I need some help in deciding whether to go for full leather or partial leather. I
Full leather is very nice but I've never seen partial leather in a 997. I'm trying to save some money. Is the leatherette in the 997 very cheap and tacky looking??

I'm really not that fussy because my previous 993 had partial leather for 9 years.

 

I went full leather. I liked it. I didn't want partial leather seats and I figured I might as well go all the way.

It is an expensive option but the interior is where you spend most of the time with the car. I figured if I was spending X amount on the car the upgrade is minimal in relation to the cost of the car.

 

You really ought to try to see the partial leather in the color(s) that you're interested in. In my opinion the non-leather surfaces look fine in darker colors such as black or the dark grey, but the lighter colors can look cheap. Make sure that the textures are to your liking as Porsche (and others) don't always get this right, witness the non-leather Cayenne interiors as an example.

I have black partial leather in my '01 Boxster, and after almost four years it still looks decent, with only the cheezy "bakelite" switches and stalks cheapening the interior. I had beige partial leather in the '96 993 C4S that I used to own and it looked pretty bad, with the vinyl on the seat backs fading at a different rate from the leather on the seat fronts. I've seen 993 TT's with full-leather, and the difference is like night and day.

 

Go with the full leather. Don;t get me wrong, the partial is OK--the quality of the materials is better than it used to be and the texture of the vinyl is decent...but the full leather kit is awesome. The feel and the smell of the leather on all the surfaces of the cockpit is great. My next Porsche will have it.

 

I actually haven't seen a 997 without full leather, but with my 04 Targa which didn't have full leather, I was terribly disappointed and really hated the ABS dash, and swore I would never get another p-car without full leather. Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of saving some dollars and I'd rather have a 911 without full leather than no 911. But at least with the 04, it just didn't feel like a car worth what I paid for it without full leather. Full leather is very nice, and at this point my mindset is that its a "required" option, so its not really an option, the car just costs a little more. If you can swing it, I'd definitely get it.

 

My dealer has a number of 997's in partial leather or no leather and obviously a number in full leather. "Leather seats" as opposed to "Standard leather" basically means you get leather on both front and rear seats. The quality of the plastics is not bad where there's no leather - BMW standard, but not as good as Audi.

Nice as full leather is I probably wouldn't bother, preferring to spend my money on Sport Chrono, etc.

btw. a nice little trick that some dealers do is to spray the interiors of the full leather cars with a kind of leather fragrance. So when you sit in one it smells more "leathery" than the partial leather equiped cars...

 

I got the supple leather seats with which you also have to order all leather seats. Black interior. I'll bet the seats will look and wear better longer. The black dash without leather is very rich looking.

 

Do the full leather. I was going to stick with partial, but the full leather is rich looking and has the "high end" car feel. I really like the full leather dash. Looks great. Good luck.

 

In my point of view, I would stay with partial leather, as it should keep the sports car feeling

 

Don't buy the partial leather, without a doubt you will hate it. It's too bad Porsche gets you on this as an option, but the bottom line, when you are paying this much for a fine sports car, you don't want to ruin its looks with a cheap looking dash, seats, door trim etc. I even went with a a full leather steering wheel, just because I did not want to see leatherette smack in the middle of my steering wheel, some might think this is overboard, but for me, it was the right thing to do, absolutely no regrets, would do the car the same way again if I had to!

 

I am sorry but the dash is not cheap looking, neither door trim...buy a merc instead.

 

The base interior is a lot nicer than the 996. However, I bit the bullet and ordered full leather on my 997 and love it. Leather is much richer in appearance, smells great and is one of those few options that will count if and when you ever sell the car. Do the calculation this way: Figure the cost of the full leather option (approx $3000 or so), reduce it by 50% (the likely added value when you sell the car) and divide the $1500 by the number of days\weeks\whatever you think you will own the car. See if you think it is worth it.

By the way, I'd like to put in a pitch for the Sea Blue interior color. My car is Arctic Silver, but I personally didn't particularly like all-black interiors. So I took a flyer on Sea Blue (after seeing some photos on the Net) and am very happy with it. The dealership didn't know how it would exactly look either (my car was the first customer-ordered car in the state, I think) and when it came in it drew a large, admiring crowd and very positive comments. It is darker than the Internet photos (sort of a bluish grey) but looks great with Arctic and I would think White, Blue, maybe Black, etc.

Charlie

 

My Carrera S has the Leather Seats, Supple Leather and Power Seat Package checking in at $1520, $395 and $1550 respectively. The seats, and the interior in general with the exception of the embarrassing sun visor quality, look great and I think one would be picky indeed to be truly disappointed with the Leather Seats/Supple Leather combo. And if price is a factor that combo is really nice.

The Full Leather, which I've got in my Cayenne S and have driven in the dealer's demo Carrera S, is simply EPIC as it really displays the fact that Porsche's are different... and higher quality. If I had the chance too, I'd move the same money around and get the Full Leather w/ Manual Seats.

 

Would the person who sent me the private post, I think re: the Sea Blue interior, resend the post please. My Net Nanny at work deleted it, and I'll pick it up at home.

Thanks

 

I was told you cannot get the adoptive power seats with supple leather, is this correct ?
thanks