Starter reliability/life span

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by peterbrown77

Why can't Porsche find better suppliers? Starters, water pumps, radios....I've never seen a car with so few miles generate so many problems from accessories with which other manufacturers have achieved bullet-proof reliability 30 years ago. I "get" that brakes and tires are going to wear faster on a Porsche due to alignment settings and trade-offs between performance and reliability. However, a starter should never fail - nor a water pump. It's not exactly doing the toughest job in all of autodom, all it needs to do is spin under no-load. The last time I had to do a water pump on a mainstream car was in a 92 Ford with 260,000 miles on it. I couldn't exactly fault the car. I don't think I've replaced a starter since my '87 Cherokee.

Porsche could have done all these things. But, according to the historians, as designed the Boxster would have cost significantly more to manufacture than the outgoing 993. The 993 was barely selling 1,500 cars in all of North America during the greatest bull market in the post war era. Americans were buying two of everything... except Porsches. The bean counters figured the Boxster would be a Sunday car and the cut backs that would be REQUIRED had to come in these areas for sure, other areas still up to debate. Also, that sort of cost-cutting had a self-serving motivation in that it kept their dealer service departments busy and kept their over-priced, designed to last four years parts shelves full. Porsche needed to up the numbers from not only the sales floor but the service departments as well. The first time I had an out-of-warranty part go out on me, I marched like an idiot over to the biggest and most conspicuous dealer in the state. They replaced the throttle in about two hours handed me a bill for ~$300 and I was on my way. I thought "well that wasn't too painful...".

Also, I can excuse a 50/50 Porsche water pump circa the near bankruptcy 1996 era but today? Not so much. Or maybe this is why Lotus used a Celica engine. If you can't beat them, buy from them. Collect the margin, deliver the brand experience in other areas. I guess Porsche were too proud to beg.