Cayman Cabin Heat

I know we discussd this somewhere which I cannot find so I brought it up here again. I just read another article in Automobile Mag 'Buying & Leasing 06' and it mentions 'engine can heat up cabin'. This is the second statement I have read mentioning that issue. I wonder if any of the dealers that got to drive them noticed anything? Some of the larger more comprehensive articles never even mention anything about cabin heat, should we be concerned? Russ

I've thought about this issue too and after several hours hard thinking I have concluded that the solution is to....wind the windows down, rather than cancel the order.Alternatively, you could buya Porsche frying pan and cook your breakfast on iton the way to work.

The cabin temperature does kind of get hot in my boxster s when compared to other vehicles. Its not really a nuisance though. One would consciously have to look for it or point it out, but I didn't notice it until now. The air conditioner is always on anyway.

I live in Florida, so this is a hot topic for me. No pun intended. It only makes sense that with the engine inside the passenger compartment there is going to be a heat issue. I would like to think that a company like Porsche would deal with it in an effective manner. Let's hope that this baby has a very good A/C unit. In the end, though, everything has a silver lining. The way I see it, my pizza will stay warmer longer on the way home if I place it in the rear trunk. /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbsup.gif

Freestyle, Don't worry NOTHING could make me cancel my order. It will nice to have some regular folks like ourselves to give us some feedback on these issues that keep coming up.. Chuck, I will probably have the A/C on year round as it is hot like summer 12 months out of the year so maybe it is not a big deal. Russ

I will take care of the cabin heat by rolling down the windows unless its raining/snowing outside. That being the case, I wont have to run the heater. Will not cause me to cancel my order that is for sure.

What is a heater? LOL! Aloha Russ (time to get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

During 4 years of Boxster ownership in South Florida I never had a problem cooling the cabin. The trunk got very hot and so did the rear console compartment. Having said that, the engine was not inside the car, just the firewall/bulkhead. I think there may be significant heating through the rear glass hatch in combination with the engine heat. However, unless the 987 style A/C is not as good as the 986 A/C there shouldn't be any problem with cooling the interior quickly because the rear compartment isn't that large.

From I witness accounts in the car in Southern Italy in July I would expect that in warm weather my back and the back of my head will feel heat radiating from the rear bulkhead/engine compartment,while my chest, face and legs will be chilled by the A/C.

Thanks Dave, I appreciatee the input. I am not expecting it to be a problem or we would have heard a lot more about it. We will all know first hand soon enough. Aloha Russ

It is a big issue for me here in sunny and sometimes hot New Mexico. Some normal auto's a/c cannot keep up with the temps. Porsche has a history of poor a/c performance, I guess because they don't face the same weather in Germany? I really don't understand how the heat is going to be removed from the cockpit and doubt that the a/c can keep up in extreme temps. That issue is my only concern and I too am looking for unbiased reporting on it.

SF, I sure can understand your concern. I have seen what your weather can do in the summer. In Hawaii a good A/C is very important, in fact if you try to drive without it most of time you are sitting in sweat. I use mine always. I think those of us that are concerned should all ask our dealers if they have any feedback on the issue. Aloha Russ

Speaking of AC - has anybody seen any numbers on how much power is lost due to AC - are we talking under 1HP or over ? In general I dislike AC and try to avoid using it as much as possible !!

I posted one of the first threads on this question, so far, no definitive answers. I haveseen it mentioned in three different press articles thus far. With the Boxster , the engine is open to exterior air above it. In the Cayman , the hatch back traps the heat. The only relief is either A/C or windows down. The Porsche A/C is marginal. Luckily I live in the SF Bay Area so we do not have many blistering days. Inany case, I will not have a black interior (or dark exterior for that matter) to minimize this issue. It is definitely a concern for me as heat does bother me. CP Edited by - CP on 11/16/2005 3:26:10 PM

I don't know why people say the Porsche A/C is marginal. My Boxster S had a dark interior, black top, and atlas grey (dark) body, yet in 100+ degree humid heat (harder to cool than dry heat), I never had a problem with the Boxster S 's A/C, in fact it would freeze me out of the car if I ran it on high the whole time. I would cool the car down, then set the fan speed lower to maintain an even temp. Go try a 2005 Boxster and turn on the A/C and see for yourself, I really don't see this as being a problem for the Cayman S .

Plus the fact that the air supply is up to 30% greater for the Cayman than the Boxster to the engine bay which will help keep the temp down.

K-Man-S you probably have not had the long history of Porsche ownership to have been 'burnt' by Porsche A/C's. My most recent C4-S was o.k. but not up to say the standards of a Lexus. A/C is optional for some depending on location. But for other places it is a requirement. Having the engine inside the cockpit is a real worry that we hope Porsche has dealt with.

Actually I have owned several Porsches, but can firmly say the 987S A/C was top notch.

If anything you'll have 2-75 air conditioning ...2 windows at 75 But I'm sure that Porsche has dealt with this and won't even be noticeable. Alot of tests read on the internet and none indicate it being a problem.

I don't buy these reports at all. There's no reason why the Cayman 's engine should heat up the cabin interior. I've owned two mid-engine cars and neither had this problem. I refuse to believe that a solid engineering firm like Porsche can't deliver a car that has the comfort characteristics achived decades ago by lesser-inspired firms. And the a/c on my present 911 is just fine, thank you./fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/wall.gif

My spouse will not view the windows down option gladly. Actually neither will I on some occasions. As to the testers not reporting a problem remember that they got to spend a couple of hours at most inhighly controlled (by Porsche PR) environments. The few that spent longer times did reportsome heat build up. I sure hope that this isn't a problem and I suspect for some parts of the world it will not be. But I do have some real negative experiences with Porsches from earlier years that I finally gave up on whose AC just didn't do the job. Long customer memories should be a lesson toPorsche and to customers. I have driven Boxsters here and it wasn't a problem but the engine was out back from the cockpit. [/quote] It is just a concern and not a problem at this point. I'm betting $70,000 that Porsche has it right but I will complain like hell if they messed up again. [/quote]