981 Sytner Select - would you? - Page 2 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

Hi All, I'm new to Porsche but interested in 981 Cayman of some flavour. Because I'm generally risk averse, I'd prefer one with a decent warranty. I realise Porsche Approved s probably best but anyone experience of Sytner Select? Worth the paper it's written on? Cheers! Edited by ToneyCaroney on Tuesday 4th July 09:26

I saw the blue GT4 they had however in the end went with an OPC car. You get 2 years with OPC on the warranty and its about as good as a warranty gets which swung it for me. Sytner are a huge group so if I liked the car I would go for it, wonder if its there as it has any non-approved Porsche parts e.g. "NO" tyres etc which probably make no difference but prevent them retailing via their approved Porsche network?

ToneyCaroney said: Hi All, I'm new to Porsche but interested in 981 Cayman of some flavour. Because I'm generally risk averse, I'd prefer one with a decent warranty. I realise Porsche Approved s probably best but anyone experience of Sytner Select? Worth the paper it's written on? Cheers! Edited by ToneyCaroney on Tuesday 4th July 09:26 Avoid Sytner Select. They sell cars not good enough to go to an OPC, says it all really.

Non manufacturer warranties seem to have a terrible reputation on here. Not Sytner directly, but there was a thread about an M5 and a major name warranty provider recently where they tried everything imaginable to get out of paying the claim. Although you need expensive OPC servicing and parts the Porsche one can be extended to 15 years / 125k miles (IIRC) which seems slightly better than most if you require peace of mind.

Thanks. Yes, that's the worry that they try and wriggle out of a claim. Maybe worth waiting for something to come up with Porsche Approved. Otherwise is respected Indy is a good route to go? I'm South East so probably looking at Ashgood, Raby, RSJ, harbour etc

I have a 991 customer with Sytner select, Carecare warranty, we had to make 2 claims and both were paid for without any issues. I received payment within 3 days for first repair and just over a week for the 2nd, which was a £1000 part.

The cars Sytner put through the Select process are (I understand) cars that won't meet the manufacturer warranty standards such as those with non OEM parts and possibly larger than normal gaps in the service history etc. plus cars that might require too much pre-sales prep for their dealer brands to retail properly - the cars are then listed at a different dealership to the brand of the car to avoid issues with the manufacturers/their minimum approved used car standards. As has been said before, it doesn't mean they aren't a good car.

Thanks, both interesting replies. I've requested more info from them about the car so will see what's forthcoming. Interestingly it is being marketed by Sytner Porsche, rather than another brand, but as a Select car. I'll see why it doesn't make the grade for Porsche Approved.

Get a rev report done...

Look at the 981 platform and review the known issues that can arise to assess your risk appetite. There are too few to mention. We don’t know what model of 981 you’re talking about or the extras it has but dynamic engine mounts, valves on the PSE and potentially a sticking HVAC blower fan are the only ones that come to mind. The first two it’s the cost of the part where the money is. If you’re going to use it every day the CarPlay would be the first job opening up the PCM to fit the part. That’ll void a Porsche warranty in any event. 981 is an old platform now and I suspect OPC are seeing fewer and fewer of them either retail or for servicing. Outside of a GT4 I’d question why anyone would pay twice the cost of servicing one through an OPC rather than a good independent garage or put it under an OPC warranty. Do your due diligence, have it inspected and then decide. That said I doubt it’ll be a turd rolled in glitter if Synter are selling it outside of their OPC network.

We looked at Sytner Select when buying a new car for my wife a little while back. The cars they had were all utter dross. One of them looked as though a werewolf had been let loose in the interior and some of the others were quite literally falling apart. I actually felt bad for the salesman as he tried his sales pitch. The car in question may be fine but I would be going over it with a fine toothed comb to try and understand why an OPC couldn't sell it as an Approved Used.

Thanks, A.S. The Sytner car is a 981 S. I'm interested in it because it's a manual and they are few and far between. I've never driven a Cayman of any flavour and so keeping my options open as to which variant to go for although GTS probably more expensive than I'd get away with! I don't do track days. B roads and occasional touring is where its at so sometimes the slower variant is actually better for me (heresy, I know!). It's a weekend car - probably 3-4k miles per year so not fussed about car play etc or many options for that matter. I take your point about the OPC warranty and servicing and OPC retail cars appear a fair chunk more expensive than others. Could well not make financial sense if they are inherently reliable. But, i'm a worrier, so.... Cheers.

LennyM1984 said: We looked at Sytner Select when buying a new car for my wife a little while back. The cars they had were all utter dross. One of them looked as though a werewolf had been let loose in the interior and some of the others were quite literally falling apart. I actually felt bad for the salesman as he tried his sales pitch. The car in question may be fine but I would be going over it with a fine toothed comb to try and understand why an OPC couldn't sell it as an Approved Used. I've been umming and ahing about whether to go and see it as it's a bit of a trek. From what you've said, I would definitely need to!

