If you think only “Porsche Specialists” can know anything about Porsches, or offer input about bestowing a 16 year old with a 30 year old sportscar as a first vehicle- then you should probably scour the internet for posts like this to avoid the rest of us from ever looking foolish again…
Doesn’t matter to my point what the OP had or hadn’t said at that point.
The point is that you determined that you have more knowledge about Porsche 928’s than anyone could ever possibly know, so it was foolish for OP to ask anyone’s opinion other than yours. You came in here and revived a 6 year old thread- for no other purpose than to bash the non-“Porsche Specialists” that had previously replied.
Personally, I don’t appreciate that.
You want to join in and have fun and help out? Have at it. But don’t assume that this community of fine folks is full of bumbling morons just because we don’t have “Porsche Specialist” next to our names…
as i said, being a professional mechanic is different from being a specialist. i will give one more example, there is a large group out there with deep knowledge about 911, but they know little when it comes to 928 if they have never work on one before. and again,professional or not, having worked on a specific model makes the difference.
On some specific car, i am sure you are way more knowledgeable than me, if a guy comes to a group asking question about the car, and bunch of us who know lilttle about the car starts to bashing is because of the “stories” we hears online, but actually to you, it is one of the greatest car and most reliable car you’ve ever had, dont you think that it is unfair to hear from people who have never own, driven and work on the car?
i think i understand where you are coming from as far as street racing goes, but I assure you my situation was completely different. we do not race on street where there is traffic, people or buildings near by and we have people on both end with radio watching and warning for unexpected situations. we dont just pull up next to someone and start doing pulls and race tru traffic. But I am not here to justify my actions back in the days or saying it’s right. just so you know it was different than what you might have thought it was
you are changing one point to another my friend. as i said, i dont doubt there are many many on here more knowledgeable than me specific cars, and i know for a fact that there are people out there know way more about 928 than i do. but when you’ve never own, driven or work on one, and start ASSUMING things, it is just not right. instead, you should either refer to someone, some place or forum who actually know the car, or just do not comment at all if you do not know it for a FACT.
oh and i am sure you are all fine folks here will deep knowledge on certain car/things but not all. same goes to me, goes to everyone. foolish or not, you be the judge. to me, if you dont know/familiar with something, move on. go help people who actually need your specific expertise
Realistically speaking, professional mechanics have to be prepared to work on whatever car rolls in the shop, whatever job their boss hands to them
Not to mention there’s a first time for everything . . . could be that the first time I do something new, I’ll do everything perfectly
It’s been known to happen
That’s where experience, common sense, reading the factory service information, etc. comes in
I’m expected to constantly do that . . . diagnose and repair vehicles I’ve never seen in my life. New engines, new body styles, new transmissions, new modules, new fuel injection system, new battery technology, etc.
it’s called being a professional
Just because I may not be a specialist, doesn’t mean I can’t learn
Doesn’t mean I can’t do a perfect job
Really . . . so just because I’ve never worked on brand x, means I should turn the job away, and forever close the door, exclude the possibility that I might be a quick study, that I might have a real knack for it
Those specialists you mentioned are still mechanics at the end of the day. They’re not better, they just have a very narrow focus
So what?
you’re still sending the message . . . indirectly or not . . . that it’s okay
And one of the competitors or spectators might decide it’s also okay to race impromptu, at a red light, unplanned, and maybe something bad will happen
That’s the whole thing with bad decisions . . . you always think you’ve taken enough precautions, that you won’t cause anything bad to happen, that it’s always the other guys
Just because you were lucky, doesn’t mean it was okay
Every guy that did something dumb probably thought it would end well
very fair points.
now, if i were OP, i want to know everything about it before i pull a trigger on one. a “widely” accepted assumption would not do much help.
and i would want to know how much MORE expensive to maintain it compare to a normal car. “Porsche are way expensive to fix”, it is true and it is not true. most of the german shop quote way more to do, let’s say a timing belt job, is because the parts. if you can, and know how to order quality parts online and have a shop do it, the labor is prob cost 1-3 hundres more than lets say a tb job on a v8 dual cam car.
i would also want to know what are the common issue, and see if it is within my acceptance range. if the sunroof is likely to go bad (which it does on a 928), if it is mechanically known to be solid and stuff like that. saying board assumption will not help much, going into specifics is what matters, at least to me or anyone i helped.
while you theory make sense, it is not how the world works. i am sure you’ve heard a lot of stories about ppl’s car being wrongly diagnosed, or uncorrected reparied, which casue the owner way more money and inconvenience down the road, not to mention hidden issues that might occur. TECHNICALLY, every machanic should be like what you said, but sadly it is not. I am sure there are good folks out there being dedicated. also, i dont doubt anyone can learn anything, in fact i am a beliver. but if you dont know the car well, you may take many wrong turns to get to the right path, or even many wrong turns to get to the path that you thing you are right but actually it is not. it will cost you, your customers, you boss much more time than it would normally take, which in a business, that’s money. or worse yet, your work on the car if not done the right way, it will cause many hidden problems down the road, which hurts your reputation and your customer’s valuable time and pocket. or worse of the worse, after thousands of dollar of labor and parts went into the car, the problem still there. in a common sense and reality, this happens everyday. i am sure thoes machanic are perfectly fine when working on cars they have deep knowledge of, but not the cars they are not familiar with.
