My 2014 981 Boxster GTS

Thanks for sharing that clip. Not seen it before and its a great showcase for the 6pot. I know those roads on Majorca too, they are stunning but not quite the same in some pony French hire-car!

How easy/hard was it to fit those Zunsport grills?

Mike

The Zunpsort grills are the the type of job that once you have done once they are very easy but can be frustrating at first when you do them. They are a very very snug fit and so you get to the point of thinking "these won't fit" but then you suss them out and they are easy.

ps if your local to them I believe they fit them for free for you ;-)

They only use a few clips (no drilling needed) and rely on those / the snug fit to keep them in. For the first few weeks you are checking them as they are not screwed in but after 5,000 miles they are still perfect.

I've got the car booked in for its first major service in September (4 years) so will be interesting to see if they comment on the grills fitted as the car is still under Porsche warranty until October 2019.

Cheers, Jontt - I imagine it would be easier if you could get the car up on a ramp?

jonttt said:

I love driving in the wet, it is just more fun on quite roads.......

Click to expand...

What about the degradation and devaluation :dont know:

Good memories only go up in value :thumb:

jonttt said:

I was out in Manchester on Saturday for a mates 50th and stay over at his. Rain was hit and miss on Saturday with a forecast for heavy rain all day on Sunday. Normally I would take my 'daily" without a second thought but I took the boxster. It is literally the first time I have really driven it with the roof up any distance in 18 months !

Sure enough on the Sunday lunchtime drive back it was torrential rain. I took the back roads :grin:

I love driving in the wet, it is just more fun on quite roads.......

The drive was more magnificent than ever, the sound of that engine combined with the lack of traction and squirming rear end was just endless fun. To those who go on about the steering on a 981 :hand: , get those rear wheels loose, the power down and the car just handles so predictably through the twisties in the wet. There is simply no way I would have had more fun in any other road car on those roads in those conditions. Just enough power to scare you and keep you on your toes and the predicatablity only a NA engine can offer, a 718 would have been a nightmare to drive that fast and I would simply have had to leave a much greater margin for error.

The sound of that engine through the countryside is just unworldly and every time it just reminds me of the Harry Catchpole review in Majorca... always worth a link and would you believe unless you are listening on a decent speaker system the sound just does not do the car justice ...........



It was a thrilling drive home and the best of it is, the car is sat on the drive almost spotless, with the upcoming hose pipe ban its the best way to wash the car :wink:

Click to expand...

Is there supposed to be the sound of rocks rattling in a tin every time he lifts off the throttle? Have they tried too hard to get the pops and crackles on the overrun?

Drive one and make your own mind up :wink:

For me, I drive all sorts of exotica and the 981 GTS is one of the best sounding sports cars I have ever driven. Given the move the FI / hybrid tech they will be the last of a breed.

The example in the wet I gave above is why I love the car so much, there is no way I could have got that sound out of any other car in those conditions so safely. Other cars that sound so good are much much faster and you simply cannot drive them anything like as fun on the public road and feel safe.

I've said it many times the 981 GTS is one of those rare cars that is simply more than the sum of its parts, there is no real logic for why it is sooo much fun to drive compared to many other cars but the fact its NA and sounds so good is a massive part of it.

If you want to mute the sound you just turn the PSE off and don;t drive it like a sports car ie you effectively have the option to make it sound like that but to me, when I'm "on it" I want it to sound like a sports car.

ps sound of course if subjective and everyone likes something different BUT the 981 GTS are holding their values for a reason ie the vast majority like it :wink:

ps don;t drive one, you will end up wanting to own it :hand:

I have to keep Zingari away from mine or it will end in tears :grin:

I was waiting for him to come around a corner and hit a flock of sheep....

