981s v GTS

[n8ony]

i would suggest you buy the best 981s you can find in your favorite colour and with the spec you are looking for and then spend the £10k on some fantastic road trips that both you and your wife can enjoy. For a low mileage user you won’t remember which options you had or didn’t have, but you will remember the fantastic places you want to and the great holidays you had with it.

 

[Robcuk]

i would suggest you buy the best 981s you can find in your favorite colour and with the spec you are looking for and then spend the £10k on some fantastic road trips that both you and your wife can enjoy. For a low mileage user you won’t remember which options you had or didn’t have, but you will remember the fantastic places you want to and the great holidays you had with it.

Morning,

Thanks for your reply. The options is a bit of a grey area for me as there are so many but i see your point. What options would you suggest? Sports chrono, pasm, heated seats, cruise?

 

[GeeDog]

... spend the £10k on some fantastic road trips that both you and your wife can enjoy. For a low mileage user you won’t remember which options you had or didn’t have, but you will remember the fantastic places you want to and the great holidays you had with it.

Very wise! Money doesn't always make a person happy, but it sure as hell can pay for happy memories!

 

[Robcuk]

Looking on AT as i do daily - can i ask for any thoughts on these two? Thanks


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101208159267?sort=price-asc&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&model=BOXSTER&maximum-mileage=40000&aggregatedTrim=981%20S&year-from=2010&make=PORSCHE&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=mk438re&include-delivery-option=on&radius=1500&page=2

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101158014416?advertising-location=at_cars&sort=price-asc&model=BOXSTER&make=PORSCHE&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&include-delivery-option=on&postcode=mk438re&aggregatedTrim=981%20S&maximum-mileage=40000&year-from=2010&radius=1500&page=1

 

[GeeDog]

i would suggest you buy the best 981s you can find in your favorite colour and with the spec you are looking for and then spend the £10k on some fantastic road trips that both you and your wife can enjoy. For a low mileage user you won’t remember which options you had or didn’t have, but you will remember the fantastic places you want to and the great holidays you had with it.

Morning,

Thanks for your reply. The options is a bit of a grey area for me as there are so many but i see your point. What options would you suggest? Sports chrono, pasm, heated seats, cruise?

Options all very personal but here's my twopenneth

- Sports chrono/chrono + adds sport modes. With PDK especially it makes quite a difference. Personally, a must-have

- PASM 10" lower, two modes. Less of a big deal than I thought it would be on the road. 20" wheels and I'm rarely using sport chassis. Perhaps on track I'll find it neccesary. Someone with more experience will be aloing in a moment, I'm sure.

- Heated seats. Call me a softie, but mine is driven year-round and I've got used to having them in other cars over the last 20yrs. Expensive to retro-fit. I've found my 14 way seats to be very comfortable but buckets are sexier!

- Cruise: I find cruise sytstems very useful (especially in ave speed check areas) but can be retro-fitted for £500 approx. Not a deal breaker if the car you're looking at doesn't have it, therefore.

- PSE. I love mine. Most people seem to agree it's a nice toy and can be retro-fitted for a little under £2k I believe, although other non-switched options available, so you may well take the view, as I did, that it's a nice-to-have but not a deal breaker.

- Sound systems. Mine has BOSE, which is fine, but in a noisy cabin I don't really appreciate it (and it's usually switched off anyway. The noises the car makes are way more entertaining unless it's a motorway schlep). I imagine Burmester to be wasted in a Cayman

- Adaptive headlights are very good. If you watch carefully, you'll see the lights swivelling with the steering at low speeds but otherwise it's just works seemlessly well (unlike BMW adaptive high beam which I found to be quite distracting, kinda 'look at me, I'm throwing your headlights around'). All that having been said, I haven't driven a standard equipment 981 at night and I'm sure they are excellent anyway, so I'd say it's another nice-to-have but not must-have.

- Phone prep. Essential for me, but I guess there are retrofit options. (Rare to find one without) Audio quality at the other end is very good, I'm told.

