718 running costs - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I've got a 2015 TTS just now but have been looking at Caymans for a while - test drove a two litre one at my local Porsche Centre at the weekend and loved it so thinking about pulling the trigger. The monthly repayments are affordable but there's a nagging doubt in my head due to the possibility of big bills on it (sort of 'if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it'). I'm used to Audi tax, but Porsche tax seems something else. I'm looking at a few 2018 GTS with slightly higher mileage (i do about 3k a year). The one i'm looking at specifically now is around 60k miles (60k service has been done recently), has full Porsche service history and is still currently under Porsche extended warranty, so it's been well looked after and wanted for nothing up to this point. The Porsche extended warranty seems well regarded online but the downside of that is needing to use a Porsche OPC for servicing with their exorbitant labour costs. I'm lucky to have two very good VAG/Porsche indies nearby who i've been using for the last few years and their costs for minor/major services are far more reasonable. It would be good to get some real-world views on running costs for these - they seem to be generally quite reliable if properly maintained, but is every second service going to bring a massive kick in the stones with it? Or does using a good indi mean they are a bit more reasonable to maintain? Swallowing a big bill every once in a while is par for the course with German cars, but frequent big bills are a different proposition. Edited by wjheenan on Monday 8th May 15:30

Indy service is <£500, and cars are very reliable. Early cars had water pump issues on 2.0 engine. So far in 3 years of ownership, 3 services from an indy and 1 change of all 4 tyres, have spent <£3k. You need to note that for Porsche warranty to stay intact, (the original warranty would have been 3 years from new IIRC) you have to use Porsche OPC for servicing - which would be double the cost of an indy. I presume Porsche will give you 2 year extended warranty in with the price? - double check. It doesn't cover perishables/service items but would cover significant items like active engine mounts etc. Don't overthink it, life is short, enjoy it.

I had a similar question see below, it is hopefully useful for you. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... As you can see I bought one just over a month ago. My overriding thoughts It’s a great daily driver. It gets a shuffle on when in SPORT mode It’s a nice place to be in all occasions. It’s a nice looking car. It’s nice to drop the roof when it’s nice. It rides calmly after the GR Yaris. It does pick up a fair bit of road noise but I expected that. It doesn’t sound like a flat 6 because it isn’t. I am averaging about 33mpg on most driving and 40 on a gentle run when on the dual carriageway or motorway. I have bought a doggle to link my Android phone which is now working fine. It’s not a thrilling drive but overall I am very pleased with my purchase. Good luck with your decision.

Fnumber1user said: Indy service is <£500, and cars are very reliable. Early cars had water pump issues on 2.0 engine. So far in 3 years of ownership, 3 services from an indy and 1 change of all 4 tyres, have spent <£3k. You need to note that for Porsche warranty to stay intact, (the original warranty would have been 3 years from new IIRC) you have to use Porsche OPC for servicing - which would be double the cost of an indy. I presume Porsche will give you 2 year extended warranty in with the price? - double check. It doesn't cover perishables/service items but would cover significant items like active engine mounts etc. Don't overthink it, life is short, enjoy it. Are you doing annual services? I've always taken my Audis in annually even though they have the longer intervals, but for the Porsche warranty they say you only need to service every two years or 20k miles. The previous owner kept extending the warranty and it has full OPC history so it's possible to just keep extending it by paying the 600 odd a year and taking it to Porsche when a scheduled service is due. There's always the risk with German cars that something catastrophic can happen and you'll get a gigantic bill but was just concerned massive bills might be norm, and that wouldn't be affordable for me. Edited by wjheenan on Monday 8th May 22:18

wjheenan said: Are you doing annual services? I've always taken my Audis in annually even though they have the longer intervals, but for the Porsche warranty they say you only need to service every two years or 20k miles. The previous owner kept extending the warranty and it has full OPC history so it's possible to just keep extending it by paying the 600 odd a year and taking it to Porsche when a scheduled service is due. There's always the risk with German cars that something catastrophic can happen and you'll get a gigantic bill but was just concerned massive bills might be norm, and that wouldn't be affordable for me. Edited by wjheenan on Monday 8th May 22:18 Yes - I get it serviced annually, regardless of mileage covered (obviously if I did 20k in a year it would be serviced more than once a year). 20k is perfectly acceptable for my daily hack, but too long for the Porsche, IMHO. Haven't read of anything major happening on these, regardless of mileage and/or/even if modified.

