Hella-Buggin'

I usually wash the cars every other weekend alternating between the two. The pcar and then the wife's audi. I do give the porsche a tad more attention to detail but I'm ok with that. So is my wife, as far as she's concerned, "The rain washes it".

McCulla

As an aside, beowulf, I rode my motorcycle up to the Barber Motorsports Vintage Motorcyle museum about a month ago...I've not done the driving school, and sure would like to, but anyone with any appreciation of motorized 2 wheeled conveyances (and killer vintage outboard boat motors, I might add!) MUST, I repeat, MUST go to this museum. 1200 bikes, I think was the figure I heard. It's a great road trip, bike or Porsche, and well worth the time. Bass Pro Shop about a mile from the entrance while you wait for the gates to open. Leeds, Alabama, just outside Birmingham.

cannon1000

Please more details on the school. My birthday is coming up soon!

Edgy01

I don't believe the amount of money that we spend on these cars has anything to do with it. I have not changed at all and I spent a mere $5000 for my first Porsche in 1974. My attitude has not changed whatsoever.

Porsches are generally recognized for their superior German engineering. As such, those who buy them are routinely making a decision to purchase a car with supreme engineering behind everything they build, with a focus upon racing, endurance, durability, etc.

A Kia is not truly a car in the Porsche sense of the word. It is merely transportation. A Porsche is not for transportation--especially for their line of sports cars.

cpbmd

Dan,now we are getting to the crux of the matter. I think the people who buy Porsches are looking for more than a vehicle for transportation. They are looking for quality and a driving experience that other cars can't provide. Porsche attracts these types of people who may be more prone to take care of their cars in ways which people who just buy the car for transportation would not. Porsche owners may be more attached to their cars because the experience of ownership is enhanced by taking care of the car. So thinking about it this way, money probably has nothing to do with it.

cpbmd

I think you are exactly right. The emotional bond produced by a Porsche is different and more powerful than that produced by any other car. This is likely the fundamental reason why we all take care of our 911's better than most other cars.
Dan touched on this theory as well.

stevepow

I've been OCD about my cars since forever - they may not have been 911's, but they were all special to me because they were mine. Washing, detailing - my dad taught me all that - and his cars were not "special" either, but he treated them like they were, and so they were.

So my dad gets the credit for putting me on this path.

Kuhan

If you have a Porsche and you spend time on a Porsche forum then I would say, it's not just a car.

A while back at the dealer, I saw a lady bring in her 2 year old S cab with 3k miles for some minor issues and the state it was in was shocking... I bet she's not on Rennlist.

THPorsche

I like to keep all my cars as clean as possible inside and out.

I do think most Porsche owners would do the cleaning/waxing job themselves while the owners of the other exotic cars most likely would pay somebody else to do it.

cpbmd

Well said!

mclaudio

All my cars get the same attention in terms of cleaning frequency. My DD Porsche simply gets more dirty from more use...

w00tPORSCHE

The more emotionally attached you are to your car the more **** you become when it comes to keeping your car in pristine shape....sometimes it just gets out of control...like not wanting to drive it when it's raining outside.
It is not a big deal IMO to keep one's car looking clean if you only drive it for special occasions and rest of the time it performs duties as a garage queen. I love to challenge myself personally on two fronts: To drive my 911s hard and in all-weather conditions including snow/rain and at the same time keep it in showroom perfect shape which is what it is after 11 months and 9K miles. To do that is really really hard. It is hard for me to accept why people buy a 100K plus car, pay all that high premium to have it insured, yet drive it very infrequently, spend more time cleaning it (than driving it) or spending triple the $$$ for someone else to clean it only to change cars in three years (or in some cases sooner than that). I do drive it in the rain and guess what: They do not melt in the rain ;-)

...I can certainly understand why people don't drive it in the snow: Too many crazy drivers out there. But summer is not any better with all the texting/personal grooming goin on out there on the drivers seat.

Iggy

In my case the truth is somewhere in between...

My car is a daily driver, and I clean it 3 times a week ... the other cars once in 2 weeks.

Porsche is a work of art and deserves special treatment!

csorrows

My two vehicles are on entirely different ends of the spectrum.

I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee that gets no love whatsoever. It is truly just transportation. Now, I've always been a "Jeep guy" because I've lived in Colorado before for several years, and they're the perfect vehicle there. I had an old 1993 Jeep Cherokee that went for 150k miles before it threw a rod, and would have gone longer if I had been a little better about the oil changes and maintenance on it. My 2004 I keep maintained at the bare minimum, but it never gets washed, and when I last moved from Colorado to California, a deer jumped out of the bushes at night and hit the right front quarter panel, denting it, and snapping off the antenna. It also has a terrible crack in the windshield (leftover from living in Colorado, where all cars have a crack in the windshield) that I have no intention of spending the money to replace. The electronics module in the drivers door went out, and the windows don't work - also something I don't plan on spending money to fix.

On the totally other end of the spectrum is my 2006 C4 cab, which gets hand washed every weekend, I keep the interior spotless, the cupholders will never get used in this car, nobody will ever eat or drink in it, etc. It's not a "garage queen" however...I don't believe in that. It gets driven to work at least a couple days a week, and I use it on the weekends. I'm paranoid where I park it, I won't take it someplace where I can't park it in a good spot away from other cars.

So for me, there's basic transportation (the Jeep) that gets maintained but not "loved" then there's the 911 which gets special treatment.

It's kind of nice having the two polar opposite cars. One I don't care where I park it, how dirty it gets, if the doors get dinged, etc. The other one I'm extremely cautious about, care about the way it looks, etc. When I leave the house in the morning for work, I'm able to pick one that matches my mood for that day

chopperzz

I might also suggest that an 18 year old male with a Kia, takes as good care of his vehicle, as we may do with our p-cars. The brand of car probably means less than the ability to pay for the car, at the varying stages of our lives.