Driving a Porsche, people staring like it was a Lambo....

[Mario149]

....is pretty much what we've experienced over the last few days!

To clarify, we're in a 20 year old 993, so nothing modern or fancy, but the attention it gets is remarkable. Presumably it's because Porsches are so rare here? We've been in country for 3 days now (Santander to Barcelona) and not seen one other Boxster/Cayman/911 of any sort. How come there are so few about? New Porsches seem to be about 20% more pricey than in the UK so not the end of the world, and road tax (from a very rapid google) doesn't seem prohibitive. I know Spain suffered during the last few years, but I would have expected to see a few about....any ideas?

[dododo]

20% is not "the end of the world" if you have it.

20% extra on top of €60,000 is a lot (to me, at least).

[mickrick]

Loads of porkers in Spain. A couple of Panna watyacallems, and the bread van ones too. I certainly see more here in Mallorca than U.K.
Plenty of Ferrari's, Masser's & Lambo's too.

[ESDavey]

In my experience, the Spanish are interested in anything different. Give it some beans !

[Mario149]

ESDavey said:

In my experience, the Spanish are interested in anything different. Give it some beans !

Nation of car enthusiasts then eh?! Great! We looked on auto trader and there were loads of 996s etc for sale. Guess we may have just been unlucky and not seen any. Did finally see a 997 cab today in Andorra though, and a some ferraris, mclarens and similar on a rally (stickers with "30" on, anyone know the event?) just before we crossed the border.

[ShinyAndy]

Porsches are more common than Seat Leons around here! Maybe ooop norf they prefer to spend their money on other things?

[AOK]

We are coming to the end of a 2 week road trip round Spain in a BMW 420d. Same thing here. We set the cruise to 70 on the motorways and most cars that pass have all occupants (including driver) staring as if they've never seen a BMW before. In town as well eyes all over us. Only in Gibraltar did we seem immune.

Gets bloody irritating. So much so I've just started returning internationally recognised hand gestures.

As it's only a BMW I'm pretty sure it's more the foreign plates / rhd that sparks the intrigue, rather than the car itself

[KFC]

mickrick said:

Loads of porkers in Spain. A couple of Panna watyacallems, and the bread van ones too. I certainly see more here in Mallorca than U.K.
Plenty of Ferrari's, Masser's & Lambo's too.

I'm across the border in Portugal, living in one of the wealthiest areas of the algarve. Cayennes and Panameras are absolutely everywhere. 911's, not so much.