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Car Forum / Porsche / Porsche Cars / February 2007

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porsche and magazine comparison reviews

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Lawrence Lugar - 10 Feb 2007 12:07 GMT
RE: motortrend, car/driver, etc magazine comparison reviews.
corvette, porsche, italians

porsche is kind of in an akward category...

it's in a smack dab middle, unique category, all by itself.

although porsche is a great sportscar, better than corvette, it always loses
to corvette in magazine reviews mainly due to price.

when porsche is compared up there with the super exotics, it loses -
because, well - it's no ferrari

so porsche is kind of in this dead, middle category between mass
affordability and rich; a catergory that there's no really catergory for

yea or nay?
E Brown - 10 Feb 2007 22:41 GMT
>although porsche is a great sportscar, better than corvette, it always loses
>to corvette in magazine reviews mainly due to price.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>affordability and rich; a catergory that there's no really catergory for
>yea or nay?

    Nay. If you read the British car magazines, like Autocar, Evo, and
Car, the Porsches win the comparisons every time, especially when the
911 is involved. The Corvette is finally earning some street cred in
Europe and the UK, but it's still not up there with the 911.
    I agree with the US magazines that Porsches are over-priced (it was
recently reported that they make about $20,000/car, more than any
other car maker), but few cars come close in terms of handling in
their price/performance level.
    epbrown
--  
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill
DST - 11 Feb 2007 20:35 GMT
>> although porsche is a great sportscar, better than corvette, it always loses
>> to corvette in magazine reviews mainly due to price.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
> Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill

Some things I have been chewing on since I read this original post....

1. The Corvettes and Porsches of today are cars that differ from each other so much.
   I think the 928 was the closest thing Porsche ever made to a Corvette.
   So today there is a built-in niche for subjective, emotional, and "perfect for this but not for that" debate that will go on and on and on....

2. It's hard to call today's Corvettes overpriced, and the Z06 seems like a real bargain (if you could buy one for sticker price).
   I would never drive out of a Porsche dealership feeling like I had gotten a great deal.
   If you want some fun, go to Porsche USA's web site and use their "build your dream car" configurator.
   Start with a Cayman S and add on every single conceivable option including slathering every piece of the interior in leather.
   Did you almost double the price of the car? Is there something else you would enjoy owning more for the same money?
   (If you did this same exercise with a 911, could you cross into Audi R8 territory?)

3. Porsche does occasionally come out with a "streetable" super-exotic - the 959 if the late 80's, and the Carrera GT of this decade.
   Do you think These give Ferrari et al a run for their money in the critic's eyes?
   The General has never done sold anything like this, to the best of my knowledge, and so....

4. The after-market arena can take your 'vette and turn it into anything you want, even make it practically unrecognizable as a 'vette.
   (Did you double the price of the car?... :-) )
    I don't know too many Porsche owners who would look to do something like that with their car.

5. It seems like there are lots of reasons people buy Ferraris, Lambos, etc. other than to have a competent sports car to drive.
   How many do you see in the secondary market that have real mileage on them?

   I read the car mags, and the articles are designed to tell people like me what I'm missing.
   The fact is that the Cayman S is the car I'm most likely to own, and anything else is pure fantasy.

Just some thoughts, have a great day.

Dave St.T
Boulder, CO
E Brown - 11 Feb 2007 22:31 GMT
>5. It seems like there are lots of reasons people buy Ferraris, Lambos, etc. other than to have a competent sports car to drive.
>    How many do you see in the secondary market that have real mileage on them?

    I think people that buy high-end exotics buy them to drive, but
these are expensive toys and play time in that income bracket tends to
be limited; often they have lots of other toys as well. That adds up
to low mileage.
    I've only got two cars, and my 4 year-old Z4 has just 25,000 miles
on it, and the only reason it's *that* much is because I visit family
about once a month, and that's an 800-mile round trip. If I used my
3-series for those trips during the warm months, the Z4 would be down
to around 2000 miles/year - Ferrari-type mileage. As this link shows
(http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?num_records=100&search_type=both
&distance=0&address=60606&style_flag=1&make=BMW&model=Z4&make2=&start_year=1981&
end_year=2003&min_price=&max_price=&transmission=&engine=&drive=&doors=&fuel=&ma
x_mileage=15000&color=&keywords_display=&sort_type=priceDESC&body_code=0&certifi
ed=&advanced=y&default_sort=priceDESC&keywordsrep=&keywordsfyc
=)
there are 109 2003 Z4s like mine in the US with fewer than 15,000
miles.
    epbrown
--  
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill
DST - 12 Feb 2007 02:00 GMT
>> 5. It seems like there are lots of reasons people buy Ferraris, Lambos, etc. other than to have a competent sports car to drive.
>>    How many do you see in the secondary market that have real mileage on them?
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> be limited; often they have lots of other toys as well. That adds up
> to low mileage.

Yeah, that's a good point. Mostly I think about how incredibly impractical these cars get to be in terms of the real world - but then I live in a very different world.
.
I know this is way off topic, but just for grins I built the most expensive MSRP Z06 2007 Corvette that I could.
It stickers under $77K.
I went out and built the most expensive 2007 Carrera S that I could.
I totally get it that no one would really do this.
But it's impressive. The base price of this car is $82.6K.
Porsche is willing to sell me one that costs $151.5K.
A base Cayman S is $58.9K, but I was able to gas it up to $106K - A tiptronic would add another $3200.
.
'Shows ya what I can do when I have more time than money to spend... :-)

Dave
Low Life #3 - 13 Feb 2007 19:35 GMT
you're an attorney/soliciter/rechtsanwalt arn't you?  Reason I ask is that
everytime I read your posts I'm thinkin'  "If I ever get my a.s in a sling
out in E. Brown's neck of the woods he's gonna be my one/first call".
E Brown - 15 Feb 2007 16:36 GMT
>you're an attorney/soliciter/rechtsanwalt arn't you?

    Nope, just old and feisty. :)
    epbrown   
--  
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill
 
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