Porsche NOT on the Top 10 "most desired" list

[thabaer]

k9, I humbly ask permission to use the phrase "my lugnuts have more torque than your engine"
ROTFLMFAO

Another list of random and unqualified garbage. These lists more often than not reaffirm the likelyhood that most media is being run by FLAKES. There are exceptions, but while reaching for Excellence at the newstand, I passed by the cover text of "How Gay Is Your Car"...you have to admit there's a lot of garbage in circulation. This particular rag was loaded with fashion ads and reeked of perfume although it was clearly a mens magazine. With the speed and pressure of competition involved in web publishing, the quality seems to suffer even more (don't get me started on the parent company being M$).

Reality check, though: There are lots of capable cars being made these days, new and flashier as well as more accessible to the masses. A well done survey with simple criteria could squeeze our favorite marque out of the top ten by sheer volume.

[speeder]

I have MSN for my homepage, I did not even open that link today. Everything is a stupid poll or marketing survey these days. I really could not care less what the median/average/mediocre person considers a cool car. I would only be concerned if suddenly used 911s became the rage, and every knob in town HAD to have one. Then I'd have to sell mine, and I really like it.

Actually, not long ago I got stuck between an actor and the wall at a party, this guy is very much a follower of fashion. Somehow he knew that I am into Porsches, he was asking me "which one is the coolest old Porsche to get"? I almost steered him towards a 1981 924 turbo, ("has to have the adhesive stripes"), , but then just did a masterful job of convincing him that he would hate to own any older Porsche and that it would bankrupt him beyond his wildest nightmares. And embarrass him in front of the Ivy restaurant when it backfires and catches on fire in the valet line. I think, (hope), that he beat a hasty retreat to the nearest Humvee dealer, where I pray that they bent him over for $600 floormats and made him squeel like a pig.

Now what was I saying? Oh yeah, I don't want everyone to like the same things as me.

[Doug Zielke]

Originally posted by speeder
..... I really could not care less what the median/average/mediocre person considers a cool car. I would only be concerned if suddenly used 911s became the rage, and every knob in town HAD to have one. Then I'd have to sell mine, and I really like it. ......

Well said as usual, Denis!

[Mike Feinstein]

Guys...this is about NEW Porsches. Many of you said that you are glad that the young car enthusiast doesn't want a new Porsche...to keep the club exclusive, I assume. But....you guys don't own "new" Porsches...so you're not in that club either. Your cars (and mine) are from the days when Porsche actually competed on the race track while designing and building cars for enthusiasts.

Bottom line....NEW Porsches aren't even on the radar screen of anyone young enough to be unfamiliar with pre-90's 911's...that's the point. Based on their own merits and victories, each of us fell in love with the 911 for what is was, and what it represented...in that order.

So, here's the question: If young car/driving enthusiasts are not falling for Porsche "sports cars" for what they are, and represent (racing heritiage)....who's going to be buying new ones 20 years from now? No one! That's the real point.

Maybe their SUV will bring in buckets of cash in the short run, but it sure won't have many 10 year olds staying up at night dreaming of owning one.

[89911]

The demographics of this board is so restricted, (white, 30-50, professional, etc) that it is really to hard to give an opinion that will fall for a wider population of car buyers. If we get outside our "own little world" here and look at the product out there, I would find it hard to argue that new car buyer would look at owning a 20 year old Porsche. The new cars made by Porsche have already been spoken for. Let's face it, we're a cult. Nothing wrong with that, its just that "cults" don't make a strong buying force!

[Doug Zielke]

Originally posted by 89911
.....Let's face it, we're a cult. ......

Actually, *some* of us are a Plot.

[Kurt B]

You win awards when you exceed expectation. Porsches are great cars. The wider 996s look phenomenal and yellow boxsters are great and look solid. Porsche making a great car is expected. What they did before was make cars that were greater than even the highest expectations.

When i saw the latest little cars with high HP, I realized something very important. Technology has made high HP easy to achieve for reasonable bucks. Therefore, engines no longer make cars. At some point, a Carrera producing 500 HP is impractical. The owners wouldn't want it and it might even be dangerous. However, with 23k cars producing 260 HP, you'd almost expect a new Carrera to produce 400 HP but really, their market doesn't want or need it. Porsche knows its market.

Instead, cars are going to set apart in other ways: appearance, handling, and amenities. I think Porsche saw this long ago. In the early 90s, and they'd kept ahead of the wave. I expect in the future, HP won't be a selling point. All cars are going to have plenty of it. Yet Porsches will still stand out in all of the other available areas.

