2014 Porsche Cayman S PDK Sports Chrono

MR_Y

Well-known member
Update:

Gearbox fitted.
Calibration process has started.
Car is being driven around today as part of the testing process.

The warped door panels were also meant to be replaced, but no feedback received on that yet.

I have asked that fluids, tyres and battery be checked before handover, given that the car was sitting idle for almost a month.

Aside: On a personal note, I may be moving to a rural area in the near future (related to my thread on working remotely), so I may have to trade this car in on a more suitable vehicle at that time.
 

modocrat

Well-known member
Update:

Gearbox fitted.
Calibration process has started.
Car is being driven around today as part of the testing process.

The warped door panels were also meant to be replaced, but no feedback received on that yet.

I have asked that fluids, tyres and battery be checked before handover, given that the car was sitting idle for almost a month.

Aside: On a personal note, I may be moving to a rural area in the near future (related to my thread on working remotely), so I may have to trade this car in on a more suitable vehicle at that time.
GLC 43 or X3 M40i ;)
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
GLC 43 or X3 M40i ;)

Given the area that I am looking at moving to, those cars may attract too much unwanted attention.
On the other extreme, Fortuners and Everests are more hijackable.
I will create a separate thread when I make my decision (in 2022).
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Update:

The saga continues....

So, the new gearbox was fitted and the car has been tested on road for the past two days (I can see this on my Tracker App).
Calibrations are being performed on the gearbox after each test drive.
Today, I am informed that the technicians are not happy with the shift quality of the new box and they need to perform more tests/recalibrations.
I asked them to give me a call on Friday to give me a final update after testing has been completed this week.

If there are still issues (in this case, shift quality is not up to standard), then I want to enact my CPA (Consumer Protection Act) right to to a refund. I have not discussed this yet and will prefer to wait until Friday to see where they are with testing.

According to my understanding of the CPA, the car dealership has the right to repair/replace the faulty component(s).

If they fail to do so satisfactorily, then I assume (based on my reading of the CPA) that I am entitled to a refund less wear-and-tear and depreciation?

I understand that I have until the first 6 months after sale (in this case, until July) to request a refund.

This has been the worst car ownership experience that I have had in my 15 years of owning a variety of different vehicles.

I do feel that I have given them ample opportunity to fix the car properly.

Some say that I should be more furious with this and take it up further. Well, I have other bigger issues on the boil currently and I honestly have no time and energy to fight this now (though sharing this experience on this forum is somewhat therapeutic). Also, given the structure of the Porsche hierarchy, you cannot really take up this matter much further than SA head office (Germany does not listen and Abu Dhabi is only the middle office). In contrast, back in 2012, I had an issue with a Ford Focus (wheel bearings) and it was so easy for me to raise my concern with the USA office - they even respond directly to you - after failing with the SA office.

Anyway, let's see what happens by Friday.
 
Last edited:

KPM3_30

Moderator
Staff member
What a horrible experience, especially considering it is a low mileage example, under plan. I personally hate having anyone but myself drive my car, so I would be pretty annoyed.. I would have honestly lost patience a while ago.

This whole saga sounds like one tremendous, unnecessary headache. I would honestly try to go the route of getting a refund and washing your hands off the car, since you did mention the possibility of moving to a rural area and needing to have it sold.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
What a horrible experience, especially considering it is a low mileage example, under plan. I personally hate having anyone but myself drive my car, so I would be pretty annoyed.. I would have honestly lost patience a while ago.

This whole saga sounds like one tremendous, unnecessary headache. I would honestly try to go the route of getting a refund and washing your hands off the car, since you did mention the possibility of moving to a rural area and needing to have it sold.

In fact, it is that plan to move house that is my main focus currently. So, that places the car issue down the rankings of headaches.

I know that no brand is perfect, but I will stick to volume brands in future. With low volume brands, rare issues are not easily resolved purely due to the technicians (and most of the world) not having seen so many cars that they can figure out the issue fairly quickly. If I had an issue with (say) a 2014 M3, then due to the sheer numbers of these cars having been sold, a rare issue may be more easy to resolve vs a Porsche Cayman S that sells at a fraction of the M3's volumes. If a rare issue is defined as only 1% of the cars' volumes, then 1% of 2014 M3s (in numbers) is much greater than 1% of 2014 Caymans - so, more people would have experienced that rare issue in M3s than Porsches, so there would be better fault tracing and diagnosis.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Update:

The car is still being tested. Awaiting feedback today.

In the meantime, I requested a full history of ALL maintenance work performed on the car from new.
Porsche says that they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone (even with current owners of the car!).
This is their policy.
All they can share are the dates of the scheduled services - which you can see anyway in the service book.
After some negotiating, I managed to get an informal (off-the-record) screenshot of the maintenance history on this car.
From what I can see, the car has been in twice for ignition coil replacements and some "repair" work (though, the detail of the repair was not shown in the screenshot). I assume this was body respray work on the front end, since it occurred shortly before I took delivery.
Nothing PDK/gearbox related, so at least I know that my issue is a new issue.

Does BMW have a similar policy, where they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone?
 

Spanky

Well-known member
Does BMW have a similar policy, where they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone?

Kinda.

I purchased my car from a friend and through him, was aware of some specific work done. When I asked BMW for the more detailed report regarding that history they quickly cited the POPI Act as a reason to not share the info.

