Cayman 718 test drive
Discussion
I drove the hopefully attached Cayman yesterday at OPC Tewkesbury - apart from being very pleased with the service and helpfulness of the guys there I was surprised, given the negative comments about the Cayman how good it was. I've got a Golf R now, and have had E46 M3s, Imprezas etc.
My test car was a relatively basic slate grey car without Sports Chrono, PSE or PASM and we went on an approx 30 min drive over A and B roads.
Firstly the manual box is great, beautiful - took barely any effort to change.
The engine note is great and perfectly loud enough without PSE...I really don't understand anyone moaning about the engine noise. It was nice and raspy, with the standard exhaust it was loud without being intrusive.
The car had 20" Carrera S alloys but no PASM. It rode really nicely, so PASM isn't a box I'll be ticking with my 20" Turbo 2 alloys (or platinum Carrera S alloys)....
The quality and fit of the interior was fantastic - the test car had the carbon pack (but no leather dash) which really worked.
One area of concern is whether the basic Cayman would feel fast enough, but that was allayed soon enough - it really went, nice linear pick up. Very impressed, even after the Golf R.
Residuals are currently looking really good, and the PCP option was pleasingly affordable.
In short I'll be putting my deposit down after Xmas - but just told the delivery slots are now into Q3!! Arrgh!!
One question - PCM Sat-Nav or Apple Connect? Salesman was pushing hard on PCM saying the car wouldn't be sellable without it - is that the case? And what's the thing with Sports Chrono - this will be my first Porsche, but with a manual car I don't get what the point is...again sales team were pushing it as a 'must have'....
My test car was a relatively basic slate grey car without Sports Chrono, PSE or PASM and we went on an approx 30 min drive over A and B roads.
Firstly the manual box is great, beautiful - took barely any effort to change.
The engine note is great and perfectly loud enough without PSE...I really don't understand anyone moaning about the engine noise. It was nice and raspy, with the standard exhaust it was loud without being intrusive.
The car had 20" Carrera S alloys but no PASM. It rode really nicely, so PASM isn't a box I'll be ticking with my 20" Turbo 2 alloys (or platinum Carrera S alloys)....
The quality and fit of the interior was fantastic - the test car had the carbon pack (but no leather dash) which really worked.
One area of concern is whether the basic Cayman would feel fast enough, but that was allayed soon enough - it really went, nice linear pick up. Very impressed, even after the Golf R.
Residuals are currently looking really good, and the PCP option was pleasingly affordable.
In short I'll be putting my deposit down after Xmas - but just told the delivery slots are now into Q3!! Arrgh!!
One question - PCM Sat-Nav or Apple Connect? Salesman was pushing hard on PCM saying the car wouldn't be sellable without it - is that the case? And what's the thing with Sports Chrono - this will be my first Porsche, but with a manual car I don't get what the point is...again sales team were pushing it as a 'must have'....
I took delivery of my Cayman S having come from a Golf R ! ( I kept the Golf for my wife....)
I have 20" Carrera wheels without PASM and the ride is fine for me - pretty similar to the Golf I would say in terms of firmness. I have manual and didn't go Sport Chrono as didn't think it worth it. on the Porsche experience day the car I drove there did have it and for me as a normal driver the only real difference was the autoblip of the throttle on changing gear which was nice but not worth the money. I went for the SatNav PCM in the end - part of me was quite happy using a TomTom but it is convenient being built in and also you have the option of it on the right hand dial instead of centre screen. I preferred this to Apple Connect. I didn't look at resale and generally ignored most things the salesman said as I was choosing the car I wanted for a period of time and will face the consequences (if any) when I come to sell it e.g. he said virtually everyone has PDK which might be true but I wanted manual etc
I have 20" Carrera wheels without PASM and the ride is fine for me - pretty similar to the Golf I would say in terms of firmness. I have manual and didn't go Sport Chrono as didn't think it worth it. on the Porsche experience day the car I drove there did have it and for me as a normal driver the only real difference was the autoblip of the throttle on changing gear which was nice but not worth the money. I went for the SatNav PCM in the end - part of me was quite happy using a TomTom but it is convenient being built in and also you have the option of it on the right hand dial instead of centre screen. I preferred this to Apple Connect. I didn't look at resale and generally ignored most things the salesman said as I was choosing the car I wanted for a period of time and will face the consequences (if any) when I come to sell it e.g. he said virtually everyone has PDK which might be true but I wanted manual etc
Similar-ish to you, I'm coming from a M135i and for me, its not the engine that dominates the experience, but more the wonderful balance of the chassis and the fact you're sat low down in a genuine sport car (as opposed to hot hatch).
Regarding your questions, sat nav will likely make the car easier to sell come resale, but I seriously question whether you'd get the £1k back over a non-sat nav car. My experience with the nav is that although its good, i still think even the best car systems still lag behind google maps on your phone.
As for sport chrono, if i were you i'd go for it especially on a manual. I've test driven 2 718 manuals, one with sport chrono and one without. The sport chrono one felt subjectively "friskier" and I really enjoyed the throttle blips you get on downshifts. Just my 2 cents...
Regarding your questions, sat nav will likely make the car easier to sell come resale, but I seriously question whether you'd get the £1k back over a non-sat nav car. My experience with the nav is that although its good, i still think even the best car systems still lag behind google maps on your phone.
