I test drove the new 718S today......

[Menoporsche]

Keyless entry (which as BN56 said has been around for some years now) is indeed bonkers. A lovely option - I'd have it on any family car now - but stupidly executed by Porsche IMHO.  Surely there's a more sensible Audi/VW system they could copy?

New car looks clearly shorter than the old one?? An illusion I assume?

[thanatoid]

Same dimensions as my 987.1, sort of refreshing a car that's moved to different models and not bloated, mind you a 3.4 981 also squeezed into my single garage, kinda good reason not to put weight on - would never get down the side of the car and through a slightly open door :-) 

[Paul N]

Funnily enough I didn't buy a 997 to replace my 987.1 2.7  because it would not fit in my single garage! Convinced myself after test drives that a 987.2 Boxster S black edition was as good if not better than the 997 and crucially fitted into my garage.  Not sure we can say that about the 718 relative to the 911 now.......

[Seagull Fan]

On 6 May 2016 at 9:34 PM, boxsternoob56 said:

Someone with impeccable taste ?

+1

 

[Kirkm]

Photo of the red test car we tried..

one day I will remember to put the forum's img tags around the url!

[Stuart21UK]

21 hours ago, Jofoley said:

That red interior is effing awful. ?

dont hold back there...have you seen one in the flesh?

[Jofoley]

Yes, didn't like it. 

[Stuart21UK]

oh...fairy muff

[jhemus]

6 hours ago, boxsternoob56 said:

dont hold back there...have you seen one in the flesh?

I love it, though not the red steering wheel with black centre 

[Stuart21UK]

On 5/8/2016 at 9:49 PM, jhemus said:

I love it, though not the red steering wheel with black centre 

yeah the black centre is just cr*p...the rest is pure class, only heathens and the blind could disagree  

[harrypic]

I think it's a great looking car and Porsche know their market very well, they don't make duff cars.

You buy a sports car for the performance and handling, how that's delivered in terms of technology is irrelevant. If if goes and points well your happy and will buy it. 4 pot or 6 pot is an irrelevance, it's the dynamic abilities of the car that's important.

Everyone always complained Porsche always held back on the Boxsters performance to not dent sales on the 911, we'll now you have a Boxster with 911 performance, no holds bared. Porsche finally realised Boxster and 911 buyers are different and don't compete. If you don't like the sound spec PSE!

But, still some aren't happy, they want a 6 pot? Then stump up the cash and go buy a 911 and not whinge you've got 2 cylinders less. Porsche have finally recognised the Boxster is a great car in its own right and not a cut price 911, so should you.....

Of course though, I could be cynical and say it's down to emission averages  

[mickemo]

Looking a Simo's comparison pics I much prefer the looks of the 981....Porsche got that car's looks so right. To me the 718 looks like its trying too hard

I will hold judgement about the 4 pot turbo until after Ive driven one but to pick up on a point made above 'want a 6 pot then stump up the cash and buy 911' - the issue (for me & poss others) is that until now the Boxster has been a 6 pot and theres been no need to buy a 911 (with its engine in the wrong place ) 

 

[thanatoid]

Damm, didn't check so got a Macon S for 2 days, 3ltr V6 petrol with twin turbo, it was a nice blue :-(   It was HUGE!

I had to ask - 'what's a Macon?'

 

Drove it like a 3ltr twin turbo diesel 5 series, around 150 miles, good points, nice blue, like the engine - 340bhp and sounds nice, teenage daughter likes it and announces she'd like a 4x4 at some point driving as she like the high view point, I pointed out this one I couldn't find an exact match listed - 65 plate with 6k miles, but it was looking like between £55k and £65k, so she said 'not a first car dad!' :-)

 

It's without doubt a nice bit of kit, I could only reckon if I got another dog then perhaps, but it'd need a ladder to get in the back, in reality though I'd prob get a 535d touring, cos this one returned 18mpg over the 150 miles, like I said drove it like the bmw but that returns 28 to 33 day in, day out.

