rs10

A few days ago, I test drove a 996 with leather seats with the ribbed pattern. The seats were fine, except that they squeezed my shoulders a little bit. They had the seat backs with what look like wings in the shoulder area. Today, I test drove another 996 with the same leather pattern but without the wings. I assumed it would be perfect, but it was horrible. The seat back was fine, but the seat base squeezed my legs too much. The side bolsters on the base were too tight.

I am now completely confused about which 996 seats are which and how to tell them apart, and no, the option codes don't seem to help. I'd really like to know whether I will love or hate a car's seats before I fly a thousand miles to see it, so I'm hoping someone can provide some insight! And I suppose it could be a very useful reference for many forum members.

In the meantime, here are some more clues and puzzles I've noticed.

Re. option codes, the first car I mentioned had code 376 "painted sport seat back". But I found zero other mention of seats on the option stickers, nothing about the leather pattern, whether (fully) electric, or re. the seat base. Though there were a few codes I could not find on the kindel sight, on the porschemag site, or in the Streather book.

Some puzzles/questions:
Is there such a thing as a sport seat, or is there just one seat with the choice between the regular back and the sport back???

Does the pattern (whether ribbed or the simpler pattern with a few straight seams across the middle parts of the seat base and the back) have anything to do with the fit or shape of the seat? (I used to think ribbed leather meant sport seat.) What about whether the leather is perforated?

Is there more than one seat base?

Is there a relation between whether the seat is manual or electric and the shape or fit? (I suspect that in 997s there is. 997s seem pretty simple - at first, I thought there was just one seat (there seems to be no ribbed leather pattern, just a simple pattern like the other 996 pattern). And I thought they were all horrible (and all gen. 2 boxster seats too, which I thought were identical). But the last two I tried were OK. Their seat bases were significantly more comfortable for me. One had manual seat adjustments, and one was fully electric with 5 buttons on the side. So I'm guessing that the rest of the 997s and Boxsters I tried had three buttons, and that it's only the 3-button 997 seat that I really hate.)

Can anyone shed some badly needed light here???

Dennis C

There are many seat options. There are manual and electric seats. There are some seats that have more electric adjustments than others. There are sport seats (more aggressive bolsters for thighs and shoulders) and there are standard seats. There are also comfort seats that feature electrically adjustable lumbar support. On top of all this, there is standard leather and soft, ruffled leather.

I have standard leather in my C4S, and soft leather in my Cayenne. The soft leather is thicker, and it has worn much better over the years than the standard leather. I believe the same will be true for the 996.

Personally, I like the sport seats in the 996. I like the extra support. That being said, they aren't for everybody. My 996 has the comfort seat option with memory. It's great for a long drive, but not as solid for the track or for really spirited driving. It sounds to me like you should look for a car with that option.

On my car, these seat options are listed as follows:

- M438 Comfort seat, right, electrically adjustable
- M437 Comfort seat, left, electrically adjustable
- M513 Lumbar support, right seat
- M537 Seating position control for comfort seat, left
- M586 Lumbar support, left seat
- M983 Seat covers, front, leather

rs10

Thanks, I'm starting to get a better understanding. At least, if I understand correctly ...

(1) There are three main kinds of seats (plus single piece, GT3 style seats)
--- Regular
--- Sport
--- Comfort
--- Or is the sport back available with the regular base? This is suggested by option code 376 as mentioned above, but maybe the option is just that the back is painted?
(2) There are two main leather patterns (plus mixed colors, etc.) which are completely independent of the type of seat
--- Regular
--- Ribbed (is this what you mean by soft, ruffled leather?) - which is a bit more plush (?)
(3) Lumbar support is an option on some/all (?) seat types
(4) Both full electric and part manual controls are available on all (??) kinds of seats

Is this right???

If so, the key questions for me are:
(i) if there is no seat code on the option sticker, does that mean regular seats? (Or perhaps the sport or comfort seats are included in some option packages, or ... )
(ii) how can one recognize the regular, sport, and comfort seats? (I'm guessing sport by the winged backs (unless the back itself is an option available on other seats).)
(iii) Is the base of the regular seat the same as the base of the comfort seat? (Or of the sport seat?) For me, the most important thing is finding a base that is comfortable for me.

Dennis C

The hard backs are available either painted, leather covered or in plastic. They are available on sport seats or standard seats. The sport seats have larger bolsters in the bottom and the top half, so they will be tighter. You can recognize them by the shoulder bolsters (although there are aftermarket kits that add the hard back and shoulder bolsters to a standard seat).

