[agent 86]

Anyone else here visit the Planet9 forum?

Planet9 is the forum i discovered before I got my Cayman. The site was recommended to me by a member of the BRZ/FRS forum where I was member. I was excited to learn about Planet9. Reading the 981 threads help stoke my excitement and contributed to my decision to get a Cayman sooner than I expected.

Now, however, I don't visit that site anymore. Many of the members are really down on the 718. I understand that the 718 is not for everyone, but some of the members behave as though it's their personal mission to destroy the 718 reputation.

There's a discussion group "718 Chat". As a new owner or someone looking to purchase a 718 you'd expect to find details about the cars, technical discussion and of course some people that don't like the 718. But, if you visit the 718 Chat group you will find a thread titled "Worst 718 Reviews?" with over 1500 posts. Almost 10 times more posts than any other thread in the 718 Chat group! What's worse, the majority of the contributors to this thread are 981 owners that have absolutely no interest in the 718 and try to destroy anyone that may have anything positive to say about the 718.

One of the "worst" offenders seems to be a contributor that I believe is one of the site's Administrators!

Anyway, I have decided to stay away from Planet9. I realize I could just avoid that thread, but whenever I visited that site looking for updated content, this particular thread seemed to be the most active.

Maybe when there are more 718 owners and meaningful content I will return. For now though, I can do without Planet9 and would not recommend it to anyone looking at the 718.

I would be curious to read what others here think.

 

[dc2112fan]

agent 86:

I, too, have spent many an hour on Planet9 and that thread in particular. In fact, I was just on that thread before I came to check new posts here. I totally agree with what you've written. While the site (along with this one) has been helpful in my research on the 718 as I head to a decision on my next car, it is exhausting to read all the negativity. I get the "If you don't like it, you don't have to read it." concept, but geez the negativity seems over the top. I imagine it was the same during the time the air cooled / water cooled debate raged.

As it is I spend entirely too much time on these forums anyway. I keep hoping this forum will become more active as more 718 owners collect their cars and want to talk about them. Even if I end up choosing something other than the 718 I'll still probably check in from time to time just because I love car forums. I'll probably still wander around Planet9 also.

 

[trusted]

Had the same impression. Butthurt central. Read about the 718 for about 30min. Then decided it's actually a complete waste of time if you look for any useful information on the 718. They don't want me there...fine by me.

 

[Gallatin]

agent86--I don't bother with Planet 9 anymore. It is a waste of time. Obviously they are entitled to their views but it was getting very nasty and demeaning to those who disagreed with their hating the 718.

Rennlist is much more balanced and there was even a thread on Rennlist that addressed the situation on Planet 9. One person on the thread indicated that he got banned from Planet 9 because he disagreed with someone who happened to be one of the Moderators. Apparently the moderator kept extending the ban on this guy. I am not sure what the specific topic or issue was--I don't think it even related to the 718 but it does seem that those who run Planet 9 can be rather arbitrary.

I have high hopes for this forum!!! I have already noticed that the postings are up and everyone is very excited and enthused about their 718s or the 718s that they are about to get. For me two days until pick up of my 718 Boxster--cant wait!!!

 

[GregW]

I'm really a newbie when it comes to Porsche--my first hasn't even been made yet (due to be completed in week 2 in May)--so I find even Planet9 interesting. I do notice the "down on the 718" trend, and that it has to do with the exhaust sound as the only important component of the car. From the YouTube videos I really like the 718 sound and really look forward to having some of my own.

That fact that the rest of the car is an improvement over past models seems mostly to escape them!

Greg

 

[Winston]

It's mostly a bunch of internet trolls. A good per cent of the posters are Porsche posers trying to create an online persona in which they can act as a purist - therefore above reproach in their opinions. Most don't own, have never owned or have never driven a Cayman. Many have thousands of posts - they spend all their lives on the internet. You think that's the only site they visit? They don't have a life and are only happy disparaging others. Some have even been caught posting items/cars of others and claiming them as their own. I call those people sad and bitter. It's an echo chamber for the losers. The 718 clearly outperforms the older models and there are few owners that can't live with that either. Stay away from all those people.

If you want good information about your car and need advice, join PCA and the local chapter if they have one. Go to the track days, dinners and meet and drives. They are the nicest people and never denigrate another's vehicle. They have better things to do.

 

[photonscience]

I believe that the mission of planet 9 is to denigrate the 718 for a number of reasons - trying to keep the resale value of their older 98x cars higher; trying to embarrass Porsche into bringing back the flat 6; cannot accept that time and progress marches on. All other reasons that they keep that "worst review" thread open are total B.S.

