Mar 20, 2005 10:30 AM
5947 Views
(Updated Mar 20, 2005 11:51 AM)
This review is not about the technical aspects of Porsche or its evolution and such things. If you are interested in knowing such things please go to https://porsche.com. This is my personal experience of few rides in the car.
Let me tell you first I do not own the car, nor did drive the damn thing. But was merely an innocent rider when my boss was driving. Actually when I got the ride I did not know it was a Porsche car. What all I figured out was that it’s a sports car and must be an expensive one at that.
One weekend we had a conference at a far off place and my boss offered to take me to the conference with him. This guy as I knew is a multi-millionaire and so must be driving an expensive car. That was all I knew. I was at the street corner near to my house waiting for this old bugger to show up in some Mercedes or BMW. And there he was in sunglasses and was driving this black sports car. After I got into the car he pressed this button on the dashboard and the hood closed automatically as I was still putting my seatbelt on. That reminded me of those cycle rickshaws we used to ride in India. When people in them wanted privacy the rikshaw puller used to get off his seat and pull the hood over with his hand. ‘But this rickshaw seems to be a high-tech one’ I thought. What else can an Indian villager compare this to? They say ‘You can take a man out of the village, but you cannot take the village out of the man.’ And I am still a villager at heart.
Anyways thank God he closed the hood. I can’t imagine two guys driving a sports car with the hood open in New York City. People would think we are ‘gay’. The interiors looked expensive with a leather dashboard. It’s impeccable. Much better than any of those expensive wooden dashboards I thought were ultimate. On my first ride I could not figure out what the brand was from those brief glances at the logo on the steering wheel. And added to it my boss kept talking throughout explaining to me where they played the US Open before they built the Flushing stadium and how the city changed in the last thirty years since he moved in … bla…bla…
But the reality is that in the city you still have to stick to speed limit. And the traffic conditions. Hey, that’s more like a Micheal Schumacher stuck in a traffic jam! And take any road in the country weather its city, interstate, or rural road legally you can’t drive beyond 65 mph. So I did not know much about the higher capabilities of the car. Moreover I do not know if the old man ever drives at higher speeds. I am sure when he was younger he was not driving this sports car because he was poorer at that time. I guess his sons who are at college must have tested the speed limits on this vehicle( and they must have got some traffic tickets too). I think this is the reality of all those rich guys who can afford this car.
Interestingly, while I was reading the biography of Warren Buffet, I read that his daughter at a young age sold all her stock in her father’s company when the share price was around $1000 to buy a Porsche. Later in her life she faced so much poverty that she could not afford even a color TV. During the meantime the stock of the company appreciated so much that it was selling at $100,000 a share! Her dad is so strict that he would never gift money to kids. Warren personally drives a 1970 Lincoln Town car which you find more often plying as a taxi cab these days. And he is the world’s second richest person!
As I observed this car later on many times I noticed the following points (The car happens to be Carrera version)
Safety is less in sports cars that I see often because of their lower height. I always wondered if you are driving behind a big tractor trailer and you are in the blind spot of the driver ahead of you, and the guy ahead brakes suddenly, you will find yourself safely cocooned below the trailer’s belly (I am kidding, of course) And what is the scenario if you hit a deer on the road? Look at all those bucks with big horns. The very thought is scary.
Drive, suspension, maneuverability and stability are the best in the car.
The car should only be owned for exclusivity and ego satisfaction as it’s high speed and great features cannot be fully exploited under civilized driving conditions. I feel that the neo-rich have to flaunt their arrival and so we keep marketing these expensive cars, golf course memberships, yachts and homes with heated Jacuzzis.
With the car having such smaller width coupled with lighter weight(despite all the superior lineage it claims), when it negotiates mounds of snow as it often happens in New York winters, the car looks more like a toy car struggling to get over those heaps. When I read that they are marketing the car in India I could imagine how it deals with the oversized road humps that we unnecessarily put up everywhere.
The car can handle reasonably sized potholes in downtown Manhattan only when rolling at speeds of 20 miles per hour or more.
Porsche claims that 60% of its cars made since 1938 are still on the road today. The only reason for that as I guess is the higher price of the car makes it a pride possession and hence its journey to the junk yard gets delayed.
From the Wall Street Journal classified advertisements that I saw, I realized that Porsches sell at 50% or more of their cost even after 5 years of usage. This is an unusually high resale value in a country where a Ford is bought with 3 to 5 years of timeframe in mind.
Despite their entire claim to fame, old Porsches still look like pieces of junk on the street and in parking lots.
One of my clients is a doctor and became stinking rich starting from scratch. Then his son drove a Porsche and rammed the car into a tree. Remember this affluence bug is bound to catch your kids too.
Then there is this thing about where the engine of a sports car should be fitted. Porsche argues that rear engine is safer while Fiat claims otherwise. I don’t know what to say except for the fact that at New York driving speeds it does not matter.
I hoped you enjoyed the review. I am writing it as it appears to the eyes of a dumb accountant and not an excited car aficionado.