- Other audio options: Mine has no Jukebox etc and only CDR31 (single CD player - remember them? - and no satnav), but a £30 Bluetooth-to-Aux adapter from Amazon (Mpow) sits hidden away in the glove box, powered by the 12v outlet there, and gives me music and audiobooks through the system. Surprisingly good. It also integrates with phone calls of course because it's all coming from the phone.

- Sat nav. I never use (out of date) inbuilt car systems, preferring to use my phone in a good holder. Waze in town/TomTom on motorways. I found a good magnetic and wireless-changing holder made specifically for the 981 from T-Design 9 in the US. It's brilliant. I rarely have the satnav sound turned on, but it comes through the Porsche speakers via the aux adapter. So, all in all a better PCM might be nice and more integrated. DAB would be nice (It's much better in my old Discovery than FM in the Cayman), but for me none of the audio options were must-haves.

-PCCB Mine had them from the factory but had been replaced by iron rotors etc sometime ago. I'm sure I'd have loved the ceramics but they are another thing to worry about and it means my standard brakes, including calipers, are only a couple of years old.

- Other things to think about. Car had been fully ceramic-coated a few months before I got it. Since it lives outside that was on my list and so it saved me a big chunk of money. Tyres are not ideal however. 4-5mm tread is fine, and all N rated, but Bridgestones front and Pirellis rear make for interesting wet/cold weather handling. I'll be investing the money I saved on paint protection in PS4S's soon.

It's a decent spec car, but it's not a GTS. It must have cost close to base GTS money when new but now it's a £8-10K saving. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Nice choices to be pondering though, right...?

 

[Robcuk]

i would suggest you buy the best 981s you can find in your favorite colour and with the spec you are looking for and then spend the £10k on some fantastic road trips that both you and your wife can enjoy. For a low mileage user you won’t remember which options you had or didn’t have, but you will remember the fantastic places you want to and the great holidays you had with it.

Morning,

Thanks for your reply. The options is a bit of a grey area for me as there are so many but i see your point. What options would you suggest? Sports chrono, pasm, heated seats, cruise?

Options all very personal but here's my twopenneth

- Sports chrono/chrono + adds sport modes. With PDK especially it makes quite a difference. Personally, a must-have

- PASM 10" lower, two modes. Less of a big deal than I thought it would be on the road. 20" wheels and I'm rarely using sport chassis. Perhaps on track I'll find it neccesary. Someone with more experience will be aloing in a moment, I'm sure.

- Heated seats. Call me a softie, but mine is driven year-round and I've got used to having them in other cars over the last 20yrs. Expensive to retro-fit. I've found my 14 way seats to be very comfortable but buckets are sexier!

- Cruise: I find cruise sytstems very useful (especially in ave speed check areas) but can be retro-fitted for £500 approx. Not a deal breaker if the car you're looking at doesn't have it, therefore.

- PSE. I love mine. Most people seem to agree it's a nice toy and can be retro-fitted for a little under £2k I believe, although other non-switched options available, so you may well take the view, as I did, that it's a nice-to-have but not a deal breaker.

- Sound systems. Mine has BOSE, which is fine, but in a noisy cabin I don't really appreciate it (and it's usually switched off anyway. The noises the car makes are way more entertaining unless it's a motorway schlep). I imagine Burmester to be wasted in a Cayman

- Adaptive headlights are very good. If you watch carefully, you'll see the lights swivelling with the steering at low speeds but otherwise it's just works seemlessly well (unlike BMW adaptive high beam which I found to be quite distracting, kinda 'look at me, I'm throwing your headlights around'). All that having been said, I haven't driven a standard equipment 981 at night and I'm sure they are excellent anyway, so I'd say it's another nice-to-have but not must-have.

- Phone prep. Essential for me, but I guess there are retrofit options. (Rare to find one without) Audio quality at the other end is very good, I'm told.

- Other audio options: Mine has no Jukebox etc and only CDR31 (single CD player - remember them? - and no satnav), but a £30 Bluetooth-to-Aux adapter from Amazon (Mpow) sits hidden away in the glove box, powered by the 12v outlet there, and gives me music and audiobooks through the system. Surprisingly good. It also integrates with phone calls of course because it's all coming from the phone.

