This “Porsche, there is no substitute” quote is a common sentiment from Porsche owners and enthusiasts alike, taken from the 1983 film Risky Business starring Tom Cruise. Although I have not yet seen this movie, I still agree with the quote!

Back in my formative years I was essentially indoctrinated into the church of Japanese motors. My father, a retired (auto)mechanic by profession, instilled a sense of reliability and trust when it came to Japanese made motors and vehicles. This is ironic, considering this is the same person who owned a 1969 Dodge Charger for decades, but I do know that the Japanese automakers were making a huge dent in the American auto market in the 80s, eventually leading my family to primarily own Japanese made vehicles. The one area we maintained domestic made vehicles was the pickup truck, which is still where American made vehicles dominate even today.

I had integrated with a group of fellows at school who introduced me to import tuning, which furthered my Japanese car interests. As these were very influential years in my life, I really did maintain these values and did not care for any American made vehicles at all. The idea of alternative (read: European) foreign made vehicles was simply a pipe dream–not even on my radar given my family lived of modest means. If the car was not of Japanese or Domestic origin, we did not own it. It wasn’t until recently that my father pulled the trigger on a Korean made vehicle.

Early last year I made an impulse purchase of a 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S. I can still remember to this day the experience when I sat in it. The seats were red leather, and the car still smelled brand new after 2 years and 7k miles. It’s difficult to put into words the feeling it evoked. I knew the moment I set foot on the Porsche dealership floor that I was in trouble as I knew myself well enough to expect the potential of this sort of reaction.

Porsche has a long, rich, storied history of engineering excellence, particularly in the realm of sportscars. The 911 was their flagship vehicle which they had developed for over 50 years. They dominated the track for the better part of that time. Their engineering focus was not just on going fast in a straight line–it was built for both speed and handling, and I have always been a sucker for a tight suspension.

I’d been through a number of vehicles by 2019. I had a 2008 Mazda 3 which I installed aftermarket shocks, struts, springs, as well as front and rear sway bars on. I had grown tired of body roll, and these upgrades made the car respond to steering wheel input like it was on rails. I eventually upgraded from this vehicle to a 2017 Subaru BRZ which came from the factory with tight suspension. That car, for all intents and purposes, was perfect for me save for the lack of power. I briefly drove a BMW M240i which sated my thirst for power, but was once again lacking in the suspension area.

This ultimately lead me to what I can refer to as the holy grail, the Porsche 911 (991.2) Carrera S. The car was built to dominate the track, and it was everything you would expect it to be. Given the steep price tag, my expectations for the car were extreme, and given these expectations I did run into a few minor issues with it.

  1. I had an issue with slowly losing coolant in the car, which confused me as I understood the coolant/radiator architecture to be a closed system. I never did identify what was causing this problem and honestly, I had a similar problem with the BMW M240i. The suspicion is that the turbos (as both cars were twin turbo) caused the car to run hotter, and the coolant was potentially lost via evaporation somewhere. This is admittedly a minor issue, but when you are talking about a six figure car, you would like to avoid these types of problems.
  2. There was an exhaust mount/clamp that continued to loosen itself and ultimately dangle behind the car. I imagine the motor, located in the rear with the exhaust, torqued quite a bit, especially when you are hard on it, which… its a 911 for goodness sake… and I definitely drove it like I stole it. I ended up resituating and tightening this mount at least 3 times in the 9 months I owned the car and honestly, I just was a bit embarrassed about it more than anything. I also worried about something cracking on the exhaust due to the lack of support when the mount/clamp loosened itself. I was meaning to go to the dealership to ask about it but I always ended up just reattaching the mount and enjoying the car instead. It was a convenience issue.
  3. I wanted to mount a camera on the car near the exhaust so I could further enjoy the flat-six motor’s exhaust note. I attempted this in two ways. The first time I tried using a suction cub mount on the rear of the car. This was a bad idea and I ended up losing both camera and mount the second time I tried recording with it. My mistake was that the car was dirty when I attached the mount so it did not adhere properly. I also underestimated the curves on the rear of the 911. They were not conducive to a good suction seal. The second way I tried to mount a camera was using a license plate mount. It was this prospect which lead to my third minor issue with the car: the license plate screws directly into the body panel where there is plastic. When the license plate is initially installed, the plastic is tapped into. This works when all you are talking about is a license plate, but if you want to mount any significant weight to the mount then the plastic is insufficient. Additionally, it is only a matter of time until you strip the hole out and require bigger screws/bolts. Before even attempting to mount the camera to it, I cut my losses and opted out.