Saw a bright yellow brand new convertible Ferrari who put the smack down on the whole line of right lane family-beach-day traffic on PCH near Zuma, and my g/f and I gazed as it went by (she knows how much i adore ferraris). That is a car. Jesus...I don't care if a dodge viper can smack it off the line, that car is so wonderfully perfect in every single way, no one would take a Viper over that.

That intangible appeal is what Porsche will always produce in its cars. A step below Ferraris (don't even try to deny this), but a cut above almost everything else.


Okay, I just read the article--after this post. And I see ferraris on there
Um, this is a problem. Porsche is in some weird luke warm mode where they're no longer different enough.

Someone wake these @ssholes up and put the 993 back into production. Jesus.

[porsche_virus]

I agree that the older 911's have a much greater "rubber-neck" factor than the new ones. My stock '74 in need of a paint job gets looks at every stop light, no matter what age they are. At the car wash, which I attend every other day, I get at least 3 "nice car" statements, usually from people under 20. I say "thanks, but she still needs a lot of work", and they usualy say "well, it looks good from here".

A guy pulled up in front of my friend's store the other day in a '76 widebody conversion with a fresh guards red paintjob, and some chick coming out of the yogurt store next door asked if the car cost more than $100K. We all laughed and said, "no, more like $200K". He's selling it for $18K.

[turbo6bar]

I agree with Jack's comments. When driving, I find the newer Porsches (Boxsters and 996s) hard to spot. My instinct requires that I give an obligatory glance. Now, when an older 911 drives by, watch out. I will drive over Grandma and her blue hair to see more of that 911. Either Porsche has changed, or I have changed.

I know no person my age (I'm 27) who adores Porsches enough to own one. I don't know if it's money, talent, skill, or sanity that keeps them away. It doesn't really matter. I love my SC, and it makes me happy and proud. That's all that really matters.

Jurgen

[Two Oh]

Originally posted by Mark Wilson
Porsches may not be on the list of most popular, but if they had a list of most lusted after, I bet the 911 would be on it. Every time I pass a 12 - 25 year old, his head turns toward my car. JMO though.
Mark

Thier heads turn because you have an exceptionally great looking 911. Your car is set up beautifully, it is CLEAN and looks 'hella sweet' with that duck tail.....and its red!

[H.G.P.]

Originally posted by Mike Feinstein


Bottom line....NEW Porsches aren't even on the radar screen of anyone young enough to be unfamiliar with pre-90's 911's...that's the point. Based on their own merits and victories, each of us fell in love with the 911 for what is was, and what it represented...in that order.

So, here's the question: If young car/driving enthusiasts are not falling for Porsche "sports cars" for what they are, and represent (racing heritiage)....who's going to be buying new ones 20 years from now? No one! That's the real point.

Fine by me....just so Wayne keeps carrying the parts!

[jim72911t]

When the Gen X people finally buy their dream cars, it seems that they won't be buying P-cars. Just an observation.

As much as I hate to admit it, I guess I'm a member of "Generation X."

I'm pretty happy to finally own a Porsche.

When I think about it though, not many of my peers (this board and PCA members exluded) have ever considered buying one. First, most poeple are not really enthusiasts when it comes to cars. Most of my friends think I'm crazy for driving my cars on racetracks. (A few have asked for rides the next time I'm on the track, though ) Second, the average person believes that Porsches are big bucks, and are suprised when I tell them I've got less in my car than they have in their minivan.

My tastes in cars are a bit askew, I guess. I lust after Porsches, old MG's, Triumphs, VW vans, etc. Anything that's not going to be terribly reliable or easy to live with, but are loads of fun to own. Plus, I actually LIKE working on cars.

To each his own.

Jim

[Schrup]

With the exception of the 2 Italian cars, none of the other 8 will draw a response from anyone 25 years from now. My car is nearly 25 years new and grabs attention every where I go.

[cegerer]

I'm always amazed at young kids and their reactions to my 32 year old car. How do they even know what it is or that it is something different????? I was at a stoplight the other day and there was a group of 100 or more kids (7 and under) sitting on the lawn outside their school. One kid spotted my car and told another and another and pretty soon the whole damn group was ignoring their speaker and staring & pointing at my car! It was hilarious. Of course, I then felt obligated to hit 7000RPM in 1st when the light turned green ..... -- Curt

[Paul Franssen]

Great post! We love us! What else do you need?

[1fastredsc]

Just to point out so that the other gentlemen don't feel alone, i'm 19 and own two porsches and have been adicted since 15. But knowing my generation and how they think, you guys are right, and worst of all, they are all stuck in this new disposable society attitude on just about everything. If you guys think this whole ricer generation sucks, imagine going to school with them and having them challenge you with every breath they have to impress some dumn chick there going out with for that week. It's annoying but disposable things are the way of the future, look at cell phones, contacts, wipes, pouched beverages, leased cars, the list goes on. We're a dying croud!

