Not impressed so far, Porsche!

[deliriousga]

Originally Posted by eslai

I bought my 987S in May. It has about 5300 miles on it.

I hate to say it, but you're one of the first model guinea pigs. The 987 was reported to be 80% new from the 986. Every first model car I've ever bought went through the same thing causing me to never buy a first model again. They will fix the problems that show up after the 987 is on the road awhile, but you'll probably be in the dealership more than the 2nd generation and up of the 987 model.

Originally Posted by longislander1

I love the car, but my impression is that it's not as well built as the '95 968 that I sold a couple months ago.

Ditto. The biggest difference I see is the "luxury" is missing. The interior especially is very cheap now where the old models were luxury top to bottom.

[Brucelee]

Re: the transmission. It is an all new unit for the 987, sourced from Japan. So, history on the 986 trans will not be useful to you I think.

That said, the trans and clutch on the 986 seemed to be troublefree for the most part.

It was the dreaded RMS that many complain about.

I do agree with the comments on how the interior was redone on the 987, I did not like the direction they took on that. Of course, that is subjective.

The car popping out of second sounds to me like a bad syncro. This usually happens on cars with tons of miles on them, not a new car.

Please keep us posted on what this turns out to be.

Best of luck.

[Perfectlap]

Porsche will always have these issues. They are tiny operation relative to other
sportscar makes like Honda, BMW, etc.
The limited numbers of cars Porsche sells means they'll never have the "hassle free ownership product" that the huge auto makers can produce.

and I think this highlights what a great car the 2004 BoxsterS is.
Most of the gremlins eradicated for a bargain(sort of) price and its only down 22 horses.
I'm sure the 987S will be rock solid car on the reliability/quirk free front in a few years also.and Ditto on the CaymanS.

Look on the bright side...How many people in your life right now(apart from the
P-club and racing) do you know who own a Porsche? Your still the Porsche guy!

I've kept an unofficial tally of compliments since I bought this thing in November of 2004 and I'm passed the 50 mark. All for the price of a fully equiped Accord!

[mrsparkle]

I feel your pain, eslai.

I'm currently waiting for a oil relief valve fix for my 987S and have some other minor problems. My passenger side window is making noise when rolling up and down. Sounds like a 10 year old car window. My bi-xenon headlights make a grinding noise when clicking the key to the right (don't remember what posistion that is) without the motor running. Not sure if that's supposed to happen. And finally, I have a broken "sound" button on my stereo. Its funny because I use that button a lot to change the surround settings.

I have had problems with the cd not playing a couple times but it seems to have fixed itself. I remember that it only happened when it was really hot inside the car. I thought it was the overheat protection feature. I guess I was wrong.

Does anyone know if the dealer in Newport Beach give out loaners? I know Hoehn does.

[longislander1]

Actually, I think the base 987 interior is pretty nice (a lot better than the 986s), except for the standard wheel. The one in my $22K Mazda Tribute feels better. I'm sorry I didn't upgrade to a sport wheel, but then I wonder why I spent $60K and didn't get a better wheel.

Except for the seats, which were the same as a base 993, the 968 interior was actually kind of cheap-looking. Still, that car just had a "beefier" feel to it than the 987, especially the steering and clutch. While the 987 handles beautifully and is very refined, it may be a little too refined and delicate. To my mind, Porsche used to make the cars the way they wanted and if you didn't like it, you could buy something else. Today, they seem a little more mass market. Of course, I'm not out of the break-in period yet, so I wonder whether I'll still feel the same way above 4200 rpm.

[SD987]

The only issues on my 05 base (June purchase, 5000 miles) are:

Wind deflector rattle, it was initially tight but after about 3,000 miles has developed a minor rattle. Not surprising as I've never had a wind/deflector on a convertible (3) not make some sort of noise. Surprisingly I haven't heard the side-mirror whistling that others have complained about.

Right side squealing noise was experienced during breakin, then goes away (seems to be a common phenomenon)

Stereo, i get the 'Stop' message occasionally, just requires disc reinsertion. Burned CDs frequently don't sound as good or skip more than conventional CDs, but this too isn't specific to Porsche.

I did expect the shifter to be a bit better (5 speed). I was having trouble during break-in getting 'locked' out of first, but not anymore, and I stalled out on a 3-N shift once, when it went into fourth instead. One thing I've noted is that the car does not like sloppy pedal/shifter work, so I've had to pay more attention to driving mechanics than in other cars, but this is probably a good thing.

On the plus side, the car seems to drive better after break-in and keeps improving. Performance overall is superior and fuel economy took a dramatic jump for me after 4500 miles from nocticeably poor to acceptable.

I think the interior is nice, clearly just personal preference but I also think that some of the problems we see on on loaded porsches is similar to the issues that have plagued mercedes recently and cars like the new BMW 7 series: The more gizmos and functions you put in a car, the more reliability issues you're going to create.

I also don't think people factor their driving habits into the car reliability equation. For example, I notice a surprising number of stick drivers who don't let the engine wind down and push in the clutch as soon as they start braking or go clutch-move into first instead of move towards first - clutch. These are just a couple examples of the hundres of little things people do different that result in YMMV.

[RandallNeighbour]

SD987:

I am interested in learning more about proper clutch use, upshifting and downshifting to maximize performance and minimize clutch and engine wear. Could you start a new thread and discuss this? I'm all ears (or eyes as it were).