986S to 718S...Impressiions
Discussion
I had a 986S from new in late 2002. Bought in Luxembourg before the euro, saved about £6k on UK list at the time. I enjoyed owning that car and thanks to Boxster demand and waiting lists back then, I sold it at about 18 months old for a modest profit.
Last year I sold my 993 which i had owned for nigh on a decade. An opportunity led me to a friend who was selling a lovely 986S. I was interested as the car was very original having covered 14k from new backed up with full service history. Further enquires revealed the car was the almost the duplicate of the car I specced from new some 17 years ago.
Arctic silver with metropole roof and leather. Extended leather, deflector, heated, sports seats and 18” alloys.
This car has turbo wheels rather than the 5 spoke Carreras I had specced. The only other big omission was the lack of BOSE. I always appreciated the extra wallop of the Subwoofer and the sound pack barely cuts the mustard. Anyway, I bought the car- I’d have been a fool not to. It’s amazing how cheap these have become.
I’ve since retrofitted cruise and obc (via my pal) and covered about 1k miles.
I’ve always used OPC Mid Sussex for servicing on the 993. They are competitive on price and I’m happy with the service. I took the 986 in a few days ago and they have loaned me a 718S PDK.
I’ve owned a 987S back when they were new and I’ve driven a bit both 981 variants. I’d never tried a 718 till a few days ago.
As someone pretty familiar with a 986 the first thing striking me with her great grand daughter was the improvement in the driving position. No longer is the steering wheel almost on my knees. Far more room in the footwell too and I can recline the seat to my satisfaction without compromising legroom, as I have to in the 986. They have scooped out some of the firewall to allow the seats more travel.
This 718 is not heavily specced as Porsche dealer cars typically are. It has the standard audio system. This is similar to BOSE in a 986. Big audio is always nice in a car. The 718 system is good enough until you are at motorway speeds, roof down. At which point it begins to sound a bit desperate and you notice the lack of bass. The touch screen nav (PCM 4) is excellent, though accessing apps which can read the news headlines seems a bit much and a bit distracting in a car.
The sports seats here do a proper job of feeling as you’d imagine they should. Sports seats from the 986 and 993 for that matter, are for sitting on rather than in. The 986 seats provide a weird seating position requiring you to lean you neck right back in order to use the head rest.
Lots of switch blanks around the gear lever as well, which would irritate over longer term ownership. A constant reminder of your thriftiness at specification time.
The car mercifully does without the dire looking clock/stopwatch on the dash. I never rated PASM in any application and there’s no button for it here. The only thing it achieved for me, was to remove compliance from the ride. I wouldn’t spec it and I trust Porsche have the experience to set up a car well enough without it.
The ride is amazingly well judged, especially considering the size of the wheels (20”) It shrugs off poor road surfaces and yet will corner with a lovely flat, four square stance. I can’t overstate this. Perhaps a 986 is enormously boaty in comparison. Perhaps it’s the enormous footprint of 235/35 tyres. The net result that cornering is a bit like Tron on a light cycle.
The 718 feels nicely put together as well. That said, I’d expect no less,
certainly at this price point. To split hairs, the plastics for the dash and doors would look better covered in leather and the floor mats are of markedly lower quality than they were for 993/986 era cars. They are now thin and feel cheap.
It’s surely a screaming liberty Porsche can still get away charging for cruise considering it’s standard on a mid range Fiesta now. It’s a safety benefit when dragging through specs enforced temporary speed limits and its frankly mean of Porsche to make it a cost option.
The sport exhaust seems to make a marginal difference in sound. Sound seems to be key with the 718. This car sounds shouty and angry on cold start up Like it wants you and anyone around to know it’s a sports car and it has a point to prove. The sound isn’t unpleasant. However, on the move there is little noise unless you are really pushing on. At this point, under load, it’s certainly loud but not a particularly pleasant sound. Like listening to an unsuccessful thrash metal band at volume.
