718 engine noise....confused!!
Discussion
I had my 2.7 Cayman (981) in for it's first service last week and was given a 718 Boxter (2.0) as a loan car to make the journey down from Towcester to Milton Keynes.
Having been one of the people that couldn't see any an good coming from Porsche dropping the flat 6 for the new model, I must admit that I was surprised that the engine actually sounded quite good.
I had previously listened to the engine sound on the Porsche configurator and wasn't impressed.
Part of this may have been that I'm used to the slightly muted sound from inside a Cayman and was experiencing the engine noise of the Boxter with the roof down, but even from outside the car with a work mate having a bit of a rev, it still sounded good.
The car had a sports exhaust but sounded ok with it on or off.
Maybe at full chat, I would have noticed that the 'howl' of the flat 6 was missing.
The car obviously went well and felt quicker than my car, which was to be expected, but I must be honest and say that if I was considering this car without any prior knowledge of the whole 6 v 4 cylinder issue, then I would have been more than happy with the way it sounded.
Are my ears broken??
Having been one of the people that couldn't see any an good coming from Porsche dropping the flat 6 for the new model, I must admit that I was surprised that the engine actually sounded quite good.
I had previously listened to the engine sound on the Porsche configurator and wasn't impressed.
Part of this may have been that I'm used to the slightly muted sound from inside a Cayman and was experiencing the engine noise of the Boxter with the roof down, but even from outside the car with a work mate having a bit of a rev, it still sounded good.
The car had a sports exhaust but sounded ok with it on or off.
Maybe at full chat, I would have noticed that the 'howl' of the flat 6 was missing.
The car obviously went well and felt quicker than my car, which was to be expected, but I must be honest and say that if I was considering this car without any prior knowledge of the whole 6 v 4 cylinder issue, then I would have been more than happy with the way it sounded.
Are my ears broken??
I didn't get a chance to really open the taps on the Boxter and as I suggested in my post, I think that the flat 6 'bark' at high revs may have been lacking.
The power obviously comes in lower down the rev range than a NA engine, so if you want the VTEK driving experience like the 981 then it won't possibly be as satisfying.
That said, it did sound as if there was something different back there.....dare I say something a bit special and certainly not just a standard 4 cylinder turbo, which over the years I've experienced with a few cars.
At times when I can't be arsed to rev the nuts off mine, I do miss the torque from my old C2S 997 and I suspect the 2.0 turbo will be offer more options to more people, which I suppose is all that matters for Porsche at the end of the day.
I'm intrigued as to what the Cayman sounds like now!
The power obviously comes in lower down the rev range than a NA engine, so if you want the VTEK driving experience like the 981 then it won't possibly be as satisfying.
That said, it did sound as if there was something different back there.....dare I say something a bit special and certainly not just a standard 4 cylinder turbo, which over the years I've experienced with a few cars.
At times when I can't be arsed to rev the nuts off mine, I do miss the torque from my old C2S 997 and I suspect the 2.0 turbo will be offer more options to more people, which I suppose is all that matters for Porsche at the end of the day.
I'm intrigued as to what the Cayman sounds like now!
ooid said:
confused? You either like a car or not..imho.
I can understand people would ask questions in terms of reliability, maintenance or things to look out but asking other people to see how it sounds it's quite bizarre. Sorry
I was sharing a light hearted view that IMHO the car sounded quite good. Like most people we read reviews and other peoples opinions until we hopefully get the chance to experience things ourselves and most of the journo's had given the 718 a glowing review apart from the sound that it makes.I can understand people would ask questions in terms of reliability, maintenance or things to look out but asking other people to see how it sounds it's quite bizarre. Sorry
It wasn't intended to be a long term heavy duty review and all indications so far suggest that the car(s) will be a very good owning proposition for those prepared to look beyond the 'missing' two cylinders and for what's it's worth I was pleasantly suprised!!
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