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Cayman 718 Daily Driver

Fudgie

New member
Hello Cayman lovers, I've posted a few times already over the last few months in reply to others threads but thought it was time to start my own.

My intention for this tread is to give an occasion review of my experiences of living with a 718 Cayman as a 'one car does all' solution over the next few years. Having previously had at least one 'toy' car (couple of Lotus's & a classic Porsche) tucked up in the garage for weekend blasts, occasional sunny drives to work and of course road trips to Le Mans etc, along with a daily driver / mile muncher doing circa 20k+ per year (most recently a 64 plate Audi S3), a big change in personal circumstances has resulted in review of my car needs. Having counted the number of times in the past year that someone travelled in the back of the S3 on the fingers of one hand (plus the option of blagging my partners Fiesta on those rare occasions a back seat is needed) meant a 2 seater was viable as a daily. Having considered an Audi TTS the lure of a Cayman 718 was too great, a test drive of a manual in Guards Red in mid November was arranged, the test drive confirmed this was the car for me but the need to try a PDK & 20" wheels resulted in a second over night test. Although the PDK box changed my opinion of 'flappy paddles' I still didn't think I was ready to turn my back on old the skool manual box which is a joy to use and for me gives a connection to the car that still can't quite be replicated via a paddle, the 20" wheels without PASM was a definite no for me - way to jiggly for my liking.

After endless hours pouring over the configurator a final spec was decided and order placed with Dick Lovett Bristol, however with very little indication on when I could expect to take delivery along with reading numerous forum threads relating to this topic by mid December my already impatient character was being tested and I started trolling the classifieds for a used alternative. This is when I spotted that Dick Lovett were selling their Guards Red demo, a quick call & a few days of negotiation regarding the trade in value of my S3, resulted in a deal being done and I collected the car on 29th December 16.

The car has all the options I spec'd on the configurator plus a few fripperies I wouldn't of bothered with (Crest on headrests / Carbon illuminated door sill trims etc) but have now become quite fond of. It's mostly comfort / practical options that make daily driving less of a chore, see below (plus my little synopsis of each):

Sports seats Plus (Great for my average build & make you feel like you’re sitting in not on the car)
718 Model designation (Too wordy on the back otherwise)
Bi-Xenon headlights including Porsche Dynamic Light System (Great spread of light in the Cotswold winter gloom)
Park Assist Front and Rear (Essential for quick & easy daily parking)
Rear Wiper (Essential for daily driving IMO plus I like the Porsche Rear Wiper heritage)
Electrically folding exterior mirrors including courtesy lighting (Again essential for quick & easy daily parking)
19-inch Cayman S wheels (Just the right compromise on looks / ride if you don’t tick PASM…plus easy to clean!)
Cruise control (Another essential especially for average speed camera zones)
Automatically dimming mirrors with integrated rain sensor (Could live without, especially rain sensing wipers which never seems to work as you need them too)
Light design package (makes the black interior less gloomy at night)
GT sport steering wheel (simply a must have, so much nicer than the standard diameter wheel which feels like a bus after this…)
Two-zone automatic climate control (why is this not standard… drove a car without it and spent the entire journey having to fiddle as either too hot or too cold, don’t buy one without it…)
Seat heating (Toastie)
ISOFIX child seat (Helpful if you have a baby…)
Vehicle key painted and key pouch in leather (Quite cool but paint already chipping…)
Guards Red seat belts (Just love these because…)
Porsche Crest embossed on headrests (Nice touch but would I bother…?)
Door sill guards in carbon & illuminated (Gimmick but I now love them)
Navigation Module for PCM (Can’t stand having a TomTom stuck on the screen)
BOSE surround sound-system (Ok sound but nothing special – I’ve heard better)
Digital radio (Can’t live without this anymore)
Connect Plus (Great once you’ve fathomed how to use it…enjoying spotify app on the move)

I’m now just over a month & 1,494 miles into ownership so what’s it like…?

So far I love the looks, performance and the handling & feeling which isn’t quite so telepathic as my old Lotus’s, but night & day compared to my recent blunt instrument fast Audi’s. The only other car I’ve owned that gave anywhere near the same feel was a Renaultsport Megan 250 Cup. After initially thinking the clutch was a bit heavy / springy I now find the pedals ideally placed & weighted and in sport mode with the sharper throttle response a (9 times out of 10) perfect heel n toe down shift can be performed without having to be a driving god.

I’ve found the car to be very practical, maximising both luggage areas on one particular shopping trip, also initially I though cabin storage was a bit stingy but I’ve overcome this with some strategic use of the twin door bins & reasonable glove box. I’m not convinced that the interior build quality is quite up to Audi standards but not far off, only time & use will tale how durable some of the plastics & trim prove to be.

