[OttawaSteve]

Actually, when I said "the suspensions," I was just being too specific: I cannot say whether it is the suspensions alone or the seat. I think it's just the combination of three things: stiff suspension + firm seat + the position. Also, the manual gear option somehow limits the comfortable positions of the seat, since you have to find the right position to reach the clutch pedal, too. I have also noticed that, during a 2-hour trip, some discomfort comes from the resting position of the left foot, which seems to be too close to the seat. So, I think it's just a combination of things, more than just one. This would also explain why I noticed the issue after a trip that forced me to keep the same position for a while. Does it make sense?

No. These seats are the most comfortable that I have ever been in.

 

[TooTurbo]

Did you not drive a car before buying? Seems like your issues with the car would have been run into from not even that long of a test drive on any of the 718 variants. Porsche's ergonomics are some of the best for not just sports cars for any type of car.

 

[Thunder]

Am I the only cynical person here?

No.

 

[ThreePedalEd]

Hi everybody, this is my GTS 4.0, the last one with manual transmission, Gentian Blue, available new in the US market.

Unfortunately, I did not realize how hard the suspensions were, and it only took a 100-mile trip to conclude that my back pain does not allow me to travel on it. So sad, considering the expectation and the amount of money put into it. I was planning to preserve it as the last of a kind, but now I think I should get rid of it...

First, let me address the elephant in the room and the (slight) cynicism that I may share with @Wiscombe64, @Thunder and perhaps others:

1) Your front bumper looks like you have some messy encounters in the 100 mile drive.
2) The immediate swap from amber to clear side markers is not something I would have expected from someone who apparently did not test drove a 718 long enough to realize the car itself was not a good fit for your ailing back. That's more of a "veteran" move.
3) Over the years in the 718 Forum, there have a number of other new car owners (or even ones with cars on order) to want to re-sell their car. Some pretty creative reasons.....but most of which boiled down to wanting to flip it for a profit.

But.....I'm more than happy to give you and your predicament the benefit of the doubt. So if you would be so kind as to post your window sticker, and what you would reasonably take for the car, I will give it both some consideration for myself as well as pass it on to a friend that is in the market. I can also forward you a contact for the specialty dealer that paid a very good price for my previous Cayman S, that made the sale easy.

Cheers.

 

[mcdtj]

Lots of thoughtful comments in re: modifying the car. But what about addressing the OP's back pain?

My wife has pretty severe lower back issues (slipped discs). They flared up just before a 10 day trip to Europe. Her pain doctor gave her prescription strength lidocaine pads that allowed her to enjoy the trip (airplane flights, walking, bus rides, etc.) virtually pain free while not making her feel "drugged out."

A similar approach might work for the OP-- a competent pain management doctor will know. Hate to see him give up the car.

 

[OttawaSteve]

OP, what is your medical issue with your back?

 

[ReidMcT]

In addition to non-Porsche dealers offering more, I see in the PCA mags some consignment sale companies that handle everything for you.

 

[lairdj01]

This is an entertaining thread if nothing else. Curious to see how this concludes.

 

[Shifter]

Am I the only cynical person here?

No

 

[Vitto09]

Maybe the OP should limit his trips to no more than 50 miles. Can still get tons of enjoyment out of the car.

 

[Souther78]

First, let me address the elephant in the room and the (slight) cynicism that I may share with @Wiscombe64, @Thunder and perhaps others:

1) Your front bumper looks like you have some messy encounters in the 100 mile drive.
2) The immediate swap from amber to clear side markers is not something I would have expected from someone who apparently did not test drove a 718 long enough to realize the car itself was not a good fit for your ailing back. That's more of a "veteran" move.
3) Over the years in the 718 Forum, there have a number of other new car owners (or even ones with cars on order) to want to re-sell their car. Some pretty creative reasons.....but most of which boiled down to wanting to flip it for a profit.

But.....I'm more than happy to give you and your predicament the benefit of the doubt. So if you would be so kind as to post your window sticker, and what you would reasonably take for the car, I will give it both some consideration for myself as well as pass it on to a friend that is in the market. I can also forward you a contact for the specialty dealer that paid a very good price for my previous Cayman S, that made the sale easy.

