Ditto. Some people said all their cars need only routine maintenances and so far perfectly reliable. Then I read all the times that people get TBF, LH death, and bunch of other issues. These are by no means "routine" stuffs. If the car is truly reliable, why the hell am I looking to spend a few grands for a TBF prevention? Right, it is so reliable that it comes with a design flaw that would self destroy the engine?! I am not that lucky. Mine has had all scheduled maintenances done but it also had many unscheduled ones done. It still needs a bunch of things to be perfect. Recently I did the mirror switch, replaced the passenger's window switch, and unplugged the flaps. I now am looking at HVAC repair, dim and dimmer switch, seat memory, TBF prevention with Superclamp, possible cruise control(hoping it is just a vacuum line), rear defroster switch, re-leather the cassette holder door, and a few others. Already bought all the vacuum lines and AC actuator diaphragms from Roger and bought an aluminum belly pan. Most gorgeous and refined GT ever but temperamental and unreliable. It's like Marilyn Monroe. Who said it would be easy to keep Monroe as a mistress? I am determined to tame this car step by step.
Steve

 

Anything mechanical or electrical can fail at any time.

In 16 years of ownership, the only two times my '82 came home on a flatbed were 1) when the front ball socket on the shifter crapped out leaving me with a box full of neutrals and 2) when the clutch pedal broke off (an obvious design flaw).

That said, aside from minor glitches here and there, the 928 has been BY FAR the most reliable car I've ever owned.

James

 

Owned since 1996 ( bought with 23K miles) and today with 89K and never a problem. Average about $1000 per year over the 14 years ownership for regular preventative service and repairs.

 

4 years mine has only left me stranded once, fuel pump and I was 4 houses from my house.

 

If "reliability" is judged by the degree and cost of required maintenance like tb replacement, tensioner rebuild, PSD flush, etc....things that don't exist in my old Ford Explorer, then I give it a 5.
If it's judged by unforeseen or unreasonable failures when proper maintenance has been done, it gets a 10...so far.
I haven't had LH brain failure as of yet (knock on wood). My attitude will likely change if and/or when that happens.
My GT isn't a dd, and isn't exposed to the extremes of the elements, so it's probably not the best test subject.

 

I’d say very near a ten for me. In six years I’ve limped home once due to faulty fuel pump relay. That was fixed by swapping it with horn relay and both have worked flawlessly for last two years (I carry a few spare now just in case). The other was blowing the small heater hose which was fixed with a screw driver and a quick trip to Autozone.

Over the past four years I haven’t spent squat on maintenance, mostly interior rehab and audio stuff. Although, that’s about to change real soon.

 

Gotta' say close to a ten.

Over 12 years of ownership with 6 model year '87+ cars, now with two. Only problem I've experienced in about 90K miles of driving with the cars was a flat tire on the left rear. Sidewall damage from a large chunck of metal. Five cars have had ~50-65K miles on them when purchased, one had 112K. I always have /do significant service immediately after purchase, and I thoroughly check/service over the winter. Then, I just drive them - road and track, no problemo.

These last two I've owned for 4+ years. One trip with the GTS was nearly 5K miles, I drove 3 of them between 2K and 4K miles just bringing them home from purchase. No problems on any of those trips either.

Gary Knox

PS: Well, I'm not counting the physical damage that totaled two of them. One - my driver error at a Mt Tremblant track in Canada, and one totaled when a semi-trailer truck hit it while parked well off the shoulder of a highway. Those both left me "stranded" but un-injured!

 

And there's that 'Wild Turkey thru the Windshield'
that comes as an unexpected repair too.....

 

I would give ours a 10 and 9.5 respectively. That's "reliability", as in "get you there and back without drama".

The '88 left us stuck once with a destroyed rear tire, but that wasn't the car's fault.

The GT gets half a point off for having to call a flatbed 20 miles from home (secondary fuel pump hose failure) but that was at the end of a 3000-mile road trip to SoCal and back. And that was preventable, it's a well-known problem that the current owner just hadn't gotten to.

That's not to say that maintenance is simple and cheap, or that there aren't any flaws. It would be easier to work on if the hoodline were 8" taller and stuff wasn't packed in so tight, but then it wouldn't look as good-- park next to a Panamera as an example.

And it is not reasonable to pay $50-100K for a car then complain that the parts aren't "cheap". Sure, they don't cost that now but the cars and the parts don't know that.

That's my $0.02, YMMV.

 

I've had my 86 S2 Euro for 12 years and the only real problems were experienced early in my ownership when I let the local Porsche centre work on it. I've never been stranded by the roadside yet.

Since then I do all the work myself (or more correctly, act as gofer to a talented local).

The 928 is a complex car, they are all old now, and generally have 100k miles on them. Preventitive maintainance can significantly reduce nasty surprises on the road.

There are some design weaknesses, TBF and LH but these can also be prevented.

 

Yep, these beasts eat road like candy, especially rolling across a big open desert. Valentine makes it easy. Now if we can just get an ORR race or two sanctioned along our routes....

 

I have had some fuel injection issues lately that have really ate through the wallet. I cannot bash a 23+ year old car for breaking because of old components, but I would never call it reliable. Pay a visit to the Boxster and 996 boards and you will hear of more intermediate shaft failures than both LH and TBF combined on cars 12-14 years old and younger!

 

I discount the TBF and LH issues only because they are well documented and easy to avoid with PM. In the case of the LH that means saving your lunch money for a while and replacing while the car is running fine, but so be it. At least you won't get stranded somewhere. Virtually everything else done to the car except my at-purchase AC reseal/re-hose/convert project qualifies as PM appropriate to a 20+yo car with almost 100k on it.

The painting part of the intake refresh is probably not in the 'normal' PM plan for most cars, but the hoses/fittings/MAF/IAC/knock sensors/FI cleaning/fuel hoses/etc part is consistent with age/mileage.

Plus, I knew it was going to need extra love when I bought it, and was prepared for significantly more effort than has been actually required. (previous Lotus, Saab, Jag, deTomaso, 356 and 911, and more owner) The wild-card in all this has been the Renn community. So much potential work has been avoided by following in the correct footsteps of others before me, and avoiding the mis-steps that those others point out so well. And I can pretty safely say that I've spent at least as much effort on others' cars as I have on my own. So hopefully that all balances out in the great CARma scheme of things.

 

I didn't know there was preventative maint. for the LH?

Steve wrote: a few grands for a TBF prevention[/COLOR] ??

The preventative for this can be zero, just release the pressure every year. Or a couple hundred for the Porken clamp, a couple hours to install. Constatine's clamp is more expensive and difficult to install, but not thousands.

 

I didn't know there was preventative maint. for the LH?

Steve wrote: a few grands for a TBF prevention??

The preventative for this can be zero, just release the pressure every year. Or a couple hundred for the Porken clamp, a couple hours to install. Constatine's clamp is more expensive and difficult to install, but not thousands.