LemonTart said: I had a similar question see below, it is hopefully useful for you. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... As you can see I bought one just over a month ago. My overriding thoughts It’s a great daily driver. It gets a shuffle on when in SPORT mode It’s a nice place to be in all occasions. It’s a nice looking car. It’s nice to drop the roof when it’s nice. It rides calmly after the GR Yaris. It does pick up a fair bit of road noise but I expected that. It doesn’t sound like a flat 6 because it isn’t. I am averaging about 33mpg on most driving and 40 on a gentle run when on the dual carriageway or motorway. I have bought a doggle to link my Android phone which is now working fine. It’s not a thrilling drive but overall I am very pleased with my purchase. Good luck with your decision. That is helpful, thanks. Quite reassuring! I was impressed with the ride in the 2.0 they had at the dealer, even in sport, compared to my TTS (although that is on 20s and had been lowered). Some bumps i'd normally be bracing for impact, it swallowed up quite easily. And i've never owned a six cylinder car, so don't know what i'm missing. Compared to previous cars I thought it sounded pretty good. What was the issue with your phone? I'm an android user and one of my first planned stops after getting the cayman is to the local retrofits guys who can activate android auto on the PCM. Edited by wjheenan on Monday 8th May 22:43

Ref connecting an Android phone this thread may help you. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... PS Mine will be serviced as the schedule every 2 years or if it is getting towards the mileage threshold before that.

Ah yeah I'm aware of that. Android auto is available native on the pcm but disabled by Porsche. There's a good retrofitter locally who can activate it for a reasonable price. Once that's activated I've got an android auto wireless box to use which has been working great in my TTS. Had an aftermarket box in my A5 and it was really frustrating so avoiding them if possible at all from now on. Edited by jeebsy on Tuesday 9th May 08:36

I'm the OP btw, changed my username yesterday and it's only showing now for some reason.

wjheenan said: I'm looking at a few 2018 GTS with slightly higher mileage (i do about 3k a year). The one i'm looking at specifically now is around 60k miles (60k service has been done recently), has full Porsche service history and is still currently under Porsche extended warranty, so it's been well looked after and wanted for nothing up to this point. The Porsche extended warranty seems well regarded online but the downside of that is needing to use a Porsche OPC for servicing with their exorbitant labour costs. I'm lucky to have two very good VAG/Porsche indies nearby who i've been using for the last few years and their costs for minor/major services are far more reasonable. If you buy this and it has just been serviced then with your mileage of 3k per year it will not need another for 2 years. You could then either sell it or get it serviced. If you want to maintain the warranty then you need an OPC service. Just look at the cost of the service added to the cost of the next 2 years warranty as an all in one bundle price. You can always get the OPC to look at the car prior to service and they will give you a to do list. You are always allowed to go away and get the stuff done yourself. So you can do this DIY or using a specialist. As long as you buy genuine Porsche parts then the work does not need to be done by the OPC. Not sure how handy you are with a spanner but I actually quite like fixing simple stuff on my cars. You dont really need a Porsche specialist if you have a list of stuff to do from the OPC. Any mechanic should be able to do this especially if I can do it myself at home. I would assume a Porsche specialist is good for looking at your car and telling you what needs to be done but like I say the OPC would have already done this so specialist is not required if you ask me. I have just changed brakes on my 981 and it is not difficult - discs front and pads on all 4 corners. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

One this for you to wary of besides the water pump is the turbo actuator on the 2.0 has a tendency to stick. This alone is £2-3k to fix so the warranty is worth it. Servicing every 2 years is fine by your OPC. You could just drop the oil yourself but not log it and it would cost you a fraction. Just have the 2 year/20k service done at the OPC. A year extension to the warranty is ~£650. As mentioned in another thread, a PDK gearbox is £12k to replace and your OPC will not repair it. As long as you budget for costs it's not that expensive. Take into consideration some manufacturers insist on a service every year for ~£300-500, that's roughly the cost for a service on your Porsche. Brakes etc can be done by yourself or an indie however they won't be covered if the brakes fail as a result of work not done by an OPC. The choice is yours really. You could go down the Porsche extended warranty route or go for an indie warranty.