Cheers.

First, let me address the elephant in the room and the (slight) cynicism that I may share with @Wiscombe64, @Thunder and perhaps others:

1) Your front bumper looks like you have some messy encounters in the 100 mile drive.
2) The immediate swap from amber to clear side markers is not something I would have expected from someone who apparently did not test drove a 718 long enough to realize the car itself was not a good fit for your ailing back. That's more of a "veteran" move.
3) Over the years in the 718 Forum, there have a number of other new car owners (or even ones with cars on order) to want to re-sell their car. Some pretty creative reasons.....but most of which boiled down to wanting to flip it for a profit.

But.....I'm more than happy to give you and your predicament the benefit of the doubt. So if you would be so kind as to post your window sticker, and what you would reasonably take for the car, I will give it both some consideration for myself as well as pass it on to a friend that is in the market. I can also forward you a contact for the specialty dealer that paid a very good price for my previous Cayman S, that made the sale easy.

Cheers.

I really don't get it. I never said I drove 100 miles in total: I said that I realized how bad it was for my back after a 100 mile trip. The insects were there because the picture was taken in a county road in the middle of the forest, as you can see by the lack of paved road. The clear turn lights were purchased even before I got the car, as well as the model designation. Obviously I was not planning to keep it a couple of weeks. Other than that, you can read my posts in this forum, asking for help to deal with car settings just after I got it. So, what is the point on suggesting that my complaints or statements are not true? Do you really think it would be smart to buy a car just to keep it a couple of weeks? The sales tax alone is over 6k. How am I supposed to get more than I've paid?

 

[GregW]

@Souther78 If you can't make the car work for you then selling is indeed the best option.😢

Now, I also have back issues (fractured L2), and here's how my adjustments went.

It took a long time to get the seating position right (14-way).—moving the seat up and down to get the view I wanted; then the seat tilt; then back and forth until my leg position fit the pedals and the foot rest; next was the thigh support; then the back incline; then the small of the back bolster—up, down, in, out, (This really took a lot of experimentation as I found small changes made big differences, especially on trips of more than an hour.); and finally the steering wheel height and distance.

At this point I went back over everything because some later adjustments affected the early ones.

When I was comfortable just sitting, then I drove, noticed any discomfort, and played with settings. (Weeks! with some adjustments changed in really small increments.)

Checked tyre pressure. Even 1 lb over the recommended made the ride quite rigid feeling. (With the 20" wheels I'd be using comfort pressure, my 18" have a decent sidewall flex.)

Lastly the suspension and the seat needed longer than the engine to break in. The initial abruptness and really "hard" feel developed into a flexible and responsive ride over all but the worst roads.

Note that some here have reported that the suspension shipping blocks were not removed on dealer preparation and this had drastic negative affects on the ride.

I hope this helps and you get to keep and enjoy the car. Mine is now running into year nine and driving is still a pleasure.

 

[Spamthechan]

OP have you checked to see if the dealer left the suspension blocks in? Have heard some people being surprised by a harsher than expected ride only to find the blocks were not taken out at delivery.

 

[ThreePedalEd]

I really don't get it. I never said I drove 100 miles in total: I said that I realized how bad it was for my back after a 100 mile trip. The insects were there because the picture was taken in a county road in the middle of the forest, as you can see by the lack of paved road. The clear turn lights were purchased even before I got the car, as well as the model designation. Obviously I was not planning to keep it a couple of weeks. Other than that, you can read my posts in this forum, asking for help to deal with car settings just after I got it. So, what is the point on suggesting that my complaints or statements are not true? Do you really think it would be smart to buy a car just to keep it a couple of weeks? The sales tax alone is over 6k. How am I supposed to get more than I've paid?

Sorry I really wasn’t trying to add to your misery. I had not seen your earlier posts prior to this discussion.

But I’m still a little confused as to what you are looking for? Advise on selling the car? You have a lot of suggestions to keep it and try to make it more comfortable - is that what you were looking for? I’d be happy to take you out for a beer and share some regrettable purchase decisions I’ve made if that would help, but I don’t have any plans to be in Florida soon.

