Porsche Quality Problems...

[Wayne 962]

From Pat Paternie (whom I collaborated with on the 914 book):

From OCR member and automotive writer Patrick Paternie:
----- Forwarded by Peter Lech/Kmc-Usa on 05/07/2004 02:20 PM -----


Hi Pete,

Latest issue of Automotive News has a story regarding Porsche and the JD
Power survey. Porsche ranked 3rd from bottom with 159 score only ahead of
VW at 164 and Hummer 173. These are problems per 100 vehicles over 1st 90
days of ownership. Lexus had 87, Cadillac 93, Jaguar 98 and Honda 99. Kia
outscored Porsche with 153 and Hyundai 102.

Boxster did very well as one of the best scoring vehicles with a 52.4
while 911 was best in premium sports car class with 74.53.

Obviously Cayenne dragged Porsche way down. Most frequently mentioned
problem is keyless entry system followed by fogging of headlamp lenses.
Apparently Porsche owners, many of whom tend to be anal retentive as you
already know, who jiggle the door handle to see if system locked it set
off the transmitter which unlocks the door. Duh. Rest are assorted "little
niggling" problems per quote from one dealer. Dealers but not customers are
upset that Cayenne has no
spare tire. Seems weird to me that an off-road vehicle has no spare.

Thought this might be a newsy item for your distribution to the club.

Best regards,

Pat

I just recently saw a ad in some magazine, i cant remember what it was at the moment, and it said porsche was ranked 4th best in the nation on reliability and little problems. Lexus was ranked #1. Ill try to find the article, and scan it, then post it up to show everyone.

-Riley

[Wayne 962]

Whoops - wrong forum!

-Wayne

[on-ramp]

Cayenne has no spare tire?

[speeder]

What was it, 6 months ago that JD Powers ranked Porsche #1 out of all manufacturers in initial quality? I'm absolutely positive about it, even though I don't pay much attention to their BS "for marketing purposes only" surveys.

They must do a new survey every couple of weeks, asking different questions, in order to get such diverse results.

As you can probably tell, I don't think much of JD Powers. While I believe that automotive quality, in terms of warrantee claims, is important, the JD Powers surveys are so limited and fundamentally biased as to be of limited use for consumers, IMO.

In there questioning of new car buyers, there is no "weighting system" for problems, ie. a bad CD changer and a siezed motor w/ 1000 miles on it are equal problems.

How on earth could the same manufacturer be #1 and almost dead last in the same model year?? Was everyone at the factory replaced by Martians 3 mo. ago? Or is the Cayenne really that bad of a POS?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[Randy Webb]

"Porsche owners, ... anal retentive" - gosh - imagine that!

[D Hanson]

Haha. My wife is pretty anal about her Cayenne. The little electrical things that bug her probably won't bug me that bad. She has had to take her Cayenne in several times for the PCM and the door lock system is a PIA that never works smoothly. Her comment to me was that the Cayenne could do with less on board computers. Mechanically, the Cayenne has been great. It is just all of those little fancy gadgets that are driving her crazy.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

JD Powers surveys only show the first 90 days of ownership. They bill themselves as "A Global Marketing Information Firm." I take exception to a company that will not publish their margin of error. I have visited their website and cannot locate that information. It is this very same margin of error that will show us how in-depth their research happens to be. I need to go, this makes me mad.

[cowtown]

My wife's Touareg V8 has a spare. I guess they're different vehicles after all.

[osidak]

No the Cayenne is so perfect that you will never get a flat tire. However they do supply a $5 can of fix a flat for the morons that do figure out how to make the tire go flat. Oh yeah floor mats will run you an extra $200 as well

[RENNMAN]

Who cares about JD Power. The quality of my new GT3 is better than any of my older Porsches, especially the paint application. I just ran it down to the Rennsport and back from N.Y. It ran flawlessly and it did not burn a drop of oil or miss a beat. It also could not have been any more comfortable. 900 miles + in the first day without any driver fatigue/discomfort (Standard seats!)

I heard people are complaining about no spare and the remote keyless operation. I guess they had to find something...

Best,

Don

[TOO RUF]

Our Cayenne has a collapsable spare in the back. Just like my 74' 911.

[epbrown]

Originally posted by Groesbeck Hurricane
JD Powers surveys only show the first 90 days of ownership.

That's the "Initial Quality Survey." They do other, more long-term surveys. The chief weakness I've heard of, conceded by JDP themselves, is that anything someone thinks is a problem gets it. That means if someone doesn't like the mileage or the way their color looks at night, it's a ding against the manufacturer. Still, it's fair in a way, since they do that to everyone. I'd say there must definitely be some problems with the Cayenne if they're killing Porsche's score this badly.

Emanuel