SwanSong

Hi All - my brother (base 981 owner) and I (718 GTS 4.0 owner) spent some time last weekend comparing our Caymans on some amazing roads in central CA. Both cars are manuals. I largely agree with his assessment in comparing the two, and figured you might find it interesting. Here you go …

Last weekend I had the chance to do a pretty extensive comparison of my car, a base 981 Cayman, with my brother's 718 GTS 4.0. I thought it would be interesting to share some impressions after driving them back to back for several hours... some things were surprising, others not so much. Overall, the two cars are both fantastic, and feel 80% the same. Detailed impressions below:

• 718 Wins
  • The engine...wow. Such a wonderful swan song for the naturally aspirated 6-cylinder Cayman. You do have to rev it pretty high to really feel the power, but that's what makes it so fun, similar to the 2.7 in the base 981. The torque difference is of course night and day. In short, the 4.0 basically feels like it has a whole extra gear of power vs. the 2.7 (2nd in the 2.7 feels like 3rd in the 4.0, etc). Again, no surprises here give the power difference, but I really liked the 4.0. A hands down winner.
  • Steering ratio: Definitely quicker than the 981. Helpful on super twisty corners.
  • Gearbox throws: Definitely feel shorter and tighter, although not by as much as I would have expected. The 981 actually has a heavier feel.
  • Tech: The screen, apple car play, etc. are light years ahead of my 981
  • Brakes: Not much comparison here... big advantage to the 718 vs. my base 981
  • Torque vectoring: Definitely helps the 718 exit a corner more quickly than a 981. More subtle than other systems I've driven (like in Audi's), but you can definitely feel it helping.
• 981 Wins - and yes, I was surprised by a few of these
  • Steering feel: The 981 steering has a heavier and more solid feel. Felt like it had more road feel to me as well. Just feels more solid and less "flighty".
  • Suspension: This was a huge surprise to me, but I actually preferred by 981. The 718 is more capable at the limit, no doubt. But the 981 felt more planted and balanced. Less dramatic... the 718 felt more unsettled and like it was pitching front to back more than my 981.
  • Engine/exhaust sound: The 718 is much louder than my 981 without sport exhaust, and sounds wonderful. But the 981 has a purer, less "forced" sound to it. To be clear, the 981 is more quiet, but sounds like a classical Porsche to me, whereas the 718 was louder in an exhaust sound / GT3 kind of way. Oddly, the 4.0 does seem "restricted" in some ways compared to my 2.7, which just sings naturally all the time. Again, a bit of a surprise.
  • Build quality: Another surprise... the 718 "feels" lighter than my 981. Doors feel less solid and open/close more lightly. The 981 just has a more substantial feeling to it. Which is odd, since my base weighs less than a 718 GTS 4.0. If you know Audi's well, it's very similar to comparing a B7 A4/S4 to a B8 A4/S4.
  • Fuel economy: Ok, this isn't a surprise, the 981 was better. But in highway driving, the 718 was only 2-3 mpg off my 981, which I found pretty impressive. Way higher than the EPA rating of 24 mpg on the highway.

Bottom line, all the 6 cylinder 981 and 718s are pretty special cars at this point. I've driven the 4-cylinder turbos and they are not my thing, although impressive in their own unique way. One thing I appreciated about my "slow" 2.7 after the drive was how the lower power actually gives me a greater opportunity to feel the car and what is happening when driving. It takes longer to find the limit, and as a result you feel all the nuances of it coming before it hits. The 4.0 just gets there so fast, I sort of found myself missing the build-up a bit. We're lucky to have so many flavors of great between the base, S, GTS, and GT4. They all have their own unique charm, pros and cons. Happy driving

SwanSong

Moderator - please move to the 718 GTS 4.0 sub forum. Thank you!

wizee

The base 981 is a great sounding car, that's for sure, and even without PSE I'd say its stock exhaust tone is better than the what the stock muffler setup on our 4.0L cars sounds like. I'm a bit surprised by your comments on steering feel and build quality. I've never felt any difference in the solidity of controls and doors and the like between the 981 and 982 generations, and I'd expect that given they're based on the same platform and very much alike in terms of body design. Also a bit surprised at your comments regarding steering - weighting on the 981 is good, though I felt the 982 steering is more precise and less "rubbery" feeling. The 718 steering weighting may be a bit lighter though. I'm quite happy with the steering feel on my 718 Spyder (though it's different from your GTS's steering rack). It's definitely the best feeling electric steering rack I've experienced.

manifold danger

Fans of the 2.7 have a specific taste. It's spelled out there in the assessment; the 2.7 is a great engine for continuously exploring the top end of the rev range on the street. It's one of the only 6 cylinders I can think of that allows you to do that (from this side of the century at least), so right there in that it's a very special car and I won't take anything away from folks who appreciate that.

Personally, I love low-end grunt and find myself drawn towards turbo cars. I also love good engine sounds. I've been through quite a few cars and have yet to find a perfect one yet.

I don't agree with most of the other descriptions. To me, the 718 platform is leaps and bounds better in every category from a driving dynamics perspective. Unless by "flighty" feel you could extract "precision" from that... then sure I may agree. Not to take away from the 981 because all of this is relative, but it feels dated compared to the 718 in pretty much every way.

Nip are

Appreciate the well thought out review. I love what Porsche did with the new GTS and envy anyone who owns one. Your comments on the 4.0 steering and suspension are similar to the YouTube reviewer JayEmm who I watch often. He was disappointed in the steering feel and suspension. He said the car was more difficult to control and wanted to step out on less than perfect roads. But he loved the engine as has everyone else.

Disagree this should be in the 718 forum. I think the OP was posting for other 981 owners to learn about the new car. Not to potentially upset 718 owners.

John Ferguson

Thanks for the comparison. Not trying to be negative but a 981 GTS to 718 GTS would be more apples to apples.