Cayman GTS

[Budweiser]

cardigankid said:

I would be grateful for any comments from the PH Massive!

Who will give you £1.5k off? I thought that with the end of the year coming up they might be tempted to offer inducements to take delivery before 1/1/15, but on the contrary those I have spoken to won't even discuss discount and the finance deals are Captain Jack Sparrow stuff.

What is the thinking between Boxster and Cayman? Does the Cayman still handle that bit more sharply than the Boxster? I guess that the sports exhaust is that little bit more fun in the Boxster with the roof down, but I haven't driven a Boxster GTS so don't know for sure.

I see that Works Collection is no longer a UK option.

What is the feeling between Manual and PDK? I see very few cars without PDK now, and no GTS at all, and am coming to the conclusion that the manual, sweet as it may be, is a thing of the past.

I believe that PASM is standard on the GTS. Is that correct as I see that some people have been talking about it as if it were an option?

Anybody ticked the Porsche Torque Vectoring + LSD box?

Would you have the Sat Nav? Without it you can't have the speed limit display, and on German Autobahn, I could see that being essential. It is sometimes a little unclear when you are going from derestricted to restricted.

Would you have the GTS Interior Pack? I believe this is basically the full leather with Alcantara and contrast stitching. The carbon inserts are a bit OTT imho, as is the red dial.

The alternative is the Jaguar F-Type, which is an emotive piece of kit to be sure, but new, very much more expensive and liable I would think to depreciate pretty hard.

Not sure they need to discount the GTS as it is proving very popular in both Boxster and Cayman forms. Whilst it is not a limited production car as such supply at present is approx one Or two cars per month per dealer, and they are selling.

Not trying to say you can't get a few quid off (hope you do) just don't see why OPC would when they can sell all they can get at the moment anyway.

My chat with OPC was a few weeks back so things may have changed.

Mine is a keeper (how many time do we say that) so I spec'd all the bits and bobs I wanted. PDK, Comms, Satnav, phone and voice park assist front and back plus camera, folding mirrors, adaptive 18 way seats, leather, smoking pack rear sports pipes Etc. PTV not for me and kept with the PASM.

You and others may go for a different spec but whatever you settle for you will love it.

I went for the Cayman on looks alone as I would never really be able to notice the difference between the two handling wise, same with the electric steering, I just can't tell the difference on the road. Some claim they can, fair enough on that one..

[cardigankid]

EDO - based on my initial investigation an F-Type V6S cabrio with a few options is about £72k. Jag say it is positioned to compete with the 911 - I don't think so I think it is positioned to compete with the AM V8 Vantage, which is not a big market, and it competes with the Cayman/Boxster whether it wishes to or not.

[edo]

Interesting. A few friends in the trade say it isnt selling quite as well as they expected and I know at least 2 people who got pretty decent discounts so that may bring them more in line in reality?

[cardigankid]

It would be interesting to know who they are dealing with.

On the F-Type, I would have one over a cooking 911 any day, but I'm not 100% sure, for all the theatre, that I would have one over a Cayman GTS.

[CJP80]

sfboy said:

So, I really nursed the car through the first 2,000 miles. Once the car hit 2,000 miles the Sport and Sport Mode have been used. And wow.

Edited by sfboy on Saturday 2nd August 13:33

Not sure how you were able to wait 2000 miles. I've only covered 600 miles and have been above 7krpm quite a few times.

Edited by CJP80 on Sunday 3rd August 20:06

[RBT0]

Right, and there is not point in waiting 2k miles before using sport/plus mode.

Just wait the engine is at right temperature and enjoy.

[CJP80]

RBT0 said:

Right, and there is not point in waiting 2k miles before using sport/plus mode.

Just wait the engine is at right temperature and enjoy.

Absolutely! I've read the arguments for and against babying the car in the first 3km in order to let the engine break in. Most of them centre around heat cycling the engine internals and the avoidance of high temperatures. I took it easy the first 200 miles and have slowly been increasing RPM up to red line on occasion. I have not registered a significant increase in oil temperature between 0-4krpm stints and much harder high-rpm driving. At best, the increase has been 4-6C. I would assume that oil temperature is a good indicator of cylinder and ring temp?

[SHIFTY]

Nothing in owner’s manual about running in so as above when up to operating temperature I have been up to 7,000 revs now with 200 miles on speedo.

[ORD]

Not a risk I would take for the sake of a bit of patience.

[chriswren]

Hey Guys

Well after reading sfboy’s 3000 mile report I thought I should give my 2500 mile report ?

I did most of the miles on a European road trip of:

Day 1 (8 hours in the car): Follow the Belgian/France boarder and spend the night at Givet (France)
Day 2 (10 hours in the car): On through Luxemburg and down through the Black Forrest to spend a night just outside Waldshut-Tiengen
Day 3 (7 hours in the car): In to Switzerland and up/down the Furka Pass and then of to Lake Geneva
Day 4 (0 hours in the car): Spent the day mooching around Lausanne
Day 5 (8 hours in the car): Steaming through middle of France to the Loire Valley and to a little village just outside Tours
Day 6 (0 Hours in car): Spent the day wasted wine buying/drinking
Day 7 (8 hours in the car): Up to Cherbourg to get the ferry back over to Portsmouth and home

Notes:

Belgian roads suck and are badly maintained
French roads are in good condition but French scenery is a little dull
German roads are best (Black Forrest was awesome) and Southern Germany is very pretty, they do good sausage and beer
Switzerland is dull, roads are OK but forget the Furka Pass as to many cars and lots of dull roads to and from the Furka Pass

The car acted as predicted and didn’t skip a beat, started off keeping it around 4k revs and gradually increased where the last 400 miles I was hitting around 7k when needed. Once I hit 2000 miles I redlined it and found that the rev limiter kicks in at 8k regardless of standard, sports or sports plus.

