There was one leather option on the 997/981 which I loved. It was called 'Defroster Trim in Leather', Option #XV1 and it cost only $535. It finished up in leather the portion of the dash normally done in plastic even on the 'Full Leather' interiors! It also provided a wonderful stitching line at the base of the windshield (which was very visible and nice) and covered the central dash speaker with leather and stitching. It was a great deal for $535 and I ordered it on my '12 Spyder! See first photo on the dash of my '12 Spyder.

In the 991, we get to do this bit in leather again BUT we don't get a bargain anymore! Now there is an option that includes the defroster trim in leather (and a few more items), but it cost a lot! $1710 to be precise. It is option # CZW. It is called the 'Additional Interior Package, Dashboard in Leather'. It is described as follows in the configurator:

Covered in smooth-finish leather in interior color and partly with decorative stitching:
- dashboard end trim
- defroster trim

This option was a delayed availability at the start of 991 production but it's now offered on the configurator (see representation attached, #2 below). So far I have not seen an actual photo of a 991 with this option installed. CZW combines several parts of the dash covered in leather & stitching. For certain we can see the side (left & right) 'dash speakers/defroster vents' covered in leather and with a border nicely stitched. The center of dash, where there are lots of additional defroster vents and a central speaker - plus the Sport Chrono watch if so optioned, is apparently also covered in leather and presumably stitched around its borders (as it was done on the 997). However, the representation on the configurator does not let us see in detail so how this is actually done needs to be confirmed in the future. Finally, the end trim of the dashboard is covered in leather on either sides. This very nice but it's something only visible when you open the doors!

As you may surmise, this option is not as great a deal as it was for the 997. There appears to be more leather covered in this package (e.g. Defroster Air Vents, which were option # CNB for $365 on the 997, are now included) but it doesn't make as compelling an option due to its higher cost. However, if you are concerned with the leather details of your cabin as I am, I would argue it would be worth it. It would also provide an additional & prominent leather surface in your interior to showcase your deviating stitching once it is allowed to be added to these bits (expected later this year). Final 3 photos are of the 991's leather dash so that you identify how much 'soft touch' painted plastic is there even on a 'full leather' 991 interior!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

 

6 Speed Forum member 'mdc' alerted me to the photo below which shows how part of the 991 dash looks with the CZW option. So the questions I raised in my original post (see below) are answered in the affirmative!

"The center of dash, where there are lots of additional defroster vents and a central speaker - plus the Sport Chrono watch if so optioned, is apparently also covered in leather and presumably stitched around its borders (as it was done on the 997). However, the representation on the configurator does not let us see in detail so how this is actually done needs to be confirmed in the future."

Saludos,
Eduardo

 

Another actual photo found by 'mcd' of Option CZW on a 991 dash!

Saludos,
Eduardo

 

A) Two Tone Interiors: Someone from 'Porsche Exclusive' mentioned to me two weeks ago (at the temporary Porsche Zentrum set up at Quail Lodge) that Porsche is about to allow an expanded selection of Bi-Color interiors on their 991 model. For example, they will allow a 'Black/Carrera Red' interior combination for which there is some demand. Currently, that is not easy to do well on the 991, other than the two standard Bi-Color offerings of 'Agate/Pebble Grey' and 'Black/Platinum Grey'. Up to now, a nightmare scenario may occur when folks order a deviating color dash and top of the door trims other than the standard Bi-Colors offerings! Take a look at the attached photo of a 991 Cabriolet with a 'Luxor Beige' interior and deviating leather dash & upper door trims in 'Black' leather. The current ordering system inexplicably allows all the soft-touch plastic parts in the interior to remain 'Luxor Beige', not 'Black' at the appropriate places in the dash (vents/speakers), rear cab shelf area and circular plug on door trim. The results is a visual mismatch of epic proportions!

I feel quite bad for the unsuspecting owner who ordered this cab with high expectations of a beautiful two-tone interior! It also shows that anyone must be careful in what you order from Porsche. PAG will build it as requested by your dealer in the computer order guides, even when it looks like a terrible thing (as in this case). There is no second guessing the customer or a friendly email to dealer asking someone to please reconsider! If that is what you order, we will build it, Jawohl! That is in part why I am doing my threads on Teamspeed. So that our forum members know how important it's to pay attention to all details in your order and choose wisely from the multiple options offered by 'Porsche Exclusive'!

B) The new ordering system will soon allow the subcontractors to supply the production line with color coordinated 'soft touch' parts when a customer makes a request for a Bi-Color interior. In the case of the Cabriolet in the attached photo, all the areas surrounding the 'Black' leather dash will be done in soft-touch painted in 'Black'. Same for the other trim pieces in the rear of the cabin. It's really a small change in their order guides which really should have been allowed from day one so that the owner of this 'Luxor Beige' 991 cab should not have had to experienced this abomination!

