groovzilla

[QUOTE=ThomasCarreraGTS;15318245]

Tsilnner

When I found my 997.2 S new at a dealer, it came with full leather, which I could have done without, as I had a E39 M5 (I believe they all came with full leather) as that big car has a lot of leather to maintain over the years. The first year even had leather headliners...

The key to maintaining full leather is the regular (at least once a year for all the interior and twice per a year for the dash) application of a high-quality leather restorer. It is a pain, but it is required to keep the supple feel. If you just have leather seats, then your body oils will help keep that surface in shape. If you have full leather, just check the feel of the front of the seat vs the back.

I use Leather Rejuvenator, which you can but online, but I am sure there are many other good products out there.

If the leather is well maintained, a bit of water should not be a huge deal. A pair of leather shoes will survive a rain.

I had a beautiful 1967 MGB, that had leather seats that I never maintained. I left the top down one clear night and just a lite mist on those dry seats broke all the stiching when they dried. Live and learn.

groovzilla

I've never treated my leather interior. In my 33 years of Porsche ownership and living in rain soaked Seattle, I've never had any staining issues related to rain water on my seats or anywhere else on my leather interiors including my 12 years of Land Rover ownership with leather interior.

rjaudi

All the regular leather is coated in the car so its pretty tough. You will have to be more careful on the natural leather cars. I had to have full leather when I was looking. Just put a leather console and sunvisors in 2 weeks ago.

jeebus31

Wow. People will rationalize anything. This is a crazy thread.

jamesinger

Next trend: Vegetable Tanned Leather Interior!! The more you drive your car, the more the character comes out and darkens to a rich color.

orange260z

^^^ this

I think ThomasCarreraGTS is mixing together "Full Leather" and "Natural Leather". The regular full leather is the same leather that's on the partial leather cars, just on the roof pillars, dash, upper console, door cards, and rear seat side panels. Yes, the door tops which may get wet may have slightly less durability than vinyl/plastic door tops, but as rjaudi said it is all coated and reasonably durable.

I don't notice any significant leather smell in my full standard leather car, nor do I feel that the standard leather is particularly soft or luxurious... but it is nice to have the stitched seams on the full leather, and that really adds a luxury ambiance to the interior. I would have bought the right car without it, but I'm very glad I found the one I wanted with it.

sandwedge

Highly subjective topic as with many other things on these cars. You'll hear about the same amount of people saying the ride quality in a 997 that's lowered with Eibach or H&R springs is unbearably harsh if not bone jarring. Others will trash the PDK without having driven one combined with sports chrono and then go on and say the PSE on .2 cars is too loud even with the OEM center muffler in place. I could go on.

Just like food, wine, houses and whatever, it's about personal preference. I had full leather in one of the three 997's I've owned. It was nice, mainly because of the stitching and the leather smell which faded with time but I don't give the absence of full leather a second thought as I sit down in my current GTS. Nor can I tell the difference in ride quality from stock to the H&R springs my GTS rides on. And how someone can say the PSE on .2 cars is too loud even with the center muffler left in place just further points to how vast the difference is in how these cars are perceived depending on who's behind the wheel.

So for what my opinion is worth, ignore all the opinions here and elsewhere and find out for yourself what works for you. What adds or detracts to/from the driving experience and go from there.

Iceter

This. Full Leather and Natural Leather are not the same option. Full leather is the standard, coated leather, just applied to more surfaces. Natural leather is a completely different product. It is aniline leather with no coating. It is bare, with the dye applied directly to the surface of the leather, as opposed to standard, which is sprayed with color and essentially a plastic top-coat. As a result, natural leather is softer, more comfortable and smells better because it has open pores. The finish on natural leather has less sheen than standard leather. The drawback is that it is more susceptible to wear (especially buffing, where it becomes shiny due to repeated use) and very susceptible to staining, including water stains.

You can tell standard from natural on a 997 a few ways. Natural has a matte finish. Natural seats have more pillowy cushions, and the seat inserts are not pulled taut and smooth, they have more material. Natural is not available with ventilation, AFAIK.

The easiest way to tell if a car has full leather is to look in the back seat. In my experience, if the car has lower back bolsters between the folding seat back and the seat bottom, the car has full leather.

Porsche's standard leather doesn't seem any better than most other manufacturers' treated leather. The natural leather, on the other hand is a very nice product. My current car has natural leather and several people have commented on he different feel and look of the leather. I do have to be much more careful about it getting wet (my car is a cabrio) and I carry a towel in case I get caught in a sudden rain storm. I also don't EVER ride with a cold drink between my legs, as the condensation will stain the seat bottom.

ThomasCarreraGTS

I believe you are correct, orange260z and Iceter. I was referring to the "Natural Leather" interior. My bad. Having said that, I do in fact appreciate a leather dash, door panels and other upgrades, but I would not advise OP to ONLY buy a car with the full leather interior. That would simply result in such a limited number of possible cars to choose from, and OP would miss out on many great 997's. There are far more important things to consider!

WantA997

Full leather or bust.

Iceter

I freely admit that I cannot tell the difference between a car with a standard interior and full leather (other than the rear seat bolsters). The differences are very subtle, to my eye.

I bought my car used and I didn't really care about standard or natural leather, or leather/vinyl or full-leather. In fact, I preferred standard because I wanted ventilated seats. Some other options swayed me, however, and now that I've had the car for 6 years and 60k miles, I'm happy it wound up that way.

It does annoy me a bit that a car with a base price close to $90k doesn't come standard with full leather interior. But, Porsche has obviously figured out that not many people care that much. I think most people that ride in your car probably assume it's all leather anyway.

Quadcammer

Correction, porsche natural leather is semi-aniline. fully aniline leather is not typically used in cars

speedracerf4i

The console extension looks great too


All done. The driver side had no problem with the switches.

I have full-leather option in my C4S. I like it so much that I've added the door-pull frame, shifter bezel, and rear view mirror triangle to complement the rest. I am also looking fro a center console in leather to complete my interior.

When I bought my car 4 years ago, I was deciding on 2 almost identical specced cars. The only difference was the one had full leather but no sport exhaust, and the other had no full leather but with the sport exhaust option. I test drove both and went with the full leather optioned car. It is that much nicer in my opinion vs non-leather one.

I am planning to get the full leather, plus more bits from the "exclusive" option list on my next new 911.

Fined

Good points. Its quite subjective, and folks end up feeling strongly about things which may not be that much of a difference one way or the other. I'm convinced its almost 100% dependent on what they have paid for. If you bought it this way or upgraded to it there is an incessant need to defend how you've spent money. Just what I've observed with car enthusiasts in general.

I have one porsche sports car with full leather, and one without.. and I don't care in the slightest about that. I'm in these cars for the drive, not for the dash stroking.