 

Pending which review you read it's 0-60 is 4.2 or 4.4 secs, so tops the 535d at 5.8 by some way, it wouldn't fit in the garage though :-) And 18mpg isn't OK for little gain over the 5.

On the plus side, I had the tracking done on the 987.1, it was out on 9 out of 14 elements they check, so justified my belief it needed doing, been pouring down today so not much chance to see any difference - 4 miles across town driving in the wet I was just glad to have her back :-) 

 

Apparently they haven't got the courtesy 718 Boxsters in yet, though looks like the old 981's have gone, if all the Porsche dealers are doing the same there could be a flood of 981's on the market....

Last thing, £60 odd grand car, had halogen lights, are you sure? Yes, distinctly yellow, unless they've perfected yellow xenons.....

 

[thanatoid]

Oh - plenty of 718's in the showroom, half seemed to have the Airfix plastic side air intakes, half were painted...

Very nice red 718 S, I reckon the spec I'd want would come in about £65k.....

[Jon61]

13 hours ago, mickemo said:

I will hold judgement about the 4 pot turbo until after Ive driven one but to pick up on a point made above 'want a 6 pot then stump up the cash and buy 911' - the issue (for me & poss others) is that until now the Boxster has been a 6 pot and theres been no need to buy a 911 (with its engine in the wrong place ) 

I quite agree with this, the 911 is a quite different car, bigger rear-mounted engine, bigger price, designed as coupe not a soft-top, different layout of space, and the convertible (IMHO) is not as elegant as the Boxster (I've always thought it looks as if it has a bit of a 'hump'). The dynamic abilities of the car are important, but so (to some people) are other factors, including the sound.

23 minutes ago, thanatoid said:

I had to ask - 'what's a Macon?'

I think you mean Macan, Thanatoid - a Macon is a type of white burgundy, so 3 litres of it would probably have made you unfit to drive 

[thanatoid]

See, didn't even get the spelling right :-)

 

I'm sure they'll fit someones ideal car...

[art j64]

Had a test drive yesterday,lasted about half an hour the weather was cr*p and we got stuck behind a lorry  so not a lot of time to make any useful conclusions. It was a well spect boxter s finished in lava orange with black interior I liked it inside comfy seats with lots of adjustment, roarty sounding engine ,but the one thing that did stand out  for me was the performance it's a bloody fast car!  I thought it was nice looking too just wish I could have  had a bit longer with it...definitely a nice motor

[Tim Moses]

This must the the most complete collection of first impressions on the 718 so far!

I'm jealous. We don't get them in showrooms until next month. I'm really anxious to try it out. 

I think I could get used to the sound, but if the engine is lumpy and unrefined, that would be the biggest disappointment. The thing that first blew me away about Boxsters was how smooth and refined everything about them felt. It would be a shame to lose some of that in the transition  

 

 

[thanatoid]

22 hours ago, thanatoid said:

Pending which review you read it's 0-60 is 4.2 or 4.4 secs, so tops the 535d at 5.8 by some way,

Quoting myself, is that like talking to yourself or going into a room and forgetting why? (or talking to the cat?)

 

MacAn V6 twin turbo petrol 0-60 is 5.2/5.4 so not that far away from the 535d, so even less excuse for 18mpg....

[Jonnyspin]

... Especially when the 30+mpg sq5 is a 5.1 0-60 car :-)

[thanatoid]

oooh, another I had to look up, it's one of them there, what d'ya call em... audis :-)

Do like V6's...

[Stuart21UK]

Ok so I took a 718 S with PDK out for an hour today..please excuse the poor quality iPhone pics (made worse by the cr*p weather)

.

mpg achieved

reckon I could have got the same out my 981 S driving in a similar manner (so that blows fuel efficiency out of the water slightly)

Conclusion? Which to take home...my 981S 6MT or the 718S PDK...

TBH that was easy...mine has manual transmission and whilst I think PDK is an accomplished system, it still doesn't do it for me...I'd rather have full control (lets not start a PDK debate again though).

