Got a 718s as a loaner - impressive car.

[Scubaregs]

What's not to like?

[Greenman]

On 3/30/2019 at 11:19 PM, Stuart21UK said:

and more mpg apparently too....life's dream's fulfilled right there....well done

Humm...  my 718 test drive I achieved 16mpg!! I’ve never seen that in my 981 .   I could get used to the noise in the 718 and it doesn’t bother me too much when I drive it...but when I get back in the 981 it just puts an instant smile on my face, the combination of engine roar and power delivery is just a more thrilling experiance for me.  718 is still a great car though.

[Happy Days]

Mine is a daily driver - I quickly forgot about the F6 sound from my last car. I prefer the drive from the low-down torque as opposed to having to be over 5.000 rpm all the time just to experience the F6 wail. The 718S is a really nice place to live in day-to day driving.

On removing the fuse for the soundaktor, it took me all of 15 seconds to do and certainly removed the drone (that you may not even notice) and I have promised myself to replace it again to see if I notice any difference, but it is currently raining!

[toplad]

I haven't driven the 718, but I'd bet its the best of all the Boxster versions overall.

Porsche know how to make a proper driver's car and aren't in the habit of taking a backwards step

[Willemite]

On 3/29/2019 at 9:34 AM, Menoporsche said:

This is interesting, as when the 981/718 came out, there were lots of comments - usually nostalgic, if not actually negative - about the new electric steering, talking about how the driver was again slightly more detatched from the road "feel".

I’ve got a 718S as a loan car at the moment. 

The first thing I noticed when picking it up was how much the steering has been improved over the 981; for me the 981 steering is so lifeless and devoid of feel as to preclude getting one to replace my 987.2.  

The 718 is SO much better, ultimately it’s still not a sublime as the 987997 but it would no longer be a dealer breaker. 

The handling of the 718 is fantastic, the roadholding is immense, generally the chassis is a big step up from the 981. The brakes are fabulous too.

But the engine.  I don’t think I’d ever get used to the noise, it’s the only Porsche where I keep the PSE turned off.  I rather have the option of an even quieter exhaust. Fair enough, there are plenty of people who have got used to it or even like the sound, that’s great for them. The noise is ok when just trundling around, it when pushing on that it upsets me.

The torque is huge even from low revs. It makes it very easy to drive, much easier to go quickly than with the NA engine.  However for me I prefer a sports car to have an engine where the power builds through the rev range rather than arriving all at once and then comparatively feeling slower as the increase in power with further revs is less dramatic. I haven’t had the chance to drive it in really low grip situations but I fear that it will have the same problem as a big diesel, too much power at low revs means you risk breaking traction too easily.

Summary. Fabulous as a daily driver and for easy cruising. I expect it would be awesome on track. 

But the sat nav is still not much better than useless. Still had to use TomTom on iPhone on a window holder for best routing and traffic. 

[Paul P]

I found the power delivery to suit the kind of situations I found myself in. Sudden opportunities to overtake where in my car I would have had to have been more ready. 

That said mines a 2.9 without sport mode so there’s a lot if difference between the two and they are in many ways very different cars. 

I found the nav a step up from mine and the traffic seemed useful (limited testing I deliberately avoided traffic if I could ) 

it gave warnings of stationary traffic ahead and upcoming roadworks which were useful additions to “turn left”. 

Not compared to a similar 981. That’s the next thing to drive to see where my next target is.  

[iborguk]

The 718.

It's all torque. 

Nimble on the steering

Blubble Blubble to listen to, but I'd get over that.

Drove one for all of 15 mins but felt a natural fit after about 2.

Then I gunned my tractor and loved that too.....if I had the monies I'd do the 718. In a rude colour combo.

 

[CMA]

Just had the standard 718 as a loaner while mine was in for the MOT, it even had PSE. Such a great car, 90% of things better than my 981S but I found the steering light and vague compared to mine, also the paddles on the PDK were not in  natural position for me. 

And the engine. Guys at work thought it sounded like a broken Subaru, not for me at all. I'd take all the car but the engine would be a deal breaker for me. As a daily, I could cope with it but as a weekend/blat car, not a chance. he PSE was underwhelming. Not had chance for the 718S yet though

[Paul P]

I liked the paddles but mine has “buttons” so I have nothing to compare those against.  

One thing that messed with my head for a bit was the manual mode on the box. 

On mine. Change DOWN towards you (same as the buttons). This always felt wrong to me l, my motorcycle brain said towards me should me change up. After 7K miles I got used to it.   

Then they changed it around on the 718. Towards you is change UP. 

Argh.  Good job the pdk and the ecu deal with you trying to change DOWN when you meant to change UP. 

But again. I got over it. 

[rhinoman]

Had a 718s with 2k miles on it as a loaner while my 2010 997gen2 c4s was being serviced so slightly less power than mine, had pasm and pdk the same. I dont care for the noise, I'm half deaf anyway.

