Have an M240i. Want a 718. Should I Make the Jump?

[Wcprice]

I’d like the views of the Boxster/Cayman forum on whether it makes any sense for me to shell out the money for a Cayman when I already have an M240i, which I love. The BMW has a lovely six-cylinder engine, which sounds great. It handles well, is luxurious. It is practical. And I’d have to sell it, obviously at a loss, to afford the Porsche.

But I have never owned a Porsche and really want a Cayman. Should I do it?

Thanks!

[Cheib]

Great cars....make your own mind up about the engine don’t listen to others on here. What I would say is that I think it’s a better car driven “on the paddles” than in full auto mode. PDK like any modern gearbox changes up early for economy so can make the engine feel a bit lethargic.

[anonymous-user]

Or run it in sport mode for the more aggressive gear change map.

[Bone Rat]

I have a 240i, wife has a cayman 718S. Similar bhp, very different cars. Both accelerate well and will do silly speeds if desired, the cayman is the better handling but noisy for daily commute duty or long trips, the 240i more wallowing but nicer for a daily drive. We take the BMW for longer trips.

The ZF 8HP gearbox is a lot different to the PDK, personally prefer the BMW, I wouldn't consider manual as I found the clutch unacceptable on the cayman.

One is practical if there are others to consider, the other a treat for the solitary driver. The BMW despite the 3 L is far better on fuel, neither are cheap to run however.

Both however are a welcome middle finger to the neo puritans of the age!

[Steve Rance]

I have an M2 and if I didn’t need the extra seats, I’d have a 718!

[mr pg]

If you're worried about the engine why not consider a 981 GTS? Hold their value better, and Caymans are remarkably practical. We've done 5 euro trips in our 981 CS, and planning the next.
In terms of driving, one feels like a sports car, the other doesn't.

[bcr5784]

Cheib said:

Great cars....make your own mind up about the engine don’t listen to others on here. What I would say is that I think it’s a better car driven “on the paddles” than in full auto mode. PDK like any modern gearbox changes up early for economy so can make the engine feel a bit lethargic.

+1 whatever mode you are in the box won't make the "right" choice a lot of the time, so you will be either doing plenty of overrides or driving manually. The problem with overrides is that the box reverts to auto after about 6 seconds which may or may not be what you want in any given circumstance.

[tedblog]

mr pg said:

If you're worried about the engine why not consider a 981 GTS? Hold their value better, and Caymans are remarkably practical. We've done 5 euro trips in our 981 CS, and planning the next.
In terms of driving, one feels like a sports car, the other doesn't.

The youngest GTS's are already 3 1/2 years old , the best value GTS is the Boxster at the moment , can pick one up for mid £40's

[Gibbonyc]

Make the jump. I've had a 718S Boxster manual since June. Now the initial honeymoon period is over I can take my rose tinited glasses off. Even so, I like it more with time. The engine, gearbox and clutch are great. Keep it above 3000rpm and it flies, keep it below and you can drift around town when you need to. I've gone for the drop top for the best of both worlds, but it is noisier and you have to be prepared to accept that. The BMW is a good car, but the Porsche is a great car. IMO.

[Deep1989]

I came from a Z4M coupe into my 718 GTS. The Cayman is surprisingly practical and we've happily gone away for a week in it. I love my GTS, despite what people say I've found the noise and drivetrain to be addictive! I'd have kept it longer had it not been for my incoming GT4.

As good as BMW is the step up to Porsche was definitely worth it for me, and to answer your original question - make the jump.

D

[Wcprice]

I just went for a test drive yesterday in a Cayman 718 with PDK and 20" wheels. The ride was more compliant than I expected, which was nice - I still plan to get 18" wheels to maximize comfort over U.S. roads. The PDK kept upshifting (I had it mostly in automatic) and I found the kickdown sort of unpredictable. So my conviction to get a manual remains (although I'd welcome knowing why Bone Rat doesn't like the manual). As for the sound of the engine, I had mixed feelings. It wasn't smooth, and I wonder if that will get on my nerves, but it was supremely mechanical, which struck me as being appropriate for a sports car. The acceleration was, I found, hugely impressive.

[Trevor555]

Wcprice said:

I just went for a test drive yesterday in a Cayman 718 with PDK and 20" wheels. The ride was more compliant than I expected, which was nice - I still plan to get 18" wheels to maximize comfort over U.S. roads. The PDK kept upshifting (I had it mostly in automatic) and I found the kickdown sort of unpredictable. So my conviction to get a manual remains (although I'd welcome knowing why Bone Rat doesn't like the manual). As for the sound of the engine, I had mixed feelings. It wasn't smooth, and I wonder if that will get on my nerves, but it was supremely mechanical, which struck me as being appropriate for a sports car. The acceleration was, I found, hugely impressive.

Re the sound of the engine.

I went to buy one and was also undecided about the noise at the time.

Until I listened to one leaving a petrol station the week afterwards.

So get the sales people to run the car up the road whilst you listen from the pavement.

[anonymous-user]

Wcprice said:

I just went for a test drive yesterday in a Cayman 718 with PDK and 20" wheels. The ride was more compliant than I expected, which was nice - I still plan to get 18" wheels to maximize comfort over U.S. roads. The PDK kept upshifting (I had it mostly in automatic) and I found the kickdown sort of unpredictable. So my conviction to get a manual remains (although I'd welcome knowing why Bone Rat doesn't like the manual). As for the sound of the engine, I had mixed feelings. It wasn't smooth, and I wonder if that will get on my nerves, but it was supremely mechanical, which struck me as being appropriate for a sports car. The acceleration was, I found, hugely impressive.

