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March 2021 - A Step Backward

The days following the release of our initial allocations started us down a path of second-guessing. The conversation with Richard about possible GTS orders was unsettling. Had we done the right thing? To rid ourselves of one kind of uncertainty, we had thrown away the certainty of getting our cars in the spring/summer of 2021. And we had started to get a sense from our ongoing discussions with Pfaff that this whole order/allocation thing was a lot more nuanced than maybe we thought (which was originally something straightforward, like "your name goes on a list at such-and-such a date for a whatever car you want and then everyone who orders a car afterwards goes onto the list *after* you").

Probing Alternative Timelines

Maybe, we thought, we should be calling around, see what other dealerships say about a couple of S or GTS orders. Maybe their lines were shorter. Maybe we should place another pair of orders without cancelling our Pfaff orders, and just see which would yield allocations first. Was that even possible? Maybe Richard didn't want to us to order GTSes because their GTS order line was much longer than their S order line. Maybe a smaller dealer would have a shorter GTS line? So many unknowns.

An Overview of Porsche Dealerships in Central Canada, with a focus on Southern Ontario
My good friend Ruth got wind of our agonized and anxious state, and being the keen wanting-to-help person that she is, took it upon herself to start cold-calling nearly every Porsche dealer in Ontario (unbeknownst to me). A few days later she excitedly informed me that she'd chatted with this cheery saleslady at the dealership in London, Ontario - and that they could do a couple of GTS orders and - get this - she stated that they had no one in line.

That news was quite a jolt. Here we were, adrift in a sea of uncertainty, not getting any specifics about where we truly were in the order line at Pfaff, and here was a thread of possible certainty to a couple of cars for us, and to boot, the thrill of maybe moving up to a very special purist/enthusiast version of an already purist/enthusiast sports car. Luke and I discussed it, and, somewhat amazingly, he was receptive to the idea of giving Porsche Centre London a call and seeing if they could work a small deal with us for the purchase of two 718 GTS 4.0 models - one a Boxster, and one a Cayman. We start thinking along the lines of "well, we're two orders - fancy-dancy GTS orders - and at a small dealership. We'll seem like bigger buyers to them and they'll fall all over themselves to accommodate us.". A somewhat cocky frame of mind, in retrospect - or at the very least, naïve.

March 2, 2021 - Porsche Centre London First Contact

So, we set up a call with Porsche Centre London. Specifically with Christina, the cheery salesperson that Ruth had befriended on the phone. We explained our situation (and a little of our buddy-buddy car guys background), and put it to her that we had a couple of allocations with Euro Delivery at Pfaff, we gave them back because of the Covid travel restrictions, and how they didn't want us to switch to GTS models, but now that we had to wait and we didn't know where we were on the order lists, maybe we could just order a couple of GTS models from you guys, and ... we hear that you have no line. Is that all true and, um, can we make a small deal perhaps? (as in, could they do a similar discount to what Pfaff was offering). One thing we noticed is that she seemed to be super-responsive to our email queries - something we've learned that we really appreciated. That was a good sign to us.

We ended up getting bumped up to a call with Christina's manager. We got some cold water poured onto our enthusiasm in this meeting: there was, in fact, no immediate availability for GTSes (we interpreted that as that there was in fact a line, seemingly contrary to what Christina had intimated), and secondly - no discounts. Zero. zip. If we ordered, we ordered at MSRP.

Luke and I had both agreed, going into this exploratory GTS idea, that if we couldn't get a comparable discount, we'd just stick with our "S" orders from Pfaff do the waiting game. And we thought, we could simply receive S models and then sell them to upgrade to GTS models in a year or two (such was the nature of the used Porsche sportscar market that it appeared we would lose no money in doing so). That would have the added bonus of allowing us to do European Delivery *twice*. And so, with that happy thought in mind, that is what we decided to do. We thanked Porsche Centre London for their time, and we went back to waiting for our Pfaff "S" allocations to come through. Additionally, we would physically go down to Pfaff in Toronto, talk to Richard in person, see if we could seem more "real" to him and to the dealership - maybe that would help our case with regards to getting new allocations for early autumn. And also to check out cars and colors and take measurements and test electrical outlets, etc, all in prep for the Euro Delivery adventure trip.

March 15, 2021 - Tending to our Pfaff Relationship

On March 15, 2021, we once again visited Pfaff Porsche in Vaughan (Vaughan is a far-north suburb of Toronto). It was a crisp, bright, cool spring morning. The sight of the huge lot full or Porsches of all sorts - well, it stirred the blood.

