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??
We have 2.0 without PSE. Not driven the previous gen but both ones before that.
I made my mind up that sound was fine just different. Only afterwards reading reviews thought my ears were broken.
Doesn't seem strained either. It's a bit beetle on start up but soon settles and smooths out within a minute or so.
Interestingly my gfs who owns the car detests loud exhausts and has no interest in all the racket it can make in Sport and Sport ×
I made my mind up that sound was fine just different. Only afterwards reading reviews thought my ears were broken.
Doesn't seem strained either. It's a bit beetle on start up but soon settles and smooths out within a minute or so.
Interestingly my gfs who owns the car detests loud exhausts and has no interest in all the racket it can make in Sport and Sport ×
Pinball said:
I too enjoyed the sound of the PSE and non PSE equipped Caymans I drove at PEC the other week. I think the repeated criticism of the 718 exhaust sound is a perfect example of an information cascade TBH.
Same as old mindsets which said Gaydon built cars were not real Aston Martins or anything after the MGTF was not a real MGScotty982 said:
Vernz for once a 981 owner who hasn't jumped on the band wagon over the different sounding engine you will probably be disowned by the 718 haters club
Yet somehow, you'll probably still live. I like the sound of both the old engine and the new. I'm possibly just weird, but will also probably still live. I had a load of insults thrown at me when I decided flat plane and 90 degree V8 cranks resulted in engines that both sounded great, but in totally different ways. My opinion on that and other matters has not changed in the intervening years.Liam
LiamH66 said:
Yet somehow, you'll probably still live. I like the sound of both the old engine and the new. I'm possibly just weird, but will also probably still live. I had a load of insults thrown at me when I decided flat plane and 90 degree V8 cranks resulted in engines that both sounded great, but in totally different ways. My opinion on that and other matters has not changed in the intervening years.
Liam
Might be interesting to correlate liking the sound of flat plane cranks with 718 approval (and a liking for heavy metal?) . I don't like the sound of flat plane cranks or heavy metal much either. But as you say you will probably live.Liam
Pinball said:
I too enjoyed the sound of the PSE and non PSE equipped Caymans I drove at PEC the other week. I think the repeated criticism of the 718 exhaust sound is a perfect example of an information cascade TBH.
It sounds a lot better than the current M3/M4 does at idle....that sounds bloody awful if you are standing near one when it's started up. 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 think the OP means he is confused as to what 'people in general' are hearing (or not as the case may be) that he seems to be missing. I don't think he is actually confused - more questioning of the accepted '718 sounds st' mantra. 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
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!!
bcr5784 said:
Might be interesting to correlate liking the sound of flat plane cranks with 718 approval (and a liking for heavy metal?) . I don't like the sound of flat plane cranks or heavy metal much either. But as you say you will probably live.
Now there's an interesting question. Best sounding cross-plane V8 of all time for me? Probably a TVR Griffith, maybe Chimaera. Best sounding flat plane V8 of all time? Probably Judd EV, but DFV is another classic. Totally different sounding, but I just don't know how anyone can't think they both sound great.Liam
Your ears aren't broken they're just different from mine. My test drive, where I really tried to convince myself the 718s they were offering me at a good discount was great failed on two counts; mostly the turbo lag. But it was totally killed off when I sat at some lights next to a 10yr old Vectra with a big bore exhaust and both cars sounded the same. £68,000 to sound like a souped up vectra with a sense of disconnection from the throttle. I've got other ways to spend my cash.
But if you like it then brilliant! hopefully people will stop finding the old ones at all appealing, especially the BGTS. But please let that happen soon, it's nearly summer.
But if you like it then brilliant! hopefully people will stop finding the old ones at all appealing, especially the BGTS. But please let that happen soon, it's nearly summer.
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