blake

Just caught this full "press kit" post on Pistonhead, which included the following comment: "80 percent of 911 GT3 customers also drive their cars on race tracks"

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=27250

Did you guys catch this? First time I have seen/heard it... Interesting read nonetheless.... Having seen the car in person in Geneva, it is gorgeous.

Well, I am glad to hear that Porsche has "polled" their customers. It doesn't sound to me that the new GT3 was made for the Cars-N-Coffee crowd though... Sure, I still wanted a manual and am concerned about 4-wheel steering - but I will agree to drive it first before categorically rejecting the car.

-B

Carrera GT

Written by a marketing copy writer unfamiliar with the GT3.

tcsracing1

With a cup holder and automatic it is perfect car for cars n coffee.

mooty

driving, double clutching, sip coffee, texting, breastfeeding and putting on eye liners and look cool all at same time is a lost art.
we need automatic and coffee holder as crutch, sigh...

Joe S.

Wow, 80% of warranties voided. Looks like a money saver for Porsche!

TRAKCAR

Fixed it.

tcsracing1

80% of Porsche customers are violating their warranty according to the Porsche Owners manual....

Veloce Raptor

Yup, and no sports seats...

Kelderek

Isn't the key word here "also"?

There are people owning GT3's that are attending Cars-N-Coffee and tracking their cars...
I don't think Porsche are excluding any group here, rather trying to include both, well aware that many owners fall into both categories!

Carrera GT

I think the OP was drawing attention to the contradiction that Porsche is aware that the GT3 is not only intended to be a track day car and that the majority of owners use it on track, but Porsche wants to "cake and eat it" deny warranty coverage in the shadow of track driving as some unacceptable use.

I dislike how PCNA has tried to set a tone of disapproval around track days and has done things like monitor the paddock at track events and recorded information from Web sites to monitor cars being tracked. I think it's an unscrupulous invasion of privacy for a vendor to spook around trying to "out" track drivers.

That said, I've tracked all my Porsches, including competition at time trials with PCA, and I've not had so much as a raised eyebrow when there was a warranty issue.

aussie jimmy

at last weekend pcnsw trackday, there was a panamera police car used as a pace car, but the officer was checking out all the cars parked in the paddock. not sure if it was admiration or recon.

FastLaneTurbo

I have never seen any PCNA "monitoring" at the hundreds of track days I have instructed at, nor had any indication of the PCNA "unscrupulous invasion of privacy" you refer to in many decades of Porsche ownership. I would hope they
are smart enough to monitor these forums to gather marketing intelligence
for their present and future products and customer reaction to them, but see nothing insidious about that.

What do you base your conclusion of adversarial "monitoring" on, where is this occurring, and can you offer any proof of this actually happening? What am I missing?

utkinpol

there were some posts here about dealers refusing warranty service based on recent attendance of DE events. it is hardly a new topic. some areas really suck in this regard.

Mike in CA

I think there is a difference between individual dealers refusing warranty service based on track damage claims and active monitoring by PCNA of events to establish some kind of warranty no fly list. FWIW, my dealer set up my suspension for autox and can see my harness bar and belts every time I bring the car in. There's never been a hint that warranty issues would be a problem.

blake

Thanks guys for the comments.

My intent with this thread was to provide an alternate view to many of the threads on this board. I have seen lots of speculation that Porsche is softening up the GT3 line to appeal to a greater audience, namely the critically-labeled "cars-and-coffee" types... My point was that this quote from the press kit at least tries to show empiracle evidence that Porsche recognizes their track-focused customers.

With that said - Carrera GT & others are spot on that PCNA has had a mixed history with their warranty support. I have been on Rennlist for over 15 years, and personally watched Porsche market the 996 GT3 stateside as a "track car", and then deny warranty claims based on "track use". You can locate several of those threads via search. Select dealers tried to take care of their customers and honor the work - and in many cased were eating those costs themselves. With the release of the 997.1 GT3, Porsche marketing toned down their "track-ready" messaging. Even today, Porsche still does not acknowledge the coolant hose epoxy issues that affect ALL Mezger engines...

Clearly, Porsche can do better (Center-Lock Hub issues, rear toe-links bump steer, etc.). But if PCNA is actually monitoring track usage of GT3s to deny warranty claims, then I must have missed those threads... If true, that is appalling.

-B