In general things are going well apart from a few niggles which have slightly dampened my experience… Firstly I noticed a different tone to the noise when shutting the drivers door to the passenger. On further investigation I found that the driver window was not aligned correctly, the trailing edge of the glass touching the rear quarter glass when the door was shut and then upon opening / closing when the glass drops the two actually over lapped. On the passenger side there is approximately a 4-5mm gap between the two pieces of glass which emphasises how far out the driver door was. Secondly having picked the car up in the dead of winter I’d had little opportunity to scrutinise her in the day light & clean… one bright morning I had an hour or two spare and broke out a bucket of water to clean off the build up of road filth, the best way to get to know a new car. To my disappointment I found the front n/s bumper air intake grill to be mis-aligned and one of the parking sensor to be slightly off centre within its recess, not to worry a quick call to my OPC and they agreed to rectify these faults at the same time as driver door glass, however I’m rather surprised these issues weren’t picked up on the pre delivery checks…?

So last Thursday I dropped the car off at OPC, picked up a nice Cayman S courtesy car and arrange to be back by 6 that evening. At around 3pm I took a call from the service desk who said they would need to keep the car overnight as they needed to order a new damper, my N/S Front had ‘worn prematurely’, this was picked up during their routine health check & would be covered under the warranty. Also, the O/S Rear tyre had a puncture and needing replacing, a quick check on Black Circles resulted in some negotiation and an agreed price of £256 for a 265/40 R19 P-Zero, not too bad but still an unexpected early expenditure.

Leaving the puncture to one side as this could happen at any time, the other faults have left a bit of a question mark in my mind over the car & dealer, I will be keeping a close eye on things over the coming weeks & months and hope I’ve not bought a ‘Friday afternoon’ car…

Look forward to your thoughts & feedback… [;)]
 
Interesting thoughts Fudgie. I hope your local OPC has managed to rectify some of the quality in that should have been built into the car in the first place. Your list of problems on a car so young is alarming, but fingers crossed for some happy motoring from now on.

 
Hi Fudgie

Please don't get disheartened as I am sure everything will get fixed, but I do agree all of these issues should have been picked up at manufacture and the garage in the PDI inspection. I picked my car up in November and it has a niggle that the back hatch doesn't close unless slammed, so avoiding using until they can fixed; this is a minor adjustment I hope. One thing to be aware off is my car is also booked in to have its tailpipe replaced, it rusting, yep your eyes are not playing jokes on you rusting!. I'm going to post a picture on a separate thread of the tailpipe so you can see what I mean.

Having had a number of new cars and 4 Porsche I do find that most new cars have to go back for something or other to get fixed and once there sorted then very little goes wrong after that; so fingers crossed for us both.

Enjoy the car as I am sure you will as they are a great car to own.

Diane

 
Nothing major to report since the repairs have been completed, car driving well and all in all I'm loving it... fingers cross it stays that way!

She'll be having a rest next week as I'm away on holiday and hopefully by the time I'm back Feb will nearly be behind us and spring will be just around the corner so I can open the taps up a bit more!

However, two oddities... why is the indicator tick-tock so quiet (can't hear it over the radio even when turned down) and why are the radio volume increments so small that you need to twiddle the knob excessively to increase / decrease sound...?

 
Fudgie, I agree entirely about the indicator tick-tock being inaudible, and the radio volume increments being far too subtle. This has always been the case with all my Caymans.

It's especially apparent with the 982 CS sports exhaust popping and banging on the overrun. This feature, in contrast to the above, is much too contrived IMO.

The motoring press journos don't seem to pick up on these aspects. Trivial and picky maybe, but all part of the ownership experience for those of us who have parted with our own cash. The 2 or 3 day blasts by the mag hacks across the Yorkshire or Welsh moors concentrate their minds on the more sensational dynamic aspects of the 982 understandably.

Despite the minor niggles I'm still enjoying my car and looking forward to completing the running-in mileage very soon.

Brian

 
Hi Brian, I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds these little details strange... by coincident I've come across another oddity today whilst sat in traffic!

Been searching for the parking sensor 'off' button for weeks now (being a man resorting the manual would be too easy), mainly due to the fact that unlike every other car I've owned they appear to be active all the time, not just when you put the car in reverse. This is a bit annoying when pulling up to the car in front at traffic lights etc and even more so when stationary in traffic and random pedestrians cross in front or worst behind and set them bleeping! Anyway I've now found the button, obviously it's in the overhead control panel with the courtesy light switches... why didn't I think to look there before...? As said blasting across some great roads in the middle of no where is all well and good but it isn't until you live with a car day in day out you notice the good, bad & the ugly...[:)]

Glad your enjoying the car Brian & that its everything you hoped, especially compared to the CR, pictures of it and the scenery look great!

Quite glad mine hasn't got the sports exhaust as I think the standard one is plenty loud enough for every day and I'd then have no chance of hearing the indicators (or parking sensors [;)]).



