sandwedge

Called the dealership today for price and availablity and was told they had two choices. Porsche's own for $488 or B&M for $359. I see the latter of the two can actaully be bought for $199 at Automotion.com.
http://www.automotion.com/productpage.aspx?pid=100848

The parts guy said the two systems are almost identical and actually recommended the B&M which he said outsells the OEM 3 to 1. Any B&M users here who can comment either way?

Rolf Stumberger

I paid $ 399 for the OEM .The B&M is available for ~ $250.
Check around for the best price.

The main difference between the two is that the OEM is a complete replacement unit .You un-bolt your's and bolt in the new unit ( 4 bolts ),
re-attach the two cables and you're done.

If you buy the B&M , you get the stick and a few parts.
You need to re-use the factory housing.
Your factory shifter is permanently installed , so you will need to BREAK
it out of the housing and then install the B&M bushings, etc.
That's why it's a lot cheaper .
It's OK if you follow the directions and are willing to spend the extra time.
(just keep in mind that if you screw something up, you will have no car to drive until you get replacement parts)
You may even want to buy someone's standard shifter , install the B&M and then swap it out (then sell your's to the next guy ) lol

If you plan to install it yourself, B&M has very good install directions.Take a look and see if it's something you want to takle .
If you go with the OEM (which I decided to do afte seeing what's involved )
you can disregard ~ 90% of the instructions.

There is no "quality" difference that I know of between the two. If there is,it's minimal and not worth mentioning. Both are st.stl. sticks and may even be made by the same company.
In any event, I love the OEM Sport shifter . It should be standard equipment .

Eric - Plug Guy

B&M is the defacto standard, and WE sell it at $199 every day.

Just get it. It will be the best mod you do to the car.

todd.

I just had my dealer install the OEM Short Shifter last Friday and it is great. They did a perfect job, there are no issues with it getting into gear, first is easier than ever. The stock shifter is sloppy, the Short Shifter is very accurate, what a difference. I paid $410 for the shifter from Carlson Porsche in CA, then $303.26 for the install at my local dealership. Although I could have installed it myself, knowing that it would be the dealers full responsibly to get it perfect if there was a problem is well worth it especially with all the posts regarding difficulty getting into gears. I can say that if it's done right it's great, but if you mess it up or are not satisfied you are going to end up at the dealership anyway. However, they are going to make you pay for your mistake and could even list your mistake on your service history which might hurt you later. It's just safer to pay for some things. This shifter is probably the most extreme upgrade you'll do to a wonderful auto, why risk the hassle. Porsche should include the Short Shifter as standard. When you buy a Mustang or Vette you expect to be doing upgrades, but for this kind of money and level of engineering I am almost insulted that Porsche offers this as an option.

sandwedge

Excellent info Rolf. I appreciate it. I'm tempted to do it myself but this is something I really want done right so I'm leaning towards buying the B&M from Eric at Bumper Plugs for $199 and then pay the dealer shop $200 for the 2 hours they're quoting and I've still paid less than buying the OEM part alone for $488.

>>>You may even want to buy someone's standard shifter , install the B&M and then swap it out (then sell your's to the next guy ) lol<<<

lol is right but a great idea actually. Build the "module" on the work bench and just drop it in. Then sell the parts necessary for someone else to repeat it.

sandwedge

Thanks Eric. Sort of new to the board and didn't know you were selling it. Easy choice now.

sandwedge

I think you're exactly right and that's what I'll do. This is something I don't want screwed up. Many say it's simple but I've also read some accounts of less successful installs, some of which may have ended up in the dealership shop to get it right even though it wasn't admitted.

Rick in Colorado

I'm hardly a skilled mechanic, but I've done the B&M and it came out perfect. Why not use this simple DIY project as a confidence booster? Worst case you have the dealer "clean it up", if it goes awry, and you're no worse off (financially) than if you had them do it in the first place. Best case, you'll surprise yourself, and gain the satisfaction of tinkering with your own car.

OCBen

They are not identical. The B&M product is apparently inferior to the OEM, according to well documented information. You might just get what you pay for.

If you had helped yourself to the abundant amount of information in this forum by doing a search you would have found this:

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-forum/180906-shift-kits-b-and-b-vs-oem.html

Spring for the OEM. Why go cheap?

gravedgr

Ben, the thread you reference seems to refute your very argument (same vs. different). Why pay more for the same thing?

OCBen

The pictures tell the story. Besides, his parts guy even told him they are not identical, which means they are visibly different. Which means they are not the same.

It's very simple actually. Even if B&M makes the short shifter for Porsche they make it to Porsche's design specifications, which presumably are patent protected and no one can duplicate exactly without infringement. B&M, as a supplier to Porsche, would be prohibited from making and selling exactly the same thing. That's standard arrangement for any supplier to a major manufacturer. The best that B&M could do is to engineer around the Porsche design without infringing on it and produce essentially a knockoff that is similar in design. My money is on Porsche have the better engineers.

cviles

From other's experiences, it sounds like the cost-efficient way to do this upgrade is to buy the tequipment (or B&M, your preference) kit and install it after-the-fact. I got the sport shifter as a factory-option and MSRP on that is $765. Not a huge difference, but still higher than I would expect as Porsche is already doing the labor to install a shifter when the car is built...

sandwedge

Now you have me thinking again. B&M has a nice PDF file with step by step instructions on their website and it looks pretty straightforward.

Eric - Plug Guy

Not if said supplier had in writing such language to allow it to sell its own branded shifter that was made to the same exacting standards.



Do you know where the majority of the Cayenne parts are made? Do you know what company makes them?

OCBen

You're confusing engineering with manufacturing.

Any supplier can manufacture what another company designs and engineers, provided they meet the same exacting standards of the company. We do that all the time in my business. The process is called qualification. Once a company is qualified, they can then compete for the business.

But Porsche's designs are proprietary designs and no one, especially the supplier, is allowed to copy them and then compete against Porsche with an identical product. It would be absurd to think this is allowed.