[stevesinclair]

For me, the fun of a driving a 718 might make it worth the cost of ownership. It's fair to say these cars are pretty expensive to maintain as they age. So, what options might you avoid if your goal was to minimize potential maintenance and service expenses over 10-15 years of ownership? I realize the performance options are awesome, but the potential longer term service costs could drive me away from this model. I intend to research this issue with experienced Porsche insiders. I would think that PDK, PASM, PTV, and PDLS are potentially big ticket repair items. What say you?

Important: This is not a criticism of anyone or their their awesome 718. I respect your choices and don't think anyone should be criticized for choosing any option with their dream car. If someone wants Burmester, so what? This car is not the most rational purchase out there! I would love to have the best including every option. At the same time, I'm pretty cheap and want to know how to keep long term costs down. Thank you for your input.

 

[DriveInHouston]

For most of us, the driver is the most expensive option in the long run. Buy 718s young!....

 

[Miami Blue]

If the sole purpose is to reduce long term maintenance costs, logic reasoning and experience says to buy a stripper with least amount of tech stuff that degrade with time.

 

[stevesinclair]

If the sole purpose is to reduce long term maintenance costs, logic reasoning and experience says to buy a stripper with least amount of tech stuff that degrade with time.

Ah, the cheap stripper. Like airplanes and boats, always cheaper to rent than to buy. But seriously, some of the performance options must be more problematic than others. I'm guessing PDK and adaptive suspension. To be fair, it's not just with Porsche of course.

 

[Viffermike]

Just throwing this out there, particularly considering some of the feedback on the 718 manual I've come across:

The PDK may actually be more reliable than a manual. Why? Computer control, which virtually eliminates user error and user abuse.
Now: If it breaks will it be more expensive? Definitely, and probably substantially. But that's an 'if', and is not really pertinent to the OP's central question of maintenance costs except regarding fluid/clutch replacement.

it'll be interesting to see what your research finds, @stevesinclair . Kudos for the endeavor!

 

[718Niko]

I actually heard similar things about the automatic gear box from Mercedes techs when comparing manuals and autos. Sure the Auto is more expensive to repair, however, a lot more can go wrong with a manual, mostly down to user error. The auto help to keep things allways under control.
Sure a pdk would be expensive to repair, but blowing up the engine would be even more : )

 

[GTS]

I'm not a mechanic, but I did take a small engine repair class in high school. More importantly, I also have a 211K mile 2004 Cayenne S and a long list of repairs over its two owner history.

• PDLS
• Bose MOST fiber optics are flakey
• 3 blower motors
• Transfer case
• Front differential
• Water cooled alternator
• LCD gauge cluster is going out
• And lots of other things

It's not apples to apples, but it has had about as many dollars in maintenance as its original MSRP over the years.

I expect my 718 to be proportionally cheaper to maintain over a similar amount of time because I won't drive it nearly as much. YMMV.

 

[stevesinclair]

I'm not a mechanic, but I did take a small engine repair class in high school. More importantly, I also have a 211K mile 2004 Cayenne S and a long list of repairs over its two owner history.

• PDLS
• Bose MOST fiber optics are flakey
• 3 blower motors
• Transfer case
• Front differential
• Water cooled alternator
• LCD gauge cluster is going out
• And lots of other things

It's not apples to apples, but it has had about as many dollars in maintenance as its original MSRP over the years.

I expect my 718 to be proportionally cheaper to maintain over a similar amount of time because I won't drive it nearly as much. YMMV.

I was able to spend an hour talking with an independent Porsche mechanic today. I asked about every performance option for the 718, and to my surprise there was not a single one he recommended against in consideration of long term reliability. It's just one opinion, and I don't know his honesty, but he was knowledgeable. He said the systems in the 718 are very good. Let's hope so.

GTS, I've also owned a Cayenne S and that makes me leery of another Porsche. Getting 211K miles from one is truly impressive! The mechanic said there is no comparison of Cayenne's and Macan's, with their shared Audi/VW design and manufacture, to the build quality and design of true non-SUV Porsche's.

 

[DPC]

I was able to spend an hour talking with an independent Porsche mechanic today. I asked about every performance option for the 718, and to my surprise there was not a single one he recommended against in consideration of long term reliability. It's just one opinion, and I don't know his honesty, but he was knowledgeable. He said the systems in the 718 are very good. Let's hope so.

GTS, I've also owned a Cayenne S and that makes me leery of another Porsche. Getting 211K miles from one is truly impressive! The mechanic said there is no comparison of Cayenne's and Macan's, with their shared Audi/VW design and manufacture, to the build quality and design of true non-SUV Porsche's.

I was told the same thing by a service manager at a Porsche dealer. The 911s and 718s are very well made and the SUVs have their issues and much more warranty work. My current 718 ( only has 8000 miles) has been flawless like a Honda or Toyota ( sorry for the sacrilege).

 

[ArchiProf]

My spouse and I tend to keep our cars for a long time. Examples: her 2006 Volvo (now my semi-DD) that she kept when she bought her 2016 Volvo and my 1993 Pathfinder I bought new. My 2014 Cayman was purchased CPO after an uninsured kid totaled my BMW and we wanted to test whether a Cayman would be right for us before ordering a new one.

All this is to say when I purchased my 2018 Cayman I felt I would be keeping it for a very long time and therefore selected virtually every performance and luxury option I (and she) wanted. I never thought about resale value or future maintenance costs but rather about what would make me happy now and well into the future.

.

 

[Lamb]

I tend to agree with ArchiProf...if you are buying a German or Italian car, buy what makes you happy...there is a good chance that future maintenance costs will be higher...