PDK is impressive for an automatic but I wouldn’t buy a car with this transmission. Hard acceleration gets the box dropping two gears, the volume increases, the turbo winds up and you are catapulted forward. It feels almost as though it’s catching up with itself. Like a cartoon speedster. This is as fast of a car as you’d need on the road but I think the gearbox can also leave the car feeling flat footed, especially when you don’t change down appropriately and want to move forward quickly. The gearbox encourages a lazy style of driving and using the paddles encourages you to hold the gears. A motorway 70mph in 7th is under 2k revs making for relaxed and doubtless economical cruising. It’s a shame, given the number of ratios, that the lower gears aren’t a bit shorter. As with most modern fast cars, you can’t reasonably wring this car out on UK roads without running significant risk and feeling increasingly anti social.
You still have two big (seemingly bigger than 986) boots front and rear and the DRL lights fitted here make the 981 DRL look like something added aftermarket from EBay. Aesthetically, the car would also look better without the front indicators, which should surely be incorporated into the headlights. Probably held back for the facelift.
The car looks modern though. Front callipers, long a staple Porsche design cue, are massive in this application. These details make it a good looking car, markedly fresher than a 981. I’d be deleting all that lettering on the rump as well. Looks untidy.
The steering is very light but i didn’t find that particularly upsetting or something to die in a ditch about. You definitely notice that absence of soundtrack though. It’s weirdly loud in the cabin with the roof up under load. Again, not the nice whiny build to a roar the 6 cylinder cars have. Just gruff noise, roof up there’s a lot of induction sound under load as well.
You’d be cold indeed not to admire what this car can do. As well as being far more modern looking it’s far quicker than my 986S, it’s more economical, it rides better and it has a wonderful duality of purpose. It’s quite happy to bimble along in traffic in a relaxed fashion. It doesn’t beg you to be on it all the time. Yet, when opportunity presents, it’s a fast car with brakes that stop you better than a London climate protester. I think there’s much to admire.
And yet, I don’t find myself enflamed with wantage to the level I’d want to own one, despite it clearly being a great car.
The 986 is worth barely 1/5th of a 718. Even if I was sufficiently well trousered the depreciation would be a real worry. These cars aren’t low volume or limited edition. I’ve already seen some at price parity with the last 981’s.
Despite being slower, softer and much older, the 986 still covers most of the criteria I think important in a sports car. I like changing gears with a lever, I like the sounds it makes and, not most importantly, I like the fact it doesn’t owe me over £50k.
Despite the 981 being older, slower and not blessed with the tech of the newer car I can see why it’s proving so popular used. I could see the 981 becoming like the 993 was versus 996. Will be interesting to see what the market dictates.
Last year I sold my 993 which i had owned for nigh on a decade. An opportunity led me to a friend who was selling a lovely 986S. I was interested as the car was very original having covered 14k from new backed up with full service history. Further enquires revealed the car was the almost the duplicate of the car I specced from new some 17 years ago.
Arctic silver with metropole roof and leather. Extended leather, deflector, heated, sports seats and 18” alloys.
This car has turbo wheels rather than the 5 spoke Carreras I had specced. The only other big omission was the lack of BOSE. I always appreciated the extra wallop of the Subwoofer and the sound pack barely cuts the mustard. Anyway, I bought the car- I’d have been a fool not to. It’s amazing how cheap these have become.
I’ve since retrofitted cruise and obc (via my pal) and covered about 1k miles.
I’ve always used OPC Mid Sussex for servicing on the 993. They are competitive on price and I’m happy with the service. I took the 986 in a few days ago and they have loaned me a 718S PDK.
I’ve owned a 987S back when they were new and I’ve driven a bit both 981 variants. I’d never tried a 718 till a few days ago.
As someone pretty familiar with a 986 the first thing striking me with her great grand daughter was the improvement in the driving position. No longer is the steering wheel almost on my knees. Far more room in the footwell too and I can recline the seat to my satisfaction without compromising legroom, as I have to in the 986. They have scooped out some of the firewall to allow the seats more travel.
This 718 is not heavily specced as Porsche dealer cars typically are. It has the standard audio system. This is similar to BOSE in a 986. Big audio is always nice in a car. The 718 system is good enough until you are at motorway speeds, roof down. At which point it begins to sound a bit desperate and you notice the lack of bass. The touch screen nav (PCM 4) is excellent, though accessing apps which can read the news headlines seems a bit much and a bit distracting in a car.
The sports seats here do a proper job of feeling as you’d imagine they should. Sports seats from the 986 and 993 for that matter, are for sitting on rather than in. The 986 seats provide a weird seating position requiring you to lean you neck right back in order to use the head rest.
