East Bay (CA) Dealers and '02 Discounts

Hello: This is my 1st post and I really appreciate all the knowledge and wisdom that I've gained so far from reading the messages on this Board. I'm getting close to buying my first Porsche and I have a (minor) dilemma. I live near Walnut Creek and work in Fremont. What's been folks' sales and service experience with Stead and Claridges at these two locations respectively? Also, I'm leaning towards a new '02 since: 1) I really like both the sound and "feel" of the 02 (after earlier brief drives in a '97 993 and a '99 996, the extra mid-range torque seems to really make the new one more "fun"). 2) The rapid drop in resale value of '99-'00 996s, which bothers me a little but is not the deciding factor given that I intend to keep the car a long time. 3) I just preferred the "feel" of the 996 over the 993, probably because I don't have the history on 993s and am not an experienced track/DE driver. Given the above, i'd appreciate any i/p from more experiemnced Porsche drivers about my observations and thinking and also any information about discounts from MSRP that someone may have negotiated on a MY02 cars in the Bay Area. Thanks in advance.

Stead has been great as far as service is concerned. Mark has been very helpful, professional, etc. and the work has been done on time, as promised. They seem to be pretty "by the book" when it comes to alternative products. They installed my Fabspeeds but wouldn't use any brake fluid but Porsche's. BTW, I didn't buy my car from Stead. Good luck.

I had a '99 996 cab that I recently traded in for an '02. I would not bad mouth the '99 because I felt it was a really good car that I used as a daily driver for 3 yrs. It was well made, a lot of fun to drive, easy to maintain and reliable. And, there are certainly a lot of good deals on used '99s. That said, the '02 is a significant upgrade. It does have more horsepower and torque which is readily apparent. The suspension is also stiffer and has a firmer ride. On the cab, the glass rear window is really much better than the old plastic albeit a little smaller. The interior and stereo have also been improved. I can't speak to discounts in your area since I'm from NYC; but in this area I've been hearing of discounts of 4-6%. I got a $3,300 discount when I ordered the car in July.

I had a very good experience with Stead this year for my first purchase; I have nothing to say (good or bad) about Claridge's. The Stead people I dealt with (Eric and Andy) were helpful and low pressure. The car ('02 Coupe) was immaculately prepared, and they spent a LOT of time with me on orientation.

I purchased my car (996 Cab) at Claridge's and had them perform the first service in 2000. The service department was always hard to get in touch with and sales support disappeared after the sale. My second and subsequent services have been at Stead in Walnut Creek. All my experiences have been positive and overall they have been very helpful. They are also a lot more open to installing aftermarket h/w, whereas Claridges would not do anything that didn't have Porsche stamped on it.

no personal connections w/ any particular dealer, but from personal experience, i found the southern california and seatle area porsche dealers to be much more willing to deal than the SF bay areas. imho, most sales guys here have become spoiled order takers and are not used to "earning" the business. they seem to prefer to wait for the dollar insensitive buyer who doesn't even ask for the test drive to step up w/o and say "i'll take that."

Claridge's is also annoying in that you can't get a live answer in parts dept. Who wants to wait all day for a call back to see if a minor parts item is in stock? With 5 other Bay Area dealers within 20-30 miles of them, I just call the next one on the list.