 

[MattRG]

I was able to spend an hour talking with an independent Porsche mechanic today. I asked about every performance option for the 718, and to my surprise there was not a single one he recommended against in consideration of long term reliability. It's just one opinion, and I don't know his honesty, but he was knowledgeable. He said the systems in the 718 are very good. Let's hope so.

GTS, I've also owned a Cayenne S and that makes me leery of another Porsche. Getting 211K miles from one is truly impressive! The mechanic said there is no comparison of Cayenne's and Macan's, with their shared Audi/VW design and manufacture, to the build quality and design of true non-SUV Porsche's.

Replying to the bolded - very interesting. Having owned a Macan GTS for a year before switching to the 718 Cayman I can't say that I can easily detect a difference in build quality between the two cars. Both have very nice interiors and seem solidly put together, both have great fitment and panel gaps with good paint quality. I wonder if he is more referring to the underlying architecture (which of course would be far superior on a dedicated platform like the 911 or 718 that is 100% Porsche designed rather than the shared architecture of the SUV's)?

I also didn't have any problems with my Macan in the year that I owned it but that was only up to 21,000 miles. Who knows what would have happened in the future. The 718 I am hoping will be just as reliable and for a longer term as this one feels like a keeper.

 

[EuroKip]

When I ordered my 718 , I did not go for PASM for similar concerns on long term ownership after warranty. I installed Tech Art springs as the alternative and couldn’t be happier. The ride , the looks , the simplicity , works for me.

I agree with many who say get what you want In the end , cost of ownership on a Porsche is a bargain vs other high end

 

[stevesinclair]

Replying to the bolded - very interesting. Having owned a Macan GTS for a year before switching to the 718 Cayman I can't say that I can easily detect a difference in build quality between the two cars. Both have very nice interiors and seem solidly put together, both have great fitment and panel gaps with good paint quality. I wonder if he is more referring to the underlying architecture (which of course would be far superior on a dedicated platform like the 911 or 718 that is 100% Porsche designed rather than the shared architecture of the SUV's)?

I also didn't have any problems with my Macan in the year that I owned it but that was only up to 21,000 miles. Who knows what would have happened in the future. The 718 I am hoping will be just as reliable and for a longer term as this one feels like a keeper.

It's the oil consumption of the older Cayenne's that became my problem too, with no engine repair available. On average, do Porsche SUV's consume more oil than 718's or are they about the same? For the Cayenne, the oil consumption was indicated by cylinder wall scoring and really there is nothing that could be done about it, besides replacing the engine.

 

[MattRG]

It's the oil consumption of the older Cayenne's that became my problem too, with no engine repair available. On average, do Porsche SUV's consume more oil than 718's or are they about the same? For the Cayenne, the oil consumption was indicated by cylinder wall scoring and really there is nothing that could be done about it, besides replacing the engine.

From what I understand cylinder wall scoring has been an issue on quite a few Porsche engines in the past. I haven't heard of any such issues with the new turbo motors in the 718 and 911 cars but they have only been around for a few model years and more sample date is probably needed. The 9A1 had a very small percentage of problems with engines with bore scoring and the 9A2 (the new 3.0 Carrera motor) has been further improved from the 9A1 and the motors in our cars are identical to the 9A2 motors in many ways.

Early reports are that these engines are quite strong so I'm choosing not to spend any time loosing sleep over it unless I hear concrete evidence otherwise.

 

[rasetsu]

Replying to the bolded - very interesting. Having owned a Macan GTS for a year before switching to the 718 Cayman I can't say that I can easily detect a difference in build quality between the two cars. Both have very nice interiors and seem solidly put together, both have great fitment and panel gaps with good paint quality. I wonder if he is more referring to the underlying architecture (which of course would be far superior on a dedicated platform like the 911 or 718 that is 100% Porsche designed rather than the shared architecture of the SUV's)?

I also didn't have any problems with my Macan in the year that I owned it but that was only up to 21,000 miles. Who knows what would have happened in the future. The 718 I am hoping will be just as reliable and for a longer term as this one feels like a keeper.

I also have a Macan GTS. I suspect the observation of the SUVs going in more for more work is because there are just more of them on the road and they are being used more daily whereas the sports cars are often pleasure vehicles. I'm averaging 10K miles a year with my Macan whereas I likely won't even achieve half of that with my Cayman.

 

[splinter]

...PDK, PASM, PTV, and PDLS are potentially big ticket repair items...

I wouldn't own a Porsche without those. No repairs thus far although its factory warranty will cover any issues.

And specify PCCBs to add to the fun factor!

 

[Lamb]

It's the oil consumption of the older Cayenne's that became my problem too, with no engine repair available. On average, do Porsche SUV's consume more oil than 718's or are they about the same? For the Cayenne, the oil consumption was indicated by cylinder wall scoring and really there is nothing that could be done about it, besides replacing the engine.

I purchased a new 911 TT 15 years ago...it burned oil, so I kept a quart of oil with me at all times (I was told it burned oil because of the turbo)....I just traded in my 718 CS for a 992 911S...when I purchased the 718 2 years ago (and since it also has a turbo) the 1st thing I did was buy a quart of oil...the 718 never used a drop!!

 

[orton]

My base 718 has very few options. No alphabet soup options. Just a simpler car with less to go wrong. Nice to have a car with a real steering wheel without any switches or buttons. Still a fine car that goes faster than the capabilities of this driver. Very pleased with it but do wish it had even less nannies. Have defeated the start/stop nightmare.