Noah leigh

....Hi All!

Newbie here, I'm delighted, too! I'm in the process of ordering a Cayman S and would like some opinions on the PASM and Chrono Sport Pkgs. by those who have experience with them, please! I'm not using the car for racing, but I'd describe my driving style as 'enthuasiastic', and live in an area with alot of twisties. Thoughts?
Are these worthwhile options? Do they significantly enhance handling and feel? And would you recommend them only together?

Thanks alot!

pstoppani

Hotly debated options. Best thing to do is test drive a car with these options to see if they rock your boat.

mooty

if you aren't racing/tracking the chrono is useless. the remapped throttle is rather abrupt, i much rather just floor it myself.

pasm. yes, hotly debated. i dont have it (i did drive it extensively). i drove 1500 track miles on stock non pasm suspension and didn't think it's too bad. so on street, they should be plenty adequate. i find the stiff mode on pasm way too stiff for street use, but tha'ts just me.

Jim Michaels

Mooty speaks for me once again. I have both, but if I didn't track and autocross, I wouldn't order either. And if I raced, I'd order the standard suspension and switch it for an aftermarket suspension. On the road, the standard suspension without SCP is very good indeed, even for spirited driving.

Atlas_Croc

You don't need either. Many people (including Porsche) would like you to believe they are big performance enhancers......they're not. PASM might be nice to have if you have 19" wheels and rough roads....just to smooth out the ride. PASM in Sport mode with either the18s or 19s is punishing on the street in most cases.....unless you have glass smooth roads to drive on. Sport Chrono just opens the throttle a bit more for any pedal position and ups the PSM thresholds a bit.......could be useful at the track, but I couldn't see any benefit on the street. I also found it annoying after a while.......the stock throttle response is just fine IMO.

The Cayman in any form was designed for very spritied driving.......even the base model with 17"s will kill 98% of whats out there. The S with standard suspension and 18"s is one of the best setups available......and best of all, it's free!

mrpc12

With PASM the car sits 10mm lower. Some people like that for looks but by itself is not worth the extra cost.

ELUSIVE

I agree with Atlas_Croc. Niether of them are needed.

NewPorscheGuy

Certainly neither are needed, but I'm glad I got both! Hitting the sport button really makes it feel like a different harder edged car, which I appreciate sometimes. I don't find the PASM sport mode too punishing for decent roads on the 18"ers. In fact, it's quite nice to have a slightly softer than standard ride when in PASM normal for the really bad roads, and then switch to significantly stiffer thann normal sport when the roads get better. I also apprecaite the throttle map advance in SC and would use it all the time except that it makes me less responsible and more ticket-prone, so I just engage it on special occasions. The chronograph is not particularly useful, but I do think it's "cool," and there is some novelty in precisiely timing the commute via different routes, but that novelty doesn't last dfor long.

Noah leigh

....I'll pass on both, it doesn't sound like I'll be missing much. But I had spec'd the 19" wheels...a mistake?

Wes Zane

My CS has pasm, its rarely on for everyday driving, only when I want to feel every bump in the road. If I tracked my car, it would be a good option.

mooty

my "normal" suspension has been used wiht both 18" and 19" street tires. personally i love the 19" wheels. it just feels better, just right bump and road feel for me. i can't explain it. try both.

however, with the 19", your rotors would appear really small looking through the wheel spokes.

mooty

to lower the car a bit, you can buy H&R lowering springs aftermarket, i think they are $500 or so.

bet

The other thing to consider about PASM is that its is adaptive. The non-sport setting is tuned softer than the standard suspension, however, if in the non-sport mode the driver starts driving aggressively and the road surface conditions allow for a more aggressive suspension tuning, PASM will adapt to provide the best performance. The same happens while in sport mode. If the conditions deteriorate then the suspension will adapt. While PASM may not be ideal for a race car the flexibility may something the average driver may want that plans to do some daily commuting and then dabble in autocross/DE’s.

There is a graph floating around that shows the range of operation of PASM. If I remember right the adaptive parameters over lap and in theory offer a great flexibility for a daily driven car. Does this make it better? I think that depends on the driver. From my experience driving of both set ups it depends I think a short test drive is difficult to determine if there is much difference, however, over longer drives on and over familiar roads in back to back drives there can be some difference noticed in the way the car rides. Just food for thought.

Jim Michaels

Brian made a good point. I sometimes forget about the adaptive feature of PASM under spirited driving; thinking to myself how good it is in standard mode when it's actually firmed up on its own to adapt to my driving. Of course, it's probably only firmed up to about where the standard suspension is all the time. I know I'm repeating myself, but my Cayman student had the standard suspension at VIR and I was very impressed with it on track.

Noah leigh

I like the idea of the adaptive nature of PASM, and I drive over a variety of surfaces, ranging from interstates to rough twisties. It's hard to determine on a test drive if there's an actual advantge, although I suppose I'd adapt to either set up. I often think that electronic gizmos somehow detract from the overall experience...as well as being a potential service/reliability nightmare, and i also like to be in control, something as a skilled driver i value. I don't need PASM to 'correct' me. Often, these things seem either gimmicky or corrective.

I also like the look of the 19" wheels (Carrera Classic!), although I know that sounds awfully shallow!

Thanks for the input, i really appreciate it!

Right now, it's 19" Carrera Classic, W/O PASM or Sport Chrono. Arctic Silver, full black leather with sport seats, here we come!!!