Stock photo of Pfaff Porsche, Vaughan Ontario
We spent an hour or so fooling around with various 718 models in the showroom, getting a feel for the controls, the interior, the size of the frunk and trunk. We checked out the current coming from the electrical sockets, and where the electrical sockets were located. What length of wires would we need? How would we be able to route the antenna cable for our fancy new HAM radios. How about affixing the wireless Bluetooth button to the steering wheel - did that work well and feel good?
Testing the juice
What's the current like?
Configurability?
We then met Richard for the first time (as you may recall, Rick had left Pfaff and Richard was our replacement salesman). We had a good chat with him, and also with another more senior sales associate. Talked about Euro Delivery, covid, allocations. We were still pretty new to the whole Porsche purchasing pipeline, and the info they gave us on the details of our order seemed reasonable enough: that things were still looking possible for later in the summer or fall. They were very unspecific about order lines. We didn't know any better, and we let that pass. They did offer us a couple of 718 Spyder allocations on the spot (basically the highest trim level of the Boxster). but seeing that I wanted a coupe and also considering that the Spyder is much more expensive than either the S or GTS, we said ... no.
Feeling the switchgear
The GTS Interior Package
We then walked around outside, checking out what was new on the lot. We spotted our very first 718 GTS 4.0 in the flesh - a nice Guards Red Cayman with the standard wheels in silver. mmm.... pretty close to the spec I would get if I was to get a GTS. Such a sweet car.
First look at a GTS 4.0
With our visit complete, we returned to Ottawa. And with our brief exploration of the alternative dealer / alternative model itch scratched, there was nothing further to do for the moment than ... to wait. Wait for that exciting email or phone call from Richard, hopefully with news of new allocations.
April 10, 2021 - HAM Radio Approved

In the meantime, we had our radio course to occupy our time - which it did - for the next month or two. It was a surprisingly detailed and arduous endeavor for what amounted to a way for Luke and I to chat with each other hands-free and wirelessly between cars while driving.
Passed. VA3LVG and VA3LSW are now live!
But persevere we did, and on April 10, we took a joint online proctored exam and both Luke and I passed the test with honors, and become officially christened as VA3LSW (Luke) and VA3LVG (Andrew). We could now legally transmit over amateur radio frequencies in Canada (and with bilateral reciprocal agreements, we were authorized to do so also in the U.S. and in Europe). This would allow us greater flexibility and capability when communicating with each other over two-way radio while on our trip.

Spring 2021 - Euro Delivery: The Gathering

The spring of 2021 was a time of gathering. In the gear sense, I mean. Gear that we would need to enable us to get the media we want to record in order to make the bestest, most awesome-est trip report imaginable. Wires. Plugs. Mounting bars. Attachment pieces. Microphones. Suction cups. All manner of road-trippin', media-gathering gear.
For recording awesome engine sounds
Antennae coax
Mounting brackets
A lot of sucking
Gopro bits
April, May, and June of 2021 - Growing Restless

The months of spring started to roll by. April was soon done. The greens of summer started to sprout and bud in May. Mosquitoes appeared. The sun got hot. Days were long and sometimes muggy.

The info stream from Richard at Porsche Pfaff had dried up. What contact we did have was simply to say that there was no news. In fact, it almost seemed that Richard was starting to get a little more distant, perhaps even bothered by our attempts to get info? We did get a contact for Euro Delivery, and that was nice. We started off by asking some questions about winter tire requirements should our ED come later in the fall. Can't be too prepared! We also passed some time by starting to experiment with different ways of mounting and recording video. Was also a good excuse to get out and do some nice backroad driving.

The middle of June arrived: roughly the point that we would have likely gone to Europe to receive our cars had we not given up our allocations. That made us a little sad, but also, we were relieved. Although travel restrictions to Germany had eased, vaccinations against Covid were still required. And both Luke and I had only gotten the first of our required 2-shot vaccination course. So ... indeed if we had kept the allocations and the delivery had been scheduled for June, we would have been in a pickle. It had been the right choice. A video meeting with Richard on June 14 confirmed some news that we were dreading but half-expecting to hear: supply chain issues. allocations would not likely be coming for us until the fall. And even then, no guarantees.

We spent some time speculating how things might play out: fall is good ... but what if the allocations come very late in the fall? What if our deliveries get scheduled in the depths of winter? What are the implications for winter tires, for driving on high mountain roads (which would be totally closed and blocked during the winter months). We weighed the pros and cons (no high mountains, but we could probably go down to southern Europe and enjoy the many great roads there - and with little to no tourist traffic).
Luke's Thoughts
[on the frustration of not knowing...]
This sucks. Losing our place in line was NOT clear to us when we gave up our slots. Grrrrr. Frustrating to say the least. Good thing Andrew remains calm in our conversations.

