And you thought Aston's throttle pedal recall was a big deal

[KarlFranz]

http://www.gtspirit.com/2014/03/15/2014-porsche-91...

A few weeks ago, it was confirmed that deliveries of the 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 were suspended and current owners asked to not drive their cars following a spate of fires in Europe. Now however, it has emerged that the latest GT3 could remain off the road for a few more months.

Two official fires were reported and according to reports, they were caused by the cracking of the engine block which leaked oil on the exhaust system and resulting in the car catching fire. However, Porsche has yet to confirm or deny these rumours.

At least our cars aren't bursting into flames.

[Phil74891]

Can't be right.......what about all that superior German Porsche engineering?

As an aside, a few years ago I went to see a 5 year old 911. Nice condition, 2 owners, FSH, low 40k odd miles etc. Only when I look at the meticulously maintained service records did I run a mile. The car had what seemed like millions of pounds spent on it basically renewing almost every engine and drivetrain component feasible. OK, so everything had been fixed, but I thought, what if I'd had have to have dealt with that mess?

At least the only fault so far with the Vantage S is that it's a little too loud at 7,000rpm

[KarlFranz]

The picture in this article makes me glad I have an AM and not a GT3 right now.

http://web4.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?story...

Edited by KarlFranz on Thursday 20th March 17:05

[Zod]

Interesting that DonkeyApple isn't posting on the Flaming GT3s thread, blaming Porsche management corner-cutting, the way he did in the Aston throttle recall thread.

[KarlFranz]

Zod said:

Interesting that DonkeyApple isn't posting on the Flaming GT3s thread, blaming Porsche management corner-cutting, the way he did in the Aston throttle recall thread.

My point. I agree.

[Manwhoneverwas]

I thought this was an interesting update to the official Porsche press release about the GT3's problem (which is available on PH's)

"UPDATE 17/3/14:There were plenty of big numbers discussed in Porsche's fiscal year review on Friday. Record numbers in fact, with 162,145 cars delivered in 2013. That's 15 per cent up on 2012, with profit increased by six per cent, now standing at 2.58 billion euros. That rampant OPC upselling must be working then. And with more money being invested into the Leipzig factory, no doubt ever more Porsches will be churned out in the near future."

A mass market product now?

[jonby]

Manwhoneverwas said:

I thought this was an interesting update to the official Porsche press release about the GT3's problem (which is available on PH's)

"UPDATE 17/3/14:There were plenty of big numbers discussed in Porsche's fiscal year review on Friday. Record numbers in fact, with 162,145 cars delivered in 2013. That's 15 per cent up on 2012, with profit increased by six per cent, now standing at 2.58 billion euros. That rampant OPC upselling must be working then. And with more money being invested into the Leipzig factory, no doubt ever more Porsches will be churned out in the near future."

A mass market product now?

It's been a mass market product for a long time now (arguably not the GT2s/3s if you call them a different car to a regular 911) and once Macan production is up to speed, in £s or total units sold terms, they will be a manufacturer of saloons & SUVs who happen to make a (relatively) small number of sports cars, not a sports car manufacturer. Of course the SUV & saloon sales are boosted by their sports car image hence for instance producing the 918 & 919, neither of which I imagine will essentially in their own right be profit making

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Porsche make more £s per car profit than any other manufacturer

[roughrider]

jonby said:

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Porsche make more £s per car profit than any other manufacturer

Thats because all the R&D for the 911 platform was done pre war on the Beetle...........................

[Little Donkey]

A friend of mine who is a Porsche Pervert owned a 996 which turned out to be a complete lemon. Even though it had, had loads of work done and appeared to be meticulously maintained the day after he collected it, the cooling system let go and then it was discovered that the pistons were rattling around to such an extent that only an engine rebuild would sort it out.

So he swapped that in for a 996 Turbo which is better, but you just know that something expensive is about to break any moment. German build quality??? I don't think so.

Having said that, my beemers have been superb. But there again, so they should be!

[Speedraser]

I loved 911s since I was a little kid (almost as long as I've loved Astons), and I've had a MY95 Porsche 993 for 14 years. I love it. The build quality and reliability are superb, and the engine is a mechanical masterpiece. I have little interest in the newer Porsches. To me, the Cayennes and Panameras, and the huge volumes (nothing compared to what's coming with the Macan and a sub-Panamera sedan) have a lot to do with that, as does the cheapening of the engines. To me, the specialness just isn't there anymore, and as more and more major components are shared with other VW/Audi products (as stated in recent news as well as that being inherent in being part of VW/Audi) I'm saddened that I've lost interest. Still love my 993, though.

[CPBRI]

A friend sent me an article saying that Porsche is going to replace the entire engine for the 750 or so owners in the US.

[mikey k]

CPBRI said:

A friend sent me an article saying that Porsche is going to replace the entire engine for the 750 or so owners in the US.

Its not just the US is GLOBALLY
The issue is a conrod bolt that fails rupturing the sump resulting in oil on a hot exhaust and a fire
It's not a part "easily" swapped with traceability and control, hence the decision to swap the "whole unit"
They are currently reliability testing the new part and I guess wondering how quickly they can get enough of them to supply an engine for all those out there and continue production

Isn't interesting how all these super reliable cars makers keep dropping the ball!

[Zod]

mikey k said:

CPBRI said:

A friend sent me an article saying that Porsche is going to replace the entire engine for the 750 or so owners in the US.

Its not just the US is GLOBALLY
The issue is a conrod bolt that fails rupturing the sump resulting in oil on a hot exhaust and a fire
It's not a part "easily" swapped with traceability and control, hence the decision to swap the "whole unit"
They are currently reliability testing the new part and I guess wondering how quickly they can get enough of them to supply an engine for all those out there and continue production

Isn't interesting how all these super reliable cars makers keep dropping the ball!

It won't stop the PHers (especially Porsche-owning ones) who turn up in every Aston thread to drone on about reliability (not as many as the ones who go on aobut the m all looking the same).

[CPBRI]

mikey k said:

Its not just the US is GLOBALLY

Was merely stating the area covered by the article. I am aware that Porsche sells globally.

[mikey k]

CPBRI said:

mikey k said:

Its not just the US is GLOBALLY

Was merely stating the area covered by the article. I am aware that Porsche sells globally.

I was trying to make it clear ALL the 991 GT3's already out there will get a replacement engine apparently

[8Tech]

Sounds like it may end up an expensive mistake for Porsche. BMW also had a similar engine problem with the early V8's wearing the nickel coated aluminium bores and had to replace tens of thousands of 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 V8 engines.