After Driving a Boxer, another car is like...

[BrakeExpert]

Yes that's true, tho the new CTR is faster as well. (the 97 CTR was faster, wierd)

OK TIME to vent. This is a general rant against German engineering. I'm an ASE Master Tech and I've jokingly said 'if you praise german car engineering, you've never worked on a german car.) remember those Volkswagen Golf commercials a few years ago with the goofy scientist guy?

I ran my Boxster pretty much out of gas in my driveway; there was a pipeline break and several of the southern states didn't have fuel. Well we got back regular 87 octane first but it took several more days for premium to get refueled. Long story short, I needed to bring back a container of 93 octane gasoline. So I take my gas tank, go fuel it up, and come home. When i go to refuel the boxster, I do like I've done for years. Stick the nozzle in and pour in the gasoline. After a few seconds it flows out and the damn filler hole vomits gasoline all over me like a drunk baby. Lost about half my gas all overmyself and the ground, got it all over my wheel and paint and all. What the hell? I try again and same thing. Again I'm soaked. I start to curse and yell "you German piece of crap!" and all. I look into the filler flap and open it, looking for an obstruction. The flap, when you push it up with your finger, makes a click near the top. The sound reminds me of a solenoid. So it seems if the flap is partially open...you can't fill the tank? What if someone accidently put diesel in there, how am I suppose to get a siphon tube in there just in case? And what if I didn't stick the nozzle at the gas pump in correctly, am I gonna soak myself at the gas station? This just made me aggrivated. Why did they design this? Actually, I don't care what their reason is, it was over engineered. Every other car in my life does not need this overly complicated system, it should never have been designed. So I think...my cheap old Honda Civic never had this problem, millions upon millions of other cars never had this problem. Its stuff like this that makes me feel like this car maybe IS just a 'cheap 911' as it was called when it was released in 1997. What kills me is that someone decided to spend money on this electronic system. Then I think what if it fails and this solenoid (the car is off, key out) goes back and forth and wears the battery down? Its one more part to fail and I KNOW my Honda is better engineered than this. It's an area to add weight, not save it, and I'm frustrated at Porsche doing this. Like the IMS shaft it shouldn't have been built in the first place. So minus 1 point for the car I was praising last week about how well designed I felt the boxster convertible top frame was.

Sorry about this rant but I'm sure someone out there has to have a similar feeling about this over-designed mechanism. I think...buy an S2000 instead. Its cheaper to maintain, faster, has a better suspension and is far easier to work on.

End Rant.

[fanguy]

BE I know Alt well use to party in the underground in the 70s.

I would totally agree with the over engineering. I worked in Germany for three years being an aeronautical engineer for about 8 years. Even the door hinges on my flat looked like they came out of a WWII bunker. The telephone switching station at work when they were pulled out had swastikas pressed in the metal and the still worked. I think they still have the concept of the 1k years.

8 or 9 years ago I saw a show on History Channel of an aircraft war museum in the UK was doing a rebuilt on a JU 87 Stuka German fighter from WWII with a BMW engine. There are were no gaskets due to shortage of rubber and the machining tolerances were so tight they did not need any. The big concern was if they were unsure if they would be refurbished the engine to those exact tolerance’s that it would ever start.

The Japanese are superior engineers and build it simple and functional and no more than is needed for a superior quality product. How ever there was a time in the 80s hi you needed to remove the radio from a civic you had to talk out the console to release the radio/environment control assembly which was not fun.

The Honda s2000 is an amazing car and many people don’t know about them. I would love to have one. Being retired I have plenty of time. I guess I need to run to the store get flowers and my GF favorite wine and suggest she should keep working for a few more years.

[TeamOxford]

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