Porsche makes some great cars, but it’s quite possible to mess them up royally by speccing them wrong. And yet there’s really no excuse for it. Everyone in the UK who orders a new Porsche gets a most excellent chance to try out the important options for their car, flat on a piece of twisty closed road.
Well, not actually a closed road, but the test track at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone. It’s a lovely little route, with a proper variety of corners.
So if you were wondering whether your future Cayman needs a limited-slip diff, you can try it here with and without. Or do you want the bigger wheels, or Sports Chrono? Have a go. Ordering a 911 and unsure if you need the sports chassis options? Come and feel for yourself.
Even those who inexplicably find themselves with a horrid (if capable) Cayenne on order can test various versions on the frankly terrifying off-road course. This apparently causes many of them to think again about godawful bling wheels and tyres. They opt instead for a more reasonable combination that actually allows the car to give a good account of itself when the going is slippery.
The half-day ‘experience’ is actually baked into the on-the-road price of the car, so anyone not taking it up is just subsidising the fun of others really. Oh, did I mention it’s fun?
Oh yes, brilliant. Apart from the mock road course and the off-road section, there are various skidpads and ice simulations. Getting all crossed up is guaranteed. All in the name of research and practice of course.
You’ll come out of it knowing how to finalise the spec just-so. And you’ll be a better driver. Cracking a broad grin too.
sounds like a lot of fun, when i have my mid-life crisis i’ll be sure to check this place out before buying my porsche.
So could you pretend to be able to buy a Porsche and do the day out and then run when the salesman’s back is turned?
I thaught you removed spam?
BTW: You can remove this when usedengines is gone, it is ok with me-
hmm the cayenne sinking in mud.. and 911-ens on ice.. sounds like porsche are desperate..
stigs irsish cuz.. track days at silverstone start from roughly £100 ..and you don´t even have to buy the porshe after…:D
So drowning a cayenne is less funny than power sliding a 911 on ice. ok, got it!
I sold my new 997 model 911 after just one year.
It was the most unreliable car I have ever owned.
should´ve opted for the polo richard..:D
lol @no.5.. only porsche drivers need ice to power slide a 911…
..and they´d probably drown a defender picking up their kids from polo ;D
ps. maybe porsche SHOULD buy saab.. it would be the best crowd to pick on … in the world..
I´ve been driving many differnt sort of cars in my life.With different result.My BMW got broken on the motorway sevaral times. My Ford mondeo gave me mental health problem.The breaks on my toyota stopped working when I was driving (I had no chance to stop and crashed into a tree in 80 km/h).My best friends jaguar made me scream and his enzo made me cry. My saab 9-3 has been taken me from A to B without broken down or made me screaming or crying for 4 years. Whats wrong with with my saab? (sorry about my english, it´s not my first language)
it is true that porshe’s cars suck! the only good thing about porshe is the price being cheap against the rest but then what you rather be seen driving in a 911 convertible or vantage convertible?its a no brainer-the brits win against the germans for once!
OK when I have MY mid life crisis in about 30 years I’ll just wave by at Porsche while I find myself a yellow 2010 Chevrolet Camaro Supersport. ‘Cos frankly, Porshe look shit and were designed by a computer program because they all the same.
Now I wish I had money…
You can still spend a good £20k on options alone, bringing the price back up to that of its rivals. But then that’s because they charge you £105 for coloured wheel badges, and you can spend £1000 on painting the whole wheels, and the standard seats actually cost you £2k! There are myriad ways to ignite money at Porsche…
But I’m not liking some of the comments slagging off the cars. Porsche cars are technically brilliant. They obviously are, otherwise they wouldn’t feel the need to only change them a bit every time a new one arrives. Otherwise they wouldn’t be the benchmark for ALL other sports cars.
Sometimes I think a few of you are just absent-mindedly following whatever Jeremy Clarkson says and deciding they’re rubbish without driving them. Try thinking for yourself plz. I can tell the difference between 911s. Hell, I could tell you all the aesthetic differences between a 2005 and a 2008 997! Try me!
And, for the record, I’m not a Porsche fanboy (If I were, I’d have tried defending the Cayenne). I’d actually much rather have a GT-R then a 911 Turbo. And Mr. Haughey, it doesn’t take much to decipher what country you come from.
@l-alien ..there´s nothing wrong with getting from A to B in a car.. how often you take it for a spin from A to A, just for FUN is a whole other concept though. Getting stuck on the side of the road is a part of the whole driving fun cars for fun package and in my personal opinion saab doesn´t fit in, that´s all.
@mr H. having your midlife crisis in 30 years puts you being somewhere between 10-15.. based on your grammar and spelling, I´d say closer to 10.. “WHATEVER” jumps into mind..
@mikeado you´re right about the clarkson effect, common sense isn´t so common NO MATTER WHERE ONE COMES FROM…
You must admit that selling an suv sold sitting on 21″ lowprofiles and adding ice to slide a 300+ bhp rear engined rwd/4wd piece of gerry hightech sounds a bit like disneyland for middleaged farts with more economical sense than anyhting else sounds worthy of taking the p.ss ?
porcshe is cool and everything but it’s back design is simply not good enough i give it’s coolness 50% porsche put your engine in the front or middle putting in the back affcets badly!!!!! ferrari has it’s engine in the middle and it’s rear design is cool aston martin has it’s engine in the front and the rear design is simply ‘hard resist’
You say that, but the mid-engined Boxster/Cayman and the front-engined Panamera have a debatable rear-end design, because Porsche want every new car to resemble a 911 (so that it’s recognisably a Porsche)…
Well, i really never liked road porsches, but i respect completely their technology level, and quality. I have to say also that I like the new boxster but the back end looks horrible, and the thing that they are doing cars with pre-determined performance is annoying.
great!
I’m sold!
When will the other car makes catch on to this wonderful idea?
After looking at the market today, and hearing that a bank that I use is pulling out of the US, I highly doubt that anyone who is not already among those who consider themselves to be wealthy will be buying a Porsche anytime soon.
If this is free, all I can say is “what a great way to get the Porsche experience without actually paying for it”
evan, did you actually read the article ? it´s only for “free” if you pay for buying a porsche..
it´s like the free breakfast included in your bill at checkout time… get it ?
is Paul off on his annual ? or is TG hit by the crunch ?? Is there really nothing to write about ?
Geneva perhaps ? I thought this was supposed to be the “special insight into the motor industry” blog..or are we being held back on to buy the mag ? just wondering, nothing personal.
it’s very easy, the motor industry is a nightmare and Paul don’t like horror films
Tomorrow is Geneva time, the site will be flooded by great cars and all will be fine.
I thought I had read it :s
THE CAYENNE IS IN THE MUD, CALL IN THE DISCOVERY TO RETRIEVE IT