- Sat nav. I never use (out of date) inbuilt car systems, preferring to use my phone in a good holder. Waze in town/TomTom on motorways. I found a good magnetic and wireless-changing holder made specifically for the 981 from T-Design 9 in the US. It's brilliant. I rarely have the satnav sound turned on, but it comes through the Porsche speakers via the aux adapter. So, all in all a better PCM might be nice and more integrated. DAB would be nice (It's much better in my old Discovery than FM in the Cayman), but for me none of the audio options were must-haves.

-PCCB Mine had them from the factory but had been replaced by iron rotors etc sometime ago. I'm sure I'd have loved the ceramics but they are another thing to worry about and it means my standard brakes, including calipers, are only a couple of years old.

- Other things to think about. Car had been fully ceramic-coated a few months before I got it. Since it lives outside that was on my list and so it saved me a big chunk of money. Tyres are not ideal however. 4-5mm tread is fine, and all N rated, but Bridgestones front and Pirellis rear make for interesting wet/cold weather handling. I'll be investing the money I saved on paint protection in PS4S's soon.

It's a decent spec car, but it's not a GTS. It must have cost close to base GTS money when new but now it's a £8-10K saving. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Nice choices to be pondering though, right...?

Geedog many thanks for a great summary of your recommendations and much appreciated. Which particular phone holder did you go for? Was it the monaco? i purchased a magnetic phone holder from amazon recently but my one plus phone is too heavy so it just doesn’t do the job.

Yes really looking forward to getting one I just want to make an informed decision and obviously dedicated forums are great place to learn about the finer details and maybe even find the car.

 

[Windy_Miller]

Asking people which one you buy is like asking folks should you put marmite or marmalade on your toast - it doesn’t matter what other people prefer, it’s what you Like that matters.


as you’ve highlighted yourself, you can’t test drive during lockdown, and not can you really get out and enjoy whichever car you do buy (+ the weather is gonna get worse before it gets better for spring again). So why not just keep saving and then youll have more funds with which to expand your search options. ??

if your concern is residual values then the GTS will likely be worth more in 2/3/5/10 years than an S (all other considerations being equal - ie age / mileage). But you’ll pay for it in purchase price up front.


you could just look for a well specc’d S with eg PASM or x73 sports suspension, PSE, sports design seats, sports chrono etc. for less money than the GTS.


I suspect you would never notice the 15bhp (or whatever it is) difference between S / GTS power, and I think I’m correct in saying the torque is the same (but happy to be corrected by those more knowledgeable). And in the real world (whether on track or road) the true performance differentiator between the 2 would be more down to tyre choice, geometry settings and ultimately the driver.


All that said though, I have an 11yr old 987.2 CS and keep lusting after ~£50k CGTS for their ‘cache’. But then I drive my ‘gal’, realise how connected I feel with her slightly more analogue nature with hydraulic steering and then think I’d rather spend the ~£25k delta on track days, highland / alps road trips (when the world reopens), and TLC of my ‘baby’ ????????


Keep saving and then test drive various models when you can before making any decision. ????


id also proffer the bigger choice to make is PDK vs manual, as a PDK S would likely be quicker than a manual GTS in the hands of the same ‘normal’ driver (unless you’re some kind of track-rat / race pro).


And just for the record, I like BOTH marmite and marmalade, but NEVER on the same slice of toast... ??

 

[Robcuk]

Asking people which one you buy is like asking folks should you put marmite or marmalade on your toast - it doesn’t matter what other people prefer, it’s what you Like that matters.


as you’ve highlighted yourself, you can’t test drive during lockdown, and not can you really get out and enjoy whichever car you do buy (+ the weather is gonna get worse before it gets better for spring again). So why not just keep saving and then youll have more funds with which to expand your search options. ??

if your concern is residual values then the GTS will likely be worth more in 2/3/5/10 years than an S (all other considerations being equal - ie age / mileage). But you’ll pay for it in purchase price up front.


you could just look for a well specc’d S with eg PASM or x73 sports suspension, PSE, sports design seats, sports chrono etc. for less money than the GTS.


