My opinion based on your use case is buy the base and get the options you determine to be the most important to you, do lots of reading on the forum.
Best of Luck !

Start here maybe:

https://www.718forum.com/threads/why-would-anyone-buy-a-new-base-cayman.30010/#post-388067

 

How quickly do you corner?
1. So slow the baby stays asleep
2. Quickly enough to worry about spilling a full coffee
3. Passenger instinctively grabs oh-**** handle.

If 3, get the base with pasm and sport Chrono. If 1 and 2, get the S with the bigger engine which will be of more benefit to you. In my opinion.

 

How quickly do you corner?
1. So slow the baby stays asleep
2. Quickly enough to worry about spilling a full coffee
3. Passenger instinctively grabs oh-**** handle.

If 3, get the base with pasm and sport Chrono. If 1 and 2, get the S with the bigger engine which will be of more benefit to you. In my opinion.

Ah - just love the thought that goes into responses here on this forum! I fall 100% into #3 above

 

Tough choice. I would probably go with the base, Sport Chrono and no PASM. I found loading options gets you too close to the next trim level which makes it tempting and then up you go with Porsche pricing. Both the Base and S are great so you can’t go wrong unless you really value power.

 

Another vote for the Base with options. For a no-track daily, the extra 50 BHP of the S is not needed. Base is plenty for street/daily use.

FWIW, my Cayman has 20" wheels, but neither PASM nor Sport Chrono, and I don't miss those at all.

 

19” wheels. Unless you can’t stand the way they look. Saves money. Better ride quality (slightly) and less chance of bending / scuffing a wheel.

I am a fan of PASM: slightly softer than no-PASM in normal mode, firmer in Sport/Sport+. Very good for a DD.

I am also a big fan of Sport Chrono since it gets you “individual” mode.

I agree with the above: Base with options is better than a stripper S.

 

19” wheels. Unless you can’t stand the way they look. Saves money. Better ride quality (slightly) and less chance of bending / scuffing a wheel.

LOL! My Cayman came with 19" wheels. Yeah, that's probably the hot ticket, but I did not care for the Boxster S wheels all that much and bought a slightly used set of 20" Carrera S - all for the looks, not function. FWIW, I did not notice any real difference in ride quality, although I run mine at the lower "Comfort" pressure.

I am a fan of PASM: slightly softer than no-PASM in normal mode, firmer in Sport/Sport+. Very good for a DD.

PASM is one thing I would order if I were going to buy a new one. But the stock suspension is actually very good, so it's not a significant loss for me.

I am also a big fan of Sport Chrono since it gets you “individual” mode.

Maybe I've mis-read the Individual choices, but I don't see anything all that compelling there for me for street use that the Sport button doesn't handle.

 

Maybe I've mis-read the Individual choices, but I don't see anything all that compelling there for me for street use that the Sport button doesn't handle.

Individual mode allows you to mix and match.

For example: I run individual mode in “Normal” mode for suspension and “Sport+” mode for engine (and a couple of other mix/matched settings I forget which: I set it up on day 1 and haven’t changed it.)

The “full” modes… none are to my liking.

 

LOL! My Cayman came with 19" wheels. Yeah, that's probably the hot ticket, but I did not care for the Boxster S wheels all that much and bought a slightly used set of 20" Carrera S - all for the looks, not function.

Perception of change in ride quality is dependent upon: road surface quality and butt-o-meter sensitivity.

In my case, the roads ‘round here are made of potholes and patches and thus the slight change is noticeable and welcome.

… I run mine at the lower "Comfort" pressure.

Comfort Pressure is the One True Pressure.

 

Perception of change in ride quality is dependent upon: road surface quality and butt-o-meter sensitivity.

In my case, the roads ‘round here are made of potholes and patches and thus the slight change is noticeable and welcome.



Comfort Pressure is the One True Pressure.

....not according to ZZ Top.

 

I dont have pasm and dont miss it for a second, i just read about people having problems facing bills and pasm warning light on the dash, keep it simple i say. PDK is lovely, although a potential big cost far in the future. 20 inch wheels look great but i dont like the clacking ackerman noise they make in cold weather i would have gone 19 inch if id bought it new. Ive not got the S either, seems plenty fast at 4.9 0-60

 

I have PASM on my Cayman T with the 20" wheels. I never activate PASM, it just makes things worse. I don't do any track days. I wouldn't spec it next time, but it came standard on the T.

I would spec Sport Chrono though. Worth it just for the mode select switch on the steering wheel

 

I have PASM on my Cayman T with the 20" wheels. I never activate PASM, it just makes things worse. I don't do any track days. I wouldn't spec it next time, but it came standard on the T.

You have a misunderstanding of what PASM does. PASM is ALWAYS active. What you aren't doing that make things worse is setting it to its sport setting which aggressively firms up the suspension. Leaving it in its default comfort setting gives you a more compliant ride than a non-PASM equipped suspension.

