Joined
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75 Posts
I've been a silent browser of this forum for a few months now while I've been giving some thought to 718 ownership
I've considered both Cayman and Boxster, and while open top driving is appealing on balance I decided the slight practical benefits of the Cayman make it more attractive for me, I've also swung between base and S models, and between buying new or hanging on for a nearly new car that fits the bill.
One thing I really wanted was a car with manual transmission, and there's very few of them around on the second hand market even fewer near new / ex demonstrators, this was leading me towards having to buy new, which I was certainly prepared to do and was considering getting the ball rolling in the new year.
Then last week out of curiosity I did another search for manual cars on the Porsche UK website and a 2018 Cayman Base MT with only 2000 miles on the clock and a very high specification appeared near the top of the list, it's a little older than I was thinking but with so few miles that wasn't an issue, it has some options I wouldn't have selected and only really missing one or two things I'd have liked but not show stoppers.
Spec wise the car is jet black metallic (I probably would not have chosen black if I was ordering new but it definitely looks good in black), 20 inch Carerra Sport alloys (I was going to go with Cayman S 19's had I bought new), black sportex interior with 18way adaptive seats (I was leaning towards sportex, not sure I'd have stretched to the electric seats but they're a real bonus), LED PDLS+ headlights (I'd probably have gone for the cheaper PDLS option), PASM, PTV and Sport Chrono (I might have gone with the Sport Chrono, would not have specced PTV and probably not PASM but again they're nice bonus's) Bose sound, heated seats, multifunction wheel, 2 zone climate and probably a couple of other bits and bob's that I've forgotten about. So it's nicely loaded up! the one thing I would have liked that is missing is the reversing camera, I have one in my current car and like it, although I'd not had one before and would never have considered paying extra for one until I'd used it.
So I slept on it and contacted the dealership the next day, it's in Sheffield which is about 1.5 hours from me with no traffic so I asked that I could spend some good quality time with the car on a variety of roads which they agreed to so the following day I headed off for a test. I arrived and was given an opportunity to have a good poke around the car on my own before going out on the road, we then headed out and spent a good 2 hours in the car with a mixture of motorway, a roads and good country roads including Winnats Pass and Snake Pass.
Unfortunately it was cold and wet so I was reasonably reserved but that didn't detract from the enjoyment and it really did give me a good chance to assess the car.
My only real reservation before getting into the car was whether the base model with manual transmission would feel responsive enough, I'm coming from an Audi S3 with the DSG box, similar power and weight but on paper quicker off the line and it is pretty responsive in most situations. I've read a bit about the long lower gears of the 6MT in the 718 and of turbo lag in the base car, I would say there's certainly some truth in that and the 718 certainly seems less eager off line than the S3 but otherwise straight line speed is certainly not an issue for me and while an S would be nice, I'm happy with the performance of the base.
It turns out the car was owned by Porsche GB and the dealership took it on 2 or 3 weeks ago, hence the low milage and high spec, it is practically a new car even though it is 15 months old.
So my mind was made up and a deal was done, I go back to collect the car on Friday (could be a long week!), agreeing the deal was painless and a breath of fresh air from other experiences, no pressure to finance the car, no pressure to purchase various "insurances" on offer and although I couldn't get a lot of movement on the price of the car I was able to negotiate a very good part exchange on the S3, which I also bought as an ex demonstrator less than 2 years ago (it's only a bit older than the 718) so I haven't lost a fortune on that either.
I'll post some photo's after I've collected it, here's a screen shot from the ad on the Porsche website....
![24666]()
I've considered both Cayman and Boxster, and while open top driving is appealing on balance I decided the slight practical benefits of the Cayman make it more attractive for me, I've also swung between base and S models, and between buying new or hanging on for a nearly new car that fits the bill.
One thing I really wanted was a car with manual transmission, and there's very few of them around on the second hand market even fewer near new / ex demonstrators, this was leading me towards having to buy new, which I was certainly prepared to do and was considering getting the ball rolling in the new year.
Then last week out of curiosity I did another search for manual cars on the Porsche UK website and a 2018 Cayman Base MT with only 2000 miles on the clock and a very high specification appeared near the top of the list, it's a little older than I was thinking but with so few miles that wasn't an issue, it has some options I wouldn't have selected and only really missing one or two things I'd have liked but not show stoppers.
Spec wise the car is jet black metallic (I probably would not have chosen black if I was ordering new but it definitely looks good in black), 20 inch Carerra Sport alloys (I was going to go with Cayman S 19's had I bought new), black sportex interior with 18way adaptive seats (I was leaning towards sportex, not sure I'd have stretched to the electric seats but they're a real bonus), LED PDLS+ headlights (I'd probably have gone for the cheaper PDLS option), PASM, PTV and Sport Chrono (I might have gone with the Sport Chrono, would not have specced PTV and probably not PASM but again they're nice bonus's) Bose sound, heated seats, multifunction wheel, 2 zone climate and probably a couple of other bits and bob's that I've forgotten about. So it's nicely loaded up! the one thing I would have liked that is missing is the reversing camera, I have one in my current car and like it, although I'd not had one before and would never have considered paying extra for one until I'd used it.
So I slept on it and contacted the dealership the next day, it's in Sheffield which is about 1.5 hours from me with no traffic so I asked that I could spend some good quality time with the car on a variety of roads which they agreed to so the following day I headed off for a test. I arrived and was given an opportunity to have a good poke around the car on my own before going out on the road, we then headed out and spent a good 2 hours in the car with a mixture of motorway, a roads and good country roads including Winnats Pass and Snake Pass.
Unfortunately it was cold and wet so I was reasonably reserved but that didn't detract from the enjoyment and it really did give me a good chance to assess the car.
My only real reservation before getting into the car was whether the base model with manual transmission would feel responsive enough, I'm coming from an Audi S3 with the DSG box, similar power and weight but on paper quicker off the line and it is pretty responsive in most situations. I've read a bit about the long lower gears of the 6MT in the 718 and of turbo lag in the base car, I would say there's certainly some truth in that and the 718 certainly seems less eager off line than the S3 but otherwise straight line speed is certainly not an issue for me and while an S would be nice, I'm happy with the performance of the base.
It turns out the car was owned by Porsche GB and the dealership took it on 2 or 3 weeks ago, hence the low milage and high spec, it is practically a new car even though it is 15 months old.
So my mind was made up and a deal was done, I go back to collect the car on Friday (could be a long week!), agreeing the deal was painless and a breath of fresh air from other experiences, no pressure to finance the car, no pressure to purchase various "insurances" on offer and although I couldn't get a lot of movement on the price of the car I was able to negotiate a very good part exchange on the S3, which I also bought as an ex demonstrator less than 2 years ago (it's only a bit older than the 718) so I haven't lost a fortune on that either.
I'll post some photo's after I've collected it, here's a screen shot from the ad on the Porsche website....
Enjoy!
