france: where are the p-cars?

i just returned from 10-days in paris, nice and monte carlo. i think i saw, maybe 5 late model p-cars in paris and a few more in nice and monte carlo, but not many. i think i saw more p-cars on my way into the office today (so. california) than in my entire trip to france. did i not look hard enough? btw, i saw more ferraris in monte carlo than p-cars, incl. three enzos.

I've got about 4 months of cumulative time in the south of France and I never seen many P-Cars. Up the Cote D' Azur was mostly Ferraris, as you said. The biggest European surprise for me was Germany, where the Audis and Bimmers vastly outnumber P-Cars (I'm not even sure that I saw a Porsche in Germany). The other unhappy surprise was the heavy police presence on the Autobahn.

I was in Paris earlier this year and stayed at Plaze Athenee on Avenue Montaigne. During the weekend nights, the hotel bar was packed and a line outside to get in with all sorts of exotics - ferraris, aston martins, pcars, MB's, BMW's and rovers. We also saw some 996 turbos parked/driving along this street - they were all women drivers! My fiancee could not understand why I wanted to go out in the 30 degree weather and take pics of cars instead of paying 40 euros for 1, that's right 1, crown royal! good times - really enjoyed the buddha bar if you have not been! but I digress flip side frank

Same here, 10 days this month on the French coast and very few P-Car sightings. I saw a few in Cannes (with Gumball 3000) stickers plastered all over them) and a 1 in Juan Les Pins at the Hotel Du Cap but that's it. I noticed that the don't have the bumperettes on the rear but that's probably due to the long licence plates. I like the look though.

I think wherever you go outside of California your going to be dissapointed not seeing enough porkers. I was in Palo Alto last week for 5 days. I saw two Porsche dealers along 101 between the San Fran Int airport and University in Palo Alto, and at least 10 996's or various forms. I saw more boxters in a single 40 minute drive than I would see in a year here in Liverpool! California, USA......Porsche county, Sunshine state.

Go to London. They got pretty much everything there!!! Probably the best car city I've ever been to!!!

I saw lots of Porsches in Belgium...?

I drive to London once every month. I rarely see any 996 Carrera's. I see a fair few boxters but that's about it. They are certainly not common in London.

Hey Scouser I'm in Stratford & Accrington week after next. Last time in Stratford I remember seeing a few Porsches, although most were Boxters.

Stratford & Accrington? might as well be in Toronto then No seriously, Stratford is about 1/3 of the way from Liverpool to London. Lots of train spotters wasting their lives away......

I have a golf game in Stratford then up to the plant in Accrington. I'm over 4 -6 times a year. I always enjoy the UK, even Accrington has its charms although there are very few Porsches there. I'll be down to Liverpool to catch EasyJet out to Nice. Last time over I was pretty sure I spotted your ride on the M6, I waved but...

Nah, it couldna been me. blink of an eye and voooom Yes, I frequent the M6 quite a lot :-( Cheers, Berny

Guys, I'm not a Hamptons regular, my wife's cousin bought a house there a couple of years ago and we occasionally get out to East Hampton for a few weekends a year. We just got back from the Hamptons this afternoon away since Sat a.m. and I would venture to say that we saw no less than 2 dozen P cars, we also saw a lot of 5 series and slew of Ferrarri's. But once I'm back in Nassau county, just east of NYC, for those who would not know, I hardly ever see P cars. I was also in Germany, Leipzig and Stuttgart last October including a week in Paris and the P car was not seen a whole lot, especially in Paris, I think I may have seen 6 Porsches while I was there.

I agree, there are far less Porsches in Europe than in So. Cali You can see a whole lot of RollsRoyce, Ferraris, etc in Monaco though. I think because of the F1 races there, the monegasques favor Ferrari rather heavily. Also you can see a lot of Porsches around Stuttgart (Zuffenhausen) where the factory techs test drive them on city streets. I'll be in Nice again at the end of the month so I'll pay more attention this time.

in nice, the negresco hotel off the prominade had a 996 tt out front, but that was it. i was at monaco during the f1 gp, and no doubt there were a lot of gorgeous cars to be seen, only to be out done by the beautiful people.

A little off topic but I was thinking of posting. Drove L.A. to Yosemite and back over the weekend and was sort of shocked to see almost no p-cars - 4 days and 700 miles of driving and I only saw 1 Cayenne, 3 Boxsters, and finally one 996 when getting closer to home last night. Of course, a lot of this is farm country and/or SUV country but still I was surprised. Finally got to take my wife's Cayenne S for a long drive and have to say I was very pleased.

And speaking of Nice.. I just got back from a circuit of Buffalo, Tonawanda, Lackawana etc. It's kinda thin P-car spotting 'round there too.

Toronto?? I don't get it!

In France Porsche are rare and considered very expensive. In Paris, especially, cars are so banged up on a regular bases that people prefer to use disposable smaller cars which are always parked on streets. So most Porsche are really garage queens. Another thing to realize is that even Porsche are perceived as a display of wealth, and show of wealth is very poorly received in the French culture. AW

No porkers in Paris eh? All banged up eh? Here's a pic of Scouser and his 1st 911. This was taken c 1979!