Ohio7274 said: Although you need expensive OPC servicing and parts the Porsche one can be extended to 15 years / 125k miles (IIRC) which seems slightly better than most if you require peace of mind. Been a Porsche nerd for many years. Its always been known that the Porsche warranty is the only one worth having. Simply because they have no maximum limits for stuff like engine or gearbox. The 981 PDK box is impossible to repair as spare parts are impossible to buy therefore no specialists are willing to open them up. This is naughty of Porsche and forces everyone towards their warranty. If something simple inside breaks the box is scrap. Don't forget you can get any Porsche under 15 years and 125k miles inspected by them and if passes then apply a warranty. So this means it could have been serviced anywhere prior to this.

ATM said: Been a Porsche nerd for many years. Its always been known that the Porsche warranty is the only one worth having. Simply because they have no maximum limits for stuff like engine or gearbox. The 981 PDK box is impossible to repair as spare parts are impossible to buy therefore no specialists are willing to open them up. This is naughty of Porsche and forces everyone towards their warranty. If something simple inside breaks the box is scrap. Don't forget you can get any Porsche under 15 years and 125k miles inspected by them and if passes then apply a warranty. So this means it could have been serviced anywhere prior to this. The immediately preceding service has to be by Porsche in order to obtain a warranty - even if this means repeating work already carried out.

Armitage.Shanks said: Look at the 981 platform and review the known issues that can arise to assess your risk appetite. There are too few to mention. We don’t know what model of 981 you’re talking about or the extras it has but dynamic engine mounts, valves on the PSE and potentially a sticking HVAC blower fan are the only ones that come to mind. The first two it’s the cost of the part where the money is. If you’re going to use it every day the CarPlay would be the first job opening up the PCM to fit the part. That’ll void a Porsche warranty in any event. 981 is an old platform now and I suspect OPC are seeing fewer and fewer of them either retail or for servicing. Outside of a GT4 I’d question why anyone would pay twice the cost of servicing one through an OPC rather than a good independent garage or put it under an OPC warranty. Do your due diligence, have it inspected and then decide. That said I doubt it’ll be a turd rolled in glitter if Synter are selling it outside of their OPC network. I suspect because at £1.5k per corner for engine mounts and god knows how much for a PDK box, it provides peace of mind. Especially if you actually drive your car, take it to tracks, and so on. I'd probably agree if you just use it every 5th weekend for a jaunt down to a country pub then yeah it makes less sense.

I thought someone on here had found a place that can repair PDK gearboxes?

Armitage.Shanks said: I thought someone on here had found a place that can repair PDK gearboxes? Mine sprung a leak after I wrote it off. I rang several places and no one was even interested in looking at the car. Slippydiff from this parish recommended a gearbox place. I contacted them and they seemed to deal with me like any other customer - no drama. I took the car there - 3 hour drive. After their look see they gave me a quote and then fixed it. This involved removing the box and replacing all [external] seals. Car has been fine since. So I am not calling this a repair because for me a repair means opening the box up. Although others have replaced their entire box just for a leak. I enquired at OPC and they said exchange boxes are 6250 plus Vodka. They need your old one back as it is an exchange. And it needs to pass a visual inspection so no cracks or obvious damage visible. https://goo.gl/maps/B1XWNhzJDYvHqkGd7

ATM said: Armitage.Shanks said: I thought someone on here had found a place that can repair PDK gearboxes? Mine sprung a leak after I wrote it off. I rang several places and no one was even interested in looking at the car. Slippydiff from this parish recommended a gearbox place. I contacted them and they seemed to deal with me like any other customer - no drama. I took the car there - 3 hour drive. After their look see they gave me a quote and then fixed it. This involved removing the box and replacing all [external] seals. Car has been fine since. So I am not calling this a repair because for me a repair means opening the box up. Although others have replaced their entire box just for a leak. I enquired at OPC and they said exchange boxes are 6250 plus Vodka. They need your old one back as it is an exchange. And it needs to pass a visual inspection so no cracks or obvious damage visible. https://goo.gl/maps/B1XWNhzJDYvHqkGd7 austrins are good, never an issue

I wouldn't say you should avoid Sytner Select as you can usually get a good deal BUT and i's a big but - make sure you do your due diligence and take everything they say with a pinch of salt. I bought my Lotus Exige from them and it had a 3Y manufacturer warranty since it was nearly new, so I didn't have much to do with them, however I'm currently buying a McLaren from them and my own inspection has revealed a couple of faults (driver's side aircon and cracked hinges) so I've booked it into a main dealer for a full inspection next week. This is despite them claiming to go through a 150 or 1 million point check, either way it's not worth the paper it's written on and if you're purchasing any performance car from them I'd get it checked out either by a main dealer or specialist independent at a minimum. The other thing to note is that their warranty has a claim limit of £4k and has quite a few exclusions. However, buying through them can save you a few thousand pounds over other dealers and if you get it up to the standard of main dealer prep after the inspection then it's a worthwhile saving to make

Have previously bought a Mk 7 GTI and a 335d Touring from Sytner Select. GTI had a cracked rear spoiler which was replaced prior to collection. Covered about 45k mikes without a single problem.

DMC2 said: Avoid Sytner Select. They sell cars not good enough to go to an OPC, says it all really. This is rubbish! I bought a 991.1 turbo from Sytner 4 years ago , part ex it in for a 991.2 it’s now for sale with Porsche. https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en-GB/details/porsch...