How important is the brand 'Porsche' to you?
- Thread starter zcacogp
- Start date
Coming quite late to the thread, but it has got me thinking, and so I'll offer some thoughts.
Being a child of the 80s I'd always associated Porsche with the horrible yuppy, loadsamoney image; and had discounted them as being too expensive to boot. My attitude to the brand softened somewhat when, whilst away on a stag weekend, a friend offered me the opportunity to go for a blast in his boxter. Hurling the thing down some country lanes in Suffolk, with the roof down and the engine revving, really made a difference. I came away from that drive acknowledging that perhaps there was something to the Porsche-thing, but still knowing that they were always out of my price range.
When my last car (a Toyota Celica Gen6) started to give me major hassle with an impending MoT, I realised that it was on its way out, and so started to look around for something to replace it with. My initial thoughts revolved around a Ford Cougar (until I drove one - for a car that should have all the right ingedients, it really fails) and an Alfa GTV (I love the engine noise, and the cockpit feels pretty special); and I was leafing through a copy of Autotrader looking for something appropriate when I happened upon an advert for a 924. I joked to the missus that mebbe I could get a Porsche, and was quite surprised when she made enthusiastic noises. Still, I discounted the idea as being too unreliable for a daily driver and expensive to run.
A month or so later, and my car search was still ongoing. One of the recpetionists at work posted an advert on our intranet for her other half's 944, a guards red '83 model, and I was intrigued enough to do a bit of research. Finding lots of suggestions that it was entirely possible to own one as a daily driver, and that the prices would be in my range, I went to take a look. I loved the look. Loved the styling. Hated the fact that my knees kept banging the steering wheel (I'm not even that tall). And wasn't keen on the old square dash. More investigation, and I found that the post 85 cars solved those problems; and so off I went hunting for one.
Clearly I found one, and love it dearly. I am, however, a number of miles wide of most people's image of a "typical" porsche driver. Scruffy, long-haired and not especially rich; I've found I'm greeted with a combination of confusion, amusement and enthusiasm when people find out what I drive. I've never owned a car that gets so many comments, and they are almost universally positive (from the security guard at Ikea that came to open the barrier for me and hand me the ticket so that he could talk about it; to the guy at Silverstone int he car park who stopped to talk about his days racing a 944 and show me some pictures; to the local yoofs who crossed the road to admire it and tell me "Nice car, mister"). I have also had a mostly positive reaction from owners of newer Porsches who don't seem to have any of the snobbery that is often talked about.
I love my 944, even when she doesn't start. I love her even when the lights don't work, or the temperature guage goes nuts. I love that I get to take her on a classic tour later in the year, and hopefully get an opportunity to take her around the track at the same time. Between her, and my mate's boxter, Porsche has gone from a marque that mean t*sser, to a marque that I am proud to own, and it's down to the cars themselves.
Being a child of the 80s I'd always associated Porsche with the horrible yuppy, loadsamoney image; and had discounted them as being too expensive to boot. My attitude to the brand softened somewhat when, whilst away on a stag weekend, a friend offered me the opportunity to go for a blast in his boxter. Hurling the thing down some country lanes in Suffolk, with the roof down and the engine revving, really made a difference. I came away from that drive acknowledging that perhaps there was something to the Porsche-thing, but still knowing that they were always out of my price range.
When my last car (a Toyota Celica Gen6) started to give me major hassle with an impending MoT, I realised that it was on its way out, and so started to look around for something to replace it with. My initial thoughts revolved around a Ford Cougar (until I drove one - for a car that should have all the right ingedients, it really fails) and an Alfa GTV (I love the engine noise, and the cockpit feels pretty special); and I was leafing through a copy of Autotrader looking for something appropriate when I happened upon an advert for a 924. I joked to the missus that mebbe I could get a Porsche, and was quite surprised when she made enthusiastic noises. Still, I discounted the idea as being too unreliable for a daily driver and expensive to run.
A month or so later, and my car search was still ongoing. One of the recpetionists at work posted an advert on our intranet for her other half's 944, a guards red '83 model, and I was intrigued enough to do a bit of research. Finding lots of suggestions that it was entirely possible to own one as a daily driver, and that the prices would be in my range, I went to take a look. I loved the look. Loved the styling. Hated the fact that my knees kept banging the steering wheel (I'm not even that tall). And wasn't keen on the old square dash. More investigation, and I found that the post 85 cars solved those problems; and so off I went hunting for one.
Clearly I found one, and love it dearly. I am, however, a number of miles wide of most people's image of a "typical" porsche driver. Scruffy, long-haired and not especially rich; I've found I'm greeted with a combination of confusion, amusement and enthusiasm when people find out what I drive. I've never owned a car that gets so many comments, and they are almost universally positive (from the security guard at Ikea that came to open the barrier for me and hand me the ticket so that he could talk about it; to the guy at Silverstone int he car park who stopped to talk about his days racing a 944 and show me some pictures; to the local yoofs who crossed the road to admire it and tell me "Nice car, mister"). I have also had a mostly positive reaction from owners of newer Porsches who don't seem to have any of the snobbery that is often talked about.
I love my 944, even when she doesn't start. I love her even when the lights don't work, or the temperature guage goes nuts. I love that I get to take her on a classic tour later in the year, and hopefully get an opportunity to take her around the track at the same time. Between her, and my mate's boxter, Porsche has gone from a marque that mean t*sser, to a marque that I am proud to own, and it's down to the cars themselves.
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