Regarding the “abrupt” sensation of the PDK when using the paddles to downshift from 2nd to 1st : Don’t do it ! It’s a known issue…..nature of the beast, as it were…..let the PDK make that 2nd to 1st shift on it’s own. Much easier on you AND the transmission. It’s not a defect….. it’s just a quirk that is certainly not fatal.
Really useful for anyone looking to buy. Worth also mentioning that if the car has sports chrono I’ve learned recently to my own cost that a common failure is the Porsche adaptive mounts. I just had a PADM failure message. The car is fine to drive but won’t stiffen the mounts. £800 a side from my local specialist. After it happened I googled it and it’s very common. A downside of Chrono as it doesn’t affect non chrono cars.
Had a 981S (as reviewed on Cars with JB!) for 3 years, 20k miles as a daily, sold last month. Sports mode disables the eco stuff, so if you're driving gently I'm 100% behind not using it - I got 47-48mpg on long runs regularly out of the 3.4, don't need throttle response on the motorway! For fun driving, always manual mode, the one option I think is mandatory on these cars - proper paddles for the PDK, I had a 718 wheel in mine, was fantastic. Personally I prefer the stock exhaust and no PASM, sports exhaust sounds louder but worse and the suspension is perfect (firm but comfy). My list of issues was: - Condensers - fitted the Zunsport grilles but the previous owners hadn't so had to replace both. - Headlight lacquer - barely noticeable but had it starting. - Little manifold on the back of the exhaust (not sure if that's the right terminology!) corroded and was blowing, so had to replace both. - Coil packs - one went, replaced the lot! - An O-Ring on the air con compressor...70p to replace I think, oh plus £700 labour since it's a 911 engine so it's easily accessible from the top, which means it's basically an engine out job on a Cayman 🙄 - Previous owner spilled coffee on the HVAC unit - £1500 to replace even from a non-dealer, but £7 for trim tools and it's easy to sort out, worth noting how easy these cars are to take apart for even a novice (2nd time I've ever done it). Car overall cost me £1k a year to repair, almost exactly. Meant the overall ownership cost was almost exactly half of buying a brand new diesel Golf for the same money and I didn't spare any expense! Depreciation was
A/C compressor work is not an engine out job. I know because I’ve just replaced both pipes to & from compressor. Still cost me £400 for pipes and pressure testing plus re-gassing the system. Nice to have working A/C now though☀️
For the voltage issue during hibernation/ and winter time. Open the front trunk and lock the car. Now you can always get to the battery and recharge it every two weeks or so. Or disconnect the battery until spring. Then you still have to recharge it but only every two to three months. Starter batteries hold the longest if not discharged under 90% of the capacity. I would do calculations on how long a charger takes to bring it back to 100% considering the charging amps you chose and the amp hours of the the battery to decide what time between two charging events migjt be okay.
Okay, you really helped me because I've heard that loud chirp a couple times and had no idea what it could be. But it was only a couple times over the last year. So now I'm not so worried about it
Condenser protection: the 981 2.7 6MT came fitted with plastic condenser guards as standard so no 3rd party grilles are required for these models. 3.4 and PDK models didn’t have them because their cooling requirements were greater. Apparently fitting mesh guards such as the ZunSport etc reduce air flow by around 40%, and that is why they void the warranty. People who I know that have fitted either home-made or 3rd party grilles haven’t experienced any issues to the best of my knowledge though.
After the brakes cool down, I spray WD-40 in and around the break pads. Then take it for a drive and brake hard w/o engaging the ABS. This has fixed the squealing noise on my 981 and 3 other VW cars.
Do NOT spray WD40 anywhere near your brakes. You cannot control exactly where it goes and it will also dilute the proper brake grease which should be applied in very specific areas and potentially make it run off and ultimately make the problem worse. It would be easy to get WD-40 on the friction surfaces, potentially creating a dangerous loss of breaking force. If the brakes are squeaking then they need to be dismantled and potentially lubricated further in the correct place. I use a small amount of ceramic grease and have never had a problem on my Cayman or my 911 turbo
