New 718 Cayman GTS

[nxm]

My order is in.

Lockdown next week.

Details on http://www.porsche-code.com/PJ7YPKT0

Any thoughts/comments before I reach the point of no return?

The one item I had been grappling with in particular is the LED headlights. As most of my driving is in well lit areas I hadn't originally ticked this option as I wasn't sure I would ever see the benefit of spending £1400 and the standard bixenon lights should be sufficient.

[Twinfan]

As you're going for the blackout look did you not fancy the Porsche logo in satin black on the rear? It might stand out too much in stock silver.

Power Steering Plus isn't necessary unless you think otherwise.

I'd have -20mm Sports PASM, the free passenger footwell storage net and the carbon sill guards to match the dash and doors.

You have the light design package already, so I'd add alcantara sun visors.

Finally I'd double check that the heated wheel is alcantara as a leather wheel will look odd.

Regarding the LED lights, I wouldn't bother personally and I'd remove them to add the items above instead.

[JasonSteel]

have you compared the Bose sound to standard?

not sure if the 718 Bose is any different to the 981 but i have it in mine and i think it's underwhelming to say the least.

[JasonSteel]

looks like Spanish gearboxes are now a thing of the past?

[Twinfan]

I'd go PDK with the turbo motor too I think.

Good call on BOSE. SPP is in my 981 and it's more than adequate.

[timg4d]

PDK is great - works very well with the turbo engine and makes a big difference to the performance. Re. the lights - it's worth checking these out before ditching the LEDs. The standard Xenons are low power (25w v 35w), presumably to avoid EU requirements for self levelling and/or washers. The black Xenons are high power (hence the price hike) and then there are the LEDs. Would be interesting to hear from anyone on here who has the standard lights. I have the LEDs on my 718 CS and they are really good.

[nxm]

Twinfan said:

As you're going for the blackout look did you not fancy the Porsche logo in satin black on the rear? It might stand out too much in stock silver.

Power Steering Plus isn't necessary unless you think otherwise.

I'd have -20mm Sports PASM, the free passenger footwell storage net and the carbon sill guards to match the dash and doors.

You have the light design package already, so I'd add alcantara sun visors.

Finally I'd double check that the heated wheel is alcantara as a leather wheel will look odd.

Regarding the LED lights, I wouldn't bother personally and I'd remove them to add the items above instead.

Thanks. It's not quite the blackout look. I did go and see an agate grey in the showroom and loved it and especially in good light it looks very different to a standard block grey. Anyway, I'm not sure you can change the colour of the Porsche logo on the rear but I'm happy with standard colour on that anyway.

I'll be using as a DD and much of that will be in traffic so went for power steering plus, it's not a lot of money and I'm told it can be switched off if I don't like it. So I figured better to have it than not.

I decided against the suspension being lowered further. The GTS already has PASM as standard so drops the suspension by 10mm. I wasn't sure about going beyond this, especially with the number of speed humps etc I have to navigate. I'm not sure what the difference is of the option at £168 to what is standard on the GTS - apart from the suspension being lowered by another 10mm. I need to look into this again.

I decided against the storage net. I know it's free but I'm just not keen on the aesthetic of it.

Alcantara visors and carbon door sills are just nice to have things and even if i dont go for the LED's I'd rather keep the money than spend just under £700 on those. Got to stop somewhere .

Good point re heated wheel and alcantara. I'll check that with the dealer. It's still showing as alcantara on the configurator but definitely worth checking.

LED's still causing me confusion. I also love the daytime running lights with the LED's. The 4 lights, rather than 1, does make the cluster look extra special but it's a lot of money.

[nxm]

PDK is a no brainer for me. The car will be daily driver and that includes driving in and out of London every day and sitting in traffic for parts of the journey.

Makes the Spanish gearbox unviable.

[nxm]

timg4d said:

PDK is great - works very well with the turbo engine and makes a big difference to the performance. Re. the lights - it's worth checking these out before ditching the LEDs. The standard Xenons are low power (25w v 35w), presumably to avoid EU requirements for self levelling and/or washers. The black Xenons are high power (hence the price hike) and then there are the LEDs. Would be interesting to hear from anyone on here who has the standard lights. I have the LEDs on my 718 CS and they are really good.

This is exactly why I questioned my original choice of sticking with the standard bixenons. However, most of my driving is in well lit areas. My current BMW has adaptive headlights and they are rarely used as they only come on once there is no streetlighting. On the occasions I have been on roads with no lighting they are great but over the last 3 years I haven't had enough use of them to warrant £1400.

To add to my thinking, I also love the look of the LED's esp the daytime running lights.

Very confused!!

