GTSence

Ok, bear with me...

I owned a Buell and a Harley... loved both of them. IMHO... the Buell was innovative and what Harley lacks in that department, they make up in nostalgia. Overall I enjoyed owning them and even wish I still had them.

One sort of nasty thing I remember though are the years around 2003. There was a wait list... loads of merchandise... super stores... a retail experience. Some dealerships and staff remained grounded. Others let it get the best of them. The motor company as well. There was an arrogance that ironically was at odds with the enthusiast that kept them alive in the lean years. People who had no business on bikes were buying them for parade rides and meet ups at the dealership. Then then economy turned south. Maybe the electric bikes will save them. Maybe not.

A friend bought me a Porsche hat for my birthday earlier this year... from the dealership where I bought my car and have had it serviced. The dye ran. It looks terrible. My wife took it back to the dealership and they said "not our problem". A car, thousands in maintenance work... a $30 hat. The arrogance. A wait list... loads of merchandise... super stores... a retail experience. GT cars sold for parade rides and meet ups... hmmmm ... where have I seen this before?

rodH

so Porsche=Harley based on a Hat that ran? interesting.

I am the Walrus

All Porsche’s or just the 997?

GTSence

The hat triggered it... Lol. Been thinking about it for awhile. When I bought the car I thought the dealership was pretty good. Last few years not so much.

I'm going to try a different dealership. Also, I think it's entirely possible to be an owner and not deal with a dealership. Exception being if you want a new or cpo car.

spyd

Having owned and ridden Harleys from 1960's to present and Porsches from 1974 to present, I can see the similarities/changes of the two also.

jamesinger

I am not disagreeing with you but I am super shocked at how bad pretty much ALL dealership services/experiences have been. In the past decade, I have had to shuffle between 4 separate LA area BMW dealers for WILDLY bad service on my wife's i3, I had to stop going to the dealer I bought an Audi from because they were also just straight up terrible (service and work), and I was also unhappy with more understandable dealerships like Honda, Mitsubishi, and Chevy—both on the service side and the sales. Some places, the sales is stellar but the service is bad (BMW and Audi dealers I dealt with). Some places, the sales is silly bad but the service is decent but what shocks me, is that at a lot of places I have been to, it is both, and I am blown away by it. Maybe I demand too high a caliber of service though, IDK.

Through all this, I have found some good independents. That is the only positive I can find in all of it. The Audi independent I went to was all people who defected from the dealer that made me upset enough to seek them out even while my car was still under warranty. I also have become a decent mechanic myself as a result too.

Oneday997

Both also have a demographics problem. The millennials aren’t necessarily tied to the nostalgia of either brand and by and large (not all of them) don’t necessarily aspire to own a Porsche or a Harley. Many here bag on corvette owners for being on the older side - Harley is very much the same and Porsche isn’t that far behind really. When is the last time you saw someone under 40 wearing a Harley or a Porsche t-shirt/hat/whatever.

cwheeler

Yes! I'm 35 and wear a Porsche hat! Lol.

Cw

JS

No correlation.

Oneday997

Rennlisters excluded 😁

rodH

I don’t think being on the “older side” is the main reason porsche owners bag on Vette owners. But thats an entirely different topic.

MexicoBlueTurboS

I've never seen a Fast and Furious but being most people under 40 were exposed to that, they are probably wearing F&F stuff and trying to make F&F cars.

I don't have any Porsche stuff other than the car.

Uda880

Definitely agree with you on this one, although I've always found Lexus dealers to be the pinnacle of best sales and service experiences.

jamesinger

^^^ I will keep that in mind the next time I am looking. I heard (related) Toyota is solid too.

larrysb

Hard to say. Honestly, I never could figure out the Harley thing. Seemed like an excuse for accountants and insurance agents to wear pirate costumes and adorn their bikes with motorcycle jewelry. It seemed like their customer base largely refused any attempts to modernize the bikes.

The rise and fall of H-D follows their capture of a particular age demographic as that group reached a high level of disposable income. Now that group has passed the age where they are buying toys like motorcycles. H-D failed to connect with later generations, who associate the brand with old people.

Hard to say with Porsche. I have to admit, the idea that a new convertible 911 is easily pushing $150k+ takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. That's a lot of dough, even if you have a lot of dough. Not sure who they sell them to.

But they sell a lot more SUV's these days. I guess that's more bread and butter, while the 911 and Boxster are more in the toys category. Although I think my convertible is a great daily driver. But I bought it used.