7:21 am, January 21, 2011
I’ve decided that if we ever do make it to our goal of trading up from nothing to a Porsche 911 in our charity challenge I will keep driving it to a minimum.
Why? Well it seems Porsche has become my bogey brand; my Friday 13th of car makers. Once again I’ve had to make ‘that’ call to the marque’s press office apologising that I’ll be sending one of their pride and joy back with a battle scar.
This time wounding was sustained by an incompetent London bus driver who decided that instead of one lane on Putney Bridge, he’d use two. Thing is, he failed to tell me…
As we set off from the lights to cross the bridge he entered my lane, side-swiping the Cayenne diesel I’ve been enjoying all week.
The bus has smashed the side indicator repeater and scratched the paint – an annoying and unnecessary blemish. What made matters worse was he was more annoyed I was making him late when I asked him to give me his details.
It means that once again I’ve been forced to call the press office and explain the situation. Although it wasn’t my fault, it still grates having to ring up and explain what’s happened. Really, he should have done it.
Thing is, Car Dealer and Porsche don’t mix very well. You see, unfortunately we’ve got form here.
A few years back we borrowed a Cayman which was rear ended by a berk in a Merc at a roundabout. That happened two days into a test, cutting short our time with the cracking car.
Then a year later we sent back a Cayman S that had, how can I put this delicately, ‘been redesigned’. They had just about forgiven us for that misdemeanor and now this happens.
So it appears Porsches and CDM mix like oil and water – it’s just not meant to be. And that’s a shame as I really quite fancied shelling out my own hard-earned on the 996 were we ever to achieve our goal and purchase one in our 911 for 2011 challenge.
I’m thinking now that’s probably not a good idea. Something’s telling me it could be a serious recipe for disaster…
More about our 911 for 2011 challenge can be found here
