Your Answer:
You are absolutely correct on the joys of owning and driving a Porsche, its an experience most motorists will never have.
But you do need to be aware that there is a price to pay for being one of the "Elite", and that is that you are in real danger of being bombarded with "Noise" from people who know nothing about Porsche cars, and have an opinion (not knowledge, as most of the nay-sayers, have never owned a Porsche).
(The expression the loudest noise comes from the emptiest vessel, is very appropriate in this case).
Me personally, I have owned over a hundred cars, almost invarably never keep one over 3 months, that was until I came across my first Porsche.
I am a fan of the obscure Porsche, the front engined, rear wheel drive Porsches, not the main stream 911 types (and not the Cayanne).
A little known fact is that in the US (where else?), they were considering banning rear engine, rear wheel drive cars (specifically aimed at the 911), that is because the 911 (and most Porsches) were more car than the average joe could handle. So in answer to that threat, Porsche produced a range of front engined, rear wheel drive cars, specifically to counter that threat.
So the range of cars known as the 924, 944, 928, and 968 were born, and I am in the process of owning and driving one of each of these fantastic cars. (There is of course the Porsche 550 Spyder the "James Dean Special", but I wont bother with that one I think, as I kinda like the AC and some of the refinements that at the time were only avaialbe on the Porsche).
I have already owned, the 928 ( a brilliant car, and mine was in mint condition). The almost perfect balance of weight over the front and rear wheels, meant that with a good set of tires, I could never make the tyres squeal under any kind of cornering. The Guy that I sold it to drove the 928 lot more sedately than me. Recently he showed me the records of where he took a 1,500 km trip, and he got 45 mpg (its about 5.2 litres/100km), with his 928, my god, you can't even get that out of a mini these days
My next Porsche was the 944, (I didn't worry about the Turbo), and I believe the increased motor size makes the 944 the best choice of the Porsches. It is a good compromise between economy and the sheer power you want from a car like that. The steerin and control are fantastic, you accelerate into corners that others are breaking for, such is the feeling of control.
Not so long ago, I was driving the 944 on a closed race track, and pulling just under 180km per hour in 4th gear, and when I put it put it into 5th the engine just felt that it wanted to get up and go, (I ran out of straight). This is just a stock standard Porsche 944, not a car I have spent thousands of dollars to try to overcome the original poor design (as many nay-sayers will have done)
I did have some trouble with the split axle independent rear suspension, so I had to buy a couple of bolts at $1.25 each, not to bad for a total cost of ownership in the 18 mths I had it.
Next I am thinking of the 928, over the 968. Whilst, I do like the cultured look of the 968, I am inexplicably drawn to the sheer power of the 928, "the world beater". I understand that it held the fastest production car in the world for almost a full twenty years (WOW).
So as to your question as to why buy one, the answer is simple really:
In all the time I have had a Porsche, I just cant help myself, no matter what happened, or how I was feeling before I got behind the wheel, I just cant stop smiling when I drive my Porsche.
Recently I was stopped at the side of the road (to answer a mobile phone call), a loud mouthed passenger in an ordinary car yelled out something like get a real car, and as I watched his rusting aging machine dissappear smokily into the distance it made me think, and the thought goes like this:
On his best day (and all of the others like him), such as when he wins a tank of petrol, gets a kiss from his g/f (or better), and the car hasn't broken down for a while, and the engine is running as good as it can, and everything is running as best it can, then on that best day for him, he will feel good.
But what he doesn't know, is that on his absolute best day, the joy he feels about his car, is a very very poor substitute, as he will never know that what he is feeling, is about 1/10 of what a Porsche driver feels like on his worst day.
One more thing, next time you are out driving in your Porsche try not to smile, try as hard as you can, and you will find (like i did), that it just can't be done. (I know because the longest I have managed to not smile, while driving the Porsche was only a few minutes).
Good question, happy motoring and keep smiling (like you had any other choice).