Did you try it in ‘sport’ mode for a more aggressive gear change map? Normal mode does change up far too early but it is an eco setting really. I tend to drive in sport most of the time.

[Wcprice]

In all honesty, I didn't switch it into "sport" mode, which I should have done. I was more focused on the engine and on chassis compliance. I should have noted in my initial thoughts that came away wanting a 718 even more than I did before I went for the test drive!

[DJMC]

I had an E46 330ci for 9 years - great 6 cylinder engine.
Then went to a TTS for a year - not so good 4 cylinder 2 litre turbo.
Now in a 981 Cayman last 4 years - great 6 cylinder engine.
Tried 718 and 718S - not so good 4 cylinder 2 litre turbo.

If you like 2 litre turbo engines, the 228i may be superior to your M235i (and the M2) as discussed here: https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a29245/bm...

Reading this I can see where they're coming from. The 981S had too much power for my liking which is why I went for the base 2.7 model. It seems this article repeats the same - that too much power can harm enjoyment.

[Bone Rat]

Wcprice said:

I just went for a test drive yesterday in a Cayman 718 with PDK and 20" wheels. The ride was more compliant than I expected, which was nice - I still plan to get 18" wheels to maximize comfort over U.S. roads. The PDK kept upshifting (I had it mostly in automatic) and I found the kickdown sort of unpredictable. So my conviction to get a manual remains (although I'd welcome knowing why Bone Rat doesn't like the manual). As for the sound of the engine, I had mixed feelings. It wasn't smooth, and I wonder if that will get on my nerves, but it was supremely mechanical, which struck me as being appropriate for a sports car. The acceleration was, I found, hugely impressive.

Hi,

I'm a bit of an old fart, late 50's now and we were given a manual Boxster as a courtesy car when the Cayman went in for servicing, I think they wanted to sell me one as I've also got an MX5 for fun and have turned up there in it before. The gear box itself was great, it was the clutch I (we) couldn't get on with, we both found it far too heavy. I've got OA in my ankle so I had to get the auto 240i for daily use and the wife also has arthritis and found it unacceptably heavy. It may be more due to age but it made it unusable as a daily driver with traffic jams etc for us. It was the only one that caused pain.

Have used a wide variety of cars from old series L/R and Lada Nivas etc via manual Novas, Astras, Mondeos and BMWs but this was the only one we found we couldn't contemplate. The PDK works very well and makes it far more usable for us. It's not a weekend toy but used as her daily car for commutes into Cardiff each day so ease of driving was far more to the front of thoughts as traffic is usually stop start.

I appreciate it's a personal opinion and more sprightly people won't have an issue but considering the potential old codger market for these I thought I'd mention it. We both drive the MX5 and find that clutch fine...

[DJMC]

PDK is also great to use in manual mode but the PDK system is so far ahead of BMW, almost sensing what you want it to do next, that I rarely switch out of auto mode.

I too find the clutch on manual courtesy Cayman/Boxster cars to be too fierce to want to live with one.

[bcr5784]

DJMC said:

PDK is also great to use in manual mode but the PDK system is so far ahead of BMW, almost sensing what you want it to do next, that I rarely switch out of auto mode.

.

Surprised you say that. In normal I found I was often overriding because it changed up too soon and in Sport it often hung on to a gear too long - after an overtake when I was back to cruising speed for example. I'd always change down manually prior to an overtake if I could see an opportunity arising - especially if I needed to go down several gears (often the case with such long gears ). All that said it is a very good box and you'll never match either speed or smoothness of the changes with a manual.

[DJMC]

bcr5784 said:

Surprised you say that. In normal I found I was often overriding because it changed up too soon and in Sport it often hung on to a gear too long - after an overtake when I was back to cruising speed for example. I'd always change down manually prior to an overtake if I could see an opportunity arising - especially if I needed to go down several gears (often the case with such long gears ). All that said it is a very good box and you'll never match either speed or smoothness of the changes with a manual.

Far, far, faster changes than a manual. Absolutely instant, which my arm cannot do with a manual box. And extremely smooth so I don't feel any jolting as with a manual from time to time. Perhaps yours was faulty?

[Romo]

I used to own;
E46 M3 6MT
E92 M3 6MT
E82 1M 6MT
981 Cayman GTS PDK

Currently F87 M2 6MT
718 GT4 PDK on order (ETA 06-2020)

My honest opinion; wait for the 718 6 to come. (Official announcement is only a few weeks off) Leave the 4FT for what they are.

I`ve test-driven all 718 4FT series, its not only the engine sound that is "bad", but more so how these engines run; raw, droning into the interoir, they can never match the BMW 6 IL, although the Porsche(s) are quicker.

Porsche is more road compliant, even with 20", they are superb in road behavior, the BMW`s can never reach that point.

PDK is sublime (although it creeps) and IMHO far better than the M-DCT (does not creep, but lousy software set up), but I have tor say the PDK does not quiet match the 4FT that good, my previous 981 C GTS PDK was the best engine - transmission combination I` ve ever driven, so smooth, so quick and direct, just unbelievable good !!
I do think PDK works better with NA engines than Turbo.

I hope my opinion does help :-)

Edited by Romo on Wednesday 1st January 10:27

Edited by Romo on Wednesday 1st January 10:30