I know it may sound like a joke, but I sort of bought this car to facilitate my OCD. Keeping a perfect machine perfect, all while enjoying it. Enjoying the machine is the source of imperfection. Make perfect again, wash, rinse, repeat.

 

FWIW I just sent most of the soft touch plastic trim pieces on the interior to Eric at Bumperplugs to have painted. Can't wait to get them back! I agree with the OP that the monotone interior looks dated.

 

I think I'm going to give him a call tomorrow. I've been trolling his site for a few days and it looks like they do great work. To be honest, in my case, I'm in a little over my skis. I had to replace the tires on the car as they were the originals. I don't think the IMS has been done and I have to budget for that as well. In reality, the interior is near perfect and I should be happy, but I'm one of those guys who is never happy. As I mentioned, I tend to stick with my decisions and will probably have this car for a long while. Maybe I just need to slow down and enjoy the car for what it is instead of making it exactly what I want right off the bat.

 

A few more comments, I still want the center console in leather. I personally don't like the painted consoles. Let me rephrase that, if there were no other options I'd like the center console in alumalook, but I feel that the alumlook is an accent versus a centerpiece. I might be in the minority here, but I thing that the 996 interior was never intended to be plastic, the curves are stunning in leather. Why the center console was omitted from a "full leather interior" is beyond me. I also thing that the shiny black buttons must have been an absolute cost cutting measure. I'm at a loss as to what to do with those. In realit, I think I will have plenty of time to think about how I wish to change the interior to make it more modern and elegant. Overall, I think it has some great potential.

 

Leather on the center console will look great, if you can match the leather. It'll last the life of the car too. I see your point, but I doubt that would ever affect the price of the car, and if so, only slightly. Do what you want!

 

OEM (tequipment) mods are expensive,alumalook trim,leather options for trim pieces etc.theres no way around it,even if you are lucky to find parts on ebay or thru l.a. dismantlers or similar places,they are going to upcharge the parts.that being sed nothing looks better than oem in my opinion,there are a few places that will enhance(paint,recover in leather and or alcantara)out there that do super high quality work (Bumperplugs,Dallas Steering Wheel.com etc)to name just a few,but again not cheap,there a members on here that have had good results with DYI projects,and in turn saved a bunch of money,and thats cool...and like most of the responses its your car,look around the forum and see the different styles for interiors and do your thing.........dont worry about the resale value

 

I upgraded my interior and it looks awesome. Upgrades included:

- Tons of leather parts such as the center console, emergency brake, little triangles on the windows, overhead light, defroster vent trim, all from a MK1 GT3 from ebay.de

- Replaced the speedo surround, hazard switch and three horizontal trim pieces with carbon fiber.

- Recovered the steering wheel with Alcantara, shifter, the little side console pieces and had the sun visors done also.

Oh so worth it. My interior is SO MUCH nicer than original.


Here's the thread with all the details and pictures:

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-upgrades.html

 

I've got a spare center console, horseshoe and set of vents that are good candidates for refinishing. PM me if interested. I went through the same process you're contemplating and ended up with extra pieces I scoured up through ebay and craigslist.

 

How about this approach .... change anything and everything on the car that makes YOU happy and increases the enjoyment factor every time you drive it or look at it. Over the next few years invest in yourself and follow a clear objectively measurable plan to develop your life, advance in your career or however your define personal success. Get that right and you won't give a damn if twenty years from now your 996 sells for $30,000 or $34,000 due to an original console. You will realize, if you're lucky, that health and relationships are the only things that really matter.

 

In your thread I noticed that the shelves in the center console look to be painted. Are they? If so, did you do this or did you purchase them somewhere?
These:

 

Those are the stock cubbies. One came with my car, another I bought off ebay and it replaced the tape cassette deck holder. They are OEM parts.

 

Well folks...the transformation has begun. I couldn't fight my OCD any longer. Question, how is it can DHL deliver a package from the UK that was ordered Tuesday night, yet the USPS can't deliver a letter to the next town in under a week? I digress, I ordered the "alloy batwing" from Design911 over in the UK and much to my surprise, it arrived today! Less than 15 minutes later-

 

The addiction is taking hold!

 

Ferruccio Lamborghini didn't like a lot about the sports cars of his youth, especially Ferrari's. So he built his own sports cars. Sounds like you may be following in his foot steps.

Seriously.....not sure where you are in life or the financial resources you possess, or how many nice things you have now, but what you're going thru with this car reminds me of a saying we had when I was younger.

Every nice thing I bought or was given always had what we coined as "The Precious Stage". It was the center of the universe and crazy thoughts ran rampant through our minds. My first really nice bike was a Trek. Cost my folks $400 or $500. Mucho Dinero for them at the time. I wanted to paint, apply sticker to, and swap various components in a very bad way. I had dreams every night about doing this.

So....just a suggestion....own the car for 15 seconds first and see where you are on all these things you are OCDing over.

Remember, rock chips, door dings and idiots keying your paint await you.You'll spend plenty of coin correcting these things to satisfy your OCD needs.

6 months from now you'll realize it's just a car, a great car, but just a car, and will be more likely to do more reasonable modifications if you let "The Precious Stage" wear off first before secumming to every urge you are having now.

 

It took a bout a year to find an oem leather center console, but looks way better than any wrapped piece I've found online. I hear they come up for sale more often on german ebay vs us ebay.