

Here are some pics from Hockenheim that the community may enjoy....they had a bunch of Z06 Corvettes, Aston Martins, a Maserati Quattroporte, a Kleemann CLK, some Porsches, and even a Ferrari F40!!! Here are a few pictures...sorry my camera is just a 3.2megpixel...with crappy flash at that...

Also, is that other Ferrari a 360 or F430?

Enjoy GCF!!!

Michael · Mar 26, 2006

Wow man you are so lucky to have driven such a nice car!

You and your dad, and whomever else will have the opportunity to drive it, are really lucky. Take care of it and maybe one day the old man will be able to give it to you for good.

As for the tours that is very interesting that you note the whoe 1 engine 1 man thing. MB does have a lot of engines that they claimed are hand built but who knows.

I wish you would've been able to take a picture of the CL that was covered. Did it look that much different from the current one? Did you see the interior? Any remarks on what you saw?

LaArtist · Mar 26, 2006

wow man damn thats hot.. must be a blast to drive.

PS
what did you think abt the W221?

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

BMWFreak

Thanks!! Yes, this is a once in a lifetime thing for me...well hopefully not but thats probably what is going to happen, unless I get a good job or something..

I saw the new CL's while they were driving us on the tour bus around the factories, so no up close shots and no interior gazes. They probably would have tackled me and booted me from the facility if I woulda dashed for the car haha.

But from what I saw, the shape and the rear boot look pretty GORGEOUS IMO. Nothing real different from the spy pics we have I think, I need to take another look in the thread. The front lights looks more angular than round, but the taping leads me to believe it is one single piece.

The Overall shape reminds me of the Aston in certain ways, real sleak, lithe but muscular at the same time. I can't really remember seeing big wheel arches like the S-Class.

Yea the Porsche engines are hand built by one technician like AMG. As such, they are accountable for all of its functions etc. Porsche can track down the tech who built the particular engine for 15 years in case anything is wrong or what not. Also, the way the Porsche Assembly line worked really fascinated me. For instance, the Dash Board Assembly line: They hang the dashes on this track mount that moves along, and each tech has a station where they operate on a certain part, with all their tools etc, and then the dash moves along to the next tech. They also have these robots that bring along spare parts and tools that follow this track, reminded me of R2-D2 from Star Wars....

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

Artist:

I personally think the W221 is an awesome car. I didn't get to sit in it or anything, but I watched alot of assembly from the car.

The Line seemed to be top notch. Which leads me to believe that if anything really fails in the car, its the electronic components that are outsourced from other companies....the tour guide said MB has like 2700 DIFFERENT Companies that they buy parts from. A lot of their electrical systems are probably German...and I think they need to start buying from the Japanese to increase overall reliability if they aren't already.

From what I saw, my admiration for MB has increased that much more from seeing their facilities.

LaArtist · Mar 26, 2006

cool man sounds like a super trip.. gotta make one like that sometime

Michael · Mar 26, 2006

One thing is for sure. A tech that builds engines for Porsche better do a good job. So in reality if there is a Porsche that engine problems they can trace it back to the person who built it. What if there have been several Porches that have had a specific engine problem, all alike, and to top it off they all came from the same techinician? Wonder what they would do to the poor guy.

Or imagine the opposite. Imagine a tech that just feels like he should reward everyone who owns a porsche that has an engine built by him, so he decides to up the power on every single engine he builds. Whenever Porsche dynos his cars (don't know if they do that) they can see some differences from other cars....But this can all be magical because I am sure Porsche, like other manufactures, has put into place certain securities to prevent any differences in engine build from one tech to another. At least I hope so. Imagine if this is possible and the bright side of this possiblity is what I mentioned, but then imagine if the guy who is building it feels he should punish anyone who owns a porche and under power them on purpose!

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

Yea, that guy would probably get fired, or they send him back for more education. If it was many Porsches from different techs, it could probably be a parts problem... :t-hands:

Another note is that most of these techs were pretty young, so they probably chose this as their career field. In which case, they really do love buildings these engines. This passion to me is definitely something that distinguishes the Germany brands like Porsche from other companies.

Edit**Wow did u edit that? I missed ur 2nd question. Porsche has some sort of various allowed, some percentage I forgot, but they "Hot Test" EVERY Engine for ahwhile to test horsepower and to make sure it works under extreme temperatures

Michael · Mar 26, 2006

Mr. Chigga_Chan said:
Yea, that guy would probably get fired, or they send him back for more education. If it was many Porsches from different techs, it could probably be a parts problem...

Another note is that most of these techs were pretty young, so they probably chose this as their career field. In which case, they really do love buildings these engines. This passion to me is definitely something that distinguishes the Germany brands like Porsche from other companies.

Of course! It is very interesing how they is attention to detail when it comes to these brands of car makers. I could not imagine them mass producing such engines, althought possible and would have its pros and cons, I still think it is something very genuine that makes me justify the amount spent on the vehicle.

I would say it is a culture and a standard for them to pay such attention to a car. For example, I am not sure if you saw any at the Porsche factory (I sure hope so) but the Carrera GT is hand built for the most part if not all ( I am really not sure). That is really nice (if it is the case of what I mentioned is true) to have a car hand built for you. Its a dream come true and you can feel the love the men put into the car (of course you might not feel the love if these are men that hate their jobs and only took it because it was the only thing that they were good at and they have an immense amount of bills to pay. for which they would not give a damn about you or your car

)

Michael · Mar 26, 2006

Mr. Chigga_Chan said:
Yea, that guy would probably get fired, or they send him back for more education. If it was many Porsches from different techs, it could probably be a parts problem...

Another note is that most of these techs were pretty young, so they probably chose this as their career field. In which case, they really do love buildings these engines. This passion to me is definitely something that distinguishes the Germany brands like Porsche from other companies.

Edit**Wow did u edit that? I missed ur 2nd question. Porsche has some sort of various allowed, some percentage I forgot, but they "Hot Test" EVERY Engine for ahwhile to test horsepower and to make sure it works under extreme temperatures

But the testing of this engine is done before the engine is embedded or "married" to the car?

Giannis · Mar 26, 2006

congrats on the car Mr Chigga Chan. It seems you had some serious fun at the trip, right?

Mr. Chigga_Chan · Mar 26, 2006

Yea....right after its assembled they take it to be Hot Tested....before it goes into the car. The Carrera GT must be assembled somewhere else, but they make so few that they could prbobably do it there in Zuffenhausen.

The assembly line I saw was for the 911. Caymans, Boxters and Cayennes are somewhere else. The facility has very limited area, so those lines go offsight...but for the 911 definitely on the Primary Facility. Another interesting note is that the factory is 3 floors high with operation, so the method of assembly was creatively adapted for Porsche's unique situation....

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