And the comment, "if you don't like the thread, don't read it" is also pure B.S. Say a person that is potentially considering a 718 goes to planet 9 for information - what do they see? A bunch of relatively useless short threads and one thread that has 1600+ replies and goes on for pages about how sucky the 718 is. What would the 718 prospect think?

I've owned 986/987/981 Caymans and Boxsters. My most recent Cayman was a 981 GTS. I've also owned many 911's and most recently a 991 Turbo S and a generation 1 Audi R8 V10 Plus. I got rid of the high powered, expensive cars because the GTS was just so much **** fun and the 560hp of the Turbo and the R8 became more about "bragging rights" than usefulness. But when I drove the 718 S, I thought it had the best of both worlds - fine power, but in that amazingly good chassis. Torque was what was lacking in the 981 GTS, not that it was a slow car, but in order to feel its power, you had to be over 5000 rpm and that's also when it makes that wonderful flat 6 wail. But, where I live in NJ, running around the congested highways at high RPM is just not practical. I greatly prefer the torque characteristics of the 718 S over the 981 GTS for my driving needs. BTW, I find the sound of the 718 is fine - just different - more guttural and less of a wail. The 718 S is an improvement in virtually every way over my GTS. My new 718 Boxster S will be in my hands next week and I couldn't be more excited.

I hope more actual owners of 718's find this website and abandon Planet 9 so that prospective owners can get a real understanding of the car. BTW, 718 bashing by auto journalists seems to be mostly from U.K. reviewers and mostly old news. As more journalists have gotten past the "sound" issue, the brilliance of the 718 seems to be winning out.

 

[agent 86]

I believe that the mission of planet 9 is to denigrate the 718 for a number of reasons - trying to keep the resale value of their older 98x cars higher; trying to embarrass Porsche into bringing back the flat 6; cannot accept that time and progress marches on. All other reasons that they keep that "worst review" thread open are total B.S.

And the comment, "if you don't like the thread, don't read it" is also pure B.S. Say a person that is potentially considering a 718 goes to planet 9 for information - what do they see? A bunch of relatively useless short threads and one thread that has 1600+ replies and goes on for pages about how sucky the 718 is. What would the 718 prospect think?

I've owned 986/987/981 Caymans and Boxsters. My most recent Cayman was a 981 GTS. I've also owned many 911's and most recently a 991 Turbo S and a generation 1 Audi R8 V10 Plus. I got rid of the high powered, expensive cars because the GTS was just so much **** fun and the 560hp of the Turbo and the R8 became more about "bragging rights" than usefulness. But when I drove the 718 S, I thought it had the best of both worlds - fine power, but in that amazingly good chassis. Torque was what was lacking in the 981 GTS, not that it was a slow car, but in order to feel its power, you had to be over 5000 rpm and that's also when it makes that wonderful flat 6 wail. But, where I live in NJ, running around the congested highways at high RPM is just not practical. I greatly prefer the torque characteristics of the 718 S over the 981 GTS for my driving needs. BTW, I find the sound of the 718 is fine - just different - more guttural and less of a wail. The 718 S is an improvement in virtually every way over my GTS. My new 718 Boxster S will be in my hands next week and I couldn't be more excited.

I hope more actual owners of 718's find this website and abandon Planet 9 so that prospective owners can get a real understanding of the car. BTW, 718 bashing by auto journalists seems to be mostly from U.K. reviewers and mostly old news. As more journalists have gotten past the "sound" issue, the brilliance of the 718 seems to be winning out.

Wow. That's some list of cars.

 

[agent 86]

It may take a couple months, but I think this forum will grow as Planet9 becomes a ghost town. I no longer log in there and only visit looking for some new and useful information.

 

[photonscience]

Wow. That's some list of cars.

I don't hold on to cars for long. The R8 was the first non-Porsche sports car that I owned in the last 10 years. Talk about an engine and sound! I traded it in for the 991 Turbo S, because I missed Porsche steering and handling. I drove the Cayman and realized it was all I needed for my recreational driving here in crowded NJ. Very high powered, expensive cars just don't make sense to me anymore.

 

[thorn]

P9 was the first place I headed for info and discussion, when the 718 launched... but there doesn't seem to be much discussion, other than sharing opinions on how the car is a 4 cylinder turbo-charged abortion. Apparently the only thing that's important to many people is how a car sounds; performance be damned.

But ironically, I had no interest in purchasing a Cayman BEFORE the 718S. I always felt the 9xx series was missing... something. Like the performance and appearance just wasn't quite there somehow. It was like an "almost", instead of a pure car in its own right. (No offense meant to owners of older Caymans. At all. I also have no interest in the 2+2 seater 911. Just a personal thing.)

