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Thanks all for the thoughtful and insightful comments, especially Jake. I specifically did not ask about the four cylinder 924/944/968 or V-8 928, since Porsche clearly intended those for a different market than the 911. The 924 wasn't even designed to be a Porsche and came with a VW engine. No new ground for Porsche in those engines compared to the radical change from air cooled flat-6 to water cooled (even though some flat-6 race engines had water cooled heads).
A most interesting observation that in the past that nobody would discard a vintage 911 because of a motor that self-destructed (and some did). From what I've read, proper engine work on an old air cooled flat 6 is not as inexpensive as on the M96 ones, and top end work comes much sooner on the old air cooled ones.
Clearly it's not just accountants calling the shots to blame, because the Cayenne came after the original Boxster to drive Porsche's profits higher, and there are no Cayenne engine horror stories like with our Boxsters. Maybe Porsche recognized SUV drivers weren't the same sort of enthusiasts as the ones who traditionally drove 911s. And the Cayennes come with the same ridiculously high oil change intervals with Mobil 1 0w40 as the Boxster and Carrera (lower OCI for DFI engines).
The market dynamics for the Boxster are certainly different than in the past, with Boxsters and Carreras bought as both serious sports cars and fashion statements (I think half the new Carreras I see around here are driven by women). Last week I went to my local Porsche dealer to see if they could figure out a front end squeak. The lead mechanic and I went for an extended joy ride through the canyons trying to identify the source of the sound, and he commented he would love to get a Boxster to go with his vintage canyon racer 911s, but his wife wouldn't let him have any more projects - he loved the balance and driving dynamics of the Boxster.
I think it will be really interesting to hear from Jake when he has more data built up how many engine failures are with enthusiasts, and how many are with just regular car drivers. Also, how many happily followed Porsche's maintenance specs and how many cut the oil change interval in half or more
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