986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - Exhaust sound comparison

black_box · 05-19-2012, 10:29 AM

Ah.... the "Porsche Tax".

Any car can be done right or wrong and a lot of the time it's not very well related to how much you spend.

I respectfully disagree with you PerfectLap (also, I see we're neighbors, sort of!). Spinners are in my opinion, dangerous and gaudy, and I would not put them on any car. But that's not what we're talking about here. Junk is junk and doesn't belong on anything of mine.

There is no rule saying that everything I use on my Porsche has to cost 2x-3x what a comparable item for "normal" cars costs. If an item is of sufficient quality and it looks like it will work for my application, I'll use it after careful research. I've also found that, while sometimes quality and price are correlated, that the dealers and aftermarket for these cars rely on the notion that because the cars were expensive that every part for them must also be, regardless of its actual to cost produce or quality. Quite a business model, if you can make it work.

I'd prefer to evaluate on a case-by-case basis... and from what I've read the build quality on these mufflers, generically referred to on this board as "Charlie Chans" is decent, certainly good enough for a part that cannot cause the car to suffer any catastrophe should it break and is only being installed to increase the volume on my teutonic hairdryer.

I know that, sometimes, it is good to play the money-is-no-object game, but in this case I'd rather keep in my pocket the thousand$ people spend on exhaust, and rather save towards my next Porsche.

Don't even get me started on the inflated labor rates for very routine work, $150 oil changes and such...

05-19-2012, 10:29 AM	#11
black_box DIY extremist Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 348	Ah.... the "Porsche Tax". Any car can be done right or wrong and a lot of the time it's not very well related to how much you spend. I respectfully disagree with you PerfectLap (also, I see we're neighbors, sort of!). Spinners are in my opinion, dangerous and gaudy, and I would not put them on any car. But that's not what we're talking about here. Junk is junk and doesn't belong on anything of mine. There is no rule saying that everything I use on my Porsche has to cost 2x-3x what a comparable item for "normal" cars costs. If an item is of sufficient quality and it looks like it will work for my application, I'll use it after careful research. I've also found that, while sometimes quality and price are correlated, that the dealers and aftermarket for these cars rely on the notion that because the cars were expensive that every part for them must also be, regardless of its actual to cost produce or quality. Quite a business model, if you can make it work. I'd prefer to evaluate on a case-by-case basis... and from what I've read the build quality on these mufflers, generically referred to on this board as "Charlie Chans" is decent, certainly good enough for a part that cannot cause the car to suffer any catastrophe should it break and is only being installed to increase the volume on my teutonic hairdryer. I know that, sometimes, it is good to play the money-is-no-object game, but in this case I'd rather keep in my pocket the thousand$ people spend on exhaust, and rather save towards my next Porsche. Don't even get me started on the inflated labor rates for very routine work, $150 oil changes and such...