Nizer

Curious as to current owner's thoughts on adding full leather.

Here's what I have so far:
GT Silver
Front Lift
Engine Mounts
Sport Buckets
Rear Center Console Exterior Color
PCM 3.0/Sound Pkg Plus
Bluetooth
USB

Trying to keep a lid on options. Audio and Front Lift/Engine Mounts add about $5k each. Total options above add about 15% to cost.

On the fence on Full Leather as it's a decent chunk of change.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

997gt3north

- Personally, I just think the gt3 should be a non silver or non black color (white, yellow, red, etc) - but to each his own (it will be lower profile for sure so that's a plus)

- I would also save on the rear center consol (you will never get your money back on that)

- if you are going to track it then maybe the engine mounts if not no way (even then I just installed the wevo black polymer and they are 100% streetable)

- front lift will be huge on re-sale

- could be me, but I would pick the engine mounts before the sterio stuff all day long

- I just personally think it is fitting that the stock sound systems sucks

- full leather - no way in my opinion (in a gt2 yes, tt yes, gt3 no)

- overall, I think your specs are good and re-sale should be almost perfect

GrantG

I think Full Leather is great. If you're trying to keep costs down, I'd choose full leather over the PCM/Sound or the expensive paint (GT Silver is great, but there are other nice colors for less money - Meteor Gray & Aqua Blue for example).

TripleM

I would minus :

Rear Center Console Exterior Color......spray paint in urself, cheaper.

Sound Pkg Plus...coz GT3 engine/exhaust is the real music to the ears

Non-leather.....bit too luxury feel and this car doesnt quite have it to begin with. Agree with GTNorth on this

Carlos993

I have a 7 GT3 with many of the options you are considering. I like the way the car is set up, it was built and conceptualized as a non-track car, but if I had to do it again I would prioritize in this order:

- full leather - huge difference in interior
- console in exterior color
- GT Silver - like it, but as mentioned there are colors that are very close without the $$$

KINGSRULE

Skip the extra paint and stereo

Full leather is a must....

Adam2S

Most people on boards such as this feel that the GT3 belongs on a track and therefore you should not bother with any such luxuries and go with all performance / lightness options, so you will always find replies here pro bare-bones and against putting anything on the car that does make it go faster.

Looking at your spec it looks that like me, you want your car to be a pleasant daily driver - somewhere nice to be, not just a stripped out bare-bones track car.

I personally have debated full leather to myself quite a bit too. Its quite expensive for what you get but at the end of the day I have decided to go with it for my spec. Without it there is far too much leatherette everywhere - with full leather you get leather on the dash and door tops and full alcantara on the doors, glovebox, centre box lid and steering surround area. Its as much for me that the extra alcantara is a must have as the actual extra leather itself. Leathette just doent belong in a 911 of this value, certainly not in a car I intend to drive to work in everyday and enjoy.

Other that that I think your options are pretty much perfect.
Deffo get the audio stuff, without them the crappy 2x25W system will annoy this sh*t out of you regardless of how good the engine sounds.
Engine mounts are only worth it if you intend to track the car a lot and want to get that final 1% of performance out of it - otherwise they are a waste of cash IMHO for the little difference they will make. I think you will get far more day to day pleasure out of the full leather interior.
Love the centre console in exterior color (or aluminium would look fine) - As an option perhaps get red belts too to bring the outside colour scheme inside. Silver with red calipers outside, silver with red belts inside!
Also you might want to consider the carbon pack as it looks stunning with the carbon backs on the sports buckets.

I know UK prices are different so its all relative but Im in the same dilemma - UK price is £82k, with options Im trying to keep it on or under £90k as this is an emotianal hurdle for me on a car!

Decisions, decisions....

fc-racer

If you drive the car on the street for a reasonable proportion of time, go with the full leather, it adds so much to the interior. If it's a track-only car, skip everything except for the buckets, motor mounts and lift kit.

I specced mine with full leather, carbon small package, sound package plus, red belts, heated seats and sport adaptives. The only thing I regret are the sport adaptive seats.

Nizer

Thanks for the feedback.

Re: color, the jury is still out. I thought about red but it's going to be hard enough talking my way out of tickets in this car so that was a non-starter. At this point it's down to White or GT Silver.

White is super easy to care for and ticks the "racing tradition" box. I have a 10yr-old white van that's sits in the sun all day and is never garaged. The finish looks good as new. Try that with any other color. OTOH, the GT3 will always be garaged so that negates the sun durability issue.