 

I just got a base Boxster with Sport Chrono, PASM and 20" wheels. PASM is awesome - in default mode it is shocking how comfortable it is, and in firm mode it's definitely sport oriented but not so bad as to beat it up. I don't know how they struck such a perfect balance. Very happy with the suspension feel on the car. Good luck!

 

Meh, on the daily drive that assertion (IMO) is a GREAT exaggeration.

 

I think a more basic question back to you is, what can you get an actual allocation for? Are both the base model and "S" available through your dealership? Last time I talked to my dealer, it sounded as though each model, not just the GTS. has its own allocation process and wait times. Think he mentioned that they had an S allocation available but it could not be switched to a GTS, base or Style.

Regarding your question, I have not driven the same model of 718 with and without PASM back to back. But I owned a 981 Cayman S with 20", PASM and Sport Chrono and drove the same model with 20" but without PASM or Sport Chrono. It was a somewhat noticeable difference to me in the handling on curves and over roads. Back then, the 981 base model with its 2.7L six was very low on torque and would not have worked for me. But I'd probably be inclined to go with a base 718 and those performance options rather than an S without them. Also, FWIW, when I went to sell my S to get my current GTS, the fact that I had those options seemed to elicit a lot of interest as an "enthusiast build" on PCA Mart and by my dealer. In the case of the 718, someone could tune it relatively inexpensively, but they aren't going to retrofit PAAM or Sport Chrono. Just my thoughts.

 

I have two cars that I drive regularly, a 2024 base Cayman and a 2017 GTI. I think I've had the accelerator wide open for a total of 20 seconds over 3000 miles in the Cayman. On the street, it's very rare that I get the GTI wide open, maybe once a month for a few seconds. The racetrack, that's a different story. What I'm getting at is any Cayman has more power than you need, especially if you don't track. Even then, you don't need the extra power.

I have PASM and Sport Chrono. Most of the time I leave the PASM in the firm setting. On the expressway, there are certain sections where the firm setting makes the car "hobby horse" at normal speeds and is very uncomfortable. Going back to the soft setting fixes this.

I'd go with the base with PASM. If you never track the car, I don't think Sport Chrono will be of much use. For fun driving, I put PASM on firm and Sport Chrono in sport mode. Sport Plus is a little hyperactive on the street, while standard mode is a little somnolent.

 

I have PASM on my Cayman T with the 20" wheels.

I do not believe so unless your British T-model was unique. Your T came standard with Sport PASM (aka SPASM, S/PASM) with no option to downgrade to PASM.

I never activate PASM,

it just makes things worse.

It increases damper “stiffness” (not really but that’s the perception put to words) which is only “not worse” on very smooth roads.

I wouldn't spec it next time, but it came standard on the T.

Then you may be even more disappointed since PASM in normal mode (but not SPASM) is more compliant than non-PASM.

SPASM in normal mode is slightly less ”stiff feeling” than PASM in Sport Mode.

 

My vote-- go with the base with the good stuff. I would get PTV too to get the limited slip. Works like a charm and not something that can be added later.

Either way however, you are getting a great car!

 

LSD can be added later easily. Aftermarket ones are even better than oem

 

Don't know if I missed it but are you looking at a manual or PDK. We have a manual S with sport chrono and while it is nice to have (we bought used) it does more for the PDK as I understand it. We don't have PASM but I don't think my wife would appreciate it so for us we found a 2018 S in pretty much the perfect spec.

 

I got an S with SPASM, PTV, SC. If I had to choose between an S without those and a base model with the suspension goodies, I would definitely have optioned all the high performance suspension features on a base. I believe the 718 is all about handling (although no 718 is exactly "slow"). So, why not take advantage of Porsche's prowess in suspension engineering and keep in mind one of the strong points of these cars by optimizing the car's handling? As others noted, you can inexpensively tune the 2.0 to get more power if you choose, but upgrading the suspension is going to be costly. A base with PASM, PTV, SC, and 6MT is a really fun and formidable sports car, probably one of the best sports cars ever. Any 718 (other than perhaps a GT4) will soon be bettered in acceleration by suburban moms' electric road appliances. I'm still running-in my S so I haven't indulged in hard accelerations at all and the car is amazingly fun to drive due to the handling, the ride, the manual transmission, the looks and the build quality. A base with the high performance suspension options is a really special car.

 

Sport Chrono is one of my favorite features on my base. I use it every time and having Sport+ for canyon runs is critical.

 

Ideally for me (and not possible) I would have spec'd no PASM, no PTV, but yes to LSD and yes to SC if on PDK (though I must admit I enjoy the auto blip). My philosophy:

1) I wanted a classic sport car without a bunch of crap to cause problems like active engine mounts. My personal perfect suspension setting would have been 1/2 way between comfort and sport . I would have got a set of Ohlins and tuned it just right for me. I find comfort a "bit" mushy at high speed and sport a bit dicey on highways if the road conditions are inconsistent.

My advice to you would be, there's no bad answer - pick what you value more (power or handling upgrades). Don't let things like future values and what "other people can't live without" sway your personal preferences. It's really all less of a big deal than you think going in.