byroncheung

Hi i'm new to the forum!

Came from e90 m3 zcp, I'm looking at a cayman s with sport suspension. This is going to be my daily and I live around NYC. Slightly worrying if the car is going to be too low for roads around here.

From what I can gather, e90 m3 zcp ground clearance was about 4inch - 10mm (zcp is 10mm lowered), and 981 cayman is also about 4inch - 20mm (sport suspension). With the m3 sometimes I'd scrape the front on a speed driveway/street. I'm hoping the cayman with sport suspension isn't that much lower and should be somewhat manageable with care? Thoughts?

manifold danger

I haven't driven around NYC, but I'm frequently in DC and I don't have a problem.

For reference, I had the same concern. I had a 2015 M4 before my current 981 Boxster GTS. It was completely stock (there wasn't a ZCP package for 2015), but I did have an M performance front lip installed. That thing was terrible with ground clearance- worse than the Boxster. As a concrete sign from the gods, I stayed in a hotel two nights in a row at the midway-point when I drove to trade in the M4 (central Maryland to Memphis so a 12+ hour drive each way). The hotel had a steep ramp going into the parking garage- the M4 scraped it going in but the Boxster did not. The curb on my driveway is also steep and I never have any problems in the Boxster (approaching at an angle), but the M4 I scraped at least 1 out of every 4 times I came in the house.

Somehow Porsche delivered an amazing OEM suspension that looks great, drives incredibly, and doesn't **** you off daily. It's a marvel of modern engineering.

byroncheung

And I imagine the boxster GTS is same clearance if not lower than sport suspensions? Do you drive it in snow as well?

vracer

Don't forget to measure the front overhang. Most of the time that's the killer.

byroncheung

thanks for all the feedbacks so far.

as for options. i mostly care about having:

1. PTV (will bring it to tracks / hpde occasionally)
2. sport chronos
3. pasm and/or sport suspension
4. sport exhaust

it seems pretty hard to find a S with all these options. my current thinking is i should prioritize to get the option that are difficult to retro-fit / get aftermarket equivalent.

- exhaust would be my lowest priority, easy enough to get a aftermarket later.

- sport suspension i can probably also wait if i want to get coilover later.

- pasm will be nice to have, and hard / costly to retrofit? my m3 used to have the equivalent, i liked it a lot that i can change the suspension on the fly according to road condition...

- i most likely will get a pdk (because SO doesn't want to learn stick), and i have heard opinion that pdk is best with sport chronos to get the more aggressive shift mode? but i think i can get a aftermarket pdk mapping later too, obviously won't have the capability to be able to change it at a flick of button but i think i can live with that.

- about PTV, found it kinda weird that most of the cars came with open diff given the intention of such car... i haven't look into too much about availability of after market LSD and how do they compare with OEM PTV... any info / thoughts would really appreciate.

let me know what you think!

thanks.

manifold danger

The suspension components are identical. I would have to change the tires to drive it in snow, so I choose to leave it in the garage if it's colder than 40 degrees. There are a few folks on here who do commute year round in their 981s; but rest assured they swap tires for the cold months.

From most folks on here, the PTV is one of those things that is a nice to have, but the vast majority of drivers will never realize the difference, especially on the street. It does appear to be an exceptionally rare option, so I personally would recommend lowering it on your priority list- although you are correct, it would be one of the more difficult items to "retrofit"- in this case, you'd have to go aftermarket. This is a good thread for reference: https://rennlist.com/forums/987-981-...ce-needed.html

Just re-reading through that thread, it was actually brought up by some of the guys who came from BMWs; the consensus is that the mid-engine platform reduces the requirement for an LSD, whereas the FR cars benefit tremendously from it. It's hard to quantify this in a forum post, but I experienced it firsthand just this past weekend at a PCA autocross event. I was pushing the car pretty hard on a not-so-great surface, it got a little unsettled in the rear but I corrected it easily enough and still managed to get a time within a half-second of my best time of the day. I'm almost POSITIVE I would have lost it in any BMW. My car does not have PTV, and I'm a novice driver.

byroncheung

Hey man thanks for pointing me to that post. I have heard that line of argument before - that the car doesn’t have much traction issue to begin with so LSD isn’t necessary, it’s good to see someone with track experience share his experience. But I guess my thinking is since I’m going to drive it in winter as well (with snow tires of course), I am still leaning on finding one with PTV if possible...

