Avar928

Don't forget it has to be in ALL CAPS and multi-colored font.

ROG100

I think prices will remain static for at least a couple of years after the recent hike.
Current list on Porsche new pumps ----
78 to 86 $893
87 to 95 $1135

Remember with a PKensioner you can use either - so the lower cost one is the way to go.

Avar928

(I also wish I had bought a new radiator before they got discontinued...)

ROG100

Here are pictures of the "knockoff" Laso pumps we received a couple of months back.
They looked OK pumps but Certainly Not Laso - the wholesalers bought them as a job lot from a dealer in Europe. The casting number is correct and the thought was that they bought the castings from the now defunct original water pump manufacture.

ROG100

I wish I had kept a couple for my own use as well 8>(

z driver 88t

Man, i have to say I got spoiled with $45 Autozone reman water pumps on 300ZXs. Lifetime warranty. Just swapped them out for free every 60k miles. Never even heard of replacing timing gears as a wear item. I drove three different Z cars a total of 500k miles on that formula. Not looking forward to a timing belt service this year. New gears and pump on the list. I love my 928 but there are some questionable manufacturing elements in this car.

tmpusfugit

There is a world of difference between Japanese and German manufacturing and expectations of service required etc. I think Porsche would have been far better off if they had sent the 928 design off to Japan and let them optimize the engineering and then let them build the car to their specs....as you can gather I am not in love with all the German over engineering that complicates the car unnecessarily, add to the cost of service, generates failures that are not commonly seen in Japanese cars etc. Not trying to start an argument about which country is best, nor am I trashing Porsche...I have owned at least 8 of them. But, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night and I also spent several years working in reliability engineering and specifying levels of service and the like....

SeanR

Well, to be honest there were 330,000 300ZX's produced and only 68,000 928's. Got to make up the production costs some where.

depami

Not sure what that has to do with anything.

Fact is, Jap engineering generally requires less maintenance and is more trouble free.

SeanR

Was referring to the costs of such things as the water pump, gears. That is what it has to do with anything since the talk was about those things.

The more of an object you produce, the cost of that object is lower.

As to the last part, you must not have spent much time on '70's and '80's Honda's/Toyota's.

17prospective buyer

I think it's really more laziness than anything else. The expectation is that "you own a Porsche, you can afford to maintain it" and not only that but just look at BMW's, you can pick up pretty recent models for dirt cheap, because that's the way dealerships work. They always want the latest model, and people like us who know how to fix them grin and pick them up for cheap. Serviceability is getting less and less relevant in new car design, every system is modular now. No repair parts, only entire assemblies.

The cost of parts is exactly what Sean said, simple economics. No magic. There's no Porsche magic in radiators that cost $1200 (!!!!) brand new, there just happened to be no other crossover for 928 radiators, making them way more expensive than they should be. Crossover between parts is also another way manufacturers keep costs down. Ford makes more Mustangs in a year than Porsche ever made in 928's. It's all relative.

German cars just have a different character. That's what makes them fun. If you don't like working on them all the time, go buy brand new, trade them in every couple years, and stop bitching.

Chalkboss

"German cars just have a different character. That's what makes them fun. If you don't like working on them all the time, go buy brand new, trade them in every couple years, and stop bitching"

Well put, this is what I did, stopped bitching and embraced it. Certainly not for everyone.

Avar928

True on owning a Porsche and maintaining it. I'm trying to get my dad to get a simple oil change on his 997 that he rarely drives even in the nice Summer/Spring months....it's been 4 years now. Luckily it was used when he bought it (33k on it now, 30k when he bought it) and at least given its dues when it was with the previous owner.

You got to drive these cars and drive them hard.

I think it's obvious Japanese cars are more reliable and cheaper. It's happening in Western automotive as well as all the large car conglomerates absorb each other. Porsche, VW, Audi and I think Lamborghini (?) are under one wing and most of they're basic new cars are all based on a single interchangeable platform. I forget the details but it's supposedly making the production cheaper and swappable.

tmpusfugit

My own opinion regarding issues with German cars has more to do with the mentality of the engineering groups than the cost of production and the like. They find it acceptable to design cars that require expensive service every 8k miles. They also seem to find it acceptable to have the same issues product after product and not resolve it, just continue to charge customers to repair it. MB, Porsche, Audi, BMW all seem to follow that path. And yes, I know Ferrari and Lambo may be worse. But NSK's are a nice little performance car that seem to run 60-100k before they need more than oil changes, I do recall they recommend a timing belt change at 60k. Old Datsun 240/260/280's were good for 100k before you need to change their plugs.....just different approaches to cars I guess. And yet, I have Porsches instead of Japanese cars. Gives me more to complain about....

17prospective buyer

Chrysler is WAY worse for not resolving issues. Really just cheapness in general actually. They don't fix anything until someone dies and the NTSB forces them to issue a recall. I always say a Charger/300 is just an outdated E-class with poor build quality...