[Twinfan]

The rear badge can be changed to matt black, it's on the configurator: Exterior -> ‘PORSCHE’ logo in satin black @ £105

For the headlights, I'd at least go for the Xenons with PDLS. If you like the LEDs for an extra £400 then go with them

[Blink982]

My 2p worth: I went for the PDLS with washers on my base 718 and they're perfectly fine and although they're not as bright as the LEDs in my previous Audi, I am more than happy with the light performance and prefer the aesthetic look of the standard lights over the LEDs. I wouldn't bother with power steering plus, the standard steering is fine at low speeds for parking so I'm not even sure what the "plus" gives you. I didn't bother with the light design package and originally missed the additional lighting but now I'm not bothered. I also didn't bother with Bose as the standard audio is perfectly acceptable to me and it's a sports car with an engine 6" from your ears and wide tyres so personally I would save the money. I think the GTS comes with black model designation and alcantara steering wheel as standard. However, I've only got the base model so didn't see the point in spending too much (although I did blow my budget).

Edited by Blink982 on Friday 5th January 12:58

[cay]

Twinfan said:

The rear badge can be changed to matt black, it's on the configurator: Exterior -> ‘PORSCHE’ logo in satin black @ £105

For the headlights, I'd at least go for the Xenons with PDLS. If you like the LEDs for an extra £400 then go with them

You have to love Porsche options pricing.

So, it costs £105 more to make the same badge black rather than silver.

Almost as funny as the black wheels, which used to be extra. Now they are standard and they charge you more to have them in satin.

It's not as if they make them in black then send them back to be repainted, why do we fall for this crap?

[timg4d]

Hear, hear, Cay. But still we fall for it......One quick point on the lights from Blink982's post - just to be clear Xenon with PDLS is not the standard set up on the 718; the lights are xenon but don't include PDLS and have just 2 rather thasn 4 running lights. It's a choice of three - two varieties of xenon or LED.

[diffstar]

My 2p worth....

BOSE is not much of an improvement over SPP. My 718 S has it, but really wouldn't both to spec it again.

I find the multi function / heated GT steering wheel annoying to use and too fussy. As much as its nice to have the odd day with warm hands, I would have a normal GT style wheel that i think is standard on GTS. Also prefer the column stork to control multifunction screen and not steering wheel buttons, too fiddly.

The light design pack looks like it was £1.50 to make and no where near upto Porsche standards, so wouldn't bother with that again either.

Wish I had smokers pack as console looks much cleaner with it.

[nxm]

On a separate note, how many of you have had your new cars protected with gtechniq products?

If so, do you think it was money well spent or is it all a bit of a waste of time and money?

Is there anything special about gtechniq or are there other products out there that will do similar things eg swissvax which my dealer has offered as an add on option rather than me getting a detailer to apply gtechniq.

Thanks!

[diffstar]

nxm said:

On a separate note, how many of you have had your new cars protected with gtechniq products?

If so, do you think it was money well spent or is it all a bit of a waste of time and money?

Is there anything special about gtechniq or are there other products out there that will do similar things eg swissvax which my dealer has offered as an add on option rather than me getting a detailer to apply gtechniq.

Thanks!

How long do you plan to keep the car?

[Blink982]

diffstar said:

I find the multi function / heated GT steering wheel annoying to use and too fussy. As much as its nice to have the odd day with warm hands, I would have a normal GT style wheel that i think is standard on GTS. Also prefer the column stork to control multifunction screen and not steering wheel buttons, too fiddly.

I originally didn't spec the multi-function wheel as during both my test drives, I found it fiddly and it lacked buttons for selecting the next/previous track and found the volume control to be awkward. I ended up spec'ing it after finding I could assign one of the buttons to skip tracks but the implentation of the wheel (and tech in general if I'm honest) is poor compared to Audi. I also prefer the size of the GT wheel but didn't like the fake bolt thing. That's obviously not an issue with the GTS as the GT wheel is standard but I would probably spec the wheel and would probably not bother with the multi-function, even though I am getting used to it.

diffstar said:

Wish I had smokers pack as console looks much cleaner with it.

^
Agree, the console looks a bit daft without it.

[Twinfan]

Never bothered with any kind of protection on my 981 CGTS and it's been fine. I'd rather pocket the cash or spend it on factory options...

[nxm]

diffstar said:

How long do you plan to keep the car?

Hoping to keep the car for many years.

I've always been a bit sceptical of these products. As long as the car is cleaned properly and carefully then I'm not sure it's worth the money to get it protected.

[nxm]

Twinfan said:

Never bothered with any kind of protection on my 981 CGTS and it's been fine. I'd rather pocket the cash or spend it on factory options...

I think that's where i am at the moment.

Plus I would need to give them my brand new GTS for 3 days to apply the gtechniq stuff. I'm not sure I could face getting the car from the dealer, driving away with a grin from ear to ear, and then, 15 minutes later, give it to someone and say see you in 3 days.