C) I would still want to know how they will coordinate the Alcantara on a coupe in the case of a Bi-Color customized interior. For example, if you order a full 'Luxor Beige' interior, the headliner and A & B pillars are done in 'Luxor Beige' Alcantara (photo # 2). Will they changed this to 'Black' or 'Charcoal' Alcantara if you order 'Black/Luxor Beige'? Or 'Agate' Alcantara when you chose 'Agate/Luxor Beige'? I would think so.

D) The impetus for all of this change (in my opinion) comes from the complaint of many that the lighter color interiors allow the dash to reflect on the raked windshield and obstruct vision! So PAG is trying to remedy this objection by offering consumers a choice. Personally, I also think it looks quite attractive. I expect to see quite a few 'Black/Carrera Red', 'Black/Luxor Beige' and 'Agate/Luxor Beige' interiors, to name but a few of the options!

E) 'Natural Brown' leather is not offered on the 991 and so far they have not even allow that color interior to be ordered in 'Leather to Sample' on the 991. I will talk about what I know about 'Leather to Sample' in some future post. But there is a new interior combination which is 1) surprisingly attractive, 2) is part of this brown family and 3) is ALREADY offered as a Bi-Color, or Two Tone interior, on the 981! That Bi-color is 'Agate/Amber Orange'. Don't let the name turn you off. Or the un-natural representation of the color on the Configurator. Take a look at the first actual photos I have see on a 981 with this interior just posted by new owner Michael 14 in Planet 9 (photos 3, 4 & 5). It's very attractive! I also think Porsche is experimenting with it on the Boxster. If it's well received by the critics and customers, it will soon be offered too on the 991!

Right now it's only available on the new Boxster. But it could easily be expanded to the 991! The hold up is the obvious lack of corresponding 'Amber Orange' plastic parts & the coordinated 'Alcantara' color needed for the 991 model's interior. These parts are not currently needed for the Boxster for obvious reasons BUT will indeed be at hand when they start ordering 'Amber Orange' coordinated plastic & alcantara parts for the upcoming Cayman model, which will likely be offered with this attractive Bi-Color interior too! The Cayman will be introduced at the LA Auto Show this fall - 2012! Otherwise, PAG has all the other 'Amber-Orange' elements ready to go - the colored carpet, the corresponding airbag covers on the sides of the 'Amber Orange' leather seats (more important that many of you think, but we will discuss this on another day) & matching deviating stitching color thread for the 'Agate' dash & door trims! In summary, we probably will soon see this color interior added to the 991! I expect the cost to be the same as the 'Agate/Pebble Grey' since these are not 'Premium' natural leathers and thus less expensive!

This 'Amber Orange' leather color has some of the visual qualities of 'Natural Brown'. Paired with the 'Agate Grey' dash, door trim and steering wheel, this interior is simply stunning. In combination with 'Agate Grey' exterior and the standard browns and blacks offered, it will be very attractive. It will also go well with some unique PTS exterior colors you might be able to order. Let your imagination run wild! I am still a big fan of the old 'Natural Brown' offered on the .2 997. But as Stephen Stills wrote in his 1970 hit song: "If you can't be with the one you love...love the one you're with". I think I am falling in love with 'Agate/Amber Orange'!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

 

Another really informative post as ever, Eduardo.

I'm impatiently waiting for you to share your knowledge (and pictures) of the deviating stitching options - I'm quite tempted by a black interior with deviating red stitching and red belts (if I go for standard 'S' brakes) or yellow stitching and yellow belts (if I go for PCCB brakes).

I'm also interested to know whether, given your comments about the current 'black' interior actually being dark grey, you think that Porsche will offer a higher quality leather interior in 'proper' black?

Thanks

Kernowman

 

Re: Deviating Stitching, I am hoping to get to it pretty soon. This is one of the areas where we, the Porsche consumer, are given the least amount of information in general. It is not on any of Porsche market's Configurators worldwide, as far as I know. This lack of information is not new. It wasn't readily available when I ordered my '12 Spyder either. During the many months that it took me to study all the options and to finalized my specs on that custom order, I got quite familiar with what deviating stitching could be ordered on the 997 and 987 by simply bombarding my dealer contacts and 'Porsche Exclusive' in Germany with questions!

So that is the base of information that I have to start out those discussions on this thread. However, that it is not enough to give a thorough review of the subject matter on the 991 & 981. 'Porsche Exclusive' is doing deviating stitching slightly different in these new models. In the 997 and 987 for example, we could order any additional options that involved leather & stitching and be guaranteed that it would be done in the deviating stitching color by paying ONCE a fee which had a specific order code attached. You would be surprised at how many 997 interiors I have seen where some of the stitching on the interior (e.g. center console lid) did not match the rest! Neither the customer nor the ordering dealer realized that this 'catch-all' option was needed to achieved a coordinated deviating stitching in the interior! Similarly, even when this 'catch-all' code was ordered, many customers never were able to get the stitching on the steering wheel, shifter lever boot and emergency brake handle to match the rest of the deviated stitching in their interior! That is because you needed a separate order code to get those parts done (or it wasn't available at all in some cases). Rather than to take a chance of a mismatched interior, many potential customers gave up and never bother to order deviating stitching at all!

