Huh? ...............................

 

I had heard that as well. I assume the clutch is the same in the Boxster S. Before I ordered my Boxster S, (which will be delivered end of July) I drove a few examples at various dealers. While at first the clutch seemed a little heavy, after short time it felt just fine....actually it felt very good. I can't imagine it being a problem for anyone, as long as you enjoy shifting your own gears....which I do. (By the way, I would imagine that Lyndon Johnson would have trouble with any clutch. OOPs, wrong Lyndon Johnson perhaps!)

 

My 986BS had a heavy clutch, then I found out that the clutch was worn out. After replacement, it was just fine. Heavier than the 914, though.


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A) He lost a lot of credibility after he started extolling "gear-braking." (Or maybe he meant "gear-breaking"?)

B) The stiffness of this clutch pedal isn't remarkably different than other sports cars I've driven.

C) Why is Porsche wasting its customers' money giving cars to this guy to play with, whose day job is "writing/editing for a small-town weekly newspaper"?

 

The stiffness of this clutch pedal isn't remarkably different than other sports cars I've driven.

That's my observation as well. I'm an old guy. I spend a lot of time driving around town which means a lot of shifting. I don't have any problems.

 

Agree with everything KCZ said. I also don't think its a heavy clutch either.

 

It has a stronger rebound spring than many other clutches I've used, but I think the relatively long travel is what may make it feel heavier than it actually is. That clutch pedal has a long way to go before it hits bottom.

 

This was my issue with it.

 

heavy clutch?? I feel feather light on the clutch of my 2014 cayman S.


I'm sure he would never be able to drive gt3 if he really feels heavy on 981 clutch.

 

He's probably a BMW 3 series owner...

 

Don't know if you're being snarky or not, but after a Memorial Day weekend trip to Tahoe and back in my e9x 2008 328i, I hopped in the Cayman for a quick drive. The clutch felt very heavy. Not "I can't operate this clutch" heavy. Not "I want to trade this car in" heavy. Just very heavy. There is a tremendous difference.

 

It's definitely heavier than my 135i, but it wasn't anything to complain about. I think it's more just a stronger clutch return spring than anything.

 

Agreed. My base Boxster's clutch feels just right but my '07 BMW 328i now feels way too wimpy.

 

I've had a 986S where the clutch was bad AND the spring was bad. THAT was a heavy clutch. That said, even new or replaced the clutches in Porsche's tend to be fairly firm feeling. Not crazy hard, but not super light either. Other more normal cars I have driven have had a much much lighter feel. An R8 I test drove had a super light clutch, almost no rebound pull, and shorter throw. Coming from a Porsche you practically feel like you're gonna put your foot through the floor. So if someone is used to that, then the P-cars will feel stiff. I've also driven heavier clutch cars, it's all dependent on the car. But I would say P-cars generally have a tighter clutch feel than many others.

 

This guy has not driven many Porsche cars. Some models have a "heavy" clutch. I use to have an 81 911SC with +100k miles on the orginal clutch. It was heavy enough to keep my wife (now ex-wife) from wanting to drive. The 981 Cayman S clutch is perfect for me. The rev match feature is fun and nice to have but not essential.

 

I had also read that some people felt the clutch was heavy, so on my first test drive, I was expecting that. However, I didn't feel it had a heavy clutch at all. Rather, it felt perfect to me. Maybe my preference is different than others as I have driven cars with very light clutches and have disliked those.

 

If you've ever driven a Honda, the Cayman's clutch will feel heavy. The last time I drove a BRZ, it felt like I was going to put the clutch through the floorboard...that is light clutch.

 

I used to own a 69 Camaro SS with a 4 speed back in my younger days. Now that was a heavy clutch. Lyndon is used to driving his Miata.

 

He is a wimp and since he stalled the car and relied on the autostart to save face he is an MT poser.

 

I asked a similar question a year ago before I bought my 2010 Boxster S. I think it is a valid issue that one should consider before purchasing. Coming out of an 2010 Audi A4 everything feels heavy. I had a 2002 330 before that which felt about right. But during my tests of various cars it seemed like the base Boxster clutch was lighter than the S and felt about the same as my old BMW. Being an engineer we tend to postulate based on the slimmest of facts, I wonder if the thrust springs on the pressure pressure plate are different.
There are days that I get stuck in traffic when I wonder if I should have gotten the base model instead. I really only notice the heavy clutch feel when stuck at an intersection. I find myself when I pull up to a light that I am going to be stuck at for a while either wedging my heel against the floor to hold the clutch in or just putting the car in neutral. Putting it in neutral saves on the throwout bearing but you can't respond quickly to a situation if you have to get out of the way.

