Why aren't the exotics more reliable?
 

Never owned a Ferrari but I understand that they are fragile. Why aren't they as reliable as P-cars? They sure cost enough.

Some may consider our cars exotic. We hear a lot about Porsche quality but every model has had its catastrophic issues. Why aren't P-cars as reliable as (insert Japanese car name here)? Porsches sure cost enough.

you have to give up reliability for performance

Why are the cars that break all the time more "fun" to drive than a cvic?

Most Porsches aren't true exotics - and they're a damn sight more reliable than Ferraris, at least...

As far as Ferraris go, the kind of folks who can afford them can afford costly maintenance.

Average joe can't afford to have his engine removed to change the oil.

Thus mass-produced vehicles have to compete in reliability and cheap/easy maintenance to sell.

Because they are made in Italy.

I can't think of anything Italian that's reliable, maybe that porn star that became a member of parliment, but other than her - nothing.

I'll take a stab... tighter tolerances?
You wouldn't want a race horse plowing a field.

Isnt that why the guy that started Lambo (back in the day) was a true Ferrari fan but he grew tired of the F-cars always breaking? So he, from scratch, started his own exotic car company - Lambo?

Not exactly "from scratch".
Ferruccio already owned a successful tractor company. Due to his success, he was able to afford a Ferrari. The 250GT that he purchased had chronic clutch failures, and he complained to Enzo. Enzo said something arrogant (duh!) to Ferruccio, something along the lines of, "Go back to driving your tractors - it's obvious you cannot drive my cars."

Ferruccio fixed his 250GT by installing one of his tractor clutches, and also vowed to beat Ferrari at his own game. The Lamborghini 350GTV prototype was introduced in 1963, and went into production as the 350GT.

Because they don't have to be? Really, it's not a bad racket. You build desirable cars, then sell super expensive parts and specify expensive routine maintenance. If the owners refuse, you void their warranty. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Lamborghinis are very reliable--now that they are made by Audi.

It is part of experience. Going to the dealer and having your as$ kissed and free cappachinos goes a long way...

Yeah, he *****ed to the commendatore about the weak transmissions, who told him to go back to driving tractors, I always liked that story

I got your tractor right here Enzo

Because true exotics sacrifice everything to maximize performance. If it offers some light performance edge to put your oil resevoir under the engine, and the only trade off is that you have to remove the whole engine to change the oil, who cares? You can corner that much better. Light weight, higher tolerances, sacrifice for performance and style. And because they can.

...and owned by Porsche...

Think about high-end race cars. They typically need an engine rebuild after every race (well, now they have a two race rule in F1). The engine is built in such a way (clearances, etc) to maximize HP regardless of wear. Same thing for engines, transmissions, rear ends, etc.

Likewise for suspension components. I once heard of a race car engineer who said something like “if a part doesn’t break every once and a while, it’s too heavy.”

Porsches are street cars that you can take to the track, while Ferraris are race cars that you can take on the street.

Oh yeah....audis are super reliable. Ask Jim.

Women are the same way...

Actually Italian motorcycles aren't too bad wrt reliability. I know guys with Ducs that have been bombproof (though not coyote proof).

My Aprilia owner's manual is pretty interesting though :p

American pushrod V8s are pretty damn reliable too. Inelegant, inefficient and hardly "exotic", but reliable.

Typically the rule-of-thumb I use is:

FAST/RELIABLE/CHEAP - pick any two.

Works in 99.9% of the cases.

They make a hell of a shoe!

It was Colin Chapman of Lotus who said that his cars should fall apart as they cross the finish line. Basically saying that they should be designed to be as fast as possible for the race and there was no point in adding anything that would slow them down to make them last longer.

I'm sure anyone that has owned an early Lotus would tell you that this philosphy was carried on to the road cars.:D