My car was in dealer for recall fix Tuesday (on a side note I ran out of fuel on way to dealer). Initially I was promised the car back Wednesday but that did not happen and I was then assured a return on Thursday (the weekend here). I followed up during the day 2-3 times but at the end of the day I was told they could not finish the job due to a technical snag and my car is now stuck with dealer all weekend with an earliest return on Sunday.

I also found out they are doing 3 things on the recall.

1. The fuel line issue ( I was aware of this issue mentioned in recall letter and I am told it has been resolved by replacing the fuel line).

2. A front end clamp issue. (What is this ? My service advisor has not been able to explain it but says it has been resolved.) Help?

3. Software updates. Here they have run in to a snag whereby while updating the front end electronics software they are getting an error such that the power steering is now not working, which is why they need to keep the car longer. Help? Why would they need to update software so soon?

The recall experiences I have heard of so far on this forum have been one hour while you wait fixes. Can any one shed more light on this mess? Cause it has me stumped. I am wondering why I took the car in, given that it was working fine so far (except when it ran out of gas).

 

S or base?

 

What kind of loaner did you get?

 

This comment seems SO irrelevant to the OPs questions. WTF??

Matt

 

I know people that have nicer loaners than what is being worked on, therefore if they are giving him an Enterprise rental for the weekend, I too would be upset. IF, it were say, a Panamera turbo, I would go with the flow.

 

Wake up! No dealer has a Panamera Turbo in their service fleet. I have a GT3 and I am perfectly content when I go in an get a base Boxster or Coxster manual as a service loaner. The best I have seen rotate through the fleets are a Boxster S, Coxster S and a Cayenne S Hybrid. It doesn't matter what kind of P-car you are taking in for service it is always luck of the draw. BTW, the last time they did not have a loan car from the service fleet, they brought over a Hertz car which was a Mercedes C300. This is far better than what I would get from any other make out there. Who else provides services loaners with clutch pedals beyond Porsche?

With any new model from any make, if you don't want to deal with some minor issues then don't buy the first year of an all new model. The first year of the 996 (the lllllllooonnnngggg 1999 model year) had a couple recalls, service campaigns and quite a few service bulletins.

 

Did you just say "Coxster"--twice??

 

When I took mine in they said it would be a quick fix or several days, depending on whether they put something around the fuel line to keep it separated or had to replace it (depending they said on inspection of wear on the fuel line), as they did not have the new lines in stock. So anyway, it was a several day fix as they waited on the part.

 

Kind of makes you wonder what's actually involved in Porsche's rigorous testing processes where these cars are driven in grueling hot and cold environments, over rough roads and so on. You'd think this problem would have surely surfaced so it questions the level of attention being paid by all the experts on tour.

Maybe they were all having so much fun driving the pants out of these cars nobody bothered to see what was actually going on underneath. Perhaps a problem associated with no longer having an engine lid.

 

Doesn't matter how many hundreds of thousands of miles of testing a new model undergoes - if a supplier's mass-produced part differs only slightly from prototypes, it can cause anything from an interior trim squeak to an engine replacement. There are ALWAYS bugs to work out. This is why first model years are to be avoided, regardless of make or model, if reliability is more important than having the first one on the block.

 

The service department always gives me a base Cayenne, a Boxster or a Caymen. However, the sales department always says leave it here and take whatever you want—Turbo, Turbo S, Panamera Turbo, Cayenne Turbo. Take the manager's car if you want it.

 

I think maybe posts like this helped me to get a really good discount on my 2012 991. Thank you.

 

Sounds like the fuel line and clamp are probably supplier problems, perhaps they got a bad batch. Doesn't relieve Porsche of responsibility but considering its a brand new model these kind of things are somewhat expected, imho. There's the old adage about never buying the 1st year of production.

I hope the dealer makes it right with the OP.

 

This fuel line bracket problem is a production line assembly "quality assurance" issue. From what I read while I was waiting for my car to be inspected, it's possible to assemble the bracket such that, unseen by the assembly line worker, there can be incorrect alignment of two adjacent lines. The fix is a visual inspection to see that no wear has occurred on the fuel line and that the bracket is then correctly aligned with the addition of a spacer to "braces and belt" prevent trouble.

I'd call this "production engineering" ... it's where a complex system in development cannot predict every step of the production process (literally from forging the pistons to rolling the car off the delivery truck at the dealership, there's activities that are beyond the scope of a million miles of development.

The 991 is far from a "version 1.0" in terms of the drive train. Where I'm seeing design weaknesses revolves around the stuff that really is new (cabin trim, steering, etc.)

F'rinstance, my car has developed a "whistling kettle" sound when the air conditioning blower is above about 80% ... the so-called "squirrel cage" fan is making a noise that suggests it's either partly fouled or incorrectly installed. So they'll probably have to go deep into the dash to get to it, which brings new problems of a dealer tech, as yet unfamiliar with the cabin trim, disassembly and later reinstalling all those clips and screws without introducing alignment trouble or new noises. If you ask me -- this is the real frustration of being a "first customer beta" owner of a new car.

Since Rennlist and other forum sites are a magnet for dissatisfied car owners, I think it's good that we're not buried in threads of complaints about all manner of defects and flaws. Maybe that's a little to "glass half full for me" but in general, I think the car is demonstrating high quality and satisfication.

 

I bought a new Audi a few years ago that had a gearbox thump. They wanted to replace the transmission at 400 miles....tear apart a brand new AWD car with 400 miles! I was angry, frustrated, upset. In the end they fixed it after weeks of reprogramming and I got over it and enjoyed the car for two years.

They'll fix it. You'll love it. Water under the bridge in times.