As some of you may know, my wife got one of the first ML500s in the states and we had a heck of a fun time with it. At any rate, MBUSA bought it back today, but my wife is now pretty sour over Mercedes so she is refusing a new one. My local MBUSA service manager has made quite a show of this lemon and has now made it pretty hard for me to bring my wife back to the MB family. She says she will take anything but a Benz.
Bad thing is that there are just not that many cars out there that I like right now.

We had ordered a GL470, but the dealer conveniently tried to sell me someone elses that had very few options (which means mine was sold to another). That got me upset and I raged at the GM. He claims that the sales manager is new and that nobody else was around that day to tell him not to screw with me. He even offerred me invoice for a new GL470 to make up for it. So, I asked for a fully loaded one and decided to go ahead and end the ML saga and get a GL. Well, next thing I know, MBUSA's offer comes and they (Mr. F.D.) try to invoke a clause in the lemon law intended to protect manufacturers from habitual lemoners. This clause basically allows MBUSA to recover the cost of the car up until the point that the defect was initially found. In this way, people could not just drive the car for a few years and then lemon it. The only people that would get restitution would be those that came in early and often. At any rate, he tried that on me to be a dick. Mind you, there are a ton of incidental expenses (including lawyer fees from my BROTHER) that the law allows me to go after as well and I did not (YET). Funny thing is that even after all his *****ing and moaning, I was only charged $190 (for a $65000 refund). I gladly took it, but my wife is PISSED at MBUSA. I told her that this is simply Frank making things personal, but she thinks MBUSA should be more professional. At this point, I have given up. She can get whatever she wants. An escalade, a lexus, whatever. As for my part, I plan to use the money to buy myself a new toy.

So, what will it be? A Z06 this summer or a 997TT by years end?

 

I would go with the new Z06. Either way, you can't go wrong... both are nice cars.

 

The Z06 is getting a bit played out here. GREAT value. No way to get the same performance for about 80K (Z06 + coilovers), but the 911 is just a legend. It would be the ultimate track car and let me turn the E55 into a true cruiser.

 

Get the 997 4CS Cabriolet! ;-) Like you have said... 911 is just a legend!

 

i would definitely go for a 997TT rather than the corvette...yeah corvette is bang for the buck but then once you have a Porsche you just don't look back they're just so nice. I forgot how much the GT3 is but can you consider that as well?

 

There's a reason why we're on a E55 forum and not a Dodge Charger forum.

There are the extra things the E55 has that the Charger doesn't.
Parallel this to the Z06 vs 911.

 

What is the price point on the GT3? The TT is right at $150k as I like it, and that is getting near my limit before the wife calls foul. My real budget is usually $100k, so I have to justify the extra 50% by knowing that i am getting my dream car (for now). I know the ZO6 is no Pcar. The point is that i could get the V06 and a rental property OR just the Pcar. I'm not dumb enough to think that the two would be the same experience. i just wonder if an E55 and a Z06 will do it for me? I know that an E55 and a 997TT would.

For now, my Benz dealership also has a Pcar in its family (Hoehn Motors), so we will see how helpful they are. I've been told that they will cut me a nice deal, but none of my friends have gotten ANY deals on the 997s, especially the TT.

What really sucks about all of this is that I sort of had a side plan to possibly slip the E55 over to the wife as a daily and then get myself something REALLY fun. We also just bought a Chrysler Pacifica as a spare car, so she could use it as well to carry the kids about. Unfortunately, dipcrap MBUSA ended up making a hater out of her and now she says that she would prefer a BMW530i to my E55!!

 

Jangy, if you want a P-car for track use there's not much of a debate (IMHO). GT3 all the way. Price is about $106K so much closer to your budget. Think of how happy your wife will be by "saving" all this money LOL!

I will decide next year if I'll go with TT or GT3. I priced the TT and i'm about $128K. Not many options for me. Short shifter, chrono sport package, and a couple of leather pieces that I think are needed to nicely finish off the full leather interior. What options are you looking at that get you up to 150K? You know all this leather, CF, etc. are dollars you'll never see again?

You will get no deals on the TT or GT3 for now. You'll pay sticker. You should be able to deal on a 997S

 

Just give the wife a budget and let her get whatever she wants. That's what I did five years ago and she came back with the ML55. No regrets. When it comes to buying more toys, I'll send her to the Montage for a weekend at the Spa works everytime. That will be the plan for the GT3!

 

Hey Chris, yes I know all those options are spend $, but I love the gadgets. Yes, the $150 was with all the goodies. I may look into a GT3, I just worry about the real world days vs just track time.