The ride on 20's was superb. Far more grip than my car thats a 4wd obviously and wears much wider rears at 305mm than the Boxster 265's. I have the DSC ECU for my suspension which is a vast improvement over stock but the Boxster standard is now better. The 781s was so nimble but also sure footed, I thought the steering was fantastic and accurate, it was quiet on the motorway at speed compared to mine and had a useful lift in toys inside the car too. I think with 35 BHP less I'd beet me driving mine round the track as well. 

Seriously tempted, could pick up a very low mileage '17 781s for what mines worth roughly with 50k less miles.

[Stuart21UK]

4 hours ago, rhinoman said:

Had a 718s with 2k miles on it as a loaner while my 2010 997gen2 c4s was being serviced so slightly less power than mine, had pasm and pdk the same. I dont care for the noise, I'm half deaf anyway.

The ride on 20's was superb. Far more grip than my car thats a 4wd obviously and wears much wider rears at 305mm than the Boxster 265's. I have the DSC ECU for my suspension which is a vast improvement over stock but the Boxster standard is now better. The 781s was so nimble but also sure footed, I thought the steering was fantastic and accurate, it was quiet on the motorway at speed compared to mine and had a useful lift in toys inside the car too. I think with 35 BHP less I'd beet me driving mine round the track as well. 

Seriously tempted, could pick up a very low mileage '17 781s for what mines worth roughly with 50k less miles.

chuck on a picture of the C4s...and/or the C2 Cab

[rhinoman]

Almost depreciation free motoring.

[dannyboyz4]

Agreed.

Has a 718 S for a few days and it was deeply impressive.  But, the engine sound was the let down.  It really really was. 

Had some poke though!

[LukeG]

I've got the 718 Cayman GTS as a loaner at the moment. In terms of power its pretty awesome, coupled with seriously good handling results in a very quick balanced car. The only thing that is letting it down is the noise, even with PSE.

 

[AlexW]

Similar story, I’ve got a Cayman S as a stand in at the moment.

I have to say I love it, everything about it. The look, the sound, the power everything. It’s an amazing car.

[Pezky]

Test drove and bought  a '66 plate 718 last week from OPC Silverstone - collect on Thursday, so excited I could burst.

I chose a lovely day for a test drive as it chucked it down, the car was so planted to the road even on P-Zeros.

Yes the flat-6 in my 987S sounds better when giving it the beans but for normal driving it sounds like a sewing machine.

 

 

[Pezky]

On 4/9/2019 at 9:56 PM, Paul P said:

I liked the paddles but mine has “buttons” so I have nothing to compare those against.  

One thing that messed with my head for a bit was the manual mode on the box. 

On mine. Change DOWN towards you (same as the buttons). This always felt wrong to me l, my motorcycle brain said towards me should me change up. After 7K miles I got used to it.   

Then they changed it around on the 718. Towards you is change UP. 

Argh.  Good job the pdk and the ecu deal with you trying to change DOWN when you meant to change UP. 

But again. I got over it. 

going to have to put a sticker on the steering wheel as the up/down on my Skoda DSG box is the other way round.

Or I'll just have to use the paddles in manual mode.

[LukeG]

On 9 April 2019 at 9:56 PM, Paul P said:

I liked the paddles but mine has “buttons” so I have nothing to compare those against.  

One thing that messed with my head for a bit was the manual mode on the box. 

On mine. Change DOWN towards you (same as the buttons). This always felt wrong to me l, my motorcycle brain said towards me should me change up. After 7K miles I got used to it.   

Then they changed it around on the 718. Towards you is change UP. 

Argh.  Good job the pdk and the ecu deal with you trying to change DOWN when you meant to change UP. 

But again. I got over it. 

I found this different when I got into the 718, but having driven a few race cars it seems that this is now the correct way.

The theory behind it is that if you are hard accelerating you are being pushed back into the seat therefore its 'easier' to pull the gear lever towards you to upshift, and then when braking and all the weight moving towards the front of the car it is easier to push the lever forward to downshift. 😀

[Paul P]

57 minutes ago, LukeG said:

I found this different when I got into the 718, but having driven a few race cars it seems that this is now the correct way.

The theory behind it is that if you are hard accelerating you are being pushed back into the seat therefore its 'easier' to pull the gear lever towards you to upshift, and then when braking and all the weight moving towards the front of the car it is easier to push the lever forward to downshift. 😀

Totally agree. My biker brain screamed up for up which translates to towards me for up when I got the 987.2 and it took a good few miles to learn the other way (luckily the pdk won’t let you grenade things by shifting the wrong way on the red line ). 

8 months later I got this loaner. And it’s the other way (the proper way around). Had it for 280 miles and yup. As soon as I got back in my car I went through the leaning curve again. 

I always thought the 987 was the wrong way round and I still do but I have leaned to adjust.