[Rap]

Your moving to jersey? Yo Tony!

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[Rap]

You're

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[flash]

lol - funny what people glean from something. i said there was a very slim chance. i seriously doubt it will happen.

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[ds968]

Maybe comparing apples to oranges ( A basic Toyota , etc vs the 968 ) , so wondering how the durability / reliability of parts in a comparable car like the NSX of the same era compares to ours ? Not sure if Joe Chen ( Joseph SC ) is still active on the forum, I think he has had an NSX for a long time as well - though I could be wrong - but hopefully someone with knowledge of a high performance Japanese car can chime in here. I know we"re way above in reliability vs Ferraris , but again that's poles to oranges also. Just started this tread because I felt at the relatively expensive price point this car, one should expect higher quality components which last at least as long as comparable parts in cars that sold for 25% of the cost back then and still barely half the cost a decade later. But I get all the driving style differences, that's why I'm thinking an NSX could offer a closer comparison ..?!

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[Bulti]

Nothing wrong with this car's parts! :-)



http://youtu.be/A5DRCTW-Q7o

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[flash]

not joe who had an nsx - it was ron1688

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[Cloud9...68]

Another car that's a reasonable comparison to the 968 is the Honda S2000. It's a Japanese car that actually has some soul, along with a very high-revving engine, and a chassis that begs to be flogged. From what I remember, that car got top reliability ratings from Consumer Reports throughout its run.



it's all about statistics. Not all Japanese cars are great, and not all German cars fall apart at 30,000 miles, but on average, over the long run and across a statistically valid number of cars, the Japanese just build more reliable, longer-lasting cars than anybody else. I'm not saying I'd rather have a Miata, or even an S2000, or even an NSX, over my 968, just saying that the Japanese hands down make the best quality cars. Although recent data from Porsche is promising - there's nothing magic about what the Japanese have done that can't be duplicated by anyone else willing to make the effort.

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[flash]

i think a lot of the reliability of japanese cars goes to not pushing things so far in design. when we think of reliability of japanese cars, we tend to think along the lines of their fleet of commuter cars. pretty sure the skyline and gtr are just as prone to problems as other high performance cars. i know the nsx, the rx7, and the 350z are known to spend a fair amount of time in the shop.

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[94SilverCab]

Rx-7 Gen 3 had issues but I drove Gen 1 and 2 a combined 200k with only a single "non standard" maintenance part failing, that cost $180 to repair.



If I could find a Gen 2 convertible in the right condition I would buy it in a second (almost did last year)...it was, in many ways superior to the 968.



JMHO,



Jay

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[lbpesq]

I drove my '85 RX-7 GSL-SE, (last year of 1st generation, 13B (bigger) engine), to 220,000 miles with few problems. And that Wankel was smooooth.



An interesting fact about New Jersey: The State bird is the mosquito.



More New Jersey trivia:



Q: Why does New Jersey have more toxic waste dumps and California has more lawyers?

A: New Jersey got first choice.



rim shot



Bill

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[flash]

yeah - i was referring to gen 3 rx7.



re: jersey - hilarious!

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[az968]

The Honda S2000 forum must be a pretty lonely place to hang out...



http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/681492-c...1999-2009/

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[968Syncro]

I agree with some of the writers, that the 968 is pretty much mid-1985 technology, certainly when considering materials. If I recall the history, it wasn't until after the 968 that Porsche invested in better manufacturing methods while planning the Boxster. I recall the famous saying that the 968 is "80% new", but nobody ever defined the measured quantity: parts count?, parts by weight? On the other hand up until that time, maybe even including the early Boxster / 993 / 996 days the 968 could possibly have been the best car Porsche ever made when considering a broad set of criteria.



Many of the New Jersey beaches are far nicer than SoCal beaches. I am no fan of the SoCal beaches / coastline -- every beach is in a city, I feel like it is the city pool and at least in San Diego the beaches are closed for a few days every time it rains. Reopened when the bacteria count goes down to some "acceptable" level. New Jersey has remote beaches with beautiful dunes, etc.



I took a bet that Ford has improved quality -- under Mulally it is quite possible that they have moved up a notch beyond GM (ignition-gate) and Chrysler-Fiat (Fix It Again Tony). Last week we picked up a "Ford Fusion Energi" which was her choice. It is a "plug-in hybrid" which means we can plug it in to charge (good for about 20 miles pure electric mode), HOV lane rights, can plug it in at the mall and other places. Yesterday I got about 48-50 mpg in hybrid mode (nothing in the battery) while on a fairly long run-errands around the county for about 85 miles and this is a big heavy car. Over half the monthly payment will be for free in gas savings compared to the Jeep Liberty she was driving. I'll write more about it after a few weeks. I hope it works out, we had an Expedition in 99-03 which was the biggest piece of "cr#%#%p" car. I swore I'd never buy another "Fix Or Repair Daily" but here we go again, a bet on Ford.

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[bombfactory]

I just wish part of the '80% new' were things they had to know were problematic with the basic design of the chassis. By the time the 968 rolled out, the platform had been on the road plenty long enough for Porsche to know what needed re-engineering and what items on the car were prone to failure over time.



I'll start a gripe list:

1. Rear hatch - they thought the design was so good they kept it unchanged for over 20 years!

2. Rear suspension - don't VW bugs from the '30s have this same design?

3. Sunroof tilt mechanism - two words come to mind: Rube and Goldberg. Either that or it's genius, not sure.

4. Lots of heat sensitive components located on the hot exhaust side of the engine

5. Dash material cracks if you look at it wrong

6. Door handles finally got a makeover with the 968, but mechanically they're still the same design

7.

8.

9.

10.

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[flash]

7. power top that requires that you get out of the car and install a boot cover in order to drive the car???

8. plastic window??? even a $13k mustang of the day had a heated glass window

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[Chris Vais]

Interesting topic.

The only Japanese car that I have ever owned pretty much turned into a POS at about 90,000 miles. In comparison, my 968 is 20 years old @155,000 miles and is reliable fun transportation. The first Audi Avant we owned went 279,000 miles over 11 years with no major mechanical problems only to be totaled in an accident. Its replacement, also an Avant, has done185,000 miles in 14 years with no major issues other than failure of both of the catalytic converters because my wife overfilled the oil level several times. So from my perspective German cars, at least and Audi and Porsche outshine Japanese cars. How many Japanese contemporaries of our 968s are still on the road?



I just returned from a month on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands where the only all wheel drive vehicle I could rent was a Toyota RAV 4. Barely had enough punch to escape from it's own shadow. The default setting is for something called ECO -Mode which basically never lets the engine exceed 1000 RPM in any gear. Lastly, insufficient torque to be taken off road. It couldn't handle much in the way of off road terrain. Cheap materials inside and out. Panel fit was OK, paint just OK, interior panel wearability, not very good. A month of moving field equipment in and out left some very obvious wear marks on the interior, in a vehicle which supposedly designed for the kind of use I put it to. I'm neither impressed by or enamored with the Asian cars.



My take on BMWs is that they are more complex than they need to be simply because BMW possesses the technology to make them that way. The cars are sold new with a comprehensive "free" maintenance program. Once that program ends and the owners have to absorb the true cost of maintenance on the cars they end up in a used car lot. There are thousands of BMWs sitting in Bay Area used car lots.

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