Not impressed so far, Porsche!

[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).

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by 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).

Actually, the rub is that to maximize performance, you are likely going to maximize clutch anhd engine wear.

To wit, racing a car will bring an end to these items faster than if you don't race the car.

And, there MAY be a happy medium.

Lets here from the drivers!

[SoCal]

Originally Posted by 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).

I'd like to see that info too. I think I know how to down-shift to help slow the car without over revving, but I don't know what I don't know.

[eslai]

Update: I took the car to the dealership today. The tech tells me that he thinks that the operating sleeve just isn't holding.

FYI, he's talking about the ring gear that slides back and forth between two gears to actually engage either one of them. On the porsche there's an operating sleeve between first and second that slides back and forth. It isn't holding on second is what he thinks.

But, no parts are available for the 987 tranny yet. I need a new tranny.

Here's the kicker though. They pulled some codes from my car. In the 986 there were apparently two levels of warnings. One if you were just bouncing off the rev limiter and another level if you over-revved the engine by downshifting wrong.

My service advisor told me that the latter of those two codes puts you somewhat at the mercy of Porsche, as far as warranty claims go.

The 987 has FIVE levels of these flags (i have no idea what the real terminology is) and my service advisor doesn't know how to read them. He says that i have warnings in the first three ranges.

Well, I know I've never over-revved the engine. I've bounced off the rev-limiter in first, naturally--it's a really short gear, but I've never over-revved. The closest I've come to that are a couple of times when i shifted into the wrong gear and started to let out the clutch, heard the motor leap but put the clutch back in before it ever got near redline.

I'll be very disappointed if they decide not to warrant this transmission based on any of these codes. My service advisor is going to call his rep tomorrow and find out what's up. I've had plenty of other cars where I've treated the transmission either the same or worse (back in my learner's permit days ) and I've never had any problems. I really hope they don't end up completely eroding my belief in Porsche durability and warranty coverage. My Mitsubishi drivetrain has proven more reliable than my Porsche--that's plain embarrassing!

I really don't see how they would reasonably deny me though. I have a lot of faith that it won't come to that.

And the 987 interior does bring the car more inline with what other luxury brands are doing with their interiors. I don't see how this could diminish the driving experience of the car at all, or be a bad thing for sales and overall driver satisfaction. All subjective of course, and I do also appreciate the passion that most of you have. We all have our own biases on all of this though and honestly, i would expect nothing less than for most of us to prefer what we have.

[eslai]

Final update:

I got the car back today with a new transmission. My service rep showed me the warning counts and there were a lot of times that I hit the rev limiter, which is no big deal, but then as far as over revs go, they had 225 hits in the "level two" warning and three hits in the "level three" area. i forget how high level two is, but level three was "up to 7900 RPMS". So apparently I'd spent three engine rev cycles in dangerously-high RPM ranges and a good 225 cycles in the rather-high range.

There's also levels four five and six, which I didn't register on.

Now, to me, those don't seem like outrageous revs or counts, nor do they seem hard to avoid, as the only time I ever did a "whoopsie" shift was when i was still figuring out the car and obviously I caught it pretty fast.

However, I was warned that they could void the engine adn drivetrain warranty if they saw that sort of activity increase.

A little annoying, and I'm not certain that I can see how that'd hold up in court, but since I dont' plan on having to worry about it, no problem. I'll fight that battle IF I have to.

I'm left in a certain conundrum though. I don't think I beat on the car, Porsche thinks I've been beating on the car. I think the car had/has a glass tranny, Porsche doesn't. With that weakened trust that I now have in the car, will I still be able to enjoy it as I have?

We'll see.

[KRZTACO]

So Basically you can't beat the motor or tranny up like a B16 motor with constant redlining and 3500 RPM launches on a daily basis for 180,000 miles with no problems.


How could the tech guy even say..........."Your driving habits may void the warranty." Well, probably because your not a 60 year old dude in retirement that drives the car 40 miles a week!

They make you feel like you've driven the car in Porsche Cup races for the season. EVEN IF YOU DID, and the motor or tranny broke, they should fix it under warranty.


KRZ :troll:

[eslai]

Basically I came out of there thinking, "Geez, Mitsubishi makes beefier transmissions than Porsche!?"

I've had the car for five thousand miles. It only takes one bad episode to wreck a part, sure, but uh, well... I didn't do anything "bad". The problem got progressively worse too, so if they want to tell me that one episode of high revs caused progressive failure over a part for the next four thousand miles.... I don't know.