I had an 'interesting" episode with a brand new RR SVR Sport yesterday coming out of the City Centre. I do the run virtually daily and so know the traffic flows as well as anyone and which lane to be in when. I drive the BGTS almost exclusively in manual sport mode, even in traffic the sound if just great fun. The SVR was on an 18 plate and Matt grey, I followed it for a few sets of lights and know them well, even spending a day in one at Degenham when they first came out. They are one of the most fun SUV's out there and sound epic when pushed but you can't defy physics, they are pretty sh!te around bends :grin:
I pulled up alongside the car (roof down of course) and fully expected to look across and see one of the local footballers but it was an oldish fella in a suit. I gave him the courteous smile and he shouted across 'that sounds nice, what size engine is it" :roll: ......... now if ever there was a leading question :grin: so I just replied 'big enough and yes its the best sounding car you can buy" :thumb: 'want some fun" was his reply.... 'sure"...... at which point he proceeded to floor it from the lights and undercut two lanes of traffic :wack: ....... I....... didn't :hand:

The moral of the story........ you don;t need to be a dick to have fun..... there is a time and place :driving:

the other moral of that story.....you don't have to be a young punk to be a dick, clearly! :wink:

Update : 4 year major service

After using the BGTS as much as any other car over the glorious summer I;ve not used it much over the past month, a combination of a couple of holidays abroad and return of rainy weather meant it has been tucked up in underground storage.

I was booked in for its 4 year major service at Chester OPC for 2 days this week however and the sun duly returned, at least enough for me to drop the roof.

Two year servicing was something that really appealed to me when I was considering weather to go for an older boxster ie spend less money or a 981. For a 'hobby" car it makes a big difference when you don;t need to faff about with annual services when you do little mileage.

For reference I shopped around at my local OPC and there was a c£100 spread for the same work :roll: so I just (and very easily) got my preferred choice to price match (they did not even bother to check and just agreed over the phone which is even more annoying). For c£1,032 I got:

- 4 year major service
- spark plug change
- brake fluid change
- MOT

I declined the only advisory from the service of a replacement tyre sealant at c£90 :roll:

I got a 'free" bodywork warranty check which pleasantly had hand written on the report 'excellent condition" with all the boxes ticked as a pass.

The only note from the experience was that the zunsport grills fitted where never mentioned re warranty.

So job done for another 2 years when a minor service would be due. If the you annulalise the standard service costs of these cars they really cheap to run. I could have cut costs further by having the brake fluid change done at a none OPC garage (they charged c£95 for this in the total) but I could not be bothered with the hassle, same with the MOT which they charged £55 for.

Of course whilst there I had a look around their stock. The only thing of note from me was the unregistered 718 GTS they had in the showroom. I never realised they had removed leather dash, door cards etc... from the standard spec and wow there is a lot of plastic in there for a £70k car. They also had a 800 mile registered 718 GTS in the car park for sale which had the leather option ticked which was much nicer inside. This would be a must option for me on a 718 GTS (standard on the 981 GTS). It was surprising to see x2 718 GTS for sale from stock at this time of year especially given the recent production shortages.

I also had chance to catch up with a few staff there I have not seen for a while. Car sales is a relatively small world and I know several of the staff there from other marques. Catching up with one in particular about the 718 and he confirmed the biggest problem they had was selling them to current 981 / Porsche owners. For people new to the marque they sound OK, like a sports car if a little rough but to those who have experienced Porsche's before they really struggle to sell them due to the noise and 4 pot engine. Nothing in that statement surprised me but its still good to know your own thoughts mirror reality.

£1,000+ for a major service Done your dough on that one surely :dont know: I'd have though half that.

At the 4yr point is it not getting to the point it will drop faster than an octogenerian's ball-sac wearing a pair of MC Hammer's duds :dont know:

Friend of mine at work got his major for £770. Same works, but could be because he has used the same OPC for all servicing for the past 2-3 years now.

Must admit, even on low mileage cars, I still have an annual oil change. Been recommended to do so by a few engineers.

Nik said:

Friend of mine at work got his major for £770. Same works, but could be because he has used the same OPC for all servicing for the past 2-3 years now.

Must admit, even on low mileage cars, I still have an annual oil change. Been recommended to do so by a few engineers.

Click to expand...

I think I'll probably put Hermie in for a interim oil change, to give a warm fuzzy feeling :thumb: