718 turbo diesel?
Discussion
I've got a 718 Boxster as a courtesy car today. Utterly hateful thing.
The engine makes all manner of weird noises including what sounds like diesel knock. There is no continuity in the sound, it's just noise. It is totally gutless unless I select sport mode then it's just sluggish with an awful contrived exhaust note. The electric steering is marginally better than Porsche's early attempts post-hydraulic, but it's still not great.
Dreadful, synthetic excuse for a car whose only redeeming feature is that the interior looks nice.
13m said:
I've got a 718 Boxster as a courtesy car today. Utterly hateful thing.
The engine makes all manner of weird noises including what sounds like diesel knock. There is no continuity in the sound, it's just noise. It is totally gutless unless I select sport mode then it's just sluggish with an awful contrived exhaust note. The electric steering is marginally better than Porsche's early attempts post-hydraulic, but it's still not great.
Dreadful, synthetic excuse for a car whose only redeeming feature is that the interior looks nice.
Oh dear The engine makes all manner of weird noises including what sounds like diesel knock. There is no continuity in the sound, it's just noise. It is totally gutless unless I select sport mode then it's just sluggish with an awful contrived exhaust note. The electric steering is marginally better than Porsche's early attempts post-hydraulic, but it's still not great.
Dreadful, synthetic excuse for a car whose only redeeming feature is that the interior looks nice.
Klippie said:
Interesting...my car is due it's major service in the spring I wonder if I'll get a loaner 718, part of me would like to try one and the other part wants to run for the hills at the thought of a four cylinder modern Porsche.
Look at this way - either you will confirm your reconceptions and be able to dis the 718 with real conviction - or you'll be pleasantly surprised. Seems like a win win situation to me.FrankCayman said:
If you don't like the noise, fair enough....but saying it's gutless is just complete rubbish.
Maybe it's too long since I owned a Boxster, but I am certain my 986 never felt like that. It certainly didn't make such a god awful noise.I was careful not to rag the 718 senseless because it was new, but I did lean on it within reasonable limits. It just felt and sounded like a hot diesel, hence the thread title.
It's a shame, because the interior is nice. The chassis felt pretty good, the steering was meh but I could have forgiven it had it not been for that awful engine.
To be fair, I don't think it's just the Boxster Porsche has messed up. I am no fan of what they've done to the 911 either in the 991 iteration.
bcr5784 said:
Look at this way - either you will confirm your reconceptions and be able to dis the 718 with real conviction - or you'll be pleasantly surprised. Seems like a win win situation to me.
I've no doubt the driving dynamics of the car will be excellent but its the noise that will be the deal breaker, if it sounded like a Honda V4 bike engine which is possibly the best 4 cylinder noise ever to come out of an exhaust then I might be able to put up with the lack of a flat 6.13m said:
It just felt and sounded like a hot diesel, hence the thread title.
Sounds nothing remotely like a diesel, in either standard or S guise. Sounds exactly like a horizontally-opposed petrol boxer engine, which is what it is, with a mechanical rasp and subtle turbine whine timbre to it at higher revs. Again, no diesel is configured like that or sounds like that. And there was none of the rattle at idle or at middling revs that is found with modern diesels.
In fact there isn't a single aural nuance from the 718 test drives I've had that can be associated with a diesel.
Edited by Tim bo on Wednesday 14th December 10:13
Malo said:
I thought it [sounded like a diesel] on tick over when cold, and I also found it that way when slowy driving round a car park. This was driving a Base Cayman
Since receiving abuse above for criticising the 718, I had a quick look at this:http://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/boxster/17792/porsche...
It seems their view was similar to mine and they made the same points.
As for the chap above who says, "it just sounds like a boxer engine", you mean "box of spanners" don't you.
I've been driving and running Porsche sports cars for about 30 years now and whilst I haven't loved them all equally, I have always seen the point. There has been something about the cars I liked least that made think, "I get it". With the 718 I don't. It's a shocker.
I've just driven a boggo manual 2l Cayman 718, I must say yes the noise is as good as the GT4, but the resonator does make it a bit louder in the cabin, I actually think as a road car it is more drivable as there is more mid range torque than the 981..
I quite like the slight turbo lag at low revs and to be honest it has a lot of character.
Overall while not the sonorous 6 pot it is quite fun...
I quite like the slight turbo lag at low revs and to be honest it has a lot of character.
Overall while not the sonorous 6 pot it is quite fun...
Malo said:
Tim bo said:
Sounds nothing remotely like a diesel, in either standard or S guise.
I thought it did on tick over when cold, and I also found it that way when slowy driving round a car park. This was driving a Base Cayman13m said:
Since receiving abuse above for criticising the 718, I had a quick look at this:
http://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/boxster/17792/porsche...
It seems their view was similar to mine and they made the same points.
As for the chap above who says, "it just sounds like a boxer engine", you mean "box of spanners" don't you.
And not once in that evo review (by far the worst review of the 718 out there), which has been discussed at length here on this forum previously, does it compare the sound of the 718 to a diesel.http://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/boxster/17792/porsche...
It seems their view was similar to mine and they made the same points.
As for the chap above who says, "it just sounds like a boxer engine", you mean "box of spanners" don't you.
In fact, it compares the sound to a Beetle, and to a Subaru Impreza, both of which are boxer engines. Exactly like I said it sounded like.
Edited by Tim bo on Wednesday 14th December 10:46
FourPotPorsche said:
Well I like the sound of my 718 Cayman S but then my association with Porsche is only 30 days rather than 30 years so I have no historical aural affinity. When Nico beat Lewis he said well done mate on your runner-up's position but your car, although slower, sounded so much better
Even by PH standards of false logic/analogy that is a belter.Tim bo said:
13m said:
Since receiving abuse above for criticising the 718, I had a quick look at this:
http://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/boxster/17792/porsche...
It seems their view was similar to mine and they made the same points.
As for the chap above who says, "it just sounds like a boxer engine", you mean "box of spanners" don't you.
And not once in that evo review (by far the worst review of the 718 out there), which has been discussed at length here on this forum previously, does it compare the sound of the 718 to a diesel.http://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/boxster/17792/porsche...
It seems their view was similar to mine and they made the same points.
As for the chap above who says, "it just sounds like a boxer engine", you mean "box of spanners" don't you.
In fact, it compares the sound to a Beetle, and to a Subaru Impreza, both of which are boxer engines. Exactly like I said it sounded like.
Edited by Tim bo on Wednesday 14th December 10:46
At other times it sounded like a diesel, briefly a proper sports car, then like a 3-cyclinder Daihatsu Charade circa 1986 and other times just an unfathomable drone that turned into plastic pops and bangs on the overrun. There was no continuity in how it sounded.
The first ever Porsche I drove and worked on was a 4-pot. It was a 914 and it was circa 1982. That sounded like a Beetle, but did so all the way through the rev range. It was a more honest sound.
The lag wasn't huge on the 718, but combined with the auto stop-start it was irritating when pulling away from junctions.
Fish said:
I've just driven a boggo manual 2l Cayman 718, I must say yes the noise is as good as the GT4, but the resonator does make it a bit louder in the cabin, I actually think as a road car it is more drivable as there is more mid range torque than the 981..
I quite like the slight turbo lag at low revs and to be honest it has a lot of character.
Overall while not the sonorous 6 pot it is quite fun...
"the noise is as good as a GT4?" erm..... please tell me there is spelling mistake somewhere in this statement!I quite like the slight turbo lag at low revs and to be honest it has a lot of character.
Overall while not the sonorous 6 pot it is quite fun...
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