New Porsche 718 Purchase Advise

[chappoaj]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, am Sydney based and looking to purchase my first Porsche.

I initially had a 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 on order at the beginning of last year. I eventually had to cancel the order as I was made redundant due to covid in May last year. Fortunately the Sales Manager at PCSS had pity on me and refunded my deposit in full. The car I ordered arrived in October last year. I know because out of the blue, the salesman I was dealing with at PCSS, sent me a photo of the car on the showroom floor to try to entice me into buying it. Alas I resisted, but what made matters worse was that shortly after this I was out walking the dog in my area, Elizabeth Bay Sydney, and there was my car parked on the street. I could tell it was the one I ordered because of the configuration etc. I've walked past it numerous times since. Can you believe the guy that purchased it is parking it permanently on the street.

Anyway, I've since found another job and am on the hunt for another Porsche, but given current circumstances don't necessarily want to fork out 200K on a Cayman GTS. I started looking at 981 Cayman S's and test drove one recently. It had PASM but no Sports Exhaust. I must say, I came away a bit underwhelmed despite all the hype I've read about the sound of the normally aspirated 6. I know, what's wrong with me ? I loved the PASM and handling of the car but was surprised about the lack of torque lower in the rev range. The shove in the back all came in the last 2000 rpm of the upper rev range. Considering I drive a MK7 Golf R I suppose I've become accustomed to effortless torque from about 1500 rpm. The other issue was the noise. To me it didn't sound that good. Maybe the PSE makes all the difference but the salesman's opinion, obviously, was that you don't need sports exhaust, "It's the button you only use once and never again". I've also watched Nick Murray videos on youtube in which he says the sound of the 6 is so good you don't need sports exhaust. Like I said I was underwhelmed.

Despite this, I've continued to search for 981 Cayman S's and found a well optioned example interstate. This one has the PSE. However, on considering the price of the vehicle, cost of a PPI, rego transfer and cost of trucking, I'm only 15K short of the cost of a well optioned 718 2.0. A car that would be new, optioned to my specifications, come with warranty, give me the torque delivery I'm use to for mainly city driving and with a stage 1 tune, will give me 0-100 KMH in mid to high 3 s.

So I'm still undecided as to which way I'll go but am looking for some advice as to whether Porsche are giving discounts on 718 4 cylinder models and if so, how much ? Does anybody have experience with a recent purchase ?

Cheers   

[Sov]

If you were underwhelmed by the auditory experience of the flat six without an exhaust, you're going to be seriously disappointed with the Subaru sound IMO.

I drove one and just couldn't buy one. The sound was woeful. JMO though.

[TwoHeadsTas]

We drove one when we were looking at options for when the Novated Lease finishes on our 981.  Hugely disappointed in the driving dynamics of the turbo engine - obviously programmed to get into as high a gear as possible in the shortest time for pollution and economy reasons.  You would have to leave it in Sport mode permanently to get any sort of comparable immediate torque or response to the 981.  Probably superior at the top end but we weren't interested in testing this - the 981 is my wife's everyday and weekend touring car, if I want to wring the neck out of a car I have the GT3 for that....

So, we're just going to pay the lease residual and keep the car when the Novated Lease ends at the end of September

[chappoaj]

3 hours ago, the_sovereign_man said:

If you were underwhelmed by the auditory experience of the flat six without an exhaust, you're going to be seriously disappointed with the Subaru sound IMO.

I drove one and just couldn't buy one. The sound was woeful. JMO though.

I actually test drove a 718 2.0 Boxter before ordering the GTS 4.0 because that's all PCSS had to test drive at the time. To be honest I didn't mind the sound.

1 hour ago, TwoHeadsTas said:

We drove one when we were looking at options for when the Novated Lease finishes on our 981.  Hugely disappointed in the driving dynamics of the turbo engine - obviously programmed to get into as high a gear as possible in the shortest time for pollution and economy reasons.  You would have to leave it in Sport mode permanently to get any sort of comparable immediate torque or response to the 981.  Probably superior at the top end but we weren't interested in testing this - the 981 is my wife's everyday and weekend touring car, if I want to wring the neck out of a car I have the GT3 for that....

So, we're just going to pay the lease residual and keep the car when the Novated Lease ends at the end of September

I'd be opting for a manual if I ordered one so would make the drive more engaging I think.