The other day I happened to pass by the Al Nabooda service centre to collect a friend’s car. Given that my Cayman has covered 13,400km and a service was almost due, I decided to drop my car off, have it serviced starting that day and use my friend’s car in the meantime. No such luck.

I was told I had to wait three weeks. The Germans have not managed to bring their level of efficiency and service to the Gulf. But they’ve certainly achieved their procedural rigidity.? I was welcomed on the day by my service advisor and had a conversation about my dad’s 1984 Porsche 928 S4 with the resident expert, Mr. George. This guy can recite the rubber compound on the spare tyre of a 1966 Carrera. Utterly incredible.

In the end, we talked about the PDK transmission. I expressed my growing discontent for its continuous jerkiness and throttle lag. It turns out that Porsche seem to be discontent too. I wouldn’t mind it if the car would be as responsive as it promises, but it isn’t. They said that the 911 has a new transmission software upgrade (v2.1.1.23) that could correct if not the jerkiness, the response to the throttle. I don’t want to go into it but let’s say that after tons of begging, I got the upgrade. The performance now seems slightly better but it’s too soon to tell.

After being told about Porsche’s demonic service charges, $ 210 seemed quite reasonable. I was treated kindly and their initial finishing time was only extended by two days. Not too bad for Dubai...