Knowing all of this, I have asked in writing 'Porsche Exclusive' in the United States to address those and other questions I have on 'Deviating Stitching' for the 991 & 981. I have also asked what changes are coming which will allow options like XHS (center tunnel & console lid), XNS (steering column in leather), CZW (additional dash vents, speakers, ends) and others to be done in deviating stitching. At the present time, these options are NOT permitted to be done with any deviating stitching, apparently because they have supply bottlenecks and need to simplify production for their hard-pressed vendors. Similarly, I have asked when you might be able to order a different color thread (from the limited standard selection) in the case where you order a PTS exterior (e.g. Pastell Orange) and want to have a matching deviating stitching (e.g. orange) in the interior. So rather than give partial or erroneous information on this forum, I have been waiting patiently to hear back from Sascha Glaeser after he returns from vacation in Germany so that I get all of this 'right' before disseminating the information.

Re: 'Black' leather offerings. The comments about the current 'Black' looking more 'Charcoal' than before actually was made my others in these forums but I tend to agree. I have specifically asked Melissa Witek (a 'Porsche Exclusive' consultant based in New York) two weeks ago if they could supply a truer, richer 'Black' in 'Leather to Sample' and she responded by saying that she has never heard of anyone complaining about the 'Black' being offered, much less wanting to pay the extra 'Leather to Sample' fee to get a different shade and quality of Black! Regardless, I have posed that same question in writing to her manager Sascha Glaeser and I am waiting for his response.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

 

Eduardo,

Based on the completeness of your previous posts, I had assumed that you knew all the information already and were simply saving it up for when you found time to write a full post.

I appreciate that you are waiting for additionally responses before providing a complete guide to the deviating stitching option, so I will patiently wait until this as been obtained!

Thanks

Kernowman

 

Eduardo my friend,

Another thing I can't really understand is that Porsche is suggesting paired colors with this LTS option. When I ordered my 2006 with independent colors of Lipstick Red (very old color and wasn't offered as a part of any current interior) and black they not only did it beautifully but did it differently (better in my opinion) than the current way they combine these colors....let me illustrate (and you're the expert so maybe I'm seeing this wrong).



The black was reserved for the floor the doors and the carpeting and the stick shift boot and emergency brake. I picked the full leather option too. The fact that the dash was red was a plus for me. It seems that the dash with the current match would have been black?? Am I wrong??

I liked my set-up better.

What do you think? Have they changed the split?

Best,

Tom

 

Tom:

Don't know if we are talking apples and oranges here! So let's make it all equal & talk just apples. Let's say today (2012) you order a 991's interior in 'Leather to Sample' in 'Lipstick Red' and it's accepted! Then all the plastic parts on the dash (vents/speakers), doors (speakers, etc), rear panel (speakers, etc), console, etc, will be done in 'Black'. The leather portions of the 'full leather interior' (dash, seats front & rear, door panels & trim, console lid, center tunnel, rear panels & trim) will be done in 'Lipstick Red'. The carpet would probably be done in 'Black' as the default color with any 'LTS'. The alcantara headliner & pillars will be done in 'Black'. The only possibly hang-up might be if they can do the steering wheel in 'Liptstick Red' too. Perhaps, but it will cost you extra on top of the standard 'LTS' up-charge. So essentially, Porsche will do today a 991 in 'Leather to Sample' the SAME as they did your 997 in 2006!

To my knowledge, no one has successfully ordered and received a 'leather to sample' 991 yet in the United States so we can't verify this yet. But I expect it to follow the same formula used on your MY2006 997 or on the 'Leather to Sample' interior of this MY2009 997 Turbo you can see in the attached photo.

The 'red' interior we have been talking about in my recent postings is the 'Carrera Red' currently offered in the Porsche line up. As a result, it comes already with its full array of color-coordinated 'soft touch' paint plastic parts in 'Carrera Red' - vents, speakers, etc. If a customer wants to create a Bi-Color theme by requesting a customized 'Black/Carrera Red' interior, the system NOW automatically assumes that ALL its normal 'Carrera Red' plastic parts will stay in place, regardless of the fact your introducing 'Black' leather to the mix! That will create, for example, a color mismatched dash of 'Black' leather and 'Red' vents & speakers! The NEW program will allow BOTH 'Black' and 'Carrera Red' plastic parts to be used intelligently to create a coordinated 'look'. A 'Black' dash will have 'Black' adjacent plastic trim. The 'Carrera Red' leather parts will still be coordinated with adjacent 'Red' trim. That is all that is changing! Do you see what I am trying to explain in that regard?

Saludos,
Eduardo

 

Thanks for the clarification Eduardo.......it looks like I was under a false impression then except for the steering wheel which they did in red leather for me with no extra charge beyond my $5,500.

I guess I got lucky!!!!

Best,

Tom