Quote:
Originally Posted by pothole
Why does it matter whether some ricer next to you can accelerate faster? Surely what matters is how enjoyable your car is to drive, period? Never understood this kind of thinking, seems you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Don't care how fast other cars are, just care what the car I'm driving feels like. If it doesn't have the acceleration you want, fair enough. But don't understand what a Civic has to do with anything...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pothole
Why does it matter whether some ricer next to you can accelerate faster? Surely what matters is how enjoyable your car is to drive, period? Never understood this kind of thinking, seems you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Don't care how fast other cars are, just care what the car I'm driving feels like. If it doesn't have the acceleration you want, fair enough. But don't understand what a Civic has to do with anything...
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For me it's a question of value. IS my 02 s fun to drive? Absolutely! Does that make up for the fact that a stock Dodge Neon SRT will give me a run for my money off the line? Not really... This reality is even more dismaying because it was intentional. Every Boxster that has come of the line has been deliberately hamstrung by the company. One could say that my Neon analogy is unfair because it's a blown engine... and that's a good point so then let's compare NA engines:
2002 M3 3.2L makes 333hp and 262ftlbs torque
2002 M roadster makes 333hp and 262ftlbs torque
2002 Carrera 3.6 320hp and 273ftlbs torque
2002 986 2.7 makes 217hp and 192 ftlbs torque
2002 986 S 3.2L makes 250hp and 225ftlbs of torque
HP/torque per litre per car:
M3 = 104.063 HP per Litre and 81.88ftlbs per Litre
M roadster 104.063 HP per Litre and 81.88ftlbs per Litre
Carrera = 88.89 hp per litre and 71.67 ftlbs per litre
986 = 80.37hp per litre 71.1ftlbs per Liter
986S = 78.13HP per liter and 70.313ftlbs per litre
In terms of performance per litre, The 986 S is the worst of the breed. Why??? Could Porsche not get the same HP per liter out for various displacement engines of the same basic engine platform? Sure the could have, but the didn't...
Power to weight ratio:
M3 3415 P/W
10.8
M Roadster 3084.3 P/W
9.3
Carrera 2910 P/W
9.1
986 2788 P/W
12.8
986 S 2855lbs P/W
11.4
Do you think the M roaster is in a class above the Boxster S? Because it is performance wise... Porsche did manage to charge 15% more than BMW so hey in terms of MSRP numbers, Porsche er uh wins... Resale? M roadster with comparable miles will bring as much as an S or more...
Porsche builds great driving cars, but that does not make their short comings any less annoying. All of there cars could have been show stoppers if they had just managed to keep up with BMW. On a side note the Boxster gets lousy mileage compared to its heavier and higher powered competitors... Lose/lose
Add in IMS issues and customer service issues which has been beaten to death. My soon to be uncle in law has bought 2 CPO 911s from the dealer. His last, a 2006 997 Carrera grenaded last fall because of IMS failure. The dealer told him to pound sand. He'll never by another P-car.
So yeah, I love P-cars, but I'm not in love with their corporate decision making.
It's kind of like watching a great sports franchise loose because the coach has his head up his a$$.
All of this is a bitter pill when I get smoked off the line by a car that costs less to buy, maintain and feed.
But hey, it goes around corners nice so that should make up for all of the other failures - riiiiiiight...
I love my car, but I have no illusions about it's or it's manufacturer's short comings...