I suspect you would never notice the 15bhp (or whatever it is) difference between S / GTS power, and I think I’m correct in saying the torque is the same (but happy to be corrected by those more knowledgeable). And in the real world (whether on track or road) the true performance differentiator between the 2 would be more down to tyre choice, geometry settings and ultimately the driver.


All that said though, I have an 11yr old 987.2 CS and keep lusting after ~£50k CGTS for their ‘cache’. But then I drive my ‘gal’, realise how connected I feel with her slightly more analogue nature with hydraulic steering and then think I’d rather spend the ~£25k delta on track days, highland / alps road trips (when the world reopens), and TLC of my ‘baby’ ????????


Keep saving and then test drive various models when you can before making any decision. ????


id also proffer the bigger choice to make is PDK vs manual, as a PDK S would likely be quicker than a manual GTS in the hands of the same ‘normal’ driver (unless you’re some kind of track-rat / race pro).


And just for the record, I like BOTH marmite and marmalade, but NEVER on the same slice of toast... ??

Yes that all makes sense Windy. Having never owned a Porsche the options list is a bit of minefield so hearing from owners what they recommend/like/enjoy can only assist me.

As you say test driving once the lockdown eases is probably the way forward.

 

[GeeDog]

Phone holder/charger: Yep, the Monaco holder. Plain, without the racetrack deisgn. Mine's an iPhone SE so not the big format, but it is in an Otterbox skin/case which is pretty chunky. The steel sheet (they supply two) is on the case, rather than the phone. I've only done about 400miles with it, but over some fairly bumpy roads and it never budges. The way it fits the car is perfect. It just works. I've noticed it doesn't charge as quickly as a wired connection, but I imagine that's the nature of wireless charging. Not cheap (and I paid £33 customs charge/tax too), but really good.

 

[Kaiser981]

The difference between a GTS and a 981S, for me locally, when looking to buy my 981 in 2020 was £17K. For one thing that put the GTS out of my price range and secondly, I would have found it hard to justify the difference in cost even if it was a realistic option for me at the time. There is no doubt they are a beautiful car and i would still own one but a well specced 981S will keep you very happy. Most of what I would have said has already been said above, if its PDK then the sport Chrono is just great, I haven't driven a manual boxster with Sport Chrono, only a 997, so I cannot comment on the difference it would make to the manual, but when you change the modes for the PDK car, especially with the PSE it makes a huge difference. Plus then you can knock it all back to normal driving mode for the less interesting parts of road on your journey.

 

[AlistairF]

Hi,

I followed the route to get a 981S with as few options as possible but definitely an S rather than the base car. the S is quite fast enough thanks...I agree with most comments made already. The thing about a Porsche is the driving not the gizmos's.

PDK is very good. PDLS is good if you are likely to do much at night. I don't so it's bit wasted really.

A lot of the 'bits' are hugely expensive to replace if you damage them or they need replacing out of warranty, so I was nt too worried about options the car had. (no electric mirrors, active mounts, electric seats, PASM, PSE etc). Full leather is special.

Ride is good on the 19" wheels, and the car drives brilliantly at most sensible UK speeds, with a good degree of absorbency on B roads. I am wary of overly stiff suspension/ big wheels and I am not sure I really helps on the road (unless you are doing track days) 20" look good though. I don't feel I'm missing out without PSE. The standard exhaust is not quiet when you give it some beans.

My car has the BOSE upgrade but really it's wasted unless you intend to spend time in traffic. It goes very loud though and having tried Planet Rock for a while at an 80mph cruise (indicated) I got a thumping headache. I think other stations would have the same result.

Good luck.

Alistair

 

[Robcuk]

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

 

[Gazoak]

I believe the 981s is all the performance car you'll ever need!

 

[GeeDog]

Ah well now, you're absolutely right. But there's 'need' and then there's 'want'. Some folk would say no one needs a Porsche...

