What do you think about your leather interior?

Hi, I've been looking for a 996 for the last half year and initially had my mind made up that I "needed" a black, full leather interior. Unfortunately this seems to be something of a rare option and I haven't had the best luck finding one. I wanted to know from those who have lived with their 996 interior for awhile, how important do you think the full leather option is? Thanks everyone in advance, nwr

Welcome to Rennlist. Both of my 996s have had full leather. I think it makes a big difference. But there are things you can do to dress up the interior by buying aftermarket parts or having them covered.

Full leather in mine, I'm not sure I could live without it honestly. I have gray though, so it shows a bit more wear than I'd like. Black definitely would hold up better over time, I think. C4S came standard with full leather, which is nice. But the take rate on base C2/C4 seemed to be relatively low (based on the cars I saw on the market in the last 6 months).

I love my full leather interior (Savanna Beige). The standard interior is pretty bad due to all the "soft touch" plastic pieces. It's really a terrible finish - looks cheap, and doesn't stand up to normal wear and tear. If you can hold out for full leather I think it would be your best bet. Good luck

I wouldn't settle for anything less than a full leather interior (quite frankly, don't know specifically what that covers), and then I have changed out a bunch of extra parts with more leather, carbon fiber and alcantara. It does not look cheap in any way. But the plastic parts from the factory look cheap to me.

There are 3 main complaints about the 996: The IMSB The headlights The cheap interior If you get the full leather interior (especially if you find one with the "extra" full leather), you just won't understand the third complaint. I never understood it until I rode in a friend's dad's car that had zero leather in it (about 10 years in). Good god that thing felt like a cheap POS which I find funny because at the time we bought her 996 I had an XK8 which made the full leather seem cheap and crappy. So glad we spent the extra money for it. Other than the dash bubbling a bit and a dive regulator leaving a mark on a rear seat, the leather has held up great with minimal care and no protection from the sun for 15 years (never know a garage or cover). It may not look/feel as good as an old Jag interior, but it is good stuff.

Hmmm. I had full leather in my 997 but have soft touch in my 996. It doesn't seem to effect the handling any but the 997 was definitely faster. So I guess for maximum performance, the full leather is a must. :P

full leather and supple leather options are a must. My 996 had full leather and I never understood what the complaints about the interior were until I started looking at 996's without it.

Per the window sticker, my car was fitted with over $8k in leather options. Basically there's nothing but leather, aluminum, and carpeting within view or reach. I think the criticism of the 'base' interior may be overblown, but a leathered-up 996 is an unusually nice place to be. I swear the 'supple leather' verges on furniture-grade. Unless you set your heart on the impossible ("must have: factory-made 996 narrow-body turbo in paint-to-sample BMW violet chromaflair with 928 Pasha interior"), I'd encourage you to stick to your priorities, whatever they are. Cars are coming on the market every day, and the fleeting convenience of striking a 'need' from your list can yield a mild but durable ownership draaaag. Happy hunting!

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Agreed. Truthfully, all that matters is what's important to you. And the longer you hold out to find the exact one you are looking for, the more it will mean to you when you get it. Good luck!

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X2 The mk1 cars did suffer from a less durable interior but it really depends on if a luxury feeling is at the top of your priority list. If you are the Jaguar/Aston/Lexus type then it would probably be a must. OTOH, if you are more of the Lotus crowd then I don't think it reall matters. FWIW, I had a few thousand miles driving between leather and non leather interior, and although it wasn't a deal breaker for me specifically, I can def tell the texture differences up close and also the feeling is quite different when you are touching it or sitting on it, unlike pleather from other manufacturers that more closely mimics leather. With that said, I got a hybrid interior with leather seats and the rest, non leather.

Love the full leather in the C4S, aluminum package for the vents and gear shift but the one option I did not know I needed before I bought the car is the leather steering wheel airbag cover.. top's

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God, I wish my 928 had Pasha interior instead of all black. I would love to see someone put Pasha in their 996. That would be so much better than all the carbon fiber in the world.

Essential for a car this old. I have the full leather interior, plus the leather center console. I think this speaks volumes in how the leather wears versus soft touch paint.

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Supple leather truly is a personal preference just as is color. I've excluded cars from my search with supple leather - to me it just looks too worn...but as I said, just a personal preference.

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I actually like that She would so beat the **** out of me if I did that to her car though...

Thanks for all the reply's and insight. I'll be sticking with my Miata until I fine "the one." The picture of the two consoles really puts things into perspective. Lately I've seen a few 996's with a dark blue full leather which from the pictures looks like a nice alternative to the safe bet of black.

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Wow ! Pasha huh? I thought I was hallucinating...

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Maybe it reminds me of certain teenage experiences It looks like something out of Clockwork Orange too.