Lots of switch blanks around the gear lever as well, which would irritate over longer term ownership. A constant reminder of your thriftiness at specification time.
The car mercifully does without the dire looking clock/stopwatch on the dash. I never rated PASM in any application and there’s no button for it here. The only thing it achieved for me, was to remove compliance from the ride. I wouldn’t spec it and I trust Porsche have the experience to set up a car well enough without it.
The ride is amazingly well judged, especially considering the size of the wheels (20”) It shrugs off poor road surfaces and yet will corner with a lovely flat, four square stance. I can’t overstate this. Perhaps a 986 is enormously boaty in comparison. Perhaps it’s the enormous footprint of 235/35 tyres. The net result that cornering is a bit like Tron on a light cycle.
The 718 feels nicely put together as well. That said, I’d expect no less,
certainly at this price point. To split hairs, the plastics for the dash and doors would look better covered in leather and the floor mats are of markedly lower quality than they were for 993/986 era cars. They are now thin and feel cheap.
It’s surely a screaming liberty Porsche can still get away charging for cruise considering it’s standard on a mid range Fiesta now. It’s a safety benefit when dragging through specs enforced temporary speed limits and its frankly mean of Porsche to make it a cost option.
The sport exhaust seems to make a marginal difference in sound. Sound seems to be key with the 718. This car sounds shouty and angry on cold start up Like it wants you and anyone around to know it’s a sports car and it has a point to prove. The sound isn’t unpleasant. However, on the move there is little noise unless you are really pushing on. At this point, under load, it’s certainly loud but not a particularly pleasant sound. Like listening to an unsuccessful thrash metal band at volume.
PDK is impressive for an automatic but I wouldn’t buy a car with this transmission. Hard acceleration gets the box dropping two gears, the volume increases, the turbo winds up and you are catapulted forward. It feels almost as though it’s catching up with itself. Like a cartoon speedster. This is as fast of a car as you’d need on the road but I think the gearbox can also leave the car feeling flat footed, especially when you don’t change down appropriately and want to move forward quickly. The gearbox encourages a lazy style of driving and using the paddles encourages you to hold the gears. A motorway 70mph in 7th is under 2k revs making for relaxed and doubtless economical cruising. It’s a shame, given the number of ratios, that the lower gears aren’t a bit shorter. As with most modern fast cars, you can’t reasonably wring this car out on UK roads without running significant risk and feeling increasingly anti social.
You still have two big (seemingly bigger than 986) boots front and rear and the DRL lights fitted here make the 981 DRL look like something added aftermarket from EBay. Aesthetically, the car would also look better without the front indicators, which should surely be incorporated into the headlights. Probably held back for the facelift.
The car looks modern though. Front callipers, long a staple Porsche design cue, are massive in this application. These details make it a good looking car, markedly fresher than a 981. I’d be deleting all that lettering on the rump as well. Looks untidy.
The steering is very light but i didn’t find that particularly upsetting or something to die in a ditch about. You definitely notice that absence of soundtrack though. It’s weirdly loud in the cabin with the roof up under load. Again, not the nice whiny build to a roar the 6 cylinder cars have. Just gruff noise, roof up there’s a lot of induction sound under load as well.
You’d be cold indeed not to admire what this car can do. As well as being far more modern looking it’s far quicker than my 986S, it’s more economical, it rides better and it has a wonderful duality of purpose. It’s quite happy to bimble along in traffic in a relaxed fashion. It doesn’t beg you to be on it all the time. Yet, when opportunity presents, it’s a fast car with brakes that stop you better than a London climate protester. I think there’s much to admire.
And yet, I don’t find myself enflamed with wantage to the level I’d want to own one, despite it clearly being a great car.
The 986 is worth barely 1/5th of a 718. Even if I was sufficiently well trousered the depreciation would be a real worry. These cars aren’t low volume or limited edition. I’ve already seen some at price parity with the last 981’s.
Despite being slower, softer and much older, the 986 still covers most of the criteria I think important in a sports car. I like changing gears with a lever, I like the sounds it makes and, not most importantly, I like the fact it doesn’t owe me over £50k.
Despite the 981 being older, slower and not blessed with the tech of the newer car I can see why it’s proving so popular used. I could see the 981 becoming like the 993 was versus 996. Will be interesting to see what the market dictates.
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