Nick

Mike terrific decision! Silver is not a color for the GT3. Red, white and yellow are.

Mike in CA

Thanks guys. As for the extra $3140 I found a way to spend it already.

0Q991

Mike in CA -- and what will you allocate those funds towards? More leather?

I'm on the slippery slope of adding more and more leather bits.

Right now, trying to decide if I should go for the $1,710 Addition Leather Dash...something I thought I would be able to resist!

But if not, then is that portion of the dash hard plastic? Or a soft touch vinyl?

Mike in CA

I originally ordered the base seats, on the assumption I'd be replacing them with sport buckets when they became available. That still may happen but on the chance it doesn't, or the buckets are too outrageously priced, I ordered the 18 way seats to get the thigh/rake/lumbar/bolster adjustments. Also, now with GR, I thought the chrome trim on the stock lights might stand out too much, so I got the PDLS which has gray trim plus of course the PDLS features themselves. A bit of mental horse trading which at $142,265 kept my build within $265 of what it was before.

The extra leather is a slippery slope indeed. On my "full leather" 997.2 that area between the leather dash and windshield is, as you suggest, a combination of soft touch painted plastic and high quality vinyl that looks a lot like leather. I've never felt it looked cheap or mismatched in any way. There's also the issue that that $1710 extra leather is going to be subject to the highest sun exposure in the car. That said, it's a strictly personal argument between your desires and your pocketbook.

0Q991

Mike in CA -- I agree with you. At this point, I think I'll stay strong and hold off on the $1,710. The way I mentally horse trade it is that my build doesn't include the front end clear bra that I intend to install, which will run about $2k. And if its a choice between the extra dash leather at $1,710 plus tax OR the front end clear bra...I gotta I with the clear bra.

I think seeing the recent pics of the press car with the leather front dash is playing with my mind...

Nick

I opted for the full leather dash because I like the look of the red stitching surrounding the leather. Makes the interior of car look very elegant and luxurious all for a measly $1710. No doubt a personal preference but a car costing close to $150,000 should look like one.

Mike in CA

I can't argue with that. I passed on the stitching because I wanted a cleaner and more purposeful (for want of better wording) interior look, but as you say it's personal preference. If these decisions were totally logical and math based we'd likely all end up with cars that looked the same.

0Q991

^^^Agreed!

Nick -- I was torn between the red stitching or stock platinum gray. In the end, decided on platinum gray.

Had I gone with the red stitching, the dash would almost be a "must!"

Arth

My first color was going to be guards red. Upen putting in my final build, I went to porsche and asked them to park a white and red 991 Carrera S next to each other.

I don't know if it was my eyes but for some reason I found the guards red in direct sunlight to be little too orangey.

To make sure it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me I asked my buddy to park is recentLy detailed 2007 cayman S next to the red 991. And there it was, even the salesman agreed that the current guards red has A lot more "yellow" added to it that made the whole red just look a bit too orangey compared to the cayman red.

I'm not sure if the Gt3 red will be different but that's my 2 cents on the subject and why I finally decided on white.

Mike in CA

GR does have some orange in it. Whether it's too much or not is a matter of personal taste. OTOH, unlike the Sand White of my Cayenne which has a creamier look, the GT3 white is what I call "refrigerator" white. I still like it, and was seriously considering it, but it gives the car a completely different look than it has in red or some other colors. It just depends on the look that you want.

MaxLTV

Now we are going to have identical cars :-). I'll drive like a madman and everyone will thinks it's Mike because what are the chances of seeing another red 991 with a wing?

frayed

Hilarious!

Red will look stunning on the new 3 and even the Edmunds pics do not do it justice based on GR on the new Boxster.

I am opting not to get dev stitching b/c I want the buckets to match the interior when they become available.

In photos I tend to lean toward white, but in the metal I know guards is the right color for the 3.

CAlexio

Don't you get red stitching on dash on the part you can see while sitting in car, even with basic full leather?

Also, how comfortable are stock seats.. I like the look of the big aluminum leather for manual adjustment.. And they're probably lighter than 18 way power seats no?...

911dev

Yes with Full Leather you get the off-white stitching. Red is an option of course.

Pretty comfortable, imo. Had them in my .2 and liked them. Although they lack any rake which can be a problem for some. A.S.S. can have more thigh and torso support dialed in. Will likely go Adaptive 18 way with the 991. Give me an hour and I change my mind 5 more times. Arguably the Adaptives add about 28-35 lbs. maybe more. Mike has some hard numbers.

Another thing I liked about the standard seats in addition to the simplicity and lower weight, was you could slide the seat all the way back within a second with the manual adjuster. Laugh, but I like doing that to keep wear to a minimum on the left thigh bolster. You could always save the setting with A.S.S. but that's not a big deal to me. It'd take what felt like an hour for the power seat to go all the way back.

Mike in CA

I think I'll get personalized plates that say IAMMAX, and then we can screw with each others driving records here in the Bay Area.....