Owners have filed 5 complaints on the Porsche 718 Cayman, covering 2017–2025. The system named most often is Engine (2 reports). Worst years by volume: 2017, 2025, 2023; cleanest: 2023, 2025, 2017. 0 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 1.8 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Porsche 718 Cayman
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 5 718 Cayman complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine 2 Read
The motor experienced a catastrophic failure causing the rod to blow through the top of the engine, cutting a fuel line and causing a fire. It was later determined and passed to me via unofficial sources that this was due to a manufacturing defect where the incorrect camshaft bearings were used on specific pistons.…
I sustained serious burns to my calf from my the exhausts on my 2014 boxster s, and my 2017 cayman, on two occasions. Both cars suffer from the same dangerous design defect: an excessively protruding central exhaust pipe. The first injury was sustained on february 19, 2017, when I leaned against my 2014 boxster s, and…
Seat Belts 2 Read
I have a Porsche 718 Cayman [XXX] I purchase this vehicle October 16, 2020 with only 1,500 miles on the odometer from Porsche of Tucson 4690 E 22nd St, Tucson, AZ 85711. Purchase Porsche extended platinum warranty for 96/100,000 miles. My passenger side 3- point seatbelt will not retract back properly. This is…
Seat belt will not retracted back it stays completly loose
Power Train 1 Read
The dealer reported a misfire. Upon detailed investigation and a bore scope, the inside cylinder lining had disintegrated and metal shavings were in engine oil. The motor needed to be replaced. This took 30 days to receive new motor. Upon installation, the gear shifting linkage failed, necessitating removal and…
718 Cayman years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Engine | — | 1 | |
| 2023 | Power Train,engine | — | — | |
| 2017 | Engine | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 4 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.3 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 1.8 years |
A model average of 1.3 hides a worst series at 2. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
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- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the 718 Cayman?
By complaint volume, 2017, 2025, 2023 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which 718 Cayman years are the cleanest?
2023, 2025, 2017 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Porsche 718 Cayman have?
5 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2017–2025. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 1 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.