 
Nothing really to report for the last few weeks, just a very dirty porker that needs a clean, roll on the spring / summer!

Only other notable event was crossing the path of a pristine white 17 plate Cayman (S I think) on the A433 between Tetbury & Cirencester today, anyone on here?

 
My car is booked in next week for Xpel film to be applied to the door sills and rear wheel arch area around the side air intake grills.

Porsche have chosen to delete the clear plastic film which used to be on the flanks of previous Caymans, with the result that this area on the 982 is now in direct firing line of gravel spray from the front wheels. I have already had to touch up stone chips on the air intake grills which I paid £300 extra for to be painted in the body colour.

Brian

 
Not many miles over the last wk or two as I seem to of been either driving the works van or my partners Fiesta mostly for various reason, however another quirk has become apparent... In rainy &/or damp conditions the front & rear light lenses seem to condense up, happens equally on a four lights at the same time so I assume it's not just a seal gone on the unit etc, do any other owners suffer the same problem?

 
Fudgie,

I have not experienced any condensation problems on the light lenses on my car, and it's been driven in torrential rain (dipped headlights) followed by bright sunshine, as is normal in the Highlands with all four seasons in one day being commonplace. The lens condensation problem used to happen on early Boxsters and Caymans but I've never had a problem with this on my 4 Caymans since 2008.

Brian

 
Humm, I had a feeling my early car might be an isolated case. The problem seems to have gone away now that the weather haa improved slightly over the last wk or two. I'll keep an eye on it over the next month or two & speak to my opc...

 
With just a shade under 6k miles on the clock all is going well with the car & I'm really enjoying the special feeling I get from driving it even on the most mundane of journeys.

However, with the recent warm weather by day and cold ish nights the misting up of the light lenses has come back (see attached pics), have any other owners experienced this &/or do members think I should speak to my dealer ref a potential warranty claim?

[attachment=20170325_165116_resized.jpg]

 
Hi

I also noticed the same issue with my car tonight by pure chance. I'll be phoning the garage in the morning to get this resolved. Having had four Porsche's I've not experienced this before. I'll keep you posted of developments. Car is still a great daily drive now I have the Connect Plus working eventually!

Regards. Diane

 
Hi Diane,

I'll be interested in hearing what your dealer has to say about this, I've not got around to speaking to mine yet but will do when I've 5 mins!

Being my first Porsche I've no experience of the cars or dealers, so far I would sum up the experience as mixed... Dealer very helpful apart from the thorny issue of build/delivery lead times. Car great to drive & I love the feel good factor it gives me every day but for £50k the build quality has been far to flaky (today I've noticed the leather surface on the drivers seat bolster is starting to wear - after only 6k...!, my Audi S3 had done 45k with no real wear to the leather...).

 
I've now done over 3000 miles in my 718 CS PDK and absolutely non of the issues you have been highlighting here have arisen with my car. My car was built on the production line at Stuttgart from the 8th November 2016 onwards.

Also noteworthy, I check the engine oil level after every spirited run, and have not required to top up the oil at all so far.

Regarding your complaints, it could possibly be that the very first batch of 718 Caymans had some quality control issues. Best to keep on at the dealerships to sort it out.

Brian



 
the 981's have a similar issue with the condensation in the rear lights but it vanishes a day or so later

 
Hi Fudgie,

Have you had chance to do a long run yet?

I really noticed the difference in in both performance and economy in my 718 Boxster after a long run and the milage got over 6,000 (now on 7,500) - like you I use mine as a daily driver.

 
Not got around to contacting my dealer yet, will try and email them the pic's tonight & report back. The condensation does dry out usually within a day or so weather depending, but I don't really think it's acceptable on any car let alone a Porsche and I've never had this problem on any of my previous 18 cars (including a rare 06 plate Lotus Europa S with bespoke light units...).

I'm only just over the 6k mark but the motor does appear to be bedding in nicely & performance is improving, most of my driving is 25+ mile trips on fast A & B roads and according to the trip computer I'm getting just over 30 mpg, which I think is pretty good for this type of car. Have a long weekend planned to Cornwall later this month so looking forward to stretching her legs on the trip.

Also, just a slight off topic point, I see Jaguar has 'down graded' it's cheapest F-Type to 2.0L 4-Pot motor with circa 296 bhp, would make a good comparison against the 718, look forward to the inevitable press twin-tests ...!

 
Amazingly on a 130 mile trip up the M6 stuck at 70 most of the way except for the interminable 50-limit miles I got 41 to the gallon!

I think that the F-Type looks great, but the performance in all 3 areas (acceleration, handling & braking) even from the six-pot is not a patch on a 718.

 
You got 41mpg on a 718!

My average for more than 3k miles is 27.7mpg with a best of 36mpg when driving south on a trip to average speed camera-land.

Brian

 

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