Originally Posted by Hurricane
I have owned and daily driven 3 991s so have a few thoughts on options and configurations. Why 3? My first one, a 2012.5 991.1S was my first foray into the Porsche experience. I bought it used from CARMAX two years old with only 7,200 miles on it. I had it for two years and then traded it in on a crazy loaded 2013 991.1 S w/Powerkit, PCCBs (ceramic brakes), Burmester and more, 3 years old with only 13,000 miles on it and 3 years left on the CPO warranty. I had that car for one year and then a 17 year old girl plowed into it with her Kia and totaled my car. I bit the bullet and decided to order a new 2018 991.2 GTS after that. I hope to keep my current one for at least a decade.
You don’t mentioned what year you are looking at. The 991.1 (2012.5-2016) has a few differences from the 991.2 (2017-2019) - the .2 has a smaller twin turbo engine with much more torque, upgraded telematics, slightly different option configurations, and a few interior/exterior tweaks.
If you are looking at the 992.2, base vs S, the base model (PDK) is actually quicker 0-60 than the previous 991.1 GTS. PASM is standard on all 991s with the .2. The engine note on the .1 is more emotional (louder, sounds better) than the .2, although the .2 is more than acceptable to most people.
I’ll start off by assuming that you are looking at .1 991s and give a few thoughts.
- Base vs S: The base will have a lot less HP, smaller brakes, and not have PASM standard (which also means it will be 10mm higher in ride height than the S, which has PASM standard). S will have slightly better resale but that might be a wash since you will pay the premium up front on an S. Worth the premium? Might depend how much the extra power is worth to you.
- All 3 of my 991s were RWD. I really considered AWD for my current one but the added weight and complexity (plus a slightly smaller frunk on the base or S models in the “4” versions), and near-identical acceleration were deciding factors for me. For daily driving, I had read that unless you were really “on it” the power distribution heavily favored the rear wheels anyways. At the end of the day, I decided to put that cost difference into other options. There are other advantages to AWD of course but I enjoy the control and challenges of RWD.
- Of my previous 991s, two had steel roofs and one had the glass roof. I never use sunroofs on my other cars but for some reason in the 991, on a nice day I always have it open when on non-highway roads, to let in the sunshine and hear the beautiful flat six. The glass roof appears black so on my black car it blended right in, you couldn’t tell the difference. On other colors, you might not want a black roof (depends on your preference - it looks fine on black and probably great on a white car, too). The sunshade still lets in a lot of light at noon on a really sunny day into the car, which you may or may not like. At the end of the day, when I ordered a new 991, I opted for steel over glass - I didn’t like a black roof on a non-black car and it tended to let in too much sunlight for my taste, with the sunshade closed. On a black car, I might have gotten the glass version.
- PASM for a street car should probably not be a deal breaker but on a S, it will be standard anyways. One of my cars had PASM/PDCC and two had Sport PASM/PDCC. The PASM car had a very comfortable ride (PDCC also helped a lot, I am sure). Sport PSAM was certainly stiffer feeling but the ride is still comfortable, especially for long trips (caveat - both also had PDCC which may have contributed to ride comfort). Again, PASM lowers the car 10mm and Sport PASM an additional 10mm, if you think a non-PASM equipped car looks too high.
Sport Chrono, in my humble opinion, is a must-have for a PDK car. In addition to dynamic engine mounts and the clock on the dash, you get launch control and sport/sport plus modes. For a manual transmission car, I’m not so sure it is as important.
- Others will chime in with more info than me, but in my personal experience I have heard of very, very few PDK failures on the 991s on Rennlist. All of my cars have been PDK so it didn’t concern me enough to worry about it.
As for other must-have options, it is really up to personal preference. I’ve had both leather and non-leather interiors and the non-leather interior felt really cheap. But on the other hand, in a sports car the leather serves no performance function LOL. The Bose stereo was adequate to me. The Burmester stereo sounds incredible. All 991.1s came pretty well equipped out of the box with the essentials, navigation system, etc. I found the 18 way seats fit perfectly but others have found the 14 ways to be more comfortable and the 4 ways seats to be lighter (any probably would have been fine to me). PDCC can feel a little artificial in corners (it keeps the body roll in check) but also gives a really nice ride. Power steering plus is nice for parking lot speeds but some find it to be way too light (this can be fixed with software at a small price).
Porsche Sports Exhaust (PSE) is a great option - with the press of a button you can get a deeper, louder exhaust note or go back to a quieter mode if desired.
One last comment (I know, I said “a few thoughts” and I wrote a book lol - sorry!). If you are looking at the 991.2, the base model is really a sweet spot. So much torque on the base model it is wild that it is quicker than both the S or the GTS from the 991.1 series. And PASM was standard on the base for the 991.2, if I remember right.
Anyways, with the 991 it is really hard to go wrong with any of the models or options. It is such a beautiful, perfect shape - I always liked 911s, the 997 looked fantastic, but something about the 991 really hit me hard in the looks department.
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