i've dealt with two of the many local southern California porsche dealers - hoehn in carlsbad, where i bought the car (85 mile one way drive for me) and walter's in riverside (10 miles one way drive for me) which is where i've been dealing with service/warranty issues. the next closest dealer is probably desert imports in rancho mirage - about 70 miles. so, certainly, one of the underlying issues in my case may be my initial experiences with the riverside dealer and recognizing that unless i wish to drive 100+ miles everytime i need something done, i'm bound to use walter's. i think anyone on this forum would agree - that if you have the option to drive 10 mile versus 80 miles, you'd prefer the convenience and satisfaction of the 10 mile option.
of course, also consider that this past weekend i was on the verge of letting the box (and my vw) go for a 330ci performance pkg. although i was gonna take a hit on the vw, their trade in offer was pretty good. furthermore, offering me kbb on the boxster was not only a good trade-in value, but versus what i paid for the car, translated into VERY VERY mild depreciation, had i closed the deal. thus, i'm not completely dissatisfied - just a little underjoyed - but that may rub off.
on a side note, i called a friend's local porsche mechanic to inquire his cost to install my schnell short shifter - although i could do it, just seems like something to put in the hands of an expert (maybe if my boxster was an older one and/or a second car, i'd be more apt to dive in my self). anyway, the mechanic must be a bit of a purist, here's what our conversation went like:
me: - hey, met you bout a month ago, you do a lot of work on my friend's cars. i've got a schnell short shifter and an 05 987 - can you install it and if so, how much?
mech: why would you want to do that?
me: it really cleans up the shifting with out making it too notchy
mech: no it doesn't
me: well, from what other owner's who have installed it have stated, it makes for a nice solid shifting experience.
mech: don't you think if that were true, then porsche would have thought about that and made the shifter like that to begin with
me: (laughing in my head, thinking about things like windstops that don't rattle, radios that have ipod adaptors or satellite radio, locking doors at > 5mph, the overly expensive porsche short shifter) - believe it or not, i have many missed shifts going from 2nd into 3rd, i really think this will help and think there are actually some things that porsche has overlooked!
