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Manual 718 Cayman S - 3rd Gear Gone

49K views 122 replies 44 participants last post by  William Stepaniuk 
5000 miles, I got delivery in December. They gave me a white Cayenne S with an "organ red" interior. I feel like I'm sitting on the 3rd floor.

Still no updates, just that they haven't found the problem yet - I went to pick up my parking transponder yesterday and they had the car raised, the computers hooked up, and about 5 people working on it. They are apparently liaising with the technical team in Germany and can't open the gearbox here (Dubai). They mentioned that they might have to swap it...in any case it's home to Toronto for me for 2 weeks, so looks they'll be keeping her a while.

Even if they swap the gearbox, i'll ask Porsche to explain the issue - I assumed it was a shifter cable snapping but i imagine that they would have found the problem by now if it was that simple. I'll keep you guys posted.
My own experience with transmission problems in new cars would lead me to believe that they'll just replace the whole transmission and be done with it. Hopefully, you'll forget this painful experience in a few months of pleasurable driving.
 
Update August 25 2017

I'd like this post to provide fair warning do owners and potential buyers of manual gearbox cars.
In 315 hours of driving, they are saying that i have spend 0.72 seconds in the 7900-8400 rpm range and 0.39 seconds in the 8400-9500 rpm range and that's enough to damage the engine and the transmission. To give the full story, I did spend 12.8 seconds of these 315 hours in the 7200-7900 range. redline is around 7400-8000 rpm) - I give all the facts to get a fair opinion from the technical members of the forum.
The 718 engine has a rev limiter and so the engine may not have been damaged on the upshift. The rev-limiter has no effect on downshifting, so if you blew a downshift and the drivetrain hit 9000 rpm, you can cause damage. You wouldn't be the first person to blow a drivetrain with a bad downshift.

OTOH, I totally understand and sympathize with your frustration - w really have very limited information on the ruggedness and overall longevity of this new drivetrain and you could be correct that it was partially engineered by "bean-counters".

Glad they will replace the trans. for you.

I has a somewhat similar experience with a Audi R8. It got rear-ended at 5 mph, but that was enough to drive the bumper into the rear transmission case and mis-align the whole transmission. The transmission was making horrible noises, which the Audi service manager said was "normal" (no sir, I'm not a dumbchit). I had to fight Audi and the insurance company but finally got a new transmission. How's that for engineering - the drivetrain on a $190K car couldn't take a 5 mph hit.
 
@ZuffenHouseRules - I certainly hope so, best car I've ever driven - but be careful on the thrashing!
I have not found much of a reason to go near redline on my 718S. The power is so strong at lower RPM and the acceleration is so good, that I'm really in the expensive ticket zone if I'm not careful. And to be truthful, the sound of the 4T isn't so wonderful at the highest RPM - unlike the flat 6's that sound really special as the car approaches redline.

Not saying that shifting at redline should cause any problem in a well-engineered car, but haven't found the reason to "thrash" this car in driving on the street.
 
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