Chuck Jones

Mike: I couldn't agree with you more. I often wonder when I see how varous parts failed on these cars....just how much was a truly failed part due to manufacturing defect or the result of having the security of knowing that if you blew it up, no big deal....there would be a warranty to cover the excesses of your overly aggressive driving habits. Whereas on the one hand I acknowledge that when the salesmen hand you the keys, they're sittin next to you in the passenger seat egging you on so that you can see the power and performance that "PORSCHE" is renowned for..The fact remains they're just salsesmen looking for their cut of the profits from the sale, and the psychology of sales emphasizes performance and style. They could care less if you bend something because after you sign on the dotted line and get either the factory or aftermarket CPO warranty....it's no longer their problem....it's the service manager's problem. He's the guy who has to take on the upset folks and listen to the explanations and excuses....and he's the guy who has to run the car on the computer to see how many category II or worse events the computer shows....and then give you the good/bad news of whether Porsche is/isn't going to cover it. I sometimes wonder what a chart would look like if it could rate the driving style ahd habits of the guys who have a CPO or factory warranty versus those of us who do not.

I wont' disagree with the folks who say they bought a "performance car" fully expecting it to perform....but sometimes I wonder just how far the expectations of performance are supposed to go before some sort of threshold or reasonable limit of performance and durability is reached. I would readily admit that my expectations for a GT2 or GT3 would be higher than those for my 99 996....but that shouldn't give me carte blanc approval to go out and beat the crap out of the GT3 until it blows then boo-hoo about it. Expectations need to be responsible and reasonable...however one quantifies the word reasonable.