[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by Topless

I consider myself fortunate to own a vehicle from the top autmotive companies from the US, Japan and Germany.

05 Chevy truck: 45k hard miles and nearly flawless( the CD player stopped working recently. It gets lousey gas mileage and wallows through a turn like a double ended keelboat in heavy seas.

00 Lexus: 165K miles and flawless. It still looks nearly new and nothing has ever failed on it...ever. Only regular PM and fluids. It drives like a leather couch on wheels. I nearly have to take NoDoze before driving it...so smooth...and so boring.

98 Boxter: 68k miles, no major problems, lots of little nusiance failures. CEL, coolant tank, soft top relay loose, nursing the plastic rear window, key issues, and surely the most fun I have ever had on 4 wheels. I have gone a lot faster, I have had a lot more HP, but nothing else was nearly as much fun as my little Box.

From my perspective German cars (Porsche Audi BMW Benz VW) are way ahead in terms of tactile driving experience and way behind in terms of nusiance failures.
If Porsche really wants to sell more cars they can no longer afford to build cars with all these little annoyances. It is not rocket science. Even lowly Hyundai has figured this out and its new cars are excellent quality throughout. Just do what the Japanese do and assign a team to "engineer out" nuisance failures like RMS, window mechanism, ign switch, soft top mech, CEL, coolant tank etc. If we can put a man on the moon surely we can overcome these simple failures. Every major US and JP car Mfg. is working towards this.

By making their cars more "owner friendly" they will attract a much larger market share who are no longer afraid to "Buy German".

Hi,

You make several points, but remember, it was the US which put a man on the moon, not the Federal Republic of Germany...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99