Ah yes, breaking...as in cursed. Our long-termer has had the worst of luck. First, the engine went mysteriously south. Engineering editor Dan Barnes described the 3.6's failure at 6,118 miles in the October 2002 issue. We still don't know what went wrong, just that it did. The new engine has been without incident since. It is oil hungry, but what Porsche engine isn't? That was back in mid May; we had only had the car for 4 months.
Then in June, a not-to-be-named editor (he knows who he is) rear-ended an older 3 Series. One solid car hitting another-the driver says his foot slipped. Both cars held up remarkably well. Total cost to repair the front-end of our Porsche, including a $300 front-end alignment, was just under $1,900. Not bad considering McKenna Porsche's body shop had to replace and paint the front bumper. There was a delay due to a parts backorder, but the 911 come back good as new. We figured, "Okay, that's the extend of the car's bad luck."
An old adage says that death comes in threes, apparently so does bad luck. This past August, as I was driving to work, a 1989 Jeep Cherokee slammed into the back of the Porsche. I was stopped in traffic, she wasn't and didn't (the driver was momentarily distracted by the antics of another reckless driver). The impact occurred at about 30 mph, causing major damage to the Carrera. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt; I ended up with just a few aches and bruises. The seatbelt pretensioners kept me firmly in place, while the engine compartment absorbed most of the crash. However, the airbag did not deploy, and after the crash I noticed an airbag failure warning script on the central message center. I was actually glad it didn't go off and so avoided a bruised face.
It's been a month since the accident and the Porsche is still in the shop. We had the usual bureaucratic runaround with insurance claims, accident reports, etc., but the major delay has been the amount of damage. The rear spoiler, engine decklid, rear bumper, taillights, basically the entire backside of the car needs to be replaced. The engine has already been removed (it needs repair, too, the most obvious damage being the cracked air manifold) so that the rails can be straightened. The list goes on and on. The original repair estimate was for 58 items at $9,142. As of today, the repair bill has climbed to just over $16,000. Ouch.
We're considering hiring either a priest, shaman or bruja to exorcise the car. I wonder if insurance policies cover hex removal, as the Carrera desperately needs it. Either way, all we really want is our 911 back and for it to stay in one piece. Keep your fingers crossed for the car-it can't hurt and it just might lift that damn curse.