Sport Chrono - Essential?

[SK555]

I am in the market for a 718 S or 2.5 GTS Cayman and had a checklist of things I was looking for in a car.

From what I have read online there is very little to separate an S or GTS day to day so it essentially comes down to affordability.

My must haves include:
- PDK
- PASM
- Sports Exhaust
- Sport Chrono

My nice to haves are:
- Alcantara


I have found a car with Lakeside Classics which checks a lot of boxes but doesn't have SC. My question for the owners group is how essential is it? Would I be missing out if I didn't get it?

[julian987R]

Have you explored the opportunities to retrofit it. One can in the 987, and I believe the 981 too (albeit more expensive wiring loom changes in the latter) .. unsure on the 718 but worth investigating.

[churchie2856]

I had a 718 2.0 PDK with PASM (+18s), with Sport exhaust, but without SC. I drove it always in Sport, and the PDK changes were fast. Prior to buying I drove a few SC equiped cars. In my opinion it made some difference to the manual, more so than the PDK cars. To me SC is not something I would actively seek out on a PDK car (nor spec or on a new order - which I didn't).

In contrast on a 997.2 PDK I would say SC is a must. The car was too blunt in the gear change department without it and though it could be retrofitted I decided to move on after a short while.

[SK555]

julian987R said:

Have you explored the opportunities to retrofit it. One can in the 987, and I believe the 981 too (albeit more expensive wiring loom changes in the latter) .. unsure on the 718 but worth investigating.

Thanks mate - it can be retrofitted from what I understand but this requires a new steering wheel plus coding. From an OPC I have read the coding/activation can be around €3000 so not cheap

[DJMC]

When I test drove a 981 with SC I really couldn't work out why I'd want it. As far a changing gear was concerned Manual mode + Sport seemed to provide everything I needed. SC does add launch control if that floats your boat?

If you track the car then it has added functionality for lap times but if not I can't fathom why you'd want it, especially as it activates PASM to Sport mode which, again, is really just for the track.

For everyday or daily driver use the standard Sport button should be sufficient but others will disagree no doubt, in which case it's down to whether you can retro-fit it and the cost vs. advantage of this to you personally.