Which car would you pick as a daily driver?

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Either porsche.

 

[Descartes]

If you have more than one car already, the Porsche; otherwise, the MR2. Choosing an older Porsche as your only car is ridiculous, imo.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Minjin
Gotta love how Porsche people talk about how their cars just require lots of maintenance. If any other kind of car fell apart as much as their Porsches', they'd call it a piece of junk. "Oh, its not falling apart, its just the previous owner didn't follow the maintenance schedule PERFECTLY"....yeah, right.

I have never once had any Porsche stop running or leave me stranded. Never. My Honda failed completely more often than any of my Porsches (including the 30 year old 914), it just cost a lot less in scheduled maintenance.

The expense issue with Porsches is that the normal repairs for a 10+ year old car that would cost $50 on an American vehicle cost $500 on the Porsche and there are very few shops that know how to work on a Porsche. There are some things that are astronomical (changing the clutch on my 951 is 23 shop hours and just barely under $4,000 once all is said and done, for example), and other things have an interval that is less than normal (timing belt on the 944 is only a 30,000 mile replacement interval rather than the usual 60,000 to 90,000 mile interval, but it's otherwise no different from any other interferance engine), but I've never seen any Porsche "fall apart" or leave its driver stranded.

That said, yes, if the Porsche were a Mitsubishi or something equally without redeeming driving value nobody would put up with the maintenance expense. Cars, however, are rather like women, and the finest and most worthy examples often require the greatest amounts of attention. Great vices require greater virtues if they are to be tolerated and there's a reason that Porsches' vices are tolerated so well.

ZV

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'd go for the Toyota for the maintenance costs alone.

 

[Minjin]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Minjin
Gotta love how Porsche people talk about how their cars just require lots of maintenance. If any other kind of car fell apart as much as their Porsches', they'd call it a piece of junk. "Oh, its not falling apart, its just the previous owner didn't follow the maintenance schedule PERFECTLY"....yeah, right.

I have never once had any Porsche stop running or leave me stranded. Never. My Honda failed completely more often than any of my Porsches (including the 30 year old 914), it just cost a lot less in scheduled maintenance.

The expense issue with Porsches is that the normal repairs for a 10+ year old car that would cost $50 on an American vehicle cost $500 on the Porsche and there are very few shops that know how to work on a Porsche. There are some things that are astronomical (changing the clutch on my 951 is 23 shop hours and just barely under $4,000 once all is said and done, for example), and other things have an interval that is less than normal (timing belt on the 944 is only a 30,000 mile replacement interval rather than the usual 60,000 to 90,000 mile interval, but it's otherwise no different from any other interferance engine), but I've never seen any Porsche "fall apart" or leave its driver stranded.

That said, yes, if the Porsche were a Mitsubishi or something equally without redeeming driving value nobody would put up with the maintenance expense. Cars, however, are rather like women, and the finest and most worthy examples often require the greatest amounts of attention. Great vices require greater virtues if they are to be tolerated and there's a reason that Porsches' vices are tolerated so well.

ZV

Replace parts as often on any other car and it won't break down either. You can say you're just following the maintenance schedule, not fixing broken stuff. But when it comes down to it, you replace parts on a Porsche a lot more than many other cars...

Oh, and no bite here on the silly Mitsubishi jab. :disgust:

Mark

 

[nakedfrog]

Didn't you just buy a car within the last year?

 

[cavemanmoron]

Replying to Topic: Which car would you pick as a daily driver?
Created On 05/28/2006 10:59 PM by MIKEMIKE


which car
968
944 S2
MR2 Spyder

Daily Driver, including Winter?

All of them, one per day, to go to work
when its snowing, and after smashing them all up, back to my
rusty piece of junk Chevy Full size Van.

Summer Fun car??? 968 please. Of the 3 choices.

http://www.carsurvey.org/model_Porsche_968.html

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Minjin
But when it comes down to it, you replace parts on a Porsche a lot more than many other cars...

