what does it take to be a satisfied porsche owner?

[Perfectlap]

well the 987 is a new model that still in development.

Buying the "all new" version comes with its problems.
That's why people say its best to avoid the 1st and 2nd years of a redesign.
By the 3 and 4th year the car should be hassle free.

I can only say that after driving my BoxsterS for almost 20,000 trouble free miles
that owning a Porsche is WAY more than all the hype promised.

There are sports car DRIVERS and there are sports car owners.
If you enjoy partaking in driving events and high performance driving instruction
you'll quickly learn why Porsche has the eye brow raising brand name.
They may not be as good as Honda at reliability but those are just cars.

as for power, people who complain abou the Boxster not having enough power spend too much time driving in a straight line. They're better off in a Mustang GT or Merc 500 SL.

[mach schnell]

so let's say that with the 987's, we have to chalk up "issues" to the 'new model effect' - whether it's porsche, honda or god forbid one of the subpar domestics, that's a common hook to blame "issues" upon. furthermore, if that's the easy way out (when arguing satisfaction), then one might expect that the dealer and ALL of the people who represent the dealer, are well aware of the 'new model effect' and thus much more receptive to entertaining/understanding/investigating the returning owner's complaints with the new model. if that assumption can be considered valid and true, now dismiss the mediocre experience that one should expect from a domestic brand, and rather, consider the superior experience (call it the pay to play, if you will) that one purchases along with the vehicle when investing in Porsche (or MB, Bentley, Mazerati, etc). in other words, it's not wrong to expect that the service advisor is familiar with the car (maybe even drives one), that the technician didn't just quit his/her job at ford and is driving an el torino (the person who fixes your high end car should be just as much an afficianado as you - and should drive the car!), that when you walk into the dealership there is a level of respect (it's not arrogance - it's arrogant to expect to walk into Target and have everyone think you're hotsh%$, but when you walk onto the 'holy ground' that represents your vehicle, its a kind of - you're one of them thing, you've arrived or i'm a member - without the hideous member's only jackets from the 70's - who knows maybe Old Navy will bring them back!!! )

i think what seems to be a an ongoing theme with these issues of quality and/or satisfaction is the lack pride and commitment to value and everyday satisfaction that one should able to count on from porsche, just isn't there. in another one of my famous, 'make an everyday situation into a doctor analogy' rants,:
a patient shows up to his or her physician, they know the doc is human and thus fallible, but don't expect nor want a mistake. the doctor understands this as well, and (a good one) strives to provide error free care. studies have shown that doctor's who have made mistakes (mild medication errors or grave diagnostic/treatment errors) and communicate with their patients, show (and have) concern and empathy are far more likely to retain patient trust and avoid litigation, whereas doctors who are more callous to their patients and treat them less as an individual and more as a number have less likelihood of acquiring patient trust and more likelihood of litigation. maybe porsche should take a few courses at their local medical school on caring, compassion and commitment.

[denverpete]

I was driving home the other day when I passed a guy in a black MB 500SL (new). A few lights later he pulls up next to me and asks if I like my Porsche. I tell him, "Yes thank you". To which he replies, "I'm Todd, the service manager at Murray Motors (Where I bought my Porsche. They aren't Porsche dealer so I've never had a reason to go back) and I remember you had some early problems (which they took care of and paid for). But it's running good for your now?" We chatted a bit before the light turned green....

That's service - a year later the guy sees me on the road and asks how the car is. Wish that place was a Porsche dealer instead of MB and BMW!!!

[Perfectlap]

MS,
have you dealt with more than one Porsche service center in your area?
or have all of your experiecnes to date come from the same outfit?

There are two here in my area and although their labor rates are very very similar the experience in visiting them is not all the same.

Also Porsche is justifiably getting a rap for being arrogant. They sold allot of cars and have made allot of profits. The big head factor is dangerous and common.
But I have begun to see some changes recently that seem to be a direct result of customers wanting this and that. The Cayman is the best example. People were demmanding it for years and finally they relented. Now my service manager tell me the new Boxster will have a CaymanS engine option. As sales start to slip further they will be listening.

My advice is to write to Porsche, write to Porsche North America, the Porsche Club and tell them the Porsche hype has not lived up to your expectations and that you are very close to not recomending this brand to your wealthy friends who have money dying to be spent. Well assuming you havent already done so.

[lexuspilot]

What does it take to be satisied?

Well, Porsche get's a lot of things right! I do have my Boxster for sale on this board because of the new addition to my family. However, in all my test driving of the other makes so oftenly mentioned in the "grass is greener" posts on this board, I have gained a great deal of respect for Porsche's engineering. I am so unimpressed by anything less than $44k. $50k+(back to the orginal MSRP for my Boxster) is what it takes to get the equivalant smile on my face.

I also have never gotten so many "I love your car"'s from such a diverse group of people. I remember how many people said that to me in the Lexus(1), Ford(0), and Honda(0)

I am so satisfied that I am not trying very hard to sell my Boxster.

i believe that goes both ways...alot of times porsche owners will walk in like they own the place. only because they own a porsche. so i can see how some dealers may think very high of themselves....try a new dealer.

i noticed that at the downtown location. they act like they all drive gt3. go to the suburbs and the dealer is great.

i also realized that with my first problem i felt like you. but as i got to know my dealer they became very welcoming and easier to talk to.

it might be you, n not them!!!!

n with my experience working at bmw, first year cars were terrible with lots of problems, so every car manufacture is like this. you already bought the car, you need them now. n in most case's cities, porsche dealership are limited. we have two dealers in toronto. compared to honda who has 1 dealer in every town every corner. i can name you 4 honda dealers within 15 mins of my house if not more.

[mach schnell]

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!