[racer_d]

I enjoyed my Boxster ownership sans warranty coverage. A 2000 Non s. 40K miles when bought. Sold 1 year later for the same money.. 4k miles and a ripped rear window later. No RMS failure. No engine failures.. A Maf failure, an oil pressure switch failure ($200) and, suprise, a Variocam actuator failure. Part was around $800.. labor? a lot more.. About $3K out of pocket to fix. Suprised of the failure? yes. but owning what was a $50K car and trying to maintain on a $15K car budget is NOT being realistic. This is why 944s sell for $3k. Lots of people can afford to enter the dance, but staying there costs some serious time/money of upkeep (a clutch job in a 944 is a $2k proposition.. if you only paid $3K for the car, where's the incentive to fix it for example).

If anything, I hoped you learned that Porsche ownership is an ACTIVE relationship. It asks the owner to learn its intricacies and notice when things aren't quite right.. then have them attended to before they become even larger problems. You new there was a problem. You have replaced axles before.. was there not cause for concern that the joints were now dry and grinding?

Did your dealer determine to replace the entire axle after removal and inspection of the actual axle? here the bearings ruined? dry? missing? My hope is that more than the boot was at issue here and you are not sharing the whole story of any damage to the parts that would make replacement the way to go.

I would also venture that the "repair vs replace" mentality is now EVERYWHERE. Why spend $20 to fix a $10 watch? Cars are built as cheaply as they possibly can, and in that formula, "replace" is the new "fix". It costs the shop less time and if the costs are nearly the same, wouldn't you want a "new" one than your "old one fixed"?