PVT is very noticeable on tight/fast corners bring the backend around faster than you would think, can’t wait to try the car on the track. This car is not going to be a track car but no doubt it will go on the track occasionally…………. I have motorbikes for serious track time ?

From the pictures you’ll see that I went for pebble/agate and while this looks good I wish I had managed to convince the misses that amber/agate would not be over the top but she couldn’t get past having a yellow car with orange interior would be just over the top (she has no vision).

If I had any grips:

Hill hold seems to do what it wants
Auto hand break off seems to do what it wants
The sensor on the proximity unlock on the boot (I paid for keyless entry) is temperamental

I am very happy with the car and really surprised how much luggage we got in the car, while we were only away for a week we had enough stuff to stay away for another week easily and still had room for 2 cases of wine. I think we could have got a 3rd in as well if we threw her hair dryer out (I would have got her a new one).

I wouldn’t get anything else, I really did look at them all but I wish the car had just a little more drama, maybe a little more F-Type, R8 or Maserati about it as just seems so damn functional and I do like a car with character (perhaps this will change over time)

Edited by chriswren on Monday 4th August 09:59

Edited by chriswren on Monday 4th August 12:50

[chriswren]

sfboy said:

If I had one criticism of the PDK, it’s on occasion not as telepathic as I would want it to be. There are sometimes I’ve wanted to effect an overtake and it’s just not selected the correct gear. All of a sudden it will wake up, but then it shifts down far too much and is ridiculous.

Edited by sfboy on Saturday 2nd August 13:33

While I now feel I made the best decision to get the manual, if I had have got the PDK this would have really pissed me off.

You have the sales teams really pushing PDK as the answer to everything and that you don't get these problems like you did with older automatics but it seems like it still isn't prodcution ready.

[mrdemon]

ORD said:

Not a risk I would take for the sake of a bit of patience.

Cars which have not been up the revs make for a lazy engine imo.

I used to get my dad's company cars and they always ran off the speedo and then some. All doing well over 120k miles.

Key is not loading the engine but upping the revs early on and also no steady speeds ie motorway driving.

Same with your gears, change gears a lot, don't run a car in at 70mph on the motor way in 6th

Some 2nd hand cars you buy just seem lazy and don't rev out that well.

[mrdemon]

chriswren said:

While I now feel I made the best decision to get the manual, if I had have got the PDK this would have really pissed me off.

You have the sales teams really pushing PDK as the answer to everything and that you don't get these problems like you did with older automatics but it seems like it still isn't prodcution ready.

Use PDK in manual mode, your car cannot see the bend or car coming, I have been on track in PDK cars and people drive in auto !!! The cars change gear after the event/bend.

Only way to drive PDK is in manual mode, unless stuck in rush hour traffic.

You never see jurno in auto, every one uses them in manual mode.
what happens with PDK owners is they forget how to drive and get lazy, use manual for a few weeks then always drive full auto, then driving is like your life is over imo may as well buy a Golf R.

[CJP80]

mrdemon said:

Use PDK in manual mode, your car cannot see the bend or car coming, I have been on track in PDK cars and people drive in auto !!! The cars change gear after the event/bend.

Only way to drive PDK is in manual mode, unless stuck in rush hour traffic.

You never see jurno in auto, every one uses them in manual mode.
what happens with PDK owners is they forget how to drive and get lazy, use manual for a few weeks then always drive full auto, then driving is like your life is over imo may as well buy a Golf R.

I only drive this car in Manual mode. The only time it's doing its own thing is in reverse!

It will change down if you forget, but won't change up for you so it's perfect.

[m.barnes]

Shifty's pics:

[edo]

Looks great.

What is the round thing on the front of the dash nr the windscreen. Speaker?

[Budweiser]

Stunning, congratulations..

[mc_blue]

That Boxster is one of the best I've ever seen - simply stunning.

[ORD]

mrdemon said:

ORD said:

Not a risk I would take for the sake of a bit of patience.

Cars which have not been up the revs make for a lazy engine imo.

I used to get my dad's company cars and they always ran off the speedo and then some. All doing well over 120k miles.

Key is not loading the engine but upping the revs early on and also no steady speeds ie motorway driving.

Same with your gears, change gears a lot, don't run a car in at 70mph on the motor way in 6th

Some 2nd hand cars you buy just seem lazy and don't rev out that well.

I agree re the effect of pootling - my dad recently inherited an old V6 Mondeo that was astonishingly slow and lethargic until he had spent a few weeks driving it increasingly hard. It now goes just fine. I doubt it had gone above 3000rpm or 50mph before he drove it.

[nsm3]

CJP80 said:

mrdemon said:

Use PDK in manual mode, your car cannot see the bend or car coming, I have been on track in PDK cars and people drive in auto !!! The cars change gear after the event/bend.

Only way to drive PDK is in manual mode, unless stuck in rush hour traffic.

You never see jurno in auto, every one uses them in manual mode.
what happens with PDK owners is they forget how to drive and get lazy, use manual for a few weeks then always drive full auto, then driving is like your life is over imo may as well buy a Golf R.

I only drive this car in Manual mode. The only time it's doing its own thing is in reverse!

It will change down if you forget, but won't change up for you so it's perfect.

What this pair said - auto change only around town, always in Sport/Sport Plus, never in standard mode (too soft and slushy, doesn't suit the car at all IMHO?).