Going back to the second part of my previous post, I have a friend that is looking to replace his 20 year old Mercedes SL600 with something a little more engaging. And you can ask RAC Performance out of Texas what they might give you. They gave me $51.5k and paid for shipping for my 2014 Cayman S when my new GTS arrived. My dealer only offered $42k on trade in.

Good luck.

 

[Souther78]

@Souther78 If you can't make the car work for you then selling is indeed the best option.😢

Now, I also have back issues (fractured L2), and here's how my adjustments went.

It took a long time to get the seating position right (14-way).—moving the seat up and down to get the view I wanted; then the seat tilt; then back and forth until my leg position fit the pedals and the foot rest; next was the thigh support; then the back incline; then the small of the back bolster—up, down, in, out, (This really took a lot of experimentation as I found small changes made big differences, especially on trips of more than an hour.); and finally the steering wheel height and distance.

At this point I went back over everything because some later adjustments affected the early ones.

When I was comfortable just sitting, then I drove, noticed any discomfort, and played with settings. (Weeks! with some adjustments changed in really small increments.)

Checked tyre pressure. Even 1 lb over the recommended made the ride quite rigid feeling. (With the 20" wheels I'd be using comfort pressure, my 18" have a decent sidewall flex.)

Lastly the suspension and the seat needed longer than the engine to break in. The initial abruptness and really "hard" feel developed into a flexible and responsive ride over all but the worst roads.

Note that some here have reported that the suspension shipping blocks were not removed on dealer preparation and this had drastic negative affects on the ride.

I hope this helps and you get to keep and enjoy the car. Mine is now running into year nine and driving is still a pleasure.

Thank you! I will investigate this, and of course I am trying different settings, although so far what a I've learnt is that one of the most helpful things is keep changing positions, and this is why massage seats help a lot: even if small, you have a continuous movement. Also, bigger and automatic cars generally offer more room to stretch during longer trips. The real deal here is that this is not my commuting car, and it was meant to spend at least half day (or, at least, half morning/evening) driving to enjoy open air driving.

 

[worf]

First:

• take it back to the dealer and make absolutely sure that the shipping blocks have been removed from the suspension
• look in the back of the owners manual for tire pressure data and set comfort pressure (as others have posted. IIRC 30f, 30r.)

Second mess with the seat:

I have 7 damaged intervertebral discs from lumbar to cervical, ranging from crushed to herniated from sports injuries. With most car seats either my neck, arms, or legs hurt or go numb within minutes. But, with Porsche's 18-way seats, after experimentation, I have found a window of perfect settings. Start with the seat bottom all the way down and work from there.

Then, if any of the first two have shown some relief, look into the DSC controller.

Last: sell it.

 

[Souther78]

Sorry I really wasn’t trying to add to your misery. I had not seen your earlier posts prior to this discussion.

But I’m still a little confused as to what you are looking for? Advise on selling the car? You have a lot of suggestions to keep it and try to make it more comfortable - is that what you were looking for? I’d be happy to take you out for a beer and share some regrettable purchase decisions I’ve made if that would help, but I don’t have any plans to be in Florida soon.

Going back to the second part of my previous post, I have a friend that is looking to replace his 20 year old Mercedes SL600 with something a little more engaging. And you can ask RAC Performance out of Texas what they might give you. They gave me $51.5k and paid for shipping for my 2014 Cayman S when my new GTS arrived. My dealer only offered $42k on trade in.

Good luck.

Thank you for your understanding. Actually, I think that part of this thread was just to share my frustration. Part of it was to receive tips or helpful thoughts, that I in fact received, about methods to improve the situation. Part was probably to proudly show what I consider to be a masterpiece with people who can appreciate it as I do: as I said, I even purchased some extras before getting the car, and I felt so lucky to get the last Gentian blue available (at least based on the Porsche website). Unfortunately, my excitement led me to get a car that I have never had the opportunity to test enough (and never in the manual version). But it was "now or never"... and this is it. 🥺

 

[Souther78]

First:

• take it back to the dealer and make absolutely sure that the shipping blocks have been removed from the suspension
• look in the back of the owners manual for tire pressure data and set comfort pressure (as others have posted. IIRC 30f, 30r.)