should you turn it away? yes and no. oil change? go ahead, air filter change? go ahead. but if anything that require deep knowledge of the car, you, let’s say I, I would refer it to a specialist shop. 1, protects your customers 2, protects you. You may WANT to work on it, but your boss may not, because you may screw his business. The customers may not, because you may screw his car. Now, i am not saying that you will, and not saying that you cannot do a perfect job, but this is how the world works. just like taking a Prius to the track, they are good for getting good MPG, not know for track us. but if you want, go right ahead, but at the end of the day, you would be the last one to finish the race. and of course, you can mod it however you want to make it fast, or being the fastest. but if you have a Prius and a Viper ACR, and you have a track day tomorrow, which one would you take? same principle
in this post, yes, they are better, simply because they know more. In others, no, or maybe even worse. why? again, comes back to the knowledge of the car. generally speaking, they are not better, or even worse, just like you said, they have a narrow focus. but that makes them good at working on 928s.
sound to me, every kind of race or action moving including racing should be banned, in your sense. there are ppl only race on the track, there are ppl only race on the st, and there are ppl race both. and i am sure some of the audience have gotten into racing because they watched other ppl race on the track and want to do it themselves on the street. and i am also SURE there are ppl watched other race on the street and decide that he should take it to the track. point is, where to take your race to, it is YOUR decision, YOUR call, not mine. again, i am not saying what i did was right. but i am not helping you to make your decisions. matter of fact, i know a kid locally, he used to watch ppl race on the street, but he NEVER did, next time i saw him, he was with his car during a track event. asked how and why, he said just by watching he figured it is too dangerous and dont worth it.
Oh, what about autoX? they should be banned too right? because they race in parking lots? wouldn’t that make others want to race and drift in the parking lot too?
so if we only speaks maintenance, 928 is just like every other v8 that is out there, which DO NOT make it more expensive.
oil change, 928 does not require special oil, filter? get it online, 5 to 10 bucks. air filter? 15 to 20 bucks? spark plugs? same price as a regular car. Breaks? depends on what you choose to have on your car, if you go oem spec, not much difference from regular car. what else? really, folks, what else if we speak strickly on maintenance?
not much more. so in this perspective, 928 is NO different than anyother car out there. and it does NOT make it more expensive to do regular maintenance than any other cars out there.
You ever hear of information services and networking . . . ?
Alldata, mitchell, chilton, the factory technical service websites, etc.
By looking at all the information out there, and talking to other pros more familiar with the product, it increases your chance of not missing anything
If every mechanic took YOUR advice . . . always turning down vehicles that are new to them . . . it will guarantee that they will NEVER become a good mechanic
With all due respect . . . I profoundly disagree with all of your advice
So I’m the professional mechanic, but I don’t know how the industry works . . . ?!
I think you are being extremely insulting, whether you see it or not
You come across as an extremely arrogant know-it-all
To me, anyways
Coming on this website, telling us professionals that you know how the business works, and we don’t, telling us who is capable of performing a repair efficiently and correctly and who is not, telling us who should work on a job, and who should not
but yet, situation like mis diagnosed and uncorrect repair happens every single day. information are out there, but not eveyone will go look it up, as you said, not everyone will act “professionally”, i am not saying you would be doing such things, but a lot of ppl just do what they think, assume and feel is right to get the job done. is it every one like this? of course not. but not everyone is being professional.
if i only work on hondas, but here comes a camry, sure, i will work on it. then next a aston martin rolled up, yes, i want to work on that car. but should I? prob not, one mistake of yours, will cost the owner and your business a tons of money. if you have a chance to work WITH someone on it, would be a perfect chance to learn from the pro. if i were the owner, and my shops only takes on so called “regular” cars, and non of my machanics have any experience working on a Aston, a smart decision would be refer the owner to a shop down the road which specialize in exotic cars.
lets turn it around, let’s say i am a mechanic who has 0 exp. on Astons, and my boss tell me to go figure out and fix it. GREAT! i get to poke my head around to see what a Aston looks, and i get online asking pro how to deal with my situation, by the time i heard back and know how to do it, the experienced Aston tech prob already half way done with whatever need to be done. while i may have more questions and more stuff to look up during the repaire, the Aston tech prob finsihed and alrady moved on to the next car. that’s the difference. not to mention any mistake i could make during while the Aston teach is experienced enough to avoid.
Since we have moved onto discussion 928 to a much broader topic, i did not point any fingers. But, there are always gonna be a difference between any two mechanic in terms of what they are good at and what area they have more experienced in. who should or should not take on a job, your boss knows well (if he know how to run a business), If you are a Ferrari tech, no experience in lambo, and I am a lambo tech, no exp. in Ferrari, and a F488 rolled up, who do you thing have a much bigger chance of working on the F488? Def. not me bc i have 0 exp. in this brand but you do, so you are more likely to be assigned the job. simple as that.
well, i gotta admit, this post has gotten me into a rabit hole.
i am getting off so i can do more meaningful stuffs and stuffs that i should be doing.
while i stand firmly on every point that i’ve made in this post, i do want to apologize to those whose feelings i hurt. it reminds me of how everyday ppl are debating if it is LS better or coyote better, bashing and hurting feelings.
I had my fun here, while i did smell gun powder, i did not get offended by any of you, I may have offend someone, my apology, but again I firmly stand on points i’ve made.
have a good day folks, hit me up if you ever run into fixing a 928, i can help, if not i can refer you to some 928 guru
If I can remember that far back the original OP was a parent asking if a 1987 Porsche 928 was a suitable first car for their kid. Hopefully after this much time OP has made their decision. If any parent is now faced with that decision I would advise using “Risky Business” as a training film. “OK. Who’s the U-Boat Commander”?