Not to be rude, but you wanna bet on me getting a 997TT at invoice? You may want to ask others here what my relationship is with my stealer before you throw a blanket statement like that.

 

So, are the votes for the GT3?

 

For me it's the GT3. I plan on a lot of track time with this car. The only negative (for me) is there is no option for a sunroof delete.

 

i say TT all the way

 

Hey, if you can get it at invoice God bless. I'll stand by my statement about paying sticker for some time except in the rare cases like yours where you have that good of a relationship. I think it's a "reasonable" blanket statement for many of us.

I will be very interested like you how the GT3 will be in real world days. Every article I've been able to read seem to think it will be much better due to PASM than the 996.

 

The blanket is true for sure. What a dilema. Kind of nice that it is a no brainer. 997TT or 997GT3 has got to be fun. My case would probably be 75% road use and 25% track (at best), so it needs to be roadworthy. I don't care about comfort, etc. as the E takes care of that. I have no problem with a harsh ride, etc. but it has to at least be practical on the road. I hate having to avoid every little thing in the road, especially in SoCal.

 

for the wife: cayenne turbo
for you: 997TT

 

How do you like the 'Slade? That is what she wants. Not a big fan of the Pepper SUV.

 

I'd MUCH rather have a GT3 than the TT

 

WOW!! I was thinking of a White GT3 and POW!! You posted it. Hmmmm.


For those that know both cars, can you please list some of the reasoning behind picking one over another? I'm trying to balance out the pros and cons of each and see which fits my lifestyle best. If I were going to track dedicate, then it would be easy. But I have the feeling that I will be pushing it a bit on public roads, too. I just know myself.

 

I'll bite.Whats your relationship?

 

I guess I worded it poorly. My relationship is simply that I am a great customer of this dealership group and they have been good at keeping me there. What I meant by ask is everyone can come make these claims, but there are 2 forum members that know first hand that I can get a SLAMMING deal with a simple phone call. There is no back and forth or anything. We live in SD and they are a premier dealer and yet they offer me the same prices and etc. as the cut throat LA market. They also do things like give me a used E55 ('05) or a S500 (W221) as a loaner. It just so happens that they also have a Porsche dealership and like I said, I got shafted on the GL470 I had ordered so they "owe me".

 

Good deal.The Nav in the GL should be way better than our MB Nav.

BTW,I'd go for a z51 packaged vette and mod it heavily,Im not a really big P car fan,I like them but too afraid to to own one.

 

It looks like I'm not getting a Gl as my wife is OVER it. Why is the Nav different? Isn't it the same on as in the W164?

I like the Vette as well, it is just gettng somewhat played out in my parts.

 

I was thinking of something else not the GL470.


Cars get played out,thats why they come out with new versions every year.The thing with the vettes are they can be had for low money and easily modded.I'd rather have a non Z06 car and mod it with Twin turbo kit and the Z51 suspension.Anybody can buy a Z06,but when you pull up to a guy that just bought his Z06 and put a spank'n on him in a regular little guy off the show room floor looking vette it makes it all the better.Just like putt'n the smack down on people in a 4 door sedan everyday.The main reason I bought my E55.I was going to get an E63 but there is not enough room for modding the motor,so I'll wait until they make them tt.

The P car would be nice but I just couldnt imagine leaving it in a parking lot or having some idiot put a scratch in it.I cant deal with stuff like that.

 

Hey Jangy. Yep, that's the marketing pic that Porsche has been using for the GT3. Stunning, huh? I keep looking at all the TT pics and the GT3 just looks better. The wheels are much nicer the front end is much nicer, and most importantly this car sits much lower than the TT. Makes a huge difference.

One over the other? Well, this may be completely off (so don't shoot me) but what the hell - Think E55 (TT) vs. M5 (GT3). I know that's real simplistic but that may give you an idea.

Many think of the TT to be more GT like, while the GT3 is the hard core car. Many enthusiasts though are really upset at Porsche about the latest GT3 as the US car has a sunroof , PASM, full leather, NAV, etc. they think they've really watered down the car, but hard to say since no one's really driven it yet. All the reviews I've read have been very positive (more so than the TT) and they still say the car is still a beast (and better than the 996 GT3) when you want it to be, but more civilized as well. If that is true I don't see how that's a bad thing. If you want an all out track porsche get the GT3 RS that's on it's way.

If you're serious about looking at p-cars go visit Rennlist, Rennteam, and 6speedonline.

I'm afraid to drive either as that might be an expensive test drive!