I just read this whole thread over the last 2 days, and a few things really surprised me.
1) I cannot believe how many people think that a modern sports car is "abused" and "not designed" for track use. And I
do not mean racing. Driving around a track is not abusing a car. You
are operating it within it's designed parameters. What exactly do you think Subaru was doing testing this car at the Nurburgring? Taking in the scenery?
Any automobile manufacturer worth a damn pushes their developmental prototypes to the point of failure,
specifically to see how and when things fail.
2) A lot of people like to compare this car to the Honda S2000. Well if this is the kind of track reliability we have to look forward to it will never compare to the S2000. What track prep does an S2000 need? Pads & fluid and nothing more. Same for a Corvette, track pack Mustang, every Porsche, etc. No sports car (especially a lightweight one) should ever need anything more than pads/fluid to hit the track.
3) Every Porsche owner that I've known has never had their vehicle warranty voided by HPDEs. And most PCA HPDEs I've attended were sponsored by local Porsche dealerships. Heck, these dealerships did most of the vehicles' pre-track technical inspections.
I guess (with the exception of Miatas and S2000s) if you want your car's marque to stand by their warranty for the intended use of their sports car (within it's design parameters) you have to pony up $50k+.
If my engine pops at a track event I'm going to feel like a fool for buying my BRZ over a used Cayman S, as a major part of that buying decision came down to reliability, cost of ownership, warranty vs no warranty, etc.