Porsche nailed the 718 completely, in my opinion. A 6cyl would be nice, sure. But the 4cylT is nice too. I've gone from not really caring much about the Cayman, to deciding when/how I want to liquidate some stock investments and purchase one.

Glad this forum has come along, as I'd prefer to commune with people that are also excited about this new model, instead of stressed and disgusted.

 

[jzwu]

I was very much interested in the 981 Boxster. However, after driving a base Boxster in 6MT I felt it was severely lacking in torque/power. There is nothing at <4000 rpm! I refuse to pay $50-60k for such an under-powered car, no matter how sporty it is.

The 718 fixed this weak point with the base 718 as fast as the 981 S and the torque rushes in at 2000 rpm.

 

[Gallatin]

I was very much interested in the 981 Boxster. However, after driving a base Boxster in 6MT I felt it was severely lacking in torque/power. There is nothing at <4000 rpm! I refuse to pay $50-60k for such an under-powered car, no matter how sporty it is.

The 718 fixed this weak point with the base 718 as fast as the 981 S and the torque rushes in at 2000 rpm.

I couldn't have said this better myself!!! This is exactly why I went with the 718. I drove a 981 base in 6MT and an S--almost pulled the trigger on a 2016. I took the 718 for a drive and that was it for me.

 

[Giggity]

If there was no such thing as a boxster or cayman before the 718, then all the critics would be drooling over this car. I love the sound of the old 981s, but I also love the sound of the new 718, especially with the sport exhaust. The sound of the turbo spooling up gets my heart going too, especially for me as a younger guy who grew up with the fast and furious movies

 

[GregW]

Hi all,

I was thinking about all this tonight while preparing some of my favourite burgers.
I came to the conclusion that we need to be sympathetic to the "nay sayers" about the 718 on Planet9.
We need to be gentle on them--it can't be easy knowing that you're driving superseded machinery. )

Greg

 

[photonscience]

I made this observation in a post some time ago on Planet 9: It appeared that the number of posts by a given poster and the vehemence of dislike for the 718 are directly proportional. It seems that when someone has thousands of 98x posts under their belt (and in the case of the administrator, over 10000), they may have an "axe to grind".

I sent a private e-mail to the founder of the site and suggested that it would make sense to move the "worst 718 review" thread to the 98x board and let us 718 owners happily post in peace. It was rejected. Then I suggested that they move that EVO "worst" article with all the other review articles, after all it's just one opinion. It was rejected.

I was told the purpose of the thread was to give people (i.e, 98x owners) a place to put all their negativity rather than pollute the other threads on the 718 site. I guess you can say that it worked - they sure got alot of 98x aficionados to vent their spleens. The irony was when we were told that we could not post positive reviews on the "worst" thread.

I predict that they will not need a 718 subsite in the future, since anyone who appreciates the 718 will find other places to find like-minded people to share real information about the their cars.

 

[agent 86]

The "Worst 718 Review" thread would dry up and fall off the page if they stuck to the topic. As it is, the haters can only keep the thread alive by teaming up on anyone that says anything positive.

I say don't give the haters any fuel. Let's see how long it lasts.

 

[718BS]

It's mostly a bunch of internet trolls. A good per cent of the posters are Porsche posers trying to create an online persona in which they can act as a purist - therefore above reproach in their opinions. Most don't own, have never owned or have never driven a Cayman. Many have thousands of posts - they spend all their lives on the internet. You think that's the only site they visit? They don't have a life and are only happy disparaging others. Some have even been caught posting items/cars of others and claiming them as their own. I call those people sad and bitter. It's an echo chamber for the losers. The 718 clearly outperforms the older models and there are few owners that can't live with that either. Stay away from all those people.

If you want good information about your car and need advice, join PCA and the local chapter if they have one. Go to the track days, dinners and meet and drives. They are the nicest people and never denigrate another's vehicle. They have better things to do.

That's not really true. I know many of the people on there and like I owned a 2013 Boxster before and was on the forum a lot a few years ago and recently now with my 2017 Boxster S. I don't think it does any good to rip another forum.

 

[718BS]

Also, I hope most of you know the 718 is only a name... it's not the car designation at all. It's a 982 I think. There is no reason that Planet9 would become a ghost town. I found this new forum by accident today and was excite but let the cross forum bashing go.

 

[Winston]

That's not really true. I know many of the people on there and like I owned a 2013 Boxster before and was on the forum a lot a few years ago and recently now with my 2017 Boxster S. I don't think it does any good to rip another forum.

I'm talking about losers on message boards. Sorry, but it's true.