As for sport chrono, if i were you i'd go for it especially on a manual. I've test driven 2 718 manuals, one with sport chrono and one without. The sport chrono one felt subjectively "friskier" and I really enjoyed the throttle blips you get on downshifts. Just my 2 cents...
jon-yprpe said:
Salesman was pushing hard on PCM saying the car wouldn't be sellable without it....
IMO as soon as you hear those words you know you're being taken for a ride!Just choose the options you really want or you'll end up paying thousands over the odds. "Options" depreciate faster than cars.
thx both - very helpful! I'm trying to be sensible on the options, so I can prob do without paying for an auto-blip...
PCM - something to think on....nice problem to have. When we go on holiday we use the iPhone to navigate in hire cars and it's dead easy (although was a bit costly on the data side last time!)
Car below is the one I drove...
Part
Bit I love this one - GT silver with the Turbo 2 alloys....although they're nearly £3k they look stunning and part of my spec questions are down to sacrifices I'll have to make elsewhere to have them...in fact I'm going to order this exact colour/wheel spec after going in thinking I was going to have Carrara white with Carrera S alloys!
PCM - something to think on....nice problem to have. When we go on holiday we use the iPhone to navigate in hire cars and it's dead easy (although was a bit costly on the data side last time!)
Car below is the one I drove...
Part
Bit I love this one - GT silver with the Turbo 2 alloys....although they're nearly £3k they look stunning and part of my spec questions are down to sacrifices I'll have to make elsewhere to have them...in fact I'm going to order this exact colour/wheel spec after going in thinking I was going to have Carrara white with Carrera S alloys!
@jon, yes the 718 is a beatiful car (though I've gone Boxster). Negative comments are just opinions, potentially useful input, but once you've driven the car you know if it ticks your personal boxes or not.
Anyway, I'm not sure if you specced the car before or after the price drop on the GT Silver? If before, you'll now be pleasantly surprised!
Enjoy your car - and I hope you can bear the wait. My Boxster is due in March and I'm as impatient as hell to get it!
Anyway, I'm not sure if you specced the car before or after the price drop on the GT Silver? If before, you'll now be pleasantly surprised!
Enjoy your car - and I hope you can bear the wait. My Boxster is due in March and I'm as impatient as hell to get it!
jon-yprpe said:
thx both - very helpful! I'm trying to be sensible on the options, so I can prob do without paying for an auto-blip...
PCM - something to think on....nice problem to have. When we go on holiday we use the iPhone to navigate in hire cars and it's dead easy (although was a bit costly on the data side last time!)
Car below is the one I drove...
Part
Bit I love this one - GT silver with the Turbo 2 alloys....although they're nearly £3k they look stunning and part of my spec questions are down to sacrifices I'll have to make elsewhere to have them...in fact I'm going to order this exact colour/wheel spec after going in thinking I was going to have Carrara white with Carrera S alloys!
Which dealership is that ?PCM - something to think on....nice problem to have. When we go on holiday we use the iPhone to navigate in hire cars and it's dead easy (although was a bit costly on the data side last time!)
Car below is the one I drove...
Part
Bit I love this one - GT silver with the Turbo 2 alloys....although they're nearly £3k they look stunning and part of my spec questions are down to sacrifices I'll have to make elsewhere to have them...in fact I'm going to order this exact colour/wheel spec after going in thinking I was going to have Carrara white with Carrera S alloys!
Fezzaman said:
GT silver is so so lovely. Photographs terribly but in the flesh it really does look special. It used to be a special paint for pre-718 and 991.2 cars. Just goes to show how 'special' it really is though if Porsche can suddenly decide to drop a grand off its price!
I thought the change was more recent; Apologies for misleading anyone.But, yes, I'm not a fan of silver usually, but the GT version is pretty "special".
I bought my 981S Boxster from Tewkesbury, seemed pretty good. Chrono on a manual is debatable at best (don't bother), sat nav is worth having but not at the price they ask for it, and it's not like you get free map updates or anything, both these could hit resale price but not to the extent of the extra cash you would have to pay when new. Be sensible and get the options you want, forget resale, certain buyers may be after specific options but pointless second guessing the resale market.
Never met a factory installed navigation system that was a performant and cheap to maintain as a portable.
Ask two questions.
1. What does the map update cost?
2. What date is the data in the update?
There are a limited number of sources for the map data and pretty much everyone gets their data from the same source. Except Google Maps, Apple CarPlay do frequent updates and don't have the long supply chain that manufacturers have in getting the data available to the end user. Often the map data is at least a year old compared to say the TomTom which gets the data from the same ultimate source.
Having said that, there is something to be said for having the SatNav installed in the car and not portable for the theft difficulty in a convert especially. And it is always there. And the screen is usually bigger. I do updates every few years. But eventually the car manufacturers just discontinue the updates where I can still get updates on a quarterly basis for my 10 year old TomTom.
Ask two questions.
1. What does the map update cost?
2. What date is the data in the update?
There are a limited number of sources for the map data and pretty much everyone gets their data from the same source. Except Google Maps, Apple CarPlay do frequent updates and don't have the long supply chain that manufacturers have in getting the data available to the end user. Often the map data is at least a year old compared to say the TomTom which gets the data from the same ultimate source.
Having said that, there is something to be said for having the SatNav installed in the car and not portable for the theft difficulty in a convert especially. And it is always there. And the screen is usually bigger. I do updates every few years. But eventually the car manufacturers just discontinue the updates where I can still get updates on a quarterly basis for my 10 year old TomTom.
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