 

IBeing an engineer we tend to postulate based on the slimmest of facts

Actually, we tend to redesign things that work suboptimally. But that's as far down that path as this comment needs to go...

 

I have a Base 2012 Cayman which is for sale and a new 2015 CS on order. I can tell no difference between my current car and the newer S Caymans I have driven. I was told that the return springs are identical on the base and S models by a Porsche mechanic at my dealership.

 

Never occurred to me that the clutch is heavy in my CS. Compared to my RX-7, which has an aftermarket ACT Street/Strip clutch, the CS seems about the same and neither is in any way annoyingly heavy. Actually, this reminds me of the "cayman is noisy" thread. That didn't occur to me either until I read the thread, and I still don't get it. Guess it's all what you're use to. After 35 yrs of driving various sports cars, the Cayman is pretty much "normal" to me in both regards.

 

To those who think the 981 clutch is heavy, I suggest you drive a WRX. Can you say "tractor"?

 

Subaru is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, and while they don't make tractors, they do also make airplanes, garbage trucks and locomotives. From my own experience driving a '04 STi for ten years, with the last seven on an aftermarket RPS Street Max clutch (rated for 650 lb-ft max torque), that is what I would call a heavy clutch with a very short travel.

When I test-drove a 6MT 981 for the first time, my left foot ended up in the frunk and had to be extracted with the jaws-of-life.

 

I used a luggage scale to measure the pressure and travel length of my three cars. I put a block of wood on the pedal, attached the scale to the wood, and pulled via scale through the whole travel length. I did it several times for each car to measure max pressures:

2012 Subaru Outback 2.5: 6 lbs max pressure and 6" of travel
2008 BMW 335XI Coupe: 10 lbs max pressure and 6" of travel
2013 Boxster S: 8 lbs max pressure and 6" of travel

In your face Lyndon Freakin Johnson (and tangram)!

 

Nice. But I can assure you that on my 2012 Subaru WRX hatchback the clutch is ridiculously stiff. My wife, who drives a manual, has the choice of running errands around town in her land yacht of a Honda Odyssey or the WRX. When I ask her why she's been driving the van she usually responds that she's too tired to drive the Subie!

 

I realized that every car's clutch is different.

Either case, if it's a brand new car, a heavy clutch probably means insufficient grease used. My clutch is very light after replacement. The old worn clutch was extremely heavy.

The Porsche clutches in general are on the slightly heavier side when compared to BMWs (those are light as feather), but by no means are that heavy. Just the right amount of pressure I would argue. Try a few more cars at the dealer and see. Sometimes extremely old fluid (unlikely) or lack of lubricate at the right prices would yield an extremely heavy clutch.

 

I bought a 2015 VW GTI manual this week and drove it 1000 miles back to Montana (couldn't find one here, and unwilling to wait four months to order).This morning I backed my 07 CS manual out of the garage, and immediately feared the clutch had gone bad. The pedal effort must be at least twice what the VW is. After about 20 miles I realized the clutch was just fine and that my frame of reference had changed. VW is a great car for the money, very comfortable, great acceleration, very good handling ( but not the balance of the CS, or the solid feeling ).

 

I agree re the VW clutch. Just leased a Jetta 5 spd for my son and the effort is at least half of that on my '14 981. In fact the Vw clutch is the softest i experienced in 45 years of driving. I think Porsche got it right with this clutch and transmission.

 

After driving to the Porsche dealership in my manual 335i, one of the first comments I made to the SA during the test drive was "heavy clutch". But after a few shifts, it felt perfectly suited to the car.

 

I think the key is that clutches nowadays are just so light, especially BMW and VW/Audi cars. Then the P-cars are just on the slightly heavier side. But then after stepping in the clutch pedal a few times, you just sorta forget the difference and move on.

It's not like these cars have a 40lbs clutch to step on anyway.

That said, I wonder how "heavy" our clutches are in lbs ?