JohnRain

Following last year's underwhelming Porsche booking experience with Avis, I tried exactly once to book online (it didn't work) and I called once (the agent had no clue what I was talking about), before outsourcing the whole thing to my Amex concierge. It worked in the end, but it's really hard to understand why this special offer is only bookable online on rare occasions and why most Avis agents don't even know it exists. Hello Avis, if the idea is to generate new business through this promotion, you might want to seriously rethink your booking process. As much as I enjoyed my ride, it only strengthened my loyalty towards Sixt who does a much better job.

Mrs JohnRain getting comfy.




On the positive side, the car was brand new (it had less than 300 km on the clock).







Fat tire.







After enjoying a few stretches without speed limit on the Autobahn, the traffic grew heavier and as the weather was lovely we drove to Wiesbaden, a city I've always wanted to visit.







There's always time for a silly pose.




Photo-op in front of a local governmet building.




Another enjoyable aspect of the Porsche Experience is that you get to arrive at the FCT like you're supposed to, ie by car on the first (main) floor rather than by foot on the ground floor.




I had planned on taking more photos from the FCT (especially with some new angles), but time was short and I was hungry. I knew I should have taken the earlier flight from CDG.




The only meat-based dish on the menu I hadn't eaten yet today: Leberkäse.




Cheers! Looking forward to embarking on a new adventure and sharing it with you.



Up Next: To Tokyo in the nose of the Queen of the Skies.

MikeFly

Longtime lurker on your trip reports - fantastic as always. Did your Porsche have the suggested routes programmed into your GPS? I did this a couple of months ago and the Porsche didn't - I had printed out the route options and programmed the one I wanted. Not a big deal, but it is another point to your contention that Avis/Porsche really are not executing this program very well at all. I do agree with you that arriving at the FCT in your Porsche is the way to do it! Especially when the valet handles all the paperwork and returns the car for you.

TOMFORD

What a tease of an installment

chongl

From what I remember in JohnRain's last report, he did not have preprogrammed routes. I tried the same back in December, and I had nothing to go by either

JohnRain

Thank you very much for your compliment, MikeFly, glad that you like my reports.
Interesting that you had the same issue with the preprogrammed routes as they weren't available to me either (again).
I had also printed out the route but I was only able to program an itinerary from A to B, rather than A to B via C.
Avis is indeed doing a very poor job with this promotion. I'll do it again as it is great fun, but my negative opinion about Avis was only reinforced. The FCT on the other hand is doing a great job with the Valet service, as you mentioned.


It's not so easy to shoot pictures when you're driving on the left lane of the Autobahn, TOMFORD...


You remember well, chongl. It's beyond me how they can advertise such an important feature and then fail so miserably in the execution.

Update: the next installment will be online over the weekend.

gaobest

Fabulous! Thank you so much - your TRs are always so fun.
Your 911 pictures look like the car isn't open - did you drive it open or closed? I drive an old Saab convertible and it's open as much as possible, especially on our California autobahn. I keep hoping to hire a Porsche but haven't yet reached that treat; I'm patient. Maybe it helps that I already drive a convertible.

Justin Case

[QUOTE=JohnRain;28234954]




On the positive side, the car was brand new (it had less than 300 km on the clock).




Only 288km. Don't the have a " break-in the engine" procedure at Porsche? Or is this just a problem for the owner in 10 years time?

Jaenks

Pleasant reading as always. When I rented the Porsche, at first went straight to AVIS counter to make sure that they have availability, then to FCT for breakfast and lunch, returned to AVIS,had a two hours 140 km ride and gave the car back in front of FCT. Hopefully you turned S+ on . AVIS had a LH 2000 miles rental promotion,so got those too after claiming. Now they have another promotion.
https://www.avis.de/mietwagen-angebo...r-work-special

JohnRain

Thank you very much for your kind words, gaobest...
I drove it closed on the Autobahn and open on slower roads. In California I would of course drive open whenever possible as well...



They certainly have break-in guidelines Justin Case, although I very much doubt that anyone renting a Porsche really cares about them..


Thanks a lot Jaenks!
Is there another mode than S+?
I also claimed the 2000 miles, hopefully this promotion is still valid.
The afterwork promotion just goes to show how car-crazy the Germans are. 149 euros for a night out in a Porsche is really a good deal.

FlightNurse

It's not his car, so just go out and have fun !

gaobest

[QUOTE=Justin Case;28240314]I'm also thinking that any Porsche sold will be fully serviced / inspected prior to the resale from the car rental firm. I don't know how cars get resold in Germany but USA car rental firms often have a resale division. In theory the car is sold in really decent condition.

curt

It's the overall ensemble which is : Holsten, Schinkenhäger and Schinken... Stereotypical German in the 50's and 60's...

NA-Flyer

Unfortunately no Krug or Dom Pérignon in LH FCT or FCL or onbaord to make the First class travel experience on LH perfect

zxsuxr

[QUOTE=gaobest;28247911]visually decent condition. They aren't going to do a leak down test or compression test on every used vehicle they eventually sell.

JohnRain

Exactly FlightNurse, that's what I did!


Personally I wouldn't touch cars sold by rental firms gaobest, as I suspect that the average customer treats his rental car like he would never treat his own.


Exactly curt!
I wasn't born back then but I nevertheless feel nostalgic when looking at the picture.


Indeed, NA-Flyer, indeed. I also wouldn't mind if they hired Do&Co for the onboard catering.


That's certainly correct, zxsuxr.