Second mess with the seat:

I have 7 damaged intervertebral discs from, lumbar to cervical, ranging from crushed to herniated from sports injuries. With most car seats either my neck, arms, or legs hurt or go numb within minutes. But, with Porsche's 18-way seats, after experimentation, I have found a window of perfect settings. Start with the seat bottom all the way down and work from there.

Then, if and of the first two have shown some relief, look into the DSC controller.

Last: sell it.

Do you have a manual or automatic? And, if you had the opportunity to drive both, how would you say that this difference impacted your comfort?

 

[worf]

Do you have a manual or automatic? And, if you had the opportunity to drive both, how would you say that this difference impacted your comfort?

We have, and/or have had, both manual and PDK of the 991/981/718 generation.

There is no qualitative difference in achievable comfort, for me, between PDK and manual.

But, there is a difference between manual 4/2-way Sport Seats Plus and 18-way Sport Seats Plus.

With the former I can't quite get into the window of great comfort, but with the latter I can. Thus, mine are 18-ways and my CarChick's are the 4/2-way manual SSPs.

What I do for seating position is:

• I lower the seat all the way to the bottom front and rear
• Then adjust seat travel to get good clutch activation
• Then the back rest to get arm placement.
• I also lower the steering wheel to the point that the '4' on the tach is obscured

After that:

• raise the front of the seat bottom to get a bit of leg support
• move the thigh bolster forward to get more leg support
• micro adjustments for all to get comfortable

While driving I will make micro-adjustments based upon whatever "issues" are flaring up that day.

Also, I agree with your observation that the foot box of the 991/981/718 is a bit narrow and detracts from comfort on long drives. I have no solution for this (other than spending lots of money on sorting a 928 as the 928 has no equal for all-day driving comfort.)

 

[ThreePedalEd]

Thank you for your understanding. Actually, I think that part of this thread was just to share my frustration. Part of it was to receive tips or helpful thoughts, that I in fact received, about methods to improve the situation. Part was probably to proudly show what I consider to be a masterpiece with people who can appreciate it as I do: as I said, I even purchased some extras before getting the car, and I felt so lucky to get the last Gentian blue available (at least based on the Porsche website). Unfortunately, my excitement led me to get a car that I have never had the opportunity to test enough (and never in the manual version). But it was "now or never"... and this is it. 🥺

Well you certainly are getting a lot of good advice on how to try to make the seats and car more comfortable. I myself have moderate lower back pain and yet find the full bucket seats (LWBS) with the replacement cushions from P1 Design to be more comfortable for my lower back than the 18 ways in my former Cayman. A few weeks ago I did a 500+ mile weekend round trip and felt fine throughout. And it was a much more enjoyable drive winding through the Poconos in my GTS than it would have been in our M540d or X5.

Although it's water under the bridge, had you known the car might not be a good fit, I would have suggested considering registering it to a Montana LLC to escape the short term sales tax penalty upon re-sale. I did that with my 2022 Cayman GTS because I thought I might be re-selling it in 6-12 months if and when the dealer could give me a PTS allocation. But the PTS never came through and it's now been nearly four years. You might still check your dealer and state laws on getting a sales tax refund if it's less than 30 days and you "reverse the sale" with the dealer. I had an "oops" event thirty years ago in Maryland when I purchased an automatic Nissan Maxima as a family sedan. My wife was pregnant with our first daughter. After I brought the car home, she questioned why I didn't get the 5 speed manual SE version we had test driven and preferred. I went back to the dealership a week later and the manager kindly reversed everything..... and got a good laugh at my expense. My wife explained that she was pregnant, not handicapped, and didn't want no stinking automatic. 😃 I believe in Maryland, at the time, the sales tax could be refunded during the 30-day temporary tag period if the sale was reversed.

Again, my condolences on your situation, but I hope you might find others' suggestions on seat adjustment, tire inflation, suspension checking or other advice helpful. And unless there is an urgency to sell, perhaps give yourself more time to acclimate.

Cheers.