Oh, and no bite here on the silly Mitsubishi jab. :disgust:

Mark

The only maintenance item that is significantly different from any other 1986 vehicle on my 951 is the timing belt. Otherwise the maintenance schedule is essentially identical to any other 20 year old car. I'm certainly not replacing parts any more often. I'm perfectly willing to pull the receipts to show what's been done to the car, none of it is outside of normal items on a car that is 20 years old with 155,000 miles.

As far as Mitsus, the only one I've driven that was decent was a 3000GT VR-4. It was fun. Not all that great in corners, but fun. Horribly overpriced for what it is though. It's absolutely hilarious though to have a Mitsu fan calling any car unreliable. DSMs have the reliability reputation of a Yugo.

ZV

 

[Minjin]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Minjin
But when it comes down to it, you replace parts on a Porsche a lot more than many other cars...

Oh, and no bite here on the silly Mitsubishi jab. :disgust:

Mark

The only maintenance item that is significantly different from any other 1986 vehicle on my 951 is the timing belt. Otherwise the maintenance schedule is essentially identical to any other 20 year old car. I'm certainly not replacing parts any more often. I'm perfectly willing to pull the receipts to show what's been done to the car, none of it is outside of normal items on a car that is 20 years old with 155,000 miles.

As far as Mitsus, the only one I've driven that was decent was a 3000GT VR-4. It was fun. Not all that great in corners, but fun. Horribly overpriced for what it is though. It's absolutely hilarious though to have a Mitsu fan calling any car unreliable. DSMs have the reliability reputation of a Yugo.

ZV

No, its hilarious when someone has to resort to attacking the other person instead of intelligently debating his side. Its the classic "Oh yeah? Well what do YOU drive?". Oh, and owning a car doesn't make you a fan of the brand. Are you a Ford fanboy or are you a Porsche fanboy? I am a fan of good cars. I have several, all of different brands.

I'm certainly not going to debate annecdotal "evidence". I can throw mine against yours and say that they even each other out and we're right back where we started. No, I'll simply point back to your previous comments:

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I'd budget $2,000/year for maintenance on either Porsche though. And remember that any, and I mean any attempt to skimp on maintenance will rapidly snowball into expensive issues. Both the 944 S2 and the 968 will need to have the cam chain tensioner checked immediately because it's a common failure (should be replaced every 30,000 miles, many owners forget) and if it breaks then you can say goodbye to your valves and the engine's head (if you're really un-lucky, the head of a valve can snap off and wreck a piston or cylinder).

You don't find it ludicrous that it takes $2000 a year to keep a $9000 car on the road? I certainly do...

Mark

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Minjin
You don't find it ludicrous that it takes $2000 a year to keep a $9000 car on the road? I certainly do...

Mark

Nope. Supply and demand. Here's what's gone wrong in the past year with a 20 year old car:

146,000 miles
Lower ball joint boots (replaced originals, rubber was beginning to crack, joints was fine).
Replaced original brake lines (rubber portion only, not leaking but getting a little hard).
Brake and radiator flush and fill.
($1,098.77)

149,000 miles
Replace timing belt and water pump (chosen to coincide with oil change, indicated at 150,000 per the maintenance schedule and date of last replacement).
Replace O2 sensor (previous owner had wrapped wire around exhaust, melted).
($2,897.87)

152,000 miles
Tension timing belt (per maintenance schedule).
($297.19)

It ain't breaking more often. I just costs more for the normal things.

You initiated with your completely off-base claims about how Porsches aren't reliable and the blatant insinuation that Porsches are piles of crap and their owners are only interested in them for the badge.

ZV

 

[Doboji]

Civic

 

[thomsbrain]

you'd have to be a seriously fat bastard to not be able to fit into the S2000. it's not THAT small.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
you'd have to be a seriously fat bastard to not be able to fit into the S2000. it's not THAT small.

You don't have to be fat. Tall person around 6-5 would have difficulty with the steering wheel. I'm 6-0 and it fits me perfect.