Here are the technical details on my build: Carmine red All leather interior and deletion of all alcantara, which is terrible. Aluminum interior pieces Manual gearbox Torque Vectoring Porsche Connect with
Bose Entry and Drive Bi-Xenon Headlights PASM Suspension Lane change assist 18-way sports seats Guards Red seat belts and instrument panel And a few more odds and ends like light design package that were thrown in for free.
Basically, this is the maxed out version of the Cayman, except for ceramic brakes. I watched the entirety of the Porsche “Good to know” videos after ordering, and I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t have gotten Entry and a drive if I hadn’t known it added external sensors for the trunk, trunk and doors.
Overall, it’s a huge upgrade from the base 981. The biggest issue I had with the older version was the absence of torque. At the same time, I wouldn’t say this is overflowing with torque. The PDK I demoed had far more immediate power on demand than my manual. In time, I will learn how to find it - generally it’s one gear down from where I am expecting. But the manual is still a gearbox you will have to finesse to drive at the limit.
Everything about this car is a better than the 981. The seats are better, the PCM is much, much better, the manual gearbox is smooth as butter. The lights are shockingly brighter, giving a near-daylight level of illumination to backroads twisties.
This is a much safer car to drive than the 981. The backup camera is good, on par with everything else in the industry. The forward parking sensors aren’t great. I wish I had a camera to augment the front sensors, because they aren’t entirely consistent in sensing and indicating distance. The Lane Change assistant is a must have. I love that your phone gets locked in the center compartment and forces you to use voice for everything.
The car drives in a surgically precise matter, drastically sharper than my 981. This is good and bad, as a few millimeters of mistake while steering aggressively through corners causes it to veer off the road. I’ll adapt to it, but wow - this car will go where you tell it.
I felt my Torque Vectoring kick in once, and it was bizarre and awesome. I was really pushing through a corner, and underestimated it. Then I felt the rear of the car magically slide and lock back on course. It felt like cheating, but I can really see it
saving you when you mess up.
As far as the sound: It’s great. I freaking love it. It’s loud, aggressive and dangerous - constantly asking you to push towards the red line. My SO loves it too, saying it’s the best part of the car. As best as I can tell from videos, the GTS has a different sound than the S version. It’s a weird, visceral mix between low grumbling tones and high tones. I remain convinced that the “outrage” about the sound is much ado about nothing. I strongly prefer this sound to the 981, though I can imagine the low tones damaging your hearing with a lot of highway driving, which are still prominent even in normal mode.
Idling in sports plus mode, you can hear the engine from a block away. It really is loud from the outside. I deliberately put it back in normal mode when driving down my street to be polite to the neighbors.
I think Guards Red looks like a kindergarten color, and the Carmine Red is much better. The striking color is my favorite part about it, but it’s definitely STILL lighter in real life than it is in photos. Also, my door handles are jet black to activate the space on the side of the car, but the air intakes are a matte black. If I reordered it, I would pay for jet black ducts so it matched.
I really like Porsche Entry and Drive, but the front is a little quirky with detecting your hand to automatically pop the trunk. You have to hover it about half an inch over the surface and hold it for a second. The rear is instant and simple. Overall, this is an excellent option.
The 18-way seats are expensive, but if this is a daily driver I would strongly suggest. It really is much more comfortable. Having driven the alcantara version of the GTS, I strongly suggest skipping it - leather feels much much better. The brushed aluminum trip pieces are a massive upgrade over the plastic, but I wish I’d gotten them in black. I’m a little disappointed that even with the brushed aluminum, the notched gear diagram on the shifter is still plastic. This is the part of the car you touch the most, and it still feels cheap.
I also would skip the red instrument dials if I respeced this car. It looks great in pictures, but it makes the tachometer and manual speedometer harder to read at a glance. Not a dealbreaker, but it gets in the way.
Overall, this is an amazing car, and I’m dead certain I made the right choice. In my opinion, the next version of the Cayman/Boxster will be electric in 5 years or so. That makes this the ultimate version of the last era of the gasoline cars. Since there’s no point in an electric car having a clutch, I am betting these are highly sought by connoisseurs in 20 years.
I think for my generation, the Boxster/Cayman is what the 911 is for the generation older than me. The 986 was THE car when I was a teenager, and I genuinely prefer the look and feel of this car over any 911 past the mid 90s. The 911 has gotten too big, and when I’ve driven one it feels like I’m wearing a fat suit. I know the 911 specs are superior, but to me? This is the ultimate daily driver Porsche.
TLDR: I feel great about this car, and feel like I made the right call or most of the options. Still unsold on PASM and Torque Vectoring. The knashing and wailing about the sound of the engine is ridiculous.