alexb76

I absolutely LOVE the interior of 997, from layout, to the gauges, buttons, leather, Alcantara, steering wheel, to the balance between simlicity and technology, I think it's great to have a clean centre console with most of the button around the radio/NAV. I however find the material used around the console/radio should definitely be upgraded. Like I absolutely HATE FAKE Aluminium (being plastic), all aluminium parts must be REAL, my 2001 Audi had real aluminium trim so I am sure it doesn't cost much, and for weight... I think a narrow trim of Aluminium shouldn't weight much more than a plastic one!

Jlangmd

I like the interior a lot. My PCM has no silver, just matte black which I like, and I replaced much of the silver trim with CF, but couldn't stop from choking on the price of all the little air vent surrounds, so they are stock. I like the MF steering wheel, but have been adjusting the settings back and forth a bit. I also really like the new PCM. Did not like the Nav in the 997.1.

w00tPORSCHE

I love the natural brown and carrera red interior (am a big fan of natural leather) but have always thought (without polarized glasses) about the impact of refection of the dash on the windshield with these two colors. I have dark grey natural leather and even though it was billed as full leather, I now need to upgrade to PDK surround in leather. I have the aluminium package, seatbacks in full leather and the full deviated stitching (silver stitch). Here are some pics. I honestly feel all that Porsche logo is overkill. I bought my car off the lot.

Edgy01

As some of you may already know, the door handles (inside) were originally supposed to be billet aluminum but during crash testing the momentum of all of that mass caused them to pop open. Porsche had to reengineer them in silver colored plastic. Cheap stuff. They could have designed a more complex counter-balanced system to retain the billet aluminum, but felt that that would be getting too complex. Unfortunately, much of what we have inside gets dictated by safety standards (like things that don't burn and give off nasty fumes). Many of the "slush finish" parts in the car are not long wearing. You will find that many of those parts were optionally available in either leather or painted to match the car, or in silver. I'm glad I have very little of the slush finish stuff--it just doesn't hold up.

kosmo

wow, i didnt know that. Are the Panny's interior door handles Aluminum? They feel like it.

OldGuy

I love my stone grey with the Carrara White exterior.
BUT JLANGD MD, your interior ROCKS. That IS a classic Porsche combo! Who needs 5 HOUR ENERGY
when you have an interior like that!!!!!!!!!! Its GREAT!!!!!!!!

alexb76

I did know about the door handles, but what about OTHER TRIMS? Like the air vents, the gear shift trim, the trim around the radio or coffee holders? TOTALLY CHEAP MATERIAL! As I said my Audi had REAL Aluminium trim all-over... at least they have painted those plastic pieces nicely that it FOOLS you to think they're aluminium, but for a trained eye, they're obviously fake. THE WORST one is the Plastic trim for non-PCM 997.1 radio (as there's more of it)... I remember while searching for my car, I could NOT possbly think of ordering a non-PCM unit and the plastic looked like out of a GM entry-level car!

To me, that's the MAIN shortcoming of Porsche interior compared to other top brands... but then now with Panamera, it's gonna be a heck of a disneyland on the console

rijowysock

the interior is perfect for 2005-----2012...

but the new model needs the cayenne/panamera styling, and its not even that.. its more-so a modified Carrera GT console.. i think it works, and will be of course changed to suit a sports car versus being in a sedan/SUV.. bring the shifter up and closer to the wheel... buttons all nearby, gauges are fine as is but digitize one like the pana/cayenne.. should be nice.

Jlangmd

Thanks!

w00tPORSCHE

I too love jlandmd's interior/exterior combo (that's their combo in the turbo sales brochure) but classic Porsche combo is silver and red.

997at

Feel like I have to chime in on this one too.........
My previous car before the 997 was an e39 M5. I can distinctly remember getting it to the drivers seat for the first time in the 997, looking around and my very first thought being "Wow, the M5 interior is much more luxurious and has better quality finishes.........I expected the 997 to blow it away" Bear in mind too that my 997 is full leather. After a little more time in the 997 I came to realize that the porsche interior is all about function......elegance by virtue of simplicity. I think it is classy, and I have come to appreciate that they do for the most part have very high grade materials. However, the first thing that caught my eye when I first got in the 997, and I still think is unacceptable for a 100+K car is the cheesy painted plastic around the 997.1 PCM/control unit. The rest of the materials are great (especially the carpeting), and the painted plastic just brings it down. I think about the M5 interior.............all plastics were very refined with carefully textured finishes and no cheesy paint. Also, the headliner and rear deck in the M5 were alcantara as standard.......very nice.

kosmo

very true and dont forget the Navi was standard on the e9 m5. Also mine came w/ a leather dash.

Ive heard that the 991 will offer a even more interior options list.

ClaylG

I don't understand why Porsche uses that slush finish on black control *****. They could have easily made them out of black molded plastic that would have held up much better over time VS the slush finish.

My Chevy Impala (company car) has black control ***** on the console and they're made of black molded plastic. Not the best material in the world but there's no finish to come off nearly as easily compared to what Porsche offers.

Carrara

I love the 997's interior. It's simple, and perfect.

About the 991's interior, it is more complicated, but before you make any assumptions that its going to be bloated and overloaded, take a look at this spyshot. The slope of the console is very elegant, and fits the PCM perfectly, where as with the Panamera and Cayenne, the slop stops abruptly for the PCM. It looks like there are a lot of buttons, the center console is actually a lot slimmer than on the Panamera, in effect, creating less room for much more buttons. The area over the gauges is more open, and it seems that there will be wood/alcantara/carbon/aluminum interior packages as on the Panamera, where the style strips in the interior stay aluminum, but have the package in contrast. It also looks like with the manual transmission, the gear shift will be closer to the steering wheel allowing for faster gear changes. And umm... Where's the handbrake? Is it electronic?



As of right now, I'm not sure I like it better than the 997's simplistic interior.

Palmbeacher

Styling-wise I like the 997 interior. Mine's sand beige with the stitched leather on the door tops and dash, which I think adds to the retro-sportscar look. On the 996 dash, the lines just don't flow as nicely.

My only gripe, and it's HUGE, is the quality of materials. The driver's side seatback bolster on mine looks like crap. The finish is wearing off to the bare hide all along the outer stitching, and in the cracks that have developed on the bolster itself. Then there's the slush finish on the console and other painted parts. Some of the parts are (sort of) sand beige plastic underneath, yet others are black underneath, for no obvious reason. Both look beat where the soft paint is peeling, but the black showing through the beige is really terrible because you can see it from a distance. The radio ***** have a slush clearcoat, which went soft and sticky on me so I used some mild cleaner to take it all off, luckily without taking the black paint with it. Except one tiny spot on the edge of the volume ****, which I touched-up with some Testor's flat-black model-car paint. Oh, and the carpet on the backs of the rear seats and the cargo area is fading badly.

Throw enough money at it and all of this is restorable, but to me it's scandalous on such an expensive car. I've seen SCs/964/993 models 2 and 3x older and with 4-5X the mileage as mine, and their interiors look newer than mine.