First 6 months of 981 Boxster GTS ownership
Discussion
Well, it's there or thereabouts 6 months since my gf and I did factory collection of the BGTS so I thought I'd put a few thoughts down as to how it's going.
Quick executive summary: 5,500 miles in and I'm very pleased to report that I still love the car
The vast majority of mileage has been on Euro road trips: one coming back from collection and another 2 week one in Spain in autumn. The car did a sterling job for both. She's also done a track day which was great fun and punched faaaar above her weight (well, power!) even in my hands.
I'll do a bit of a brain dump of thoughts as it's a bit too much of a faff to try and organize them
Soooo many cars I'd like to own and not enough money and time!
Finally some pics
Quick executive summary: 5,500 miles in and I'm very pleased to report that I still love the car
The vast majority of mileage has been on Euro road trips: one coming back from collection and another 2 week one in Spain in autumn. The car did a sterling job for both. She's also done a track day which was great fun and punched faaaar above her weight (well, power!) even in my hands.
I'll do a bit of a brain dump of thoughts as it's a bit too much of a faff to try and organize them
- Interior: looove the interior of the car. I've got the red GTS pack and buckets and it really makes it a special place to be. Regular Porsche interiors can be a bit too "Audi", but with the GTS pack I have to say I have no complaints - the alcantara, carbon and contrasting red stitching make it look very high end to my eye, something I'd expect to see in a supercar (which makes my idle Gallardo browsing very frustrating as their interior's look reeeeally plain in comparison). Combined with the buckets (which I find incredibly comfortable), I'm not sure I could want for more. While we're on bucket seats, top (possibly obvious) tip: I try and get in and out of the car with the roof down, then close it using the fob - that way I can lift myself out of the seat and avoid wear on it. Failing that if the roof it up, I slide the seat all the way back to give me a little more room to do the same.
- Drivetrain: the engine is an absolute peach as we all know. My only complaint is that psychologically I know they've artificially limited it (and the Cayman's) to less than it is in the 991. I don't think I'd feel the extra power if I had it, but I think that it might just change the top end character to be even better judging by the dyno charts. But that said we're deep into fine detail here. There's also a part of me that thinks if they could get it to 7.8K rpm, they really should have got it the last 200 to 8K! 8K revs available in a regular sportscar would have been an epic headline. As for the PDK, I'm still a massive fan. I've used the car for everything from alpine hoons, to mile munching across Europe, to driving in narrow streets in unfamiliar cities, to track days and to commuting in standstill London traffic. And I have to say I couldn't want for more. Ultimately if you're only using it as a weekend hoon/track car and you're a little bit less paranoid than me about speeding points and/or not so fussed about using the full rev range, you'll get more from manual. But if your usage is a bit more varied and/or you have access to another fun car in manual form, I can highly recommend the PDK. My only criticisms would be that it seems to take an age to warm up i.e. the gearchanges, no matter what mode you're in, don't snap through quickly until 10 mins or so into the drive which can be a bit annoying.
- Brakes: I've got steels and absolute stopping power is fine on road and track. In terms of firmness, okay for road use, not firm enough for track use is the gist of it. Although I would like them firmer on the road in theory, it doesn't actually bother me until I think back to how my GT3 middle pedal felt. On track, it does bug me. And I suspect it would bug me even more if I had a manual and was trying to heel toe as I can't see how you'd be able to do it given how far the pedal will travel once they're warm (not cooked mind, just warm). Maybe that's why the manual cars have auto blip
When I need a new set of pads, I might investigate trying to find some that will give it a firmer feel if that's possible.
- Exterior: I think the 981 series look damn fantastic. That and the noise pretty much sold me on them when I saw my first review. I always thought the 986/7 gens looked, well, a bit crap frankly. So to see a Cayster looking that good was a revelation. In terms of my car specifically, I ummed and aaah-ed over colour choices for ages and eventually went for DBM with the red roof. Left field choice, but I adore it and have not yet seen another like it anywhere. Only downer is that the roof always seems to come out a very bright red in photos when in real life it's a subtler darker shade Noise from the engine and exhaust is fab. Not as authentic as on my 993, but a fab sound nonethless. Only complaint here is that it would be nice if "Off" on the PSE was completely off. As it is the valve still opens high up the rev range at large throttle openings. It would have been nice to have been able to just hear the engine sing if you wanted. But it's not the end of the world.
