Hey all,

I know a few of you have read some of my posts and had some great replies as I have gone through the saga of buying my dream car and ending up with a new engine and clutch at 2500 miles. I am still waiting on PNA to provide me feedback on compensation. They are trying to educate me on the lemon law, but since I read the whole damn thing, inclusive of precedent cases on the "value" statement, I fear we will be at an impasse. For reference here is the post of my issues:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/997/228088-another-issue-continued-lost-faith.html

I brought back my car last week to have the regional tech look at it since I felt that the new clutch was still not feeling the same as other 911's I was test driving. Of course the dealer said they felt fine.

When I picked up the car yesterday I was told that the clutch put in my car is the new model something like an .003 version and my first one was a .00 . I was told that because of this new clutch it is a bit heavier but is working properly.

OK.....

So now I have:

1. dealer who did not record my first clutch complaint (I have phone records and time stamp location for my whereabouts)
2. A service record with half the commentary about my clutch problems and no notations about failure from the manufacture, only that the dealer gave me a "complementary" replacement
3. A new clutch that still feels different than the cars on the lot now. (how fast do they change parts).
4. PNA telling me that they wont consider the clutch at all in their contemplation of my issues, regardless of the amount of time I was complaining about it, nor the fact that it took god damn videos to prove I had an engine problem.
5. and still a new engine with a devalued car.

Sorry for the long one......

How am I supposed to have any faith in this company? Honestly, they could not be doing a worse job of supporting me. Frankly I might have prefered if they did not give me a new engine so I could just bloody file a suit and get it over with.

 

Bummer!

Sorry to read your post. I know what you mean, not about Porsches but about BMWs and Minis.

It just got to the point where we (wife and I) could not fall in love with them again, despite our attempts.

I owned a BMW 850, (extremely expensive to maintain and problematic), a 528 sport wagon (left us stranded at night 2 times too many) and my wife owned a Mini Cooper (since new) and completely fell apart just a few thousand miles out of warranty. And we baby and maintain our stuff. Like, OCD levels of maintenance and care.

Anyway, we finally cut our losses with all of the cars and walked away from all of them. Its taken me years, but now when a see a cool BMW, it doesn't even phase me anymore, I am over them. BMW/Mini and I were not meant to be.

On the other hand, I think your experience with Porsches does put you in the minority, and if you can afford it, maybe you get out of this car and try with another P car?

My 1969 911 and 1999 996 have been really good to me. Owned them since 1989 and 2003.

Good luck & I am sorry about your experience.

 

Unfortunate no doubt...your car certainly seems to be the exception vs. the rule. JD Power says it's one of the most reliable cars on the planet. However, let's be clear about Porsche's brand promise...it's performance (vs. service satisfaction or even reliability). Service satisfaction is the brand of Lexus, perhaps Mercedes, maybe even Bentley. However, Porsche like BMW purports performance and if you get service satisfaction...it's because of your dealer. Unsolicited recommendation is to send Porsche CEO of North America a letter explaining your first "exposure" to the Porsche brand and ask for a swap. Good luck!

 

Agree its performance over the other stuff. I just got out of my car. Was driving in First, popping to about 4k rpm's, went to shift into second.. It would not budge. Rolled in first tot he next light and then was frozen. Hell I dont even know if this is the clutch or the transmission or what anymore. The gearbox got tight and everything froze. Eventually I got around, but the whole car felt off.

I am sure not the norm, but off to the dealer again tomorrow.... Holy crap.

 

Man - that's beyond a bummer. NO car should be giving that much trouble.

I read the other topic - did you make it to any of the independents to get a 2nd opinion? What about another dealer - seems like there are loads of them around that area?

 

Why don't you just get it "fixed", then trade it in on another one. Even if you take a bit of a loss, it would be worth not having the aggravation anymore. If you can't see yourself in another Porsche, change brands and move on.

J

 

OP - I get the impression from reading your posts that you no longer want to be a Porsche owner and are looking for us to help you justify your distaste. The facts of your story seem questionable (i.e. life of the clutch vs. good manual transmission driver), but assuming everything you said IS true, it seems you got a raw deal.

However, dragging this out ad nauseum is a bit tiring. Have you heard the phrase "sh#t or get off the pot"? You need to either decide you're never going to be happy and move on to another brand, or stop obsessing on it and just drive the car/get a new one. Rehashing this endlessly can't be satisfying to you, and I hardly skim your posts any more.

Just some honest feedback - good luck with whichever route you go.

 

You of course are entilted to your opinion. I do actually want to be a porsche driver. When it works its amazing.

However, the issues dont stop and last time I checked, anyone who is willing to take a loss and just get a new one is a fool. Porsche owes me a car, period. I come to the forum for advice as new issues arise. Some of the feedback has helped me work with the dealer.

Outside of that, if people like me dont document the experience they have then the manufacture gets away with anything. Without the internet, it has alwasy been chepper for them to just pay out the few.

I really should not have to expalin that bit. While my car may be a strange one, tranny, clutch and a failed engine... Well thats just not right. I would think it is better for the community to drive quality and service.

I wont preach. Just dont read my posts. Thank you to everyone else.

Edit: forgot to mention, I cant get off the pot until PNA plays their move. They seemt o take a while to decide.

 

I for one am interested in hearing how Porsche remedies this. I bought mine new in 2005 and I know 'gravedgr' above has one inbound. I think how P takes care of their customers, especially people who spring for a brand new car seems pretty important.
Jim

 

Completely up to you. I just don't see a happy outcome for you in the near future and life it too short to spend a ton of time on a troublesome car.

This will be my 3rd 911, and second order (both from the same dealer). I would be extremely surprised to have Yossarian's issues - both with the car, and with the dealer.

 

I doubt its 911s. Its just a bad one... really bad. Overall the dealer has been nice. I am frustrated so I am sure I have not been kind. Pea has had the case for four weeks so its just a waiting game. However, heaving the gearbox siege last night kind of sealed the deal. Im done with this car. If P does it right, they will have a happy owner for a long time. If they do it wrong....well that's their choice.

Once issues compound I doubt there is anything a dealer could do. They may have simply made a mistake putting something back..not fun but it happens. For P it does not matter since everything else that lead up to it.

 

Whatever. You're paying out in frustration rather than dollars. One is bad for your body/mind and one is bad for your wallet. Pick one. Enjoy.

J

 

As frustrating as it is, the basic laws of statistics apply to Porsches. You got one of the six-sigmas on the wrong side of the curve.

Just tell the PNA guys, calmly and simply, that you want either a new car, or your money back. Frankly, the Lemon Law provisions already kicked in. You've gone above and beyond reason, being patient both in diagnosing and treating problems that should never have occurred. Drop off all of your keys and everything that came with the car to the dealer. Don't muck up the waters with anything else. Car or check.

I know someone here who got a new Cayenne, and from the new model year, for WAY fewer problems than you've had. Just be calm and clear.

JMHO, but if you've been unkind in a way that you feel poorly about, I'd man up and apologize to whomever you feel deserves it. It's better to keep things 'in balance'. This sort of thing can't be fun for the dealership personnel either.

Good luck

 

I have owned a few pcars over the years and experienced fine reliability with them. I try to stay away from dealers as much as possible and either do all work myself or use independents--much more cost effective. I put 125,000 miles on a 944 with no issues other than a motor mount recall and I drove it hard. It is very sad that you have had the aggravation with your issues, and while I feel Porsche is the cream of the crop of German cars in terms of quality and reliability-- ALL the rest just don't measure up.. I was considering an Audi for a daily driver-- but after researching them they just suck in terms of reliability and quality of manufacture. I was talking to a guy that owns an independent car dealership that sells all Euro cars and he basically said "BMW's are just going to have stuff go wrong with them-- that's a given. Audi's have all those sensors and electronic stuff that WILL break or give you problems. And Mercedes-- give me a break-- you need to be a rocket scientist to work on them and all that engineering will break or give you issues".

I DO think Porsche is a different story in terms of reliability and quality, but I think expecting Japanese reliability is a bit high in expectations. We kinda have to chose between Euro sportiness, performance, handling, panache, etc.-- or Japanese reliability (American is even kinda there now) and drabness-- so to speak. Good luck with your decision and I feel for you. I got flamed on an Audi forum for espousing my opinion that I don't care if it's a Ferrari or Lambo or Bugatti-- if it doesn't work and work reliably-- then it's just junk, plain and simple.

 

http://www.carlemon.com/lemon/CA_law.html

Hope you can get it sorted out though. Buybacks are hard to accompish.