My 535i is Titanium Silver and it's such a great color for showing off curves of car. As far as other silvers from Porsche, GT Silver has it on them from my perspective. Dealer claims it's because they use more black in the mix and a different base coat. Whatever the case, I prefer it over the other two silvers.

Re: Sound Package Plus, I agree with others that it's probably wasted money in this car. Unfortunately Porsche in their never-ending option inflation strategy, has made it mandatory when you tick PCM 3.0. I want nav, but trust me if I could do without SPP I would.

On full leather, I was unaware that you needed to tick this box in order to get extended Alcantara on doors and dash. If this is true then it's a no-brainer as the Alcatara makes the interior in my view. Adam2S, thanks for the heads-up on this. I will verify.

Re: track car vs non-track car, I fall somewhere in between. I'll do a few Porsche track events but I try to focus most of my available track time in open wheel cars. I'm sure the GT3 will be fun on the track but at the end of the day it's still a street car. As such, I don't mind throwing a few options in that make high-speed tours around NE a little more enjoyable.

WHB Porsche

The full leather definitely makes the GT3 interior, especially if it will at all be a street car. The 997.1 GT3s that I drove without full leather had very cheap seeming interiors.

C.J. Ichiban

I've done the super options on one of them and the bare bones on the other...

my 02 which is worthless, but here it is:

full leather adds a lot more to the interior than painted stuff. I even did the red stitching, and to me it was worth it. I would sit there and pet the alcantara and red stitching.

whatever color you get- LOVE it. otherwise you'll be bummed. I'm still in love with my old Cobalt gt3, only a few other people have them. you should get some blood flow every time you walk towards your car, don't worry about getting tickets. get a K40 or V1 and don't drive like a jackass and you won't get tickets- cops will see anyone going 90-120 mph and pull them over regardless of color, make, etc.


(but since it's not my car, who cares)

tcsracing1

be careful not to turn this thing in to a luxo boat....

Nizer

Nope. Staying away from most all of the crazy interior trim stuff and trying to avoid anything that adds weight. One item I'm deviating on here is the Front Lift, which I think will be a big selling point on resale - the fact that it might minimize the number of replacement spoilers is secondary. Added lighter Sport Buckets (would've done the fixed Club Sport seats had they been available). Only place I'm not stepping up is on PCCBs based on all the conflicting feedback. I also don't want the cost to creep too far into RS territory as I have a deposit on one for when they become available, so I could be swapping out within 6 months or so after taking delivery of this car.

Adam2S

Yup Im 100% sure on this - try the 3d configurator online and you can see the alcantara dissapear off the various parts.

Std Interior is :
Sport seats with Alcantara seat inlays.
3-spoke GT3 steering wheel with Alcantara steering wheel rim and leather airbag module; Alcantara shift lever and handlebrake grip.
Black interior with black soft-paint finish on plastic surfaces.
Roofliner in Alcantara

Full Leather also gives :
Additional scope of leather features for standard interior: Trim A-pillar/windscreen frame, B-pillar and C-pillar trim, front part of dashboard including airbag cover, uopper part of dashborard including instrument cluster cover, door trim including head iarbag cover, fromt side trims, rear side trims, all leather items in smooth leather.
Additional in Alcantara: Door handle, door mirror, door storage compartment lid, extension of door storage compartment, centre console storage compartment lid, dashboard, lower part including glove compartment.

Its a real con this one - all the press cars that I have seen have had full leather, thus giving you the impression it is standard. Also by the description it perhaps makes you think its replacing the alcantra with leather and therfore you could easily overlook it thinking you will get the full alcantara interior anyway. You dont!!! - without it the only alcantara is on the roof, the centre of the seats, the gearstick and handbrake gaters and the steering wheel.

Really the full leather option ought to be called "Full Alcantara and Leather Interior", and the standard interior called "Half Alcantara and Leatherette Interior"

Nizer

Yeah. I went through the order guide with a magnifying glass today and you're right; it's real bait and switch. I would've been pretty bummed if I ordered standard interior expecting all the alcantara shown in the press and website cars. I wonder how many others are going to get caught out on this.

Now my only question regards the main panel on the door, which is identified as "Door Panel/3.0c" in the order guide. It's shown in alcantara on photos but I don't find it described as such in the list of upgraded alcantara pieces on the Full Leather Interior option description. I'm assuming they're indentifying it as "extension of door storage compartment" but definitely plan to confirm.

Caveat emptor.