Bruce In Philly

I really love those KT150s I purchased from you. Not as sweet as the EL34, but a real nice ballsy tube in my Prima Luna HP integrated.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Upscale Audio

Dude you rock. That amp will sound as good or better than another "Big Name" ap costing 3 times the price, and you don't NEED to worry about tubes being matched. In HiFi there's plenty of examples of "The Emporer's New Clothes"
Some of the biggest name brands are built the worst and break the most. The reason? They get bought by big business and venture capitalists, and start making them cheaper and raising the prices. I got a real hard-on for that stuff. Pisses me off..

Iceter

Alfas are verifiably, demonstrably, incontrovertibly, less reliable cars than almost anything on American roads today. I was not comparing Alfas to Porsches. I was comparing Alfas to ALL other brands.

To recommend to a poster who is fed up with an unreliable car that he replace it with an Alfa is so ironic that I actually thought for a second that it was a joke.

I'm glad you love your Alfa. I love my TR-6, but I would never have the chutzpah to tell someone that Triumph made reliable cars.

cwheeler

Way off topic.

I'm a huge stereo dork too. Recently built a set of "elusive 1299s" in a ported enclosure. I love building speakers. I've built maybe 10 different sets. If y'all ever wanted to do a "Porsche and tubes" or some other ridiculous named weekend, I'm down! (I'm located in richmond, va). Although I have yet to buy/build a tube amp. It's on my short list. But I need to upgrade my main amp for my new(ish) house.

Cw

Upscale Audio

I doubt you have personal ownership knowledge or experience with a QV since you compare a modern, Nurburgring record-setting sedan to TR-6. All you have to do is compare Rennlist stories to giuliaforums,com

Early 2017's had teething problems that were MINOR. Post 2018 QV's are as dependable as any European brand for nickel and dime stuff. More dependable than my Porsche, M3s and M5s, and AMG cars. None are Toyotas. QV? Engines are dependable. Transmissions are bulletproof. BULLETPROOF. You can't make that statement about 911's.

I saw that Bronz was thinking of an alternative way to have a kick-*** fun car with little of the downside he has already gone through, and my suggestion is what I would do. Buy a modern 2 year old $79k top-rated car with 8k miles that is smokin' with a full four-year warranty for $45K. I was simply trying to help with alternatives as we do here. If you suggested a TR6 I wouldn't criticize you for it. It's your experience.

And before you call me a Porsche-hater I was just on Ferrarichat suggesting a newbie to buy 991 over an F430. As long as he gets a warranty. I dig Porsches ,,,,, but deal with reality.

Mike Murphy

Why does a single person’s experience matter? Don’t we all know somebody that’s had “zero issues” with their X Brand car, while another person’s identical car has been a complete lemon?

I don’t think personal experience really matters if that person has only had limited experience of one or two cars.

sandwedge

Haven't they always held that position in terms of reliability? Had a friend in my younger years with a Spyder convertible. I didn't see him drive it much. Not because he didn't want to but because it spent most of its time in the shop. There was always something and it seemed to take forever to get parts. Thankfully he came from a well to do family and just kept pouring his dad's money into that POS. Anyone without that kind of financial backup would have gone broke or been forced to sell it, probably at a substantial loss.

Petza914

Yep, when I was a kid in MA, one of the Doctors on my newspaper route bought a brand new Alfa Spyder. Multiple times per year, the car was apart in his garage and they were waiting on parts from the nearest dealership, which was actually in CT. I hardly ever saw him drive it. By comparison, the other Doctor who had a midnight blue 930 Turbo and the guy 2 streets over who had a black 928 S4 went by the bus stop in their cars every single morning. That 930 was beautiful. He bought it with his son's college fund to protect the investment, and sure enough, a few years later when it was time for him to go to college, he sold it and sent his son to college with the money. I'd have found another way myself

Porsche is in a class by themselves when it comes to exciting and reliable sports cars you can drive every day. A Mustang GT350 is less reliable. About the only other car I can think of that compares would be an Audi R8, but a lot less utility in that without the rear seats. A Corvette may be just as reliable, but isn't nearly as exciting or enjoyable to drive, at leas to me they're not - I don't mind helping remove some tread from the occasional Vette rental car, but have no interest in owning one.

Upscale Audio

Triumph TR-6, Alfa Spider....many old cars were sh*t. You want to say an old Alfa is like a new one? Please. My first Porsche was a 914. Though technically part Volkswagon, it was hardly quality. What a mess. I also had a five year old 1975 BMW 2002 about the same time. It smoked like a banshee and the transmission shelled at 60k miles. Old Ferrari 355s had all kinds of issues. As did the 996 and 997. A good friend of mine was one of the first to receive a 1999 996. He had it three months and it started leaking oil because the cases were mis-aligned from the front bearing to the rear. Porsches answer was to use a more flexible seal. Didn't work. They replaced the engine. I asked "Weren't you pissed?" He said "Well they gave me a free Porsche coffee cup". I thought "bet they did". I'm not making this **** up.

Porsches have improved about the same pace as Ferraris and Alfas. It used to be you had to build tons of them to wean out the problems. Computer engineering has avoided much of that. But to compare a new QV to a spider is as silly as comparing a 992 to a 996. Sillier.

German or European superior reliability is a farce, whether it's Merc, BMW, or Porsche. Bruce in Philly said it best. The emperor has a fine set of clothes. They're getting better. If they don't fix the PDK question at some point it could be the Ferrari F1 or BMW SMG period of this time.

