I just thought it was a funny retort to a seeming assertion that they were extremely reliable.
Although I think I only got $9k for my old Boxster, so a $10k rebuild seems a bit painful... I imagine they go for more now. I didn't love the car, unfortunately.
My main issue with the early watercooled flat 6 Porsche engines is that they are just so complex and costly to rebuild. They will easily last several hundred thousand miles of hard use, but when they do need a rebuild, doing it properly can easily cost $10k just for materials to rebuild it yourself properly.