 

[Kaiser981]

Ah well now, you're absolutely right. But there's 'need' and then there's 'want'. Some folk would say no one needs a Porsche...

You would be wise to ignore those sort of people at all cost, next thing they will be telling you is that you only need 1 Porsche.

 

[GeeDog]

You would be wise to ignore those sort of people at all cost, next thing they will be telling you is that you only need 1 Porsche.

Bless 'em.

 

[Adrian Thompson]

I don't think you will be disappointed with either a 981S or a 981GTS Boxster. I tried both after owning a really nice Cayman 987S pdk, but fancied some open air and a manual gearbox if available. I ended up with a 981GTS with a manual box which just happened to have PCC brakes. They weren't on my shopping list, but I do believe they contribute to the outstanding compliance that the suspension is blessed with. I would recommend always searching out the best option for you, and waiting until you have found it. It will save you going through the same process in a year or twos time.

 

[jrg]

Lol, unsurprisingly there are loads of differing opinion and ultimately it comes down to your personal feelings and the budget.
I have 981 GTS now and previously owned a 718 S - I loved both cars (both manual - for me that is the only choice) and they are both amazing cars. They drive a little differently, the kick from the turbo in the 718s offering a little more excitement in the acceleration but I find the engine in 981 more flexible and easier to live with but I can't imagine you'd be dissapointed with either - there are slightly quicker cars for the money, that isn't what you are buying these cars for, but in my opinion they have more than enough power for British roads.
What sold the GTS for me was the sharper look and the amazing engine with its incredible sound - stupid grin on my face whenever I drive!
If I were you I'd wait until you can test drive the cars you're interested in and see which one pulls hardest at your heart strings

 

[Robcuk]

Lol, unsurprisingly there are loads of differing opinion and ultimately it comes down to your personal feelings and the budget.
I have 981 GTS now and previously owned a 718 S - I loved both cars (both manual - for me that is the only choice) and they are both amazing cars. They drive a little differently, the kick from the turbo in the 718s offering a little more excitement in the acceleration but I find the engine in 981 more flexible and easier to live with but I can't imagine you'd be dissapointed with either - there are slightly quicker cars for the money, that isn't what you are buying these cars for, but in my opinion they have more than enough power for British roads.
What sold the GTS for me was the sharper look and the amazing engine with its incredible sound - stupid grin on my face whenever I drive!
If I were you I'd wait until you can test drive the cars you're interested in and see which one pulls hardest at your heart strings

Yep makes total sense - hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

Cheers guys

 

[agnick]

I was wondering the same in December, just before the lockdown. Looked at all the reviews, took forum comments onboard and ended up looking for a 981S over a GTS. My reasons were:

• No way I would feel the minimal power hike in GTS over an S
• Not that interested in adjustable suspension if the passive version is set up well (which it is, superbly, even with 20" alloys!)
• Can't really stand Alcantara. Reminds me of velour coverings on 1980's Vauxhall Cavaliers for some weird reason. Sorry. A nice all-leather interior is a good thing in a Porsche. (And I know customers could spec all leather in GTS', but I didn't see many of those.)
• I couldn't justify the extra £10k for the bits I didn't want. I'm sure it will remain a more expensive car, but I feel that the gap will narrow as it's all relative when they continue to drop in price.

I was lucky to find a low mileage Boxster S 981 with PDK. I wanted a manual originally, the but the other spec items won me over; Sport Chrono (yet to try it in the dry or above 3ºC to see what true difference it makes), two-tone leather, Bose (OK, but not great). Xenons, etc. It's also the first car where I look to use the heated seats. Don't know why!

Love the ride quality and steering feel. Heretic, I know.

Saving a small portion of the money I would have had to spend extra on a GTS on a new set of Michelin PS4S' (really don't trust the P Zeros in the cold and wet even though there's good tread left on them) and Apple CarPlay upgrade by www.nmautomotive.co.uk. That'll give me a nice project to do when the weather's warmer!

Good luck in your search... and more importantly, convincing SWMBO! []