|
Originally Posted by z12358
"We've had this same discussion over and over."
I agree with Grizzly. Perhaps I'll change my mind when my first big problem comes but I have two things I've been meaning to say that may have been overlooked:
1. The failure statistics (1 in 4 or 5) are just estimates. But even if they were confirmed, one could dollarize them as just another addition to the cost of ownership. We already know that there are plenty of cheaper good cars out there that are also cheaper to maintain, too. But the market seems to be pricing in some sort of performance and quality (other than reliability) attributes in a Porsche that differentiate it from the rest. In other words, people are prepared to pay more for a Porsche (in more than one way, and that includes purchase price, maintenance, and increased dollarized cost of potential repair) than for other "comparable" cars. Personally, I could not replicate the experience of driving my Box in any other car I had driven (not even close) and I found the price of that feeling acceptable. Obviously others have too.
These are estimates to be sure. But, lacking anything official from Porsche, this is all we have to go on. And, they are conservative estimates, and ones which both a PCNA Service Rep and an Area Dealer confirmed to me in conversation. There have been polls done here and on other Forums which rate the failure % much higher. All the rest of this is fine if you know this beforehand, if you make an informed choice. But, the information is from non-official sources and make many of the naysayers look like malcontents (I fear being so labled sometimes).
2. It's not fair to compare Porsche to Toyota or most other cars out there. I can't prove this but I have a feeling that, on average, Porsches are driven much harder than most other cars out there. They are simply built and optimized for that -- and they are so darn fun when pushed. I would bet that an average Porsche operates multiple times longer in the 4k+ rpm area than an average Lexus, Toyota, or even a BMW, for that matter. An average Porsche would be exposed to much higher G-forces than all of those as well, subjecting the suspension and the engine with all its fluids to much more stress. These must be taken into consideration when comparing failure and reliability statistics, and then apples to apples the differences may not be so "outrageous".
Again, these are fundamental design failures, not ones which are brought on by pushing the limits of the car. I have a friend with an '04 S which suffered a catastrophic RMS failure at 2300 miles and he had yet to exceed 4k RPM on the car - engine replacement. A woman had an intermediate shaft failure while idling at a stoplight (0MPH, 0G) - engine replacement.
I don't concede that they are as a whole driven any harder. There are many people who don't Track, DE or Auto-X their Boxsters at all, and they aren't any more exempt from these problems than anyone else. The failures are simply not related to heavy use such as Blown Head gaskets, failed Rod Bearings, and Melted Pistons usually are.
I drive my Boxster like I do my everyday car - pretty easy, and much less hard than my Esprit. My confidence level is greater in my Esprit (by a factor of 10) than the Boxster, despite Lotus reputation as being China Dolls. In fact, in 16 yrs. owning my Lotus, the only failures I ever had were directly related to pushing the car, and I drive that car HARD!
Z.
|