John Ferguson

981s came with three different suspensions, standard, PASM (-10mm from standard) and X73 Sport Suspension (-20mm from standard). PASM has a button for two different settings, one firmer than the other. X73 has one setting, FIRM. There is an aftermarket controller for PASM that seems to get great reviews but I've never tried it. PTV is a great option, I don't track my car but can feel it when it occasionally kicks in on the street, it's like the hand of god helps you turn. Having a LSD of some sort with prevent the inside rear wheel from loosing traction on the track, have seen this with track tires and no LSD on a 987 CS. PTV is important enough to be standard on the new Spyder and GT4. PDK is faster than manual and zero chance of DME overrevs, the car simply won't shift into an overrev condition with PDK (unless flashed to a higher rev limit). Sport Chrono with PDK is a must, gives you three settings, normal, Sport, and Sport Plus (which includes launch control). Sport and Sport Plus mode make the PDK shift more aggressively, with less time between shifts and higher rpm shift points.

Ordered my 2015 BGTS with PDK and PTV (Sport Chrono, PASM, and PSE were standard on GTS). Love it. PDK is so important to me I am probably not going to order my 982 Spyder until PDK is available, and I have been number one on my dealer's list for 2 years.

manifold danger

No worries but also keep in mind that I have not driven a car with PTV; it might be a significant difference and worth the extra effort in the long run. I'm merely suggesting that PTV is not a requirement to have a great time in these cars.

The snow thing is interesting... I never really thought about it that way.

Also, if you haven't used this already this is a great tool. It only finds cars at Porsche dealers, but its filter allows for all of the options for these cars. I did a search on all US dealers for Cayman S and GTS with PDK and torque vectoring. There are only 3 nationwide... but one is in Delaware. Great car, even if you don't like yellow I'd suggest you go look at it. I was staged behind a yellow Cayman S this weekend and they are STUNNING in person.

https://nationalpreownedporsche.com/...ailed_search=1

byroncheung

yep i'm using that already and saw those cars. actually i asked about the yellow one and it's already sold they just haven't pull it off yet. now i'm basically looking at the black one. doesn't have exhaust and sport chronos but i think i can make do with putting in an aggressive PDK mapping at some point and an aftermarket exhaust. mileage is a little high but that's why it's cheap... can't have it all!

byroncheung

this is exactly how i would spec it if i'm ordering it new, SC, PASM, PSE, PDK & PTV... just that when looking for a pre-own it's hard to find one that checks all the boxes you want. i'm looking at an S with PDK, PTV and X73, thinking that over time i'll add an exhaust and a PDK mapping...

57staff

I've got a DSC Sport module in my PASM-equipped Boxster and transformative is the best way to describe it. If you get a PASM car this is to me almost a must-have upgrade.

Four Ring Circus

Good luck with the search.
I just found a 981 Cayman S in the RL Marketplace this spring after searching for quite a long time. It wasn’t the exact factory build I wanted, but it had many mods for track use. I think the suggestion about going with aftermarket modifications might get you closer to what you want. My car came from the factory with Sport Chrono, but no sport exhaust, no sport suspension. The previous owner installed a TPC suspension upgrade, a LSD, camber plates, and a FabSpeed TrackTech exhaust. It’s perfect for me.
I am also in the NYC area (Hoboken) and while I don’t daily my Cayman, it’s not too terrible. At least no worse than my family ride Audi S6. I probably bent a wheel on the West Side highway on Sunday in the S6- so it can happen in a family sedan as easily a Cayman.

mjdavis

My cayman is probably a bit lower than an S, and I drive it in and out of the city all the time. Some of the potholes and the general garbageness of 95 require care, but it's really not a problem at all. Biggest issue is steep ramps in parking garages.

HelpMeHelpU

Here's your car ... and it's local:



Just under 30k miles.

Very rare combination of options. It's a great car.

It's MT so you'll have to give MT driving lessons to your SO. PDK is great for the track but IMO, MT is the way to go for a Cayman driven mostly on the street.