The best proof was yesterday.meetings that I already mentioned. My 991.1 PDK failed 9877 miles. New customer I never met before shared his months old 991.2 TT PDK failed, another friend I had dinner with asking me for warranty advice cause his best friend had a warranty failure on his 991.1 GTS PDK. Isn't that a little "weird"?

I mean Jesus guys.....facts are facts. Performance cars are fewer in numbers, complex, and pushed to the limit. They all break if they're European. The one "European" true sports car that I suspect would be more dependable than my Alfa would be a Lotus Evora...and you all know why.

sandwedge

Couldn't agree more. There was another thread started on a similar topic (yesterday I think). I added up the miles between the three 997's I've owned to just over 150,000 and the only repairs worth mentioning was the busted PDK and water pump on the -09 C4S. Both covered by warranty. Other than that, basically just oil changes, tires and other wear and tear items you'll have on any other car.

Just reached 65,000 miles on my GTS and the only maint. cost worth mentioning was the required 60,000 mile PDK service at around $1,200 as I recall it. Other than that, nothing. Between the three cars I think that's a pretty impressive record for a high performance sports car. Of course I have no proof of it but I highly doubt there's another brand out there that can match the performance, reliability and the overall low cost of ownership.

qikqbn

I understand there are a lot of amazing cars to chose from and we should keep our eyes and minds open. I get the point you are trying to make. It's very tempting to try something different when we have been experiencing exciting horse power wars recently that are on another level and manufacturing in general seems to be improving. Heck, It seems like 4 door sedans and Suv's that run 11 second quarter miles are a dime a dozen now. 11 seconds use to be super car territory and now Grandma can drive her suv to the grocery store doing 0-60 mph in 3 seconds. No doubt there are a lot of fast and interesting cars to chose from and Porsche has had a huge target on it's back as the bench mark to beat for decades now. In many ways I think we should give Porsche credit for lighting that fire under a lot of mfr's butts. Manufacturers have had to up their game in order to compete, which is great for us as the consumer, because we benefit from better quality and mfr's making 700 hp family haulers.

Still, with that said, and not necessarily focusing on you, but just in general, I always cringe a bit when some one says "dependable and bulletproof" especially about a car that has only been in production a few years and sold relatively low numbers. Not trying to dump on the QV's, because no doubt they are fast and get good magazine reviews, but the data, higher mileage examples, exposure to all the elements, maintenance, and other variables is just not there yet to make that claim. There are great new cars out there to chose from , but let's take another look in say...10-15 years from now to see if they really stood the test of time. Then we can "deal with reality" for those other cars too.

Interesting Petza mentioned the newer mustang GT350's. There is a female youtuber who got denied from Ford to fix her 2018 GT350 engine. She barely had it a year and it has bore scoring and a few other issues. I know, it's Ford, so no comparison, but just goes to show even new cars have issues.

Upscale Audio

I didn't say the car was bulletproof. The most common problem that people mention over and over is a check engine light, and that's easily fixed through software and keeping water out of connectors, both things that have been done. The engine I suspect will be like any other 3-liter engine running hard to get you 505 hp and tons of torque.

The transmission has been bulletproof and I have not heard of one being swapped. THAT'S impressive. I suspect it will continue to be bulletproof which is why BMW dumped dual-clutch to use it in the bad-*** M5, and they are not alone. It can handle up to 770 lb-ft of torque. It's too long to be used in mid or rear-engine cars. I can't think of a more dependable.solution. Hence so many people switching to it. https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...f-eight-speed/

Sandwedge said "and the only repairs worth mentioning was the busted PDK and water pump on the -09 C4S Both covered by warranty." If the PDK was just out of warranty I wonder if he would still say " Of course I have no proof of it but I highly doubt there's another brand out there that can match the performance, reliability and the overall low cost of ownership." Adding 20-25K to "maintenance" is a big increase to "low cost of ownership"

Porsche possibly lost a customer and fan-boy with Bronz. They won't feel it of course. They should IMHO do something about the PDK and allow people to REPAIR THEM. It shows a lack of empathy and compassion for people longing to own a Porsche. But they won't as long as people don't make noise about it. Even Ferrari acts better than that, and they are not exactly cheap.

Why won't Porsche do this?https://www.rennhaus.com/projects/fe...ission-rebuild https://www.rhominnovations.com/sing...Clutch-Upgrade

I stand on my suggestion about Alfa, assuming Bronz even liked the car. $45k, and four years of drive the sh*t out of it 'cause you have a warranty. But it's just a suggestion.

If my meetings on Friday were three Alfa guys comparing notes and being unhappy about their check engine lights instead of three Porsche guys being unappy about PDK failures, I would much rather be in the former.

And I'm saying this with two Porsches in my garage. Love Porsche. I can afford the bill if it happens and it won't change my life. Others are not as fortunate, and I feel empathy for them. I got a Fidelity warranty like so many do. But if a minor PDK repair could be serviced for $8K instead of $20-25k I wouldn't.

cvtbenhogan

Very sorry to hear Bronz. I hate to see this type of outcome. I’d fire off a letter to Porsche and tell em they ain’t that great.

Hopeful you bought the car used, and didn’t take the new Porsche depreciation hit.

I’d want to sell it too, though why not get some miles out that car. See if the hurt fades.


Good luck.

cdk4219

I would definitely be over this money pit. One would definitely have to love this particular car to keep it.

mikes70

Curious, I wonder how hard it would be to convert a PDK car to three pedals? Are the engine internals strictly balanced for the PDK flywheel?

Cause this would be THEE car to do it to.....imo.