The base of the comfort seat and the standard seat is the same. There are multiple options for electrical assistance for each seat.

The soft, ruffled leather option is often described as "gathered leather". It is a bit more plush. The standard leather is smooth, perforated leather.

Other options include seat heating and the Porsche crest embossed in the headrest. If the option sticker says nothing then the car has the standars seats.

rpm's S2

Sounds to me like you drove a car with sport seats first that may have had worn down thigh bolsters. The painted back is just an option for the sport seat, not indicative of a different seat. Sport seats are fairly narrow and a normal-sized American male posterior will wear down the inner padding because they rest on top of the bolster, rather than between the bolsters.

The second car sounds like it had standard seats with less-worn thigh bolsters. Perhaps a skinny previous owner?

All just a theory of course... but I bet the first car had less miles.

rs10

Yes, you are right. I was thinking the same things. The odometer on the first had ~60k, the other had just ~25k (yet it seemed more worn out otherwise, so who knows).

However, the first car did have the side bolsters on the seat back and the second car didn't, so according to Dennis C (above), it must be that the first was a sport seat, and the second (with the base that was too tight for my knees) was the standard seat (with smaller side bolsters in the base) ...

rs10

Wow, Dennis C, you know your seats! So this is becoming more clear to me, though there are still a few details which still aren't 100% clear ...

First, is the standard leather the one with the ribbed pattern, both towards the back of the seat base, and towards the lower part of the back? Or is this a third kind of leather? (And if so, what does the standard leather look like?)

Second, you wrote that the base of the comfort and standard seats are the same, but when you say base, do you mean the entire bottom part including the seat cushion and the bolsters?

Third, is it really sure that there are three seats, and not two? I had a look again at the (overly short) seat section of Streather's book "Porsche 996, the Essential Companion". He mentions only comfort and sport, so I'm still not sure what to think about this.

And finally, assuming there are three seats, how does the comfort seat differ from the standard seat? (And how would one recognize it?)

Thanks again for the insight!

rs10

So I did a bit of homework on this. First I visited the Autokatolog at www.autoscout24.de . In the list of standard and optional equipment for the 996 C2 (3.6 liter), there is no explicit mention of either comfort seats or any seats described as standard or something like that. What are mentioned are sportseats (sportsitze) and seats (sitze).

Then I looked at the option codes on porschemag.com (just the M options, not the exclusive options). I found:
-369, 370 = "series seat"
-371-4 and also 409-10 = sport seat
-377, 388 = combination seat (I've seen this code on a 997.1 with the seats with 5 buttons, including adjustible top & bottom side bolsters, not sure there was such a seat for the 996)
-537, 538 = seat with built in memory & lumbar
-437, 438 = comfort seats
BUT, welcome to the wild, wild world of Porsche option codes, because
-437, 438 is listed twice. The second listing says "full leather seat" (There is even a third listing for 438, but nothing to do with seats)
So which of the 437-8 definitions were used for the 996? No clues have appeared so far.

Finally, a week or two ago, when I was more ignorant but less confused (because I thought I knew what I wanted), I called a Porsche dealer asking how much it cost to buy "standard" seats, and I seem to remember he said something like "so you want to replace the sport seat with the comfort seat". Maybe ... (it was a while ago).

Dennis C

It really does get confusing.

My understanding is that the seat bottom and seat back on the comfort seat and the standard seat is the same. The major difference is the lumbar support and the amount of electrical adjustments. I don't think the leather or the cusions are any different.

You can also get seats in full-leather or seats in partial-leather, which might explain some of the option codes you're seeing.

I've attached some photos for reference. The first is a 996 GT3 race seat. The second is a 996 sport seat. The sport seat can have smooth or soft leather, various degrees of electrical adjustment, porsche logos, heat, etc. The third is a standard 996 seat. The comfort seat looks just like it. I assume this is what you mean by the "ribbed" leather. The last is a closer shot of the soft/gathered leather.

knfeparty

Are we talking about the same car here? My seat bases are COMPLETELY flat. Did you sit in a car with a euro gt3 bucket seat or something?

rs10

Yep, same car (judging by the photo in your signature - very nice, by the way). And as can be seen in the photos posted by Dennis C, none of the sets are flat at all.

rs10

Thanks for the helpful post and pictures! Yes, the seats photographed on the floor are what I mean by ribbed, so now I know standard = ribbed. And it does look like those seats have bigger side bolsters on the seat bases than the standard seats in the next picture.

So it's strange I was more comfortable in the seat with the bigger shoulder bolsters. Maybe it was a standard seat with a kit for the seat back ...