Can we agree on track oriented street car for the GT4?

Clubsport is a RACE car if we want to split semantic hairs even further. And there are subtle differences between the track day and comp versions of the Clubsport if you want to go further (pneumatic jacks, etc.).

My point was that Porsche did not engineer the GT4 as a Cars and Coffee special even if some are abused as such.

 

It is a 9 year old car now, so you may encounter the following issues (based on my own 981 GT4 and some others I have seen):

• Outdated tech: No Apple CarPlay/Android Auto built in and Nav maps are out-of-date. You will have to do your own upgrade for a couple of $100s (to get CP/AA) and follow some of the forum posts here to update the nav maps.
• Depending on previous owners and maintenance you may have some mechanical maintenance that will need to be done.
• Some plastic trim pieces may need to re-attached if the glue(s) have weakened (in my case it was the front-side lip trim)

However, the car still feels modern inside, it has the right number of buttons and screens and the driving experience is great (better sound than the 718 GT4, feels rawer/more engaging, clutch feels heavier, has less power and slightly less precise steering than the 718).

The big services are about every 4 years. So most of the 981 GT4s should have done their 8 year service this year (about $3k to $4k costs). Other than that, it is mainly consumables, especially tires.

Given the low production numbers and that it was the first GT4, i would guess that it will not depreciate much more, besides mileage. It had a depreciation low before the pandemic and appreciated a lot during the pandemic and recently has gone back closer to the traditional pricing for Porsche GT cars for the age and mileage. If depreciation is a selling point, I would definitely take any GT4 (981 or 718) over an M3 or a GTS.

Other than that, the question will be what you will be using the car for. You can daily drive it assuming you can do it without scraping the front lip, but an M3 or a GTS is a much more comfortable car for that. Also, the heavy clutch can be a pain in stop-and-go traffic. The car is also a bit loud for long-distance highway driving due to the lack of sound isolation. However, if you use it for a weekend car, take it onto backroads, mountain roads, Autocross, or tracks, there are not many cars that feel better than a GT4 out of the box for about $85k to $100k.

 

It is a 9 year old car now, so you may encounter the following issues (based on my own 981 GT4 and some others I have seen):

• Outdated tech: No Apple CarPlay/Android Auto built in and Nav maps are out-of-date.

I would argue this is it's best selling point. I has just enough tech and hard ***** and buttons.

Dan

 

track rats are annoying.

 

I prefer 'track enthusiast'.

I was just responding to someone who started a needless semantic argument when my point was clear.

Now that's annoying..........

 

Having owned both a 718 and 981 GT4, I would say the 718 feels like a more serious and solid car. Steering is especially much much better. However I find myself missing the playfulness of the 981 as well as its exhaust sound. It was an outrageous car at the time of its release, finally giving the Cayman platform all the tools to go toe to toe with the 911 on the track. What's there not to love? suspension bits and brakes from the GT3 as well as the engine from a Carrera S! It was an immensely fun car that I felt fine driving on the road all the time. The 718 feels more track focused and therefore I don't drive it as much as I did my old 981. That being said $120k for a 981 without buckets seems a tad high but I haven't been looking specifically at those models in a long time.

 

PCV dropped the price on the GT4 you were interested in.. It's only $117k now.. I say you go in at the end of the month and squeeze them.

 

I have a `22 CGTS40 which I bought new and absolutely love. Then this summer I added a `15 Boxster GTS. It had 8k miles on it and was in perfect shape. I immediately did ALL maintenance (including serpentine belt, plugs, etc) and then drove it 3k miles (1k miles to test it out, and 2k miles on a 6 day road trip down to FL that included Tail of the Dragon). During that time, I fell in love with the 981. I found it slightly softer on the highway than the 718, yet it was unflappable in the mountains, absolutely fantastic! And yes, the sport exhaust is great. I like the 981 so much that I'm considering a 981 Spyder also. I don't want to get rid of my Cayman, and the 400hp is intoxicating, but I think the Spyder might be perfect with 375 hp (vs 330 on Boxster). I do feel that the Boxster could use a few more hp, but overall, it's an amazing car.

The 981 platform in general is known to be extremely reliable. The maintenance won't be crazy, especially if you have a good indy or can do some yourself. Plugs were easy to change and the drive belt wasn't bad either.

Drive the cars and buy what you like best. No wrong answers here.

PS: I upgraded to an aftermarket head unit for AAuto/Cplay and added a backup camera. I also upgraded to the 718 steering wheel. Both GREAT upgrades IMO. Otherwise, the rest of the car and tech is great.

 

I put 35k miles in the 8 years I owned my 16 Spyder. I didn’t have a single thing go wrong with it.

 

Question for you on that front: Does your 981 have PASM or X73? And does your GTS have SPASM or PASM? Just curious. Oh, and what about the trannies? Do they feel the same? Are the ratios the same? Curious about that too. I think they're the same, but maybe you can confirm that. The 981 manual I drove did 74 @ 3K rpm in 6th, and the manual '24 2.0T Style Edition exactly the same. I suspect both of yours will be the same story, but we'll see. Ha ha. Thanks.

 

Both my cars have SPASM, 20mm drop, not X73 or PASM.

Both trannies are the same. Same ratios and same shifter feel.

 

I am fortunate to have a 981 GT4 from new and a 718 CGTS 4.0 (2023) from new, too.

They are different cars. The GT4 is more visceral and exciting; the CGTS is more subdued. The GT4 sounds better; the CGTS feels like supple leather and is very smooth.

As others have said, ask yourself about your realistic use case. If leaning more toward track, then GT4; if not, then CGTS.

Good news: You can't go wrong with either...and you can always switch later.

 

Hey Adam, that cannot be right. There was NO SPASM with 981s. My '16 ex-CGTS had X73 (wish it was just PASM), which was the -20mm non-adjustable sport suspension option. If your 981 GTS has the PASM button on the console, then you only have -10 PASM (my GTS had no such button). That was the one of the reasons I got rid of it (I wish it was just PASM). It was incredible in the twisties, but borderline stiff the rest of the time. It was acceptable to me, but my wife couldn't stand it, so I couldn't use the car when traveling with her, so it mostly sat in the garage. Anyway, I'm happy that you might have just PASM in your 981 GTS, meaning my upcoming PASM 781 base (no SPASM available), should feel very similar to your SPASM 781 GTS in the twisties. I was afraid of giving up too much cornering feel (although I had no choice), but apparently it should be a minor difference, while still having slightly better ground clearance, AND a slightly better ride, both things important to me.

 

I stand corrected then. Yes, my 981 Boxster has the switchable shock button on the console.

This helps explain why my 718 SPASM 22 Cayman is noticably stiffer than my 981 BGTS with PASM.

All I know is that the 981 is AMAZING in the Twisties and pretty comfy on the highway.

Chat agrees with you.

 

Thank you for your reply Adam. You also confirmed what was kind of obvious to me, that SPASM is noticeably stiffer than PASM. But many folks said it was hardly noticeable, so that's why I was considering ordering SPASM if I could. And to be honest, given the option, I'd have probably chosen SPASM. But now I'm glad I didn't have the option. Ha ha. Having said that, I'm almost sure you should feel the difference in the twisties with PASM vs SPASM, no? If not, it'd be awesome, but also makes sense for SPASM to feel slightly better, at least with body roll, since it's obviously stiffer (and slightly lower). The good news is I won't track my car, so it'll be just canyon carving. So maybe the difference is not that noticeable on canyon runs (which would make PASM the best choice overall), where I probably would never exceed 1G of cornering forces. Thank you again.