997S severe system failure!
as many of you know, i purschased a brand new 997S several weeks ago. i love the car and have ~3200mls on it now.
this morning, when i got into the car and turned it on, a loud beep went off and the display said: "severe system failure. see workshop immediately!". crap, i thought to myself. the next porsche dealer is only 10min away, so i drove the car there, slow, carefull, not to high revs, because i didn't know what this message means. the oil temp, water temp and oil pressure all was normal btw.
arriving at the dealer, they where relly busy, normal monday morning i guess so i had to park the car on the street entrance to the dealer (this becomes an important fact later...). i waited a while and finally found a service guy, who i explained my problem to. he went to my car and played arround with the key for a while, trying to put it into the ignition key while looking at the screen. while doing this, he scratched up the leather that is arround the ignition. moron! i was at 100deg already, steaming... not a good way to start the monday morning.
anyways, he confirmed the message and said: "we need to do some diagnostics, you have to leave the car here, at least till tomorrow!". oh well, i said, what are my options, and agreed to leave the car there. i then went on and told him, in a very precise manner: "only do diagnostics please! i do NOT want you to do any mechanical work, no pulling out carpet, no pulling out modules, etc, just diagnostics please! ok?", he said, ok (i didn't want these guys to do any work since i have a dealership close to my work which has a better reputation, i would rather have big things done there). i went on and took delivery of a pice of $#!& pontiac grand am, which was very dirty inside.
when i drove off the lot, i noticed that my car was still parked half way on the street, but now, with a ticket! :-( because they didn't pull it in while i waited for the rental, but left it out. so no, ontop of all the crap, i also have a ticket... great start of the week.
almost the entire day passed by, without any call from the dealer. when i called them, they said that they didn't have time to look at my car yet, but may be abale to do so by the end of the day. 1h later, i get another call, this time from a girl, explaining that they did the diagnostics and then she said the following:
"the right-door front control module, which is responsible for such things as turn signals, tunklid unlatch, door locks, etc. has a malefunction and needs to be replaced due to severe internal damange. we ordered a module from germany but it will take some time. we reset the internal system, and all is fine now. you can pick up your car tinoght...". ok, i said, great, so i can drive it until the module arrives, she confirms.
when i arrived, i checked my car, and besides from being dusty like hell (probably spent the entire day outside) i also noticed that the interior carpet in the tunk was pulled out and not put back in completely correct.
so, what is the result of this day for me, well, here it goes:
* i am pissed beyon believe that a $100k car has a problem (any kind of problem) after 3k mls!
* i am pissed beyond believe i got a ticket
* it is unaceptable that porsche does not provide a porsche rental for customers of a $100k car, when they have to wait for theirs (in the 4 years i had my X5, i ALWAYS got a BMW car when i had the X5 in service)
* i could go on....
so after this episode (and the still ongoing rattle issues, see other thread here at rennteam) i have to as myself a serious question: am i really ready for a porsche? or any "low reliability" sports car.
before i purchased the 997S, i briefly looked at ferrari, but the high-maintainace reputation of those F cars, made me buy a porsche. so far, my first weeks with the 997 turned out to be a pain in the butt.
if this continiues, i will sell the car. this is just to much trouble, i don't have time for this crap. i consider this really sad, as i love the driving of the 997, it is really a lot of fun but i need a car that runs, period.
allright, i think i blew enough steam for tonight. sorry if i offended anyone. i am just steaming right now. tomorrow is another day... i am can't wait to drive the 997 tomorrow morning... :-)
regards,
-r