- Steering & Handling: what to say about ePAS? Like the brakes, does it bother me on an every day basis? No. Does it bother me on a hoon or on track? No. But, there is a psychological impact of knowing that it could have been better. And again, if I remember back to my GT3, a little bit of disappointment does creep in - but then again a GT3 is about the hardest competition it'll come up against, so it's not really a fair comparison. I've asked before and no-one seems to know, but if the physical part of the ePAS system is common throughout the 981/991/991 GT3 range, then maybe it'll be possible to update the software to give better feel as apparently the GT3 ePAS is noticeably better. As for handling, it's all you could want for. For an enthusiastic track day amateur like me it's chuckable and not scary, the LSD seems to do its job well and it feels stable in high speed corners where you can adjust the balance easily. Torque vectoring for the tighter stuff also appears to work well too. My car is on PASM and it's a little soft for track work (you don't the instant response, chassis hardwired to your brain feeling), but having driven an X73 car, I'm 90% sure that's not stiff enough for track either. In short, there are better track cars if you're not going to go aftermarket suspension, but that said it's still a hoot and easily embarrasses more powerful/more track dedicated cars. My gut feeling is that the chassis could cope with some proper stiff springs if it needed to, it really does feel stiff.
- Boring stuff: MPG is high 20s on average, and I've seen 38mpg on a 75mph cruise in Spain. Conversely on track it drops to about 7mpg, that engine can drink when it wants to! There's looooads of boot space in total, so excellent for touring. In refinement terms there's a lot of tyre roar (especially in these colder temps), but I guess it's unavoidable really. PCM nav is okay verging on pants, so no change there really. Useful to have, but nothing more. Bose is all right, although next time I think I'd save my money or get the active cruise control instead.
Soooo many cars I'd like to own and not enough money and time!Finally some pics
Edited by Mario149 on Monday 18th January 13:21
Interesting ! I have a 987 Boxster 3.4 and 996 GT3 .
The Boxster is good but no comparison to the GT3 as an involving drivers car .
I think its about time i tried a 981 GTS if you are that pleased coming from a GT3
The bucket seats would be great but a lot of the Boxster use is with the Mrs and
Heated seats are a must for her !
The Boxster is good but no comparison to the GT3 as an involving drivers car .
I think its about time i tried a 981 GTS if you are that pleased coming from a GT3
The bucket seats would be great but a lot of the Boxster use is with the Mrs and
Heated seats are a must for her !
Turbo Jonny said:
Interesting ! I have a 987 Boxster 3.4 and 996 GT3 .
The Boxster is good but no comparison to the GT3 as an involving drivers car .
I think its about time i tried a 981 GTS if you are that pleased coming from a GT3
The bucket seats would be great but a lot of the Boxster use is with the Mrs and
Heated seats are a must for her !
Just to clarify I didn't replace the GT3 with the Boxster, I replaced it with a Caterham. As a pure drivers car the 981 GTS is not a patch on the 997 GT3 IMO. But that's like saying a Gallardo is not a patch on a GT3 as a drivers car i.e. it's largely meaningless as they're designed to do different things. The Gallardo is a brash supercar, the GT3 is a sharp driving tool (albeit compromised for the road) and the 981 GTS is a great all round sports car. The Boxster is good but no comparison to the GT3 as an involving drivers car .
I think its about time i tried a 981 GTS if you are that pleased coming from a GT3
The bucket seats would be great but a lot of the Boxster use is with the Mrs and
Heated seats are a must for her !
On an every day basis the BGTS is far superior to the GT3, but on track it's clearly the other way round. In the end I could not justify keeping the GT3 purely for track simply due to the "funness" ROI, especially when you consider how much tracking a GT3 costs in the long term. I will have another 911 at some point, but at the moment it is most likely to be a lightened 996 project+++ like another chap on here is doing (although I would not go as extreme as him). It should be possible to get almost all of the benefits of a GT3 for the track, but keep it fun on the road. Umming and ah-ing over whether to sell my 993 Cab to do it (which I have also invested a lot of money in)
+++: -130kg, +25bhp and some trick suspension seems to be doable for £10k or so by my tally and it will even look standard to most people, I think going 10% lighter and 10% more powerful would yield a great car
Mario149 said:
Ref upgrading EPAS software, managed to get a bit of an answer: OPC where I bought the car have said that it's not possible. Whether that means it's physically not possible or it's just not something they can/are allowed to do, I don't know
Why do you want to update it? Using what. for what changes?Mario149 said:
As per my initial post, apparently the steering feel on the GT3 is noticeably better than on the Caysters and regular 911. If it's just a software change, I was hoping it could be updated to the Caysters
Could be software related - but could equally be front suspension geometry/bushing or tyre brand (P zeros seem to be poor in terms of feel - michelins seem better regarded) or a combination all of those things. RBT0 said:
Mmm...very unlikely to me an OPC changes the ePAS sw, if not developed for that car. Assuming the steering gear hardware is the same as 991 GT3.
True. TBH I wasn't expecting a "Yes, of course sir!" , I just thought I'd email them and ask when I had a moment. Would be interesting if there are any aftermarket companies that know moreGassing Station | Boxster/Cayman | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff