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Not sure if we are getting caught up in semantics here...
According to the Turbo order guides I have and every Turbo build sheet I have ever seen, there were only two available seats for US 996 Turbos. Both of those seats had additional options that could be added to them. I don't believe the GT seats mentioned above were a PCNA factory option on 996 Turbos. Euro only, or bought as parts and installed by owner.
The two seats available in the US on 996 Turbo's:
Standard Seat (power, full leather), optionally available with Supple Leather (option 982), Lumbar Support driver and passenger (512, 586), heated (342), headrest crests (XSC), and finally lowered 10mm (XSU).
Sport Seat (Option P78), additionally optionable with Seat Back in Leather (XSB), Seat Back Painted Exterior color (XSA). Heat, Crests, and Lowered as described above COULD be additionally optioned with P78. Supple Leather and Lumbar Supports COULD NOT be added with P78.
we basically are talking about the same thing. supple leather would be what most dealers would order for a lot car and sport seats would be with leather backs unless optioned. looking at hundreds of fotos of 996tt seats theres very few that have anything different then supple , leather w/ soft backs and the hard backs. of course with porsche if you spend the coin they will build you virtually anything you want.
I'm a big guy, 6'2, 240...and I'm only street driving typically shorter distances...so my experience may be different than others.
I have sat in standard/comfort seats and they are indeed comfortable. I typically want/need something more bolstered however...and I don't care for the looks of standard seats.
I now have hard back sport seats...I fit very well and generally comfortably. They are OEM white hard back sport seats and although I like them, they don't hold me quite as well as I'd like. I sometimes find myself using my elbow to brace myself against the door in hard right-handers. Bolstering is lacking a bit.
I was looking to go to something more aggressive and went towards the 996 GT3 buckets/elephant-ears. Bought them based upon a recommendation...they showed up and I immediately knew I couldn't fit comfortably...had to sell them. Shoulders were way too narrow for me. Felt uncomfortable (worse than my old Recaro PP's I think).
Given this, the most desirable OEM would be the hard back sport seats. (I might however have to try the Sparco SPX someday).
Interesting - I swear I found someone who had power sport seats on a 996 turbo.
My car is a 2001 and it comes with power sport seats.
I have compared mine with my friend who has manual sport seats and we both agreed that power sports are much better than the manual ones. For some reasons, we just can't get a perfect sitting position on the manual ones. It's either the tilt or the height that's off.
08-21-2017, 09:39 AM