[Lothar]

I agree completely with Jack Olsen's assesment. I would add: The reason I own my car today is largely because of how much I liked these cars when I was 8 or 10 years old. Ironic how my car was built when I was just 14 years old.

Secondly, who designed this interior? The choices are:

Thrustmaster
Logitech
Microsoft Sidewinder designer

This is the Z convertible:

[Paul Franssen]

Stay in there, 1fastredsc ! There's plenty of good kids there (well, here, anyway!)

My son, Haroun, he's 14 and he don't give a sugar about no Vipers or anything else than Poschas!!!

So, you think it's that way because 'is daddy 'as a Poscha???
Nope: 'is daddy 'as a Poscha because of his (then) 12 year old son
(and because, yes, when I was 18 seen them 911S cars take off).

[hawaiianvw67]

Aloha,

I am a member of "Generation X" at age 23. I have wanted a Porsche since I was in elementary school. I credit that to my Dad, who took me to Portland Int'l Raceway every summer as a youngster and pounded it into my head that Porsches were the coolest cars on the track. Of course, he grew up watching 356's carve out Porsche's initial glamour. I even have the shifter knob from my Dad's friend's Porsche he gave me after he wrapped the car around a Chevy. I turned down a ride around the track in another family friend's 1969 Corvette Stingray with the L88 all-Aluminum engine because it wasn't a Porsche (I was too young to know what it was at the time...now I'm kickin' myself).

Anywho...I completely agree with all of the other younger guys who posted about our "disposable society." It seems half the kids out there don't get it through their heads that buying a $20k+ car in high school just because you can, isn't the smartest thing to do. I just keep telling myself, "that's okay...they'll still be driving the thing when they're 35, if they got their a$$ up from working at Abercrombie&Fitch, took some responsibility, got a real job and paid the thing off." (Wow...didn't know I was so peeved by this until I re-read my post).

I get so sick of these high school kids who can barely do their own laundry, yet drive around in cars that easily have $5-7k+ in cosmetic accessories, not engine work. You ask them a question about the engine and you get a response similar to, "man, my car is so fast 'cause I have the stage 3 Gran Turismo upgrade on it that I bought from JC Whitney (which consists of a K&N air filter, Bosch quad plugs, bright yellow plug wires and the Vornado thingy) and my glow-in-the-dark window-washer nozzles let everybody know I'm comin'...isn't that sick?" Then I proceed to slap the stupid out of them with the plastic wing attached to their Kia.

Its just embarassing.

However, the new 996 isn't even a Porsche in my book. First off, its not aircooled. Plus, its so bland in the styling department (not the Turbo and GT2/3 mind you) its just pitiful. I saw a nice, brand-new cabriolet pulling out of the 76 station the other day and I caught myself thinking, "man...that car has a tank-ass. how could Porsche let their cars get so overweight?" Just thinking back on some of the classics, 550 Spyder, 356 Speedsters, 911's, etc. ... these cars were somewhat on a diet. Now 911's are just fat and invisible. Whenever I hear that throaty whirring of the flat six and spin myself around to see a nice early 911...I have to wipe the drool off my face to keep from embarassing my Wife. The new 996 doesn't even make a sound!!! I give it the "so-so" look and continue with my day.

Oh well, here's some perspective for all you 'ole timers out there who think the youngins' ain't got no taste...since I just sold my cherry '67 VW Bug to pay for my wedding...I keep telling my Wife that I get to buy a 911 before we even think of having kids. Of course, she tells me we have to have a house with a shop before I get a 911, but thats another story.



aloha,
Joel

[old_skul]

Jeebus. You guys are a tough crowd. You all call yourselves Porsche enthusiasts, but some of you can't see beyond the nose of your own car.

When I see a 996, I notice it and appreciate it for what it is. I got a thrill last week when a 996 Cabriolet driver went out of his way to pull up next to me to give me a thumbs up and a shiat-eatin' grin. I'm awed when I pull up behind a 996 widebody and admire the fat-ass flares and huge engine bay, and realize that his car is *way* faster than mine - turbo or no.

You all drive 911s - and you're pissed about some poll on MSN. Isn't that a bit backwards? You drive a car that puts you into an elite, creative, want-to-be-different group, yet you're surfing MSN like it was the fricken' bible. What a crock! We're talking the homogolated of the homogenized here. And you're all bleating about it like a bunch of obsoleted, bitter old men.

No offense. Really. Just a devil's advocate view.