thecayvman

Hi all, first post here. I recently bought my first real car, been planning and saving to buy a Porsche since I was a kid. I think the 964 turbo was my first love, and then later the 959. When it came to buying one I settled on the Cayman after a lot of painful deliberation. This car is my first sports car, first high-end marque and first manual gearbox. I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me with some questions after a few months of ownership.

So here are my questions, any tips are very much appreciated.

1. Gearbox: feels very mechanical, almost like a bolt action, and occasionally makes a bit of a metallic clunk when I put it into first or reverse. Is that to be expected?
2. In SPORT+ (and SPORT to some extent) I can feel more vibration through the clutch and throttle pedals, and the gear shift seems to become tighter. I expected the increased throttle response and higher revs in sport modes, but the pedal feel surprised me a bit--is that normal?
3. First gear: I generally just use it to get the car rolling, but if I'm taking off quickly (not a full launch, but just showing off a bit) I usually get to about 20mph@3500-4000rpm before going to second. The engine sounds happy, but I'm wondering if that's hard on it? Should I be accelerating in 2nd instead?
4. Smoothness: I'm finding it a bit difficult to drive smoothly not in SPORT mode. I think my gear changes are slow enough that in normal mode the revs drop and I end up feeling the syncros. In SPORT/+ my gear changes are super smooth. Should I be keeping my foot on the throttle a bit while changing gears to keep the revs up? (I've heard some cars, particularly the GTR, require that sort of technique.)

Thanks a lot for taking the time, I know these are total newb questions.

Here she is (note how terrified that Prius looks):

TTRob

Congrats on the CS. Looks sharp.

1) I don't recall a metallic clunk, but I do often hear the linkage when putting the shifter into first. Sounds somewhat metallic, but I wouldn't call it a clunk. The transmission has fairly stout shift stops, so that contributes to the riffle-bolt solid feel and sound.

2) Sport+ activates the active transmission mounts. That could explain the shifter's tighter feel, also the added pedal vibration. I don't really notice it, though I mostly use regular mode since I can shift smoother during normal driving with its slower throttle response.

3) No issue, there. However, constantly winding out first gear to high rpm before shifting does put some added stress on the second gear syncros. In general, second gear syncros typically take the most abuse, that's why they're normally double or triple coned.

4) During normal acceleration, try pushing the clutch in a little more quickly before shifting. That helps reduce total shift time without having to move the shifter too quickly/forcefully (reducing syncro wear). The overall quicker shift time should help improve smoothness.

Cowhorn

Wow! Beautiful car! Is that GT silver?

I wouldn't say you "settled" on the Cayman. Chose it, yes. Settled, no way!

Enjoy it!

thecayvman

Thanks a lot guys, those answers are super helpful.

Yes, definitely! Bad word choice on my part there It's actually the rhodium silver metallic but I (accidentally, I swear) had a filter on my camera that's made it look a bit like the GT silver there.