So if the car only had minor issues and fit the bill for you, why did you sell after only 9 months, you ask? Excellent question, and one you probably could anticipate the answer for. I impulse purchased the 911 and it cost me 6 figures even being CPO and 2 years old. The car brand new was around 140k. It was a stretch making payments on it. After 9 months I was faced with an issue which I had not readily prepare for: routine maintenance. The tires were shot because the car had launch control, which I had played with multiple times. I think the oil change I had was gratis, but that is not forever. Porsche had a routine 20k mile maintenance which I believe I was approaching, meaning I put some serious mileage on that car (over 10k miles) in those 9 months. I think I even took a road trip or two with it.

Ultimately I sold the car after daily driving it without paying a dime in maintenance, but I admit that I did lose money due to normal depreciation. I also was just reminded about the actual primary reasons that I ended up selling, which some may also file as “minor” even though I would disagree. I will explain two main points.

  1. I mentioned I am a follower in the church of Japanese motor engineering. The Honda Civic Type R was always my original choice. Even prior to buying a BMW M240i, which most would agree is a superior vehicle to the Civic Type R, I still wanted the Honda. It had an x-factor which I simply could not shake. The reason I kept passing it up is that the dealership salesmen kept marking up by up to 40% of its MSRP value, which irritated me in principle. If the manufacturers price it as one value and you artificially mark it up, that’s just a slap in my face. Cue the end of last year, where I find a dealership willing to play ball for MSRP on a blue Civic Type R. Even if I drive to the dealership in a 911 Carrera S, I’m listening.
  2. This is the kicker: within months of purchasing this 2017 CPO Porsche, there was a recall announced on the vehicle for its airbag malfunctioning. What!? A bona fide, excellent handling, tried and true sportscar which I have admittedly gone 170 MPH in (and tops out at 191)… has issues with the airbag!? And it’s not all 2017 911 Carrera S models, its only a subset of them based on VIN, manufactured during a very particular time period. OK, what are the odds!? So its not a big deal as long as they fix the failure. Seems simple enough. So I call the dealership and corporate for information on how to fix the recall to find… there is no announced fix and no estimation on when it would be available. This is my first Porsche purchase, a 911 Carrera S flagship model, and this is my experience with it? At this point I invested a sizeable amount of capital in a CPO, recalled vehicle, so I was sweating. I called the dealership to see if I could get a deal on a replacement vehicle or if they could just buy it back. They were not budging.

With the Honda dealership singing MSRP songs to me and the 911 tearing up my bank account, I had to make a change. I probably lost somewhere in the tune of 10k between what I bought it for versus what I sold it for which I will never get back. I charge that to the impulse purchase, insufficient due diligence, and simple bad luck. The way I rationalize the loss is that I essentially leased the car for $1100 a month. I could also rationalize it that I ended up paying the Type R markup to Porsche instead of the Honda dealership. At any rate, I do know that I got a ton of video clips and street races out of this 911, and given all these complaints and issues, I would still entertain another Porsche purchase but after more due diligence. I also would prefer to buy the Porsche outright (or at least with 60-80% down) and focus on maintenance as the only operational cost as opposed to financing + maintenance. That would be part of the aforementioned due diligence.

Money Moves – Lambo vs 911 GT3?

I already made an earlier blog post about the 911 GT3 vs the Lamborghini Huracán. The 911 seems it would be more reasonable given the lower price tag and (likely) lower maintenance costs. I would have also argued that there are likely more mechanics familiar with Porsche motors versus Lamborghinis, but given that Audi owns Lamborghini that may be less pronounced.

Lastly, I have said many times that I always want to own a convertible. That brings the Boxster into the conversation. The icing on that cake is that the Boxster now comes in a NA flat-six model. I won’t exactly say that “I’m listening” because of current debt, but…