brendo

i'm confused. who claims the engines are broken in at the factory? they're just tested....

996FourEss

I thought 1 in 50 were hot tested?

Graygoose997

No car comes with less than 5 miles.
Anyone know what happens after it leaves the line ?

Dave in Oregon

The new car must be transported to/from ship and then to inspection at entry port. Therefore +/- 5 mi.

Edgy01

My car did. 4 miles on the clock.

Charlie C

Things sure have changed. I have a sales brochure from a 1980 or 1981 911SC. It clearly says that they hot tested every engine before installing. Hopefully these photos will come out clear enough to read. I thought they used to test drive all cars, just some I guess.

Graygoose997

I can't see someone driving each car from the factory to the ship...or how driving on/off carrier can rack up 4-5 or more miles
I'm thinking there is a track of sorts and each car gets a workout after leaving the line...

OCBen

You picked yours up at the factory. I'm sure he was referring to cars delivered here.


If you watch the documentary you'll know the cars are transported to the dock on carriers. They're driven onto the carriers and off the carriers, into the loading bays of the ship and off the ship, onto more carriers for distribution and so on and so on until you pick yours up at the dealership, after they've taken it for a spin.

No car gets a "workout" after it leaves the line.

OCBen

Thanks for posting. This is probably the source of the misinformation that's being circulated regarding break-in being performed at the factory.

This is how they used to do things back in the 80s. But with today's modern manufacturing methods that work to ensure high levels of quality, there is no need for such engine stand testing and road testing of the cars. Just fill up the fluids, add a little petrol to the tank, fire up the engine, spin the tires on the dyno, run through the gears on the tranny, check the brakes, and it's good to go and ready to be shipped.

Graygoose997

I know these boats are huge...but 4-5 miles driving on and off , I don't think so.
As for the dealer driving them...maybe to the corner for a gas fill up.
How do you explain the cars that come in with 12-14 miles ?

Jim Sorensen

In order to continually verify the "cold" engine testing, 1 percent of all engines are taken off the line and put on the dynomometer. Every once in a while you can see a car on the assembly line with it's exhaust and muffler turned blue. This is a car with the 1 percent motor. With all the computer driven machinery producing engine parts, testing more than 1 percent is just not necessary or justified. Completed cars are fueled and run-up on a rollers (full car dyno) while the driver in the stationary car checks all functions such as lights, fans, speed control, instruments etc.

OCBen

You'll be surprised how much mileage is racked up just in transporting these cars over here.

My ordered Boxster came with around 20 miles on it, and not just because it came from Finland. Part of the problem is that after the cars are taken off the carrier at the dock, they are moved around the lot a bit and arranged according to delivery destinations, etc. Mine actually had to be unloaded off the ship after the ship experienced engine trouble and had to return back to port, where it was moved around the lot a bit until the next available boat arrived. My ignition had quite a few scratches on the stainless steel face from the many times the car was started and moved.

These miles do rack up. I doubt anyone is taking these cars for a joyride during transport.

Edgy01

Between dropping off my car, and getting it again in California, it logged another 9 miles. (Some of that was to go back and fetch the hardtop, stored off the factory property).

Once a car rolls out of the factory door it is put in a rear lot on the factory grounds. They have several of these scattered around the place. When they were operating a double shift of workers they were getting ahead of the transportation group, so cars were parked everywhere! They then are put on car carriers and shipped up to Bremerhauven. (Quite often the method is rail; occasionally via trucks). From there, they go to the nearest ports. Once at the destination ports, they are driven off the ships and into a holding parking lot again as the cars go through their predelivery inspections. Then put on trucks bound for the various regions and ultimately, the dealers.

It's quite commonplace to see individual cars moving around the plant--perhaps awaiting a key part or some touching up.

Others, without factory delivery, have reported less than the 4 miles I had on mine. Recall that occasionally a car is pulled off the line to check their adherence to specifications. It adds some miles to that particular car.

If you see a Carrera at a dealership with more than about 10 miles on it, then it got taken out for a test drive or two in the States. There is no "test track" at Zuffenhausen to do anything of the sort to those cars. The nearest facility for Porsche is at Weissach, and it is easily 30 miles away on a good day without traffic. There is no need any longer to test drive these cars. Hopefully, some of you read my article in Porsche Panorama in Feb 2008.

http://coochas.com/porsche/Resources...roDelivery.pdf

(The shot, below, with the Caymans on the truck, was unusual for 2006. These vehicles came in from Finland where their assembly was, and arrived in Zuffenhausen to be matched up with their European Delivery customers at the delivery center. (Most are spec-ed for Euro owners)).

unclejosh

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Here is the scoop - toured factory 2 weeks ago, awesome tour, about 2 hrs. No pictures allowed.


Since intro of 997.2 DI motor, they have stopped doing dyno runs to confirm HP and torque, etc.
Now they drive every 10th car.


Why ?
A system has been developed involving multiple checks of engine tolerances including drag, friction, etc. that is checked at certain steps in the engine assembly process. This system was developed using mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of the entire engine building process from initial parts picking from the bins to final motor assembly. Empirical results and testing are consistent with the modeling, thus it was found unnecessary to dyno and test each motor.
The systems saves Porsche a significant amount of time and money.

Re. tour, I can share that the 911s are still largely hand built, or screwed together, combining some high-tech robotics with old fashioned Teutonic workmanship. They are limited in x, y square footage, so Werks 2 Porsche assembly is a "vertically integrated" system - the cars are put together starting from the top floor(s), and the final marriage of the body and chassis occurs on the bottom floor. It was a thing of beauty to see these cars built, and was a real head turner to see the test drivers ripping up and down the Porscheplatz, testing every 10th car.

OldGuy

Rij posted:
You break EVERY car you ever bought? Isnt the espensive??:lol