Thoughts on Porsche Configuration
 

Hello,

I have been following the forum for a few months now. This forum has been a wealth of knowledge and has really helped me configure my first 911. I am so excited and can't wait. I have always wanted a 911 and now the time has arrived! I am planning to order the 911 listed below. Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated. I will be placing my order in the next two weeks due to the price increase of approximately 2.6% that will occur starting 1/1/13. Thank you in advance.


Description No. Info Price
911 Carrera 4S $105,630

Packages
BOSE® Audio Package P37 $2,420
Premium Package Plus with Adaptive Sport Seats Plus P3C $6,155

Exterior Colors
Agate Grey Metallic N0 $710

Interior Colors
Espresso natural leather interior NE $4,840

Exterior
Model Designation "911" 911 $0

Performance
Sport Exhaust System 176 $2,950
Sport Chrono Package 640 $2,370
Power Steering Plus 658 $270
Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) with PASM sport suspension 031 $4,050
Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) 250 $4,080
Wheels
20-inch SportTechno wheel XRT $1,355

Interior
Seat belts in Guards Red XSX $540
Sport Chrono clock dial in Guards Red CGG $500
Instrument dials in Guards Red XFG $860
Adaptive Sport Seats Plus (18-way) P07 $0
Interior Leather
Natural leather interior 998 $0
Rear center tunnel in leather with decorative stitching XHS $1,190
Steering column casing in leather XNS $465
Additional Interior Package, dashboard in leather CZW $1,710
SportDesign steering wheel 840 $490
Audio and Communications
Telephone module 666 $265

Total Price* $141,800

Nice build! I suggest the following:
- Reconsider power steering plus as the regular power steering is quite adequate.
- Parking sensors are nice to have if you parallel park.
- Matching leather on the black plastic access covers in the footwells would go with the rest of the detail you have.
- Consider vented seats if not already in one of those packages. It is really nice with leather. I don't know about you but if I had your car it would be hard not to be in the drivers seal all the time!

Vented seats come in the premium package plus, so he has them. I agree they are nice. Even my Jeep has them, it should be standard on a Porsche.

Reconsider Power Steering Plus, for the same reasons as Chuck pointed out. I would delete the BOSE too. IMO there is no need for it, you have the Sport Exhaust to listen to... ;-)

Not seeing any info on a price increase come Jan. Just the C4 or across the board for 911?

If you wait till Jan 1, and throw in the X51 powerkit, you will top 155K plus taxes and fees for a normally aspirated 911. Gulp! You gotta love these P cars.
J

I agree, but another possibility is to get the Burmeister. Gary took me for an, um, enthusiastic ride with the top down and PSE on and I have to admit, it sounded outstanding.

Kinda depends on whether the car is a daily driver. Lots of times arise for me when traffic or even personal distractions reduce my Porsche to mere transport. At such times, good music is therapeutic. I went all the way to the Burmester, which does a better job of coping with the background traffic noises. You can always turn it off when enjoying the Porsche Experience, and I do.

I'd say the Power Steering Plus is in the same category. It's surely handy for people whose daily use includes a lot of low-speed maneuvering, and it's so well integrated I forgot I had it until discussion began in an earlier thread. Of course it has no effect at all above thirty mph, so it isn't even slightly related to the Experience. I don't run autocross these days of the traditional tight pylon-delimited sort, but I can't picture a situation even there where PSP would hurt my time. I would recommend this option to anyone who isn't trying to save a buck for other options. I do agree with you and Chuck that it isn't necessary if you are trying to cut down on the length of your option list.

PDCC is the only option in this model year that always seems to me to require buyer caution. It is definitely noticeable in use, and anyone spec'ing it should arrange to drive cars with and without the option before ordering. And if a dealer doesn't have both types of unit available, or won't permit test drives on roads where PDCC comes into action, then find another dealer. It is that divisive an option.

Actually, naaranha, the biggest complaint about PDCC has nothing to do with it working well, with it doing what it was designed to do, it has to do with it changing the dynamic interplay of body and tires. Porsches have roll and pitch movements that are characteristic of their suspension tuning. At the underlying technical level, those movements are most of what we call "the Porsche feel". The design engineers have worked very hard to retain the traditional 911 feel for fifty years. The different feel of a 924/944/928 is not just the difference in engine placement, but the design goal of tuning each car to have its own identity and not feel like a 911. PDCC is good on a race track for a couple of technical reasons, and some people find the effect on public roads is a good one for them as well. But it is not the same feel, that traditional 911 feel. PDCC cars are still 911's of course, but the traditional ways we recognize that nature are muted with PDCC.

If this is your first Porsche, you really might enjoy the car more if you stuck with that original feel. I say that advisedly because this 991 is only the second Porsche I have owned. I love it to a large degree because it does have the traditional feel, so I declined to add PDCC to my order after test driving the 'simple' PASM of the S model.

Gary

Another Porsche friend said the same thing, but in his case the ride had been in the rain on an isolated desert road. I always suspected he was just explaining away the finger grooves his hands left in the passenger side grip.

Enthusiasm has different effects on different people.;)

Gary, always sedate [and forgetting to mention it was nighttime]

Guys,

Yes it will be my daily driver. Simsgw, thanks for the advice regarding PDCC. I think I will keep the parking sensors because it does coming into play, because my wife will be driving it once in a blue moon! Depth perception is not one of her biggest assets! As far as sound system goes, I do want something a bit nicer than the base but can't seem to justify Burmeister price tag. Chuckbdc as DrJay mentioned vented seats do come with the premium plus package. Prior to this purchase I have been fairly conservative with cars. I will be going from my 4 cilinder 2008 Accord to my dream car. Can't wait. Will be shopping the dealers in the next two weeks and placing my order by 12/20. Again, thanks so much for taking the time out and giving my your thoughts

Mine will be a DD too, one reason I left the parking sensors in my build, I run into a lot of curbing in parking spots around here. It is just my opinion that the base radio is nice enough, all I ever listen to in the car is MPR anyway. However, it will be more than just a DD, which is why I am getting a manual transmission and X51 which comes with the sport exhaust...

(If you re in the US) be sure to take advantage of the Porsche Club of America membership that is in the ownership literature, and be aware that some have mentioned working a deal at purchase for a session at the Porsche Drivers Experience. No matter how you intend to use the car, what you can learn about the car from either or both is well worth the effort- usable all the time.

Thanks for the advice chuckbdc. Does anyone have thoughts regarding the smokers package? I don't smoke.

You could start smoking? :burnout:

Nice choices though otherwise. :) Chuck is spot on as usual.

My car has no smokers package- so I have a useless little hole in the console. I don't smoke and don't need the cigar lighter, but would rather have a lid on it so i could have coins for meters concealed there. I suppose marketing forgot to offer a non-smoker coin package,or it would be there with optional leather and embossed crests as some incremental price.

I'm gong to use the one further back in the console to ground one leg of a tripod for in-car videos. They do both have lining, so coins and tripods don't rattle around.;)

Gary