After copying in my friend, the owner of the car at the time this specific repair was conducted, for some backup and authorisation, they relented and supplied me with some more specifics - also an "unofficial" screenshot of their system.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Kinda.

I purchased my car from a friend and through him, was aware of some specific work done. When I asked BMW for the more detailed report regarding that history they quickly cited the POPI Act as a reason to not share the info.

After copying in my friend, the owner of the car at the time this specific repair was conducted, for some backup and authorisation, they relented and supplied me with some more specifics - also an "unofficial" screenshot of their system.

I call BS on these German car companies hiding behind the POPI act.
When I bought my Volvo (as a used car from an Audi dealer), Volvo SA was more than happy to send me the full maintenance history (in PDF format), even though I was not buying the car from a Volvo dealership.
As long as you are the owner of the car, you should be entitled to the car's full history (obviously, without access to the previous owners' personal details).
 

TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
Update:

The car is still being tested. Awaiting feedback today.

In the meantime, I requested a full history of ALL maintenance work performed on the car from new.
Porsche says that they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone (even with current owners of the car!).
This is their policy.
All they can share are the dates of the scheduled services - which you can see anyway in the service book.
After some negotiating, I managed to get an informal (off-the-record) screenshot of the maintenance history on this car.
From what I can see, the car has been in twice for ignition coil replacements and some "repair" work (though, the detail of the repair was not shown in the screenshot). I assume this was body respray work on the front end, since it occurred shortly before I took delivery.
Nothing PDK/gearbox related, so at least I know that my issue is a new issue.

Does BMW have a similar policy, where they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone?

BMW shares the full history with the current owner. They cannot share personal details of the previous owner which is the only POPI related thing here... When I was shopping for the GT4, they had no issue showing me all the work done on it prior. There should have been no negotiating necessary to get that info. That is BS.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
BMW shares the full history with the current owner. They cannot share personal details of the previous owner which is the only POPI related thing here... When I was shopping for the GT4, they had no issue showing me all the work done on it prior. There should have been no negotiating necessary to get that info. That is BS.

I guess if there was something "unusual" on the prior work history, then they may be more reluctant to share that info?
In my Cayman's case, the ignition coils being replaced twice (1 year apart) would appear to be odd, I guess.
 

///M Individual

Well-known member
Update:

The car is still being tested. Awaiting feedback today.

In the meantime, I requested a full history of ALL maintenance work performed on the car from new.
Porsche says that they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone (even with current owners of the car!).
This is their policy.
All they can share are the dates of the scheduled services - which you can see anyway in the service book.
After some negotiating, I managed to get an informal (off-the-record) screenshot of the maintenance history on this car.
From what I can see, the car has been in twice for ignition coil replacements and some "repair" work (though, the detail of the repair was not shown in the screenshot). I assume this was body respray work on the front end, since it occurred shortly before I took delivery.
Nothing PDK/gearbox related, so at least I know that my issue is a new issue.

Does BMW have a similar policy, where they do not share the details of the past maintenance history with anyone?

Auto Glen BMW also painted the bonnet and front bumper of the Cayenne my relative purchased due to stone chips so I think you are right.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Update

So I get a call today from the dealership.
The car has been fixed.
I will be able to fetch the car tomorrow.

I requested a full run down of all the work carried out for the past 2 months (while the car was with them), with an explanation for each item of work, as well as what was the cause of the root issue.

I will post that info here, in a summarised form, for the benefit of forumites keen to buy a used Porsche in future.

I intend on driving the car quite hard (within reason) this weekend to see if there are any issues.

Will only be happy after my stress testing on the vehicle has been complete!
 

modocrat

Well-known member
Update

So I get a call today from the dealership.
The car has been fixed.
I will be able to fetch the car tomorrow.

I requested a full run down of all the work carried out for the past 2 months (while the car was with them), with an explanation for each item of work, as well as what was the cause of the root issue.

I will post that info here, in a summarised form, for the benefit of forumites keen to buy a used Porsche in future.

I intend on driving the car quite hard (within reason) this weekend to see if there are any issues.

Will only be happy after my stress testing on the vehicle has been complete!
Great news! You might also just want to hold on to that Cayenne for a few more days....
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Great news! You might also just want to hold on to that Cayenne for a few more days....
My wife will drive the Volvo and I will be in the Cayman, on a long drive on Sunday (180km return trip), on safe roads during the day time. I am expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.
 

VinceM

Well-known member
Kinda.

I purchased my car from a friend and through him, was aware of some specific work done. When I asked BMW for the more detailed report regarding that history they quickly cited the POPI Act as a reason to not share the info.

After copying in my friend, the owner of the car at the time this specific repair was conducted, for some backup and authorisation, they relented and supplied me with some more specifics - also an "unofficial" screenshot of their system.

That’s strange....BMW goes as far as giving you the print outs too.
Full specs of the vehicle
Full history on the car.

I did this for roughly 8 cars bought outside of their dealer network.Ie cars I bought elsewhere but are BMW.

I think they’d have little details on cars with comments, luckily haven’t bought one with comment yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

modocrat

Well-known member
That’s strange....BMW goes as far as giving you the print outs too.
Full specs of the vehicle
Full history on the car.

I did this for roughly 8 cars bought outside of their dealer network.Ie cars I bought elsewhere but are BMW.

I think they’d have little details on cars with comments, luckily haven’t bought one with comment yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
BMW only provides the value of the comment, they are extremely tight-lipped about the details behind the comment.
 
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