The Real Reason you Can't Drive the Cayman S!

Want to know why your dealership can't let you drive the Cayman S? Porsche Marketing ploy? - Nope. Waiting for autoshow launch - Not exactly. The truth is that all Porsche dealerships have been asked to sign paperwork from PCNA stating that they will not allow the car to be driven on public roads (dealership lots are OK) because THE CAR HAS NOT BEEN EMISSIONS CERTIFIED IN THE US YET!!! If the dealership doesn't sign the paperwork, the dealership doesn't get any cars, so guess what the dealership is going to do? Anyone remember GT3's sitting in port until emissions certification was done? Very similar story here but for slightly different reasons. In this instance this new 3.4L engine with Carrera S heads/cams hasn't passed emissions certification and Porsche can't simply use the Boxster or 911 tests as substitutes. Initially the engine had passed tests in Europe but that was before the engine was detuned. One of my sources claims that the detuning of the engine has caused emissions to go up slightly and Porsche is examining some possible changes before final certification, but he was clear that the Cayman has not failed any tests at this point and he didn't expect that to be the case only that Porsche's last minute tweaking had delayed submissions for certification. Is this a big deal? Not really, eventually certification will be granted and the cars will be allowed to be driven on public roads. (BTW the cars COULD be trailered to a TRACK for driving should any dealership wish to do that since track driving doesn't have to meet on-road requirements - I'll try to convince my dealership to do just that /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbs_up.gif) The only question that remains is that if certification comes in before the Detroit auto show will Porsche lift the ban on test drives early, or make the dealerships hold out until the show. I'm hoping certification will be done early and cars released early, but I'm not banking on it. /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gif

shame, you could always move to the uk/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbsup.gif

But K-Man, wasn't there a test drive in Atalanta? I thought that there was a test-driving session that took place there. How come they did it then?

Is there a downside of certification not being available until after Jan. 15? That is a bit scary.

Atlanta was a dealer training session, not a customer event. I'm assuming Porsche has some sort of 'pass' for press cars and internal training in terms of emissions certification.

I vote for setting the Motronic ME 7.8back to the pre de-tuning setup mode. This setup meets U.S. emissions and probably laps the Ring faster than a stock Carrera.

My thoughts exactly! Just give us the pre-detuned version that's certified. We can all sign an agreement that our cars still only have 295HP....../fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/wink_smile.gif

Dear Porsche: I hereby certify that, if you restore the original parameters for the 3.4L Cayman S engine, I will not diclose my vehicle's state of tune, or otherwise embarrass owners of either 997 or 997S's. Really, no crossing fingers or anyhting like that. JHellow

jhellow, super funny! Do you guys really think that we will be able to undo the de-tune via a simple ECU reprogram? I'm thinking yes. If they had to de-tune after the fact, as it appears, then that would be the easiest and cheapest way for them to do it... My friend had a 96 SL600 and a new ECU program made a big difference in that car.

My dealer told me that he had to sign paperwork agreeing to certain restrictions because these showroom cars will remain under the ownership of Porsche Corp not the dealer. He said that the cars will not belong to the dealership. Aloha Russ Edited by - RussK on 11/13/2005 3:59:46 PM

Russ, I've not heard anything about the ownership of the cars, but I can inquire, but 3 separate sources have all told me about the emissions issue so it's either true, or a great cover story from Porsche while they hide the bodies in Area 51... /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/confused_smile.gif

More mystery to add to the mix! I suppose they could both be correct. Maybe there is an emissions issue and the car are on loan? Thanks Russ

The dealer show room cars do remain the property of Porsche. I reviewed the paperwork at the dealership and the manager was concerned about how to insure them. My dealer does show 3 launch cars in their inventory, including a black, midnight blue and arctic silver. JHellow

Wow, must be a good size dealership. I thought each dealer was only getting one? i would love to see the midnight blue in person. It is hard to believe that so many of us ordered these cars sight unseen. A friend of mine asked me 'how can you buy a car without even a test drive'? I answered, easy, it's a Porsche! Aloha Russ

I would imagine that the emission certification would not pose a problem in terms of delaying the launch, but you never know when it comes to the EPA. I doubt it's a cover story, but I also think that the de-tune is more than just an ECU map. If you look at X51 for the 997 it's mostly intake and exhaust changes with ECU mapping to maximize those changes. I'm skeptical about changing out ECU maps to improve performance, particularly on the current generation of Porsche engines where the management parameters are pretty well maximized for all around performance. Whatever gains a new chip gives in one area, it usually takes something away somewhere else in the performance envelope.

Russ, [/quote]Launch cars are the cars the dealer will have for Jan 14 in the US, not the Porsche owned cars for this month. Sorry if my note caused confusion. These three cars are the vehicles from the November build for which the dealer did not have a firm customer order. They are moderately optioned, although one of these has PCCB's. JHellow

J, I got ya! I think my dealer has 2 from the November build that were not sold, those should be coming in as well. Russ

RussK, my dealer told me they got 16 in the November build. Braman in West Palm Beach. I don't know how many are sold already and what will be on the showroom floor. My guess is that anything on the showroom floor will be gone within hours. January in West Palm Beach!! A lot of snowbirds with a lot of money looking for something different. Getting 16 in the November build is an indication how many cars the dealership delivers.

If there is an emissions issue wouldn't it be easier to reduce horsepower? That would not go over well with us early to buy types. Much less than advertised and I would reconsider.

Sspender, The allotments are based on dealers volume, and not per capita. My dealer has a low allotment because there just isn't that many Porsche's sold here. I can drive to work for an entire week and not see a single Porsche! Aloha Russ