Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsimion
I would put in a used engine and SELL it.
There is no acceptable reason why my engine should ever blow up. I don't track the car, I drive it respectfully, don't overrev, and I maintain it very carefully. If my engine were to blow under these conditions, I have no further use for the car and it's just a matter of salvaging what I can out of it.
|
^ I used to feel this way as well. Until I did some back of the envelope math and realized that between purchase, upgrades, major maintenance and consumables I've got over $60K into a car that still looks good enough to get a compliment from another motorist every other drive. No rust, paint still shines, the interior looks great. It could use a little paint work freshening up every so often, but for the money I'd get selling I simply would not get something remotely comparable. And if the replacement were also German, I've got a bunch of new things to worry about all over again. If the Boxster engine replacement can be done for a sensible price, statiscally, I'd be good to go for another decade or longer... certainly if I quit driving it 10K+ miles a year.
But looking back now I think my policy would have been wiser had I switched out of water-cooled non-Metzer Porsches every 2-3 years max. Not that the wet engines are so terrible, but more that these flavor of Porsches start to collapse in value just as the really expensive, non-engine repairs start to emerge. double whammy. I think the only Porsche, that I could actually drive with some regularity (without fear of seeing value evaporate as the odometer ticks up like the air-cooled) would be 996/997 GT3. Those engines ensure some sustainability in the car's overall value for a non-collector/non-garage queen Porsche. And the car iself is much faster and better handling than any of the air-cooled Porsches by a long way. Too bad the engine is in the wrong place or that Porsche never bothered to put a Metzger in a high end midengine coupe. Completely retarded decision that presumes high end rear engine and mid-engine could not coexist. So in a perfect set up the GT3 would be keeper, the Boxster would be the girlfriend of the month and who knows what would be the daily driver, maybe a Wrangler.