Cheers - that's useful info. For some reason I thought you had to go to the OPC for absolutely everything but it seems they're a bit more relaxed about it now. Mitigates the risk of taking your car in and they're like 'you need new windscreen wipers, that'll be £800 please' somewhat if you can use an indy for routine stuff. Cost of the warranty with two year service intervals also makes a bit more sense, it's not much more for the peace of mind should something catastrophic happen. Not averse to doing stuff myself, my A5 was getting on a bit by the time i bought it and it had quite a few faults for various things (mainly old sensors starting to fail) and managed to work around that getting it back up to scratch, bumpers off for various things, did the window regulators. Should probably learn how to do pads and discs as they seem quite a chunky cost on the GTS but the thought of touching the brakes gives me the fear. Got the finance agreed today so that's me in - hopefully collect the car on Thursday.

Link here to someone who spent 12 grand on one service at a specialist - so not even OPC. Pic of receipt is there too. All adds up very quickly. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

That’s a 21 year old 996 where the owner basically replaced the complete suspension and a lot of other components. Not at all typical You would really have to try hard to get a 718 service bill up to those levels without needing something like PCCB replacement.

b0rk said: That’s a 21 year old 996 where the owner basically replaced the complete suspension and a lot of other components. Not at all typical You would really have to try hard to get a 718 service bill up to those levels without needing something like PCCB replacement. Yes But you can add up the price of discs, pads and the labour to fit. And these are simple steal discs with simple pads.

All of the above….. + £10k for a 981 engine…… With PSE…

My 981 has cost me less to run than my 2012 TT did. But I’m not bothered about OPC servicing and go to a Indy. I stick to the 2 yr schedules.

ATM said: Link here to someone who spent 12 grand on one service at a specialist - so not even OPC. Pic of receipt is there too. All adds up very quickly. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... £60 to paint wheel bolts!! The indie i use paints the wheel bolts for free with a service, and also offers complimentary number plates with a major service ( which is very competitive on price imho)

Philvrs said: £60 to paint wheel bolts I think plus VAT

FWIW, I have just bought my 981BS from a fellow P'Header as a private sale. The car has a full file of papers, full OPC service history and the previous owner put the car through a OPC 111point check and put a 3yr OPC warranty onto the car a year before I bought it. The remaining 2 yr warranty was transferred to me on purchase. The 111point check and the 2 yr OPC warranty was a big reasurrance when privately buying, and this, (together with spec, provenance meant the car was an attractive buy and I think commanded a premium which made it an easy transaction for the buyer (and seller). I would have not have been prepared to pay as much for a private sale had it not been accompanied by the full OPC service history, recent 111 point check and OPC warranty. So the additional cost of keeping an OPC SH and warranty can somewhat be offset against a better private sale value. Edited by elan362 on Wednesday 10th May 14:50

Got a trip down to Liverpool to collect tomorrow. Excited but still got a slight voice asking if it's really a good idea. Guess we're gonna find out.

I look forward to seeing the post collection photos posted up here. I found people’s opinions really helpful in my decision making process, thank you to everyone who contributed. I hope you are similarly delighted with the outcome.

Very impressed with it on the drive home - averaged 40mpg cruising on the motorway which is better than my TTS. Need to find a solution for the number plate, i've for a five digit private ref to go on - the bumper has just been filled and repainted so don't really want to screw a holder on again. think there might just be space to get a stick on plate on but it'll be tight. it could also do with some spacers i think....and we're off again Edited by wjheenan on Thursday 11th May 22:32

That’s gorgeous.

I bought my stick on plates from here https://proplates.co.uk/collections/stick-on-numbe... Fit perfectly on the GTS bumper

Congrats - Porsche do a shortened numberplate plinth if you don't want to use a sticker. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195671564205?epid=12047...