Mine is full leather in gray. When I first got it, the steering wheel's leather was almost a light blue color due to the gray wearing off and it was only about six years old. Couple of spots on the drivers seat bolster as well. Ordered some matching leather dye and redid both. Since then I must say the leather is holding up fantastic and still looks almost perfect. I initially wanted full leather in black, but living in Florida I felt it wouldn't be the smartest idea, and the ones I looked at with black all seems to look faded and dirty.

I'm fine with my partial-leather interior. If I was hung up on full leather, it would have to be black - in my opinion, the other Porsche leather colors fade into hideous clown colors after a couple of decades, and I couldn't stand looking at whatever color it is that Guards Red fades to. I think it's called labia majora fuchsia, but I can't guarantee it. Of course, I'm one of those people who prefers a spartan interior vs. overdone, super plus, overly gadgeted interiors. If you want the "luxury" car feel, full leather is probably mandatory.

I'm with 5CHN3LL on this. I like the partial leather, in fact I like the 996.1 interior overall. I also prefer the standard leather to the supple leather. It reminds me more of the "I'm a sports car" feel that the air-cooled cars had. I don't want a car to look or feel like a living room. My only gripes with the mk1 interior are the "soft touch" paint (they should have just molded the parts in the right color so they didn't look so nasty when they get scraped up) and the "aluminum look" bits (I do think that a 80k+ car could spring for a genuine aluminum airbag sticker).

we can agree to disagree - until you've sat in a full supple leather for any length of time and compare it to non-supple feel, i'd say it would be hard for someone to make that comment. i've had 996's in partial leather, full leather and supple leather. after sitting in non-supple leather for 4 hours my *** feels like my ex-wife has beaten it with her baseball bat. black full supple leather is the best - the seats are much more comfortable and makes interior look great - of course as long as previous & current owner have taken care of the car and treated it with respect. there seems to be a big misconception that certain interior surfaces wear differently - my C4S with 110K miles has a full supple black leather interior that still looks and feels close to new - no wear on drivers seat bolster and no scratches on center console/etc. i've seen grey interiors scratched to hell and grey interiors that were almost perfect

Black full supple leather option in my 2002 C2. In my opinion it does make a difference but I also think a big part of it depends on what the car's role will be; not really a big deal if it's going to be a full time track toy/canyon carver. Big deal if daily driven, since it changes a lot of the contact/touch points you interact with often.

totally agree - because of my other vehicles i don't use my C4S as often as i should but enjoy the feel of supple - occasional dinners with wife and getaways. sad really. everyone has their reason and opinion - anyone who hasn't had the chance should sit in supple leather and check em out

Where you live may make a difference as well. I had the supple leather (partial) in my previous 996 and it was nicer--during the winter. The standard leather is harder on my butt however the supple leather didn't breath as well and I would get out of the car with my back soaked during our Arizona summers. The standard leather (non-supple?) only leaves me mildly damp in the same situation. My car is a DD and I would prefer the supple for a long distance haul but most of my driving is around town where the standard leather keeps me fresher for going into a meeting. However a full-supple leather interior does look awesome compared to the partial-standard interior. No question about that.

any know if they make sport seats in supple or partial?

The original owners of our cars paid dearly for it, but the full leather package (at least combined with the supple leather package) put cowhide over just about everything and makes for a sharp interior, generally. Particularly in black, which also seems to wear very well.

I believe that the supple leather option includes thicker leather than the standard pieces. I've heard that it wears better as a result. I certainly found that to be the case with my previous two Porsches. I had the natural leather option in my 996 C4S, but not the supple leather option. I had the supple leather option in my Cayenne, and it held up better to wear and tear than the standard leather. I find the full leather interior to be a very nice upgrade in a 911. The more leather, the better. This is especially true for a weekend cruiser or a daily driver. For a track car, I would not care about leather at all. I think you have to decide what's important to you and pursue that. You can add leather covered pieces to spruce up a plain interior. I've used www.exclusiveoption.com for a few pieces in my 997. It's not uncommon to find full interiors that are removed when a car is converted to a track car either; just keep your eyes open.

In my opinion, the supple leather seats look like worn-out bean-bag chairs. The 996 interior is spartan with clean lines and curves, and the frumpy leather on the supple seats looks out of place. The seats do an admirable job of separating my butt from the floor, so in that regard I suppose either type will do nicely.

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I upgraded to non-leather sport seats and now have the leather sports seats. I wanna say they're supple but I gotta get back to the garage and check. IIRC, it certainly felt like supple but don't know if there is someway to know for sure. BTW, I agree with Schell. Seems to always come to mind when hearing about supple leather...

any photos of the lumbar/vibrate option??