Hi Folks,
I recently posted about selling my 08 Cayman S to my sister and I mentioned a new 991S and a few reasons I wanted to make this change. The car is a CPO with just under 10000 miles in immaculate condition. The car is Basalt over Beige and has a long list of options:
Leather Interior
Premium Package Plus with 14 way seats (many items come with this)
PDK
Sport Chrono
PDCC
Burmester
Sport Design Steering Wheel
20 inch Carrera Classic Wheels (w/ colored wheel caps)
Rear Park Assist
Electric Sunroof
Power Steering Plus
Folding External Mirrors
Crests on headrests
I will not disclose exact financial details but the price I paid was better than a 25% discount on the MSRP of the vehicle.
There are a few items here to discuss. This option list includes many items my wife and I wanted (otherwise why travel 1500 miles to buy it?
) and a few items that came along for the ride. The car will serve as a daily driver. My wife and I intend to travel extensively in this car and also do occasional track days. The "must have" items for us included a leather interior, PDK, sport chrono, PDCC, the sport design steering wheel and ventilated seats (part of the Premium Package Plus). My wife did not like the manual transmission in my CS and this limited her willingness to drive the car even though she enjoyed the travel and the events we participated in. Thus PDK was a requirement. She also set the limits on the exterior color to include black, white, and red. I wanted the performance enhancements that come with sport chrono (dynamic engine mounts) and PDCC. We live in Florida and on a black car, ventilated seats are useful (OK, we are wimps but on a track day with the windows open we think this will help). A number of the plastic pieces in the standard beige interior of my Cayman suffered paint chips over time and required reconditioning at intervals. We are hoping the the leather interior on this car will prevent some of that from happening.
The "desirable" items included the Carrera Classic Wheels and Rear Park Assist. While the sight lines on this car are better than the Cayman, I was convinced by a few minor parking mishaps over time that this option was quite useful. I had turbo wheels on my Cayman and I didn't like any of the standard Cayman wheels. The 991S standard wheel looks quite good but the Carrera Classic is a nice upgrade.
The Burmester sound system is an iffy item although I may change my mind as we travel over time. The 991 cabin is MUCH quieter than my Cayman and the primary difference is less road noise. The engine provides an awesome sound even without the PSE but long distance travel at interstate speeds may raise my appreciation for a 'better' sound system. That being said, I would not pay extra today for this option.
The sunroof, folding mirrors, crests, and power steering plus were not important and I worry that some of them will become maintenance headaches downstream if we keep the car beyond the CPO period.
Here is one pic for reference:
Nice pick up. No question great deals are available on a CPO car. I would have gone the same route, but it was impossible to find a car even close to the options I wanted, so ended up ordering.
How good is the Burmester sound system?
As I stated, this was not an option I would have picked because I think its value is questionable at the asking price. I listen to XM while driving around town, and I do think the listening experience is vastly superior over the Sound Package Plus in my '08 Cayman S. I added the integrated Cayenne XM satellite radio to the PCM 2.1 in the Cayman so this is at least somewhat of an apples-to-apples comparison. Some of the difference in quality may be due to the quieter cabin in the 991 vs the 987.
My wife says the Burmester is awesome and is very glad the system came with the car. I like the system and I'm glad we have it,....but I still wouldn't spend the money. Given the need to make a choice, there are other options that I would rather have than the Burmester. However, if you are an audiophile
or if money isn't an object then the system is clearly an improvement. As always, your mileage may vary.
