jsykes

You can clean Alcantara and bring it back when it starts to look bad. It is a synthetic material so scrubbing it doesnt really hurt.

Sonax has an Alcantara cleaner that I saw used and it took a wheel that was smooth and shiny and brought back the new look to the material and pulled out all kinds of gunk and crud onto the cloth. Worked pretty good.

http://www.autogeek.net/sonax-alcantara-cleaner1.html

GSIRM3

I wasn't sure how I would like it. I had full leather in my 997 GTS, and all previous 997 and 991 911's, and really liked that. But the GTS Interior Package on the 991 GTS is so nice, that I decided to give it a try. I love the Alcantara in my 2015 GTS. It is 2.5 years old and still looks brand new in all areas. I have PDK, so I don't use the shifter much compared to a manual.

Very happy with my choice and if I was buying another GTS, I would make the same decision and go with the GTS Interior Package. If I was not going with the GTS Interior Package, I am not sure what interior I would choose. I hate the cheap plastic/vinyl dash in the standard interior, so I might have to choose full leather over the standard GTS interior with the Alcantara seats and other bits and the cheap dash.

I am assuming the 991.2 GTS has the same cheap standard dash as the 991.1 GTS.

Archimedes

Fairly certain that Porsche doesn't put alcantara on the dash, doors, glove box, etc. of their race cars. Alcantara on the seat centers makes sense and looks good. What looks goofy and has no purpose is slathering it all over the interior of a sports car.

stout

Uh, pretty sure leather has a MUCH greater motorsport lineage with Porsche than Alcantara. As in 917, 934, 935, and much, much more. Same could be said for wood, in fact.

Wha??? I like Ruf CTRs and GT3s and all kinds of "hardcore" cars, but spec'd leather wheel and shifter in my GT4 and would have probably deleted the Alcantara seats if I could have.

Here we agree...


Haha. Love this. And pretty sure he'd agree with you.

jsykes

They do not use leather in their racing cars.

Suede (which is technically leather, but what Alcantara mimics) has been used for decades on steering wheels and seats in racing cars.

They also use similar materials on dash boards and instrument surrounds to keep down glare.

I think what he was eluding to is that racing cars do not have nice fancy leather with deviated stitching all over them. When they do use leather, they used suede, which is like Alcantara. So if you want a racing car like feel to your sports car, yo would spec it with Alcantara in many places rather than fancy soft leather as it has a much more race inspired look.

randr

Alcantara provides grip - seats and steering wheel, has great sound deadening qualities - headliner.

Yes it can get dirty at grip points, as can leather. Alcantara, clean with a small amount of detergent and warm water - looks like new. Unfortunately, leather in a well used car ages very quickly and no amount of polish/protector/cleaner will bring it back.

I have Alcantara in the GTS and leather in the S. The GTS is 18 months old, the S is 9 months old - both cars are used extensively (including track time). The interior in the GTS has held up much better.