(to read more of Luke's thoughts from this moment, check out his blog post)


We were also really not getting a good sense from Richard and Pfaff about how the allocation process works. Apart from how the order lines work, and how honored they are, there was also the unknown of how dual allocations like ours worked. Did they "hold" an allocation for one of us if one comes along, until the other gets their allocation? or did they pass allocations right along down the line unless both a Boxster and a Cayman allocation come precisely at the same time. It was all very murky and seemingly we were getting deliberately vague answers. Not very confidence inspiring.
July 1, 2021 - Back to the Future
Relevant Events, end of June
The end of June had arrived. Luke and I finally manage to get our second course of Covid vaccinations, and therefore we technically were now allowed to travel to Europe. Unfortunately, it was now fully clear to us that our second set of allocations was not going to come quickly. In addition to the supply chain issues, it seemed that Porsche's sports car lineups were at the same time starting to experience a surge in buyer interest. And just how did this "order line" stuff with Porsche work, anyway? We spent quite a bit of time browsing through online forum posts, starting to get a sense of how this all worked. One major theme started to emerge: you have no control over where you are in a line, nor how that line is managed. Who knows where we were in Pfaff's scheme of things?

This new round of doubting and fretting had us re-visit the idea of "just going straight to GTS models". And thoughts now went back to Porsche Centre London. Back in our conversations in March, they at least been ok with the idea of letting us put orders in, whereas Porsche Pfaff had not. Plus, we had started to get a little put off by Richard's general lack of communication. Luke and I agreed that we probably should have another talk with Christina at Porsche Centre London. And this time, we wouldn't be asking for any sort of discount. If one thing was becoming clear, it was that conditions were shifting away from a buyer's market. We had lost any pretense of expecting a discount.
We re-introduced ourselves to Christina. She seemed as cheery as ever and was more than willing to entertain our thoughts with respect to ordering GTS models. With no discounts. A flurry of back-and-forth communication ensued, and, on July 3 (July 5 for Luke), two Porsche 718 GTS 4.0 orders were made with Christina at Porsche Centre London. As Luke put it at the time:

"Deep breath. Click send. Codes sent, purchase order signed, with deposit. Big day. Big money. Big decisions. AWESOME".
Luke's Thoughts
[on the momentous occasion of GTS 4.0 Orders...]
Well, well, well. Look how far you have come now mister Luke. Suffice it to say that we have become completely fed up with The Salesperson, He's not spent one iota of his time thinking about us. No contact. No reaching out to give us updates or even just to check in. Really feels like he could care less. Maybe we are just small fry to him. Well, it will be his loss.

Because...

The GTS 4.0. The dream car. Like, the pinnacle.

Lots of discussions with Andrew over this, and lots of factors playing into the decision, not the least of which is his enthusiasm for 'the project', but what I can say here is WOW. What a car. And if this is gonna be my ultimate, then go big or stay home. GTS here we come!

(to read more of Luke's thoughts from this moment, check out his blog post)

GTSes are official!
The interactions with Christina leading up to our dual-GTS orders had been extremely positive. Christina was friendly, immediately responsive, and seemed upfront about all things - both good and bad (for example, she clearly stated that based on the current set of orders ahead of us, that even a delivery the following spring - a full nine months away - was a long shot). We relished rapid, honest, and transparent contact, and that was what we seemed to be getting with Christina and with Porsche Center London.

We were very pleased. And re-energized, even though we knew we going to have to wait a whole long summer, fall, winter and spring. I mean, these cars ... these GTSes ... they were worth it - extra super duper special-special!

August 2021 - A Quiet Summer

After the excitement and hubbub of the grand switch to two dual-GTS orders, things once again settled down. We had kept our S allocations in our back-pocket with Pfaff, meaning that for a short moment, we each had two different orders in place. We had held on to them on the off chance that the allocations might finally come through on those, and also because we wanted to be sure our GTS orders were fully and properly in place. With that now confirmed, and with zero news of any sort from Pfaff, we requested that our S orders be cancelled and our deposits returned. Richard promptly answered with a note about returning our money, but said literally nothing else about it. No questions about why, or could he do anything to persuade us otherwise, nothing. Just essentially a "yep, you'll get your money back. bye". Left us feeling a bit cold.

What wasn't cold, however, were the long months of summer. After having a celebratory Zoom call with Christina at Porsche Center London, (which was all very positive, with much useful information given to us - including where exactly we were in both the Cayman GTS and the Boxster GTS order lines - something we never got with Pfaff), we passed the time with "drips" (newly-discovered reviews of the 718 and of the GTS model in particular). Almost unanimous was the praise given to the 718 GTS 4.0 for being the perfect sweet spot in the range and one of the best all-round sports cars, period. Here's an example of that kind of glowing review, from YouTuber Brian Makse:



In August we got some exciting news from Christina. Luke had moved up on the order lists ... still third for myself on the Cayman GTS list but now fourth for Luke on the Boxster GTS list. And furthermore, Christina even shared list details with us. Whoa! - A level of transparency and feedback we had never dreamed of getting. We were stoked. Real movement! (before anyone comments on the apparent position for Luke in the image below, know that status "VX98" means "customer switched to a different model", which means they can be ignored for the purposes of position).

Positions of both myself and Luke in the Cayman GTS and Boxster GTS order lines at Porsche Center London, August 2021.
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