mhh

I've been offered a Sept/Oct build 918 for German delivery. Can I please ask for some thought from others who have been down this path already regarding options? The independent dealer has an allocation he's offered me but wants to know my spec before he confirms prlce.

Weissach pros and cons?
Tighter fit bucket seats? - good idea or bad?
Carbon interior - any problems with this?
Seat pad - does it make the seat harder, softer, higher, lower?
Electric passenger seat height adjustment - necessary?
Glare reducing package - needed?
Electric comfort heating - what's that exactly?

Any essentials I've missed?

I'll trawl through the old threads for this stuff but any comments would be welcome!

Jamie140

Smaller seats would be a huge mistake if you ever plan to sell.

Footsoldier

Weissach pros and cons?
- More expensive, but "good value" (relatively!) if you want extra carbon, mag wheels etc anyway. Package price is better, and only W cars have carbon windscreen surround. Noisier, but you can add-back any of the standard sound deadening, storage etc at nil cost. (Except door storage is small cost). Also should add back sound system IMO

Tighter fit bucket seats? - good idea or bad?
-They are not tighter fit. Both one size, but you can have firmer padding on one or both seats. Firmer padding felt better to me in a sports car , (sat in both), but left standard padding in passenger seat.

Carbon interior - any problems with this?
-None that I know of - comes with Weissach

Seat pad - does it make the seat harder, softer, higher, lower?
-This is an add-on which prevents catching seat when you get into car. It doesn't affect seat itself , and is free to add. I think most have done so.

Electric passenger seat height adjustment - necessary?
-Personal choice...
Glare reducing package - needed?
-Personal choice - strip reflects in screen, but some prefer the interior with colour retained

Electric comfort heating - what's that exactly?
-Heating when the car is in electric mode. Seemed pointless - reduces electric range considerably, and you can always turn the engine on if cold! Hardly any ordered with this, according to factory.

mhh

Thanks footsoldier - much obliged. Does a Weissach with all the gear put back in miss out on much? Is it compromised as a tourer? ( I'm not likely to track it)

Footsoldier

It will still be a bit noisier due to loss of sound deadening material to save weight - I haven't experienced the difference, but others have. You can adjust this if it suits:

Factory guy convinced me that the extra noise was part of the experience, and I agreed with that at the time, but given I'll mostly use on road, and after talking to others who had taken delivery, I added back the thicker rear screen, and also some lining in the front trunk, and a 'kangaroo pouch' which is in standard car for documents behind driver's seat , but apparently also helps reduce noise in cabin.

If you add back the sound system and the door storage pocket, you get the standard sound deadening material included, to make sure the Butmester sound is optimised.

You'll also be able to choose to keep carbon struts for engine cover (I did) or switch to standard gas struts, door handles or fabric door pulls etc.

So, I've ended up with a Weissach car with most of the delete options added back in, so it's 'touring' spec but with the carbon, mag wheels and performance parts from Weissach. (Virtually all of the 'add-backs' are free of charge.)

If you are still able to change spec, the try to make sure you can talk to factory concierge.

PS - I don't take delivery til April, so this is still all theory! I'm told that the in-cabin noise is still good, just slightly more user-friendly for road use (til you take the roof off anyway...)

mhh

Footsoldier, with all cars spoken for, I'm reduced to hunting the web for dealers who have cars or allocations from owners looking to exit orders. It's not the greatest marketplace to find yourself in at this price point.

maxt

There are no Sept/Oct build slot...every car will be built by June 2015

Be careful...

Whoopsy

Correct, production of the 918 will finish June/July the latest.

Anything on the standard car that the Weissach package deleted can be added back at no cost.

Even the carbon finish on the roof halves, rear wing, mirrors can also be painted.

The sound deadening material has to be added back specifically, ordering the sound system doesn't include those as my car doesn't have the deadening material.

Tight fit seats means firmer foam padding, the shell is exactly the same, they have less 'give' so the seat feels tighter.

Glare reducing package can be ordered to include back the coloured trim strip.

tcsracing1

rumor is another generation of the 918 is planned.
anybody else hear this?

mhh

Let's hope so. It might encourage a Series 1 owner to sell and wait.

JasonAndreas

Going back to the early eighties there has been a 10+ year spread between when Porsche Motorsports develops a new race engine and when that engine ends up in a new top-of-the-line model.

The 918 (MY14) engine came from the RS Spyder 9R6 (2005), the Carrera GT (MY05) engine came from the F1 Footwork car (1991), the 911GT1 (MY96) engine came from the 956/962 (1984). So we should expect to see the successor to the 918, with the 4 cylinder from the 919 engine, sometime around MY20-MY23?

Footsoldier

Whoopsy - the sound deadening is one of those 918 ordering grey areas...

I was also told that my car, even with Burmester would still be without sound deadening, but when I asked to add it back, the direct quote from factory was:

"sound deadening... damping... oh well, as you have re-elected the
Burmester (which also includes all the speakers and cables) you will
automatically get the dampening to ensure music qualitiy. So nothing to do
on this side"

I'll let you know either way in a few weeks!

unotaz

Yup, in 2024.....

unotaz

I didn't know there was any Sept/Oct build, considering they are shutting down the 918 production line by the end of June?!

I can't imagine any Porsche dealer would tell you this information.

Whoopsy

Lol, I am not even surprised, for some reason they are not very organized regarding the 918 options.

Anyway, I found out a surprise this morning, my dealer's parts department actually have all the schematics and when I said I want the trunk matts, all it takes was 5 mins and they found it and ordered.