Aside from that, even if I had borrowed a manual I would not want to swap the 981 for the 718...comments above mention it is fast..in the driving I did today (admittedly in the wet) it wasn't noticeable. I am sure in a straight line it would be a bit (0.6 seconds to 60 I think?) but real world I didn't notice any difference and assume that those who have commented above were comparing a 986/987 in non-S guise to an S (and older cars were slower anyway...my 2.7 987 (comparable to older S's) was 6.1 secs to 60 whereas the new 718 base is is 5.1 and S is 4.6 in  6MT form).

In summary my 981 S at 5.1 secs compared to a new PDK 718S at 4.6 ish just wasn't that noticeable in normal driving. 

The torque seemed comparable too (I'm sure the specs would show the 718 IS more torquey but in the real world I didn't notice it, or at least I dont need it..ffs the manual 981S will do anything from 20 to 115mph 'ish in 3rd gear!)

As far as comfort and equipment it is a familiar place to be if you own a 981, some subtle changes to air vents, steering wheel, the Sport Plus/sport/boost button on the wheel too (apparently you only get it if you spec Sport Chrono, otherwise you just get a Sport button on the central tunnel like the 981).

The PCM system is newer and much more sensitive to an approaching hand, more standard spec is included too...it now has the option of Airplay and online stuff too, but then the price is marginally more so you are not getting anything 'free'. My car cost £56299 after discounts and incentives and a comparable 718 S 6MT would be around £62k before any discount you may be able to achieve (two and a half years later).

I dont think the 718 offers much more for the money compared to the 981 and certainly not for me to pay close to £30k to change 'up' (and I wouldn't see it as a change up TBH, its not better it's just different)

Lastly the engine has to be mentioned....I got the wife to try to video it, unfortunately it didn't quite capture the sound true to life (and I can't post some of the clips for self incrimination reasons). One is below...

The engine note is not terrible (actually saying that it reminded me of the way a Diesel engine sounds, i.e. a bit clattery) but does not sound as good as a flat 6, it sounds like a cheap motor has been put into a premium car..(sorry to prospective 718 buyers) I mean it actually sounds like a cheap engine...it lacks that performance sound, that feeling of quality engineering that the flat 6 gives you. The car I borrowed didn't have PSE as I think they have only just made it available and the demos have it missing, maybe that will make it better...the car as standard did 'pop and spit' a little bit once warm.

Anyway after getting a px value of £32500 from them on mine, (so the car has cost me about £30000 in deprecation, deposit, pcp payments (since paid off) over the last 30 months then !..and that's not including one minor service, tyres, insurance etc) I declined the offer of a 718 order slot.

I am completely happy, irrespective of the financial aspects, to keep my car for the foreseeable and can be completely honest when I say the 981S does everything i need it too, there is nothing in the current product range I can see myself trading it in against..the only possible future being a 911 (to scratch that itch) but at a £50000+ cost to change I can't, and wouldn't want to afford that ether...the 981 is simply far to good.

Not getting a sale on a 718 they then tried to persuade us into a newer Cayenne instead...you have to love 'em

[Ringer250]

Nice write up Stuart. Might be getting a 718 loaner on Friday whilst mine has its 2 year service.

[ians]

On 5 May 2016 at 0:12 PM, Bike Loon said:

Ahh the good old Theft Act 1968... remember having to learn that verbatim lol

 

 

[ians]

 Hi Boxsternoob 56. Was at Brands Hatch on Sunday to watch the Blancpain sportscars event. I was able to have another chance to try out the 2ltr and 2.5ltr Boxsters. The sun was out and very warm. I was able to take advantage of both cars considerable abilities. You were as you mentioned experiencing cr*p weather. Maybe didn't give yourself or the car much of a chance? Looking forward  to delivery in July [ ordered back at the start of March ]. I drove the cars on the roads and not on the Brands Hatch track by the way.