And the Porsche Code: http://www.porsche-code.com/PPMPKF77
You never quite know whether you've picked options which work until your car turns up, so I thought I'd add my feelings on the spec I chose (and items I considered but omitted) after seeing and driving it:
- T engine rather than S. We were constrained here; to have the car now, only a T was available to us; and the fact that many options are cheaper to add to the T, and locking in before the price rise, made it a good deal. So I'm not unhappy that we got a T but my everyday car is a current Audi S6 diesel and in contrast the 2.0T feels lacking in immediate low-rev response. Obviously needs running in before I can extend it fully, and I haven't tried the Sport/Sports Plus modes which no doubt change the throttle map. I'd definitely prefer an S, but in the same spec and with price rise it would have been £10k+ more and a longer wait. Might put an order in for an S in 2024...
- T exterior look. I removed the agate grey bits because in my view, while they look great with a lighter colour they don't suit darker paint. I do like the grey badging on the rear though.
- Extended black leather with contrasting crayon stitching and seatbelts. In no way is the contrast stitching worth £1k or so more than the black stitching - I bet I don't notice it after today. If it were my colour choice, I'd have gone pebble/black inside, but it wasn't
Is extended leather worth it? Yes, and no - because there are still plenty of bits which aren't leather such as the bottoms of the doors, the trim round the seat bases, the sport chrono clock. I think I would go for the standard leather package (to get the leather dash) and race-tex headlining for more of a visible luxury feel. Or go all-out with all the additional leather items on the options list, if I felt very flush.- Steel springs with PASM (standard) rather than air. The ride is amazingly good. Better on the 21"s than my Audi S6 on 20"s (also steel springs with adaptive suspension). The lowered ride height on the T is neither here nor there (the seat can be moved up and down way more than 15mm) but probably makes it easier for my wife and I to get in (both being under 5'6"). I wondered if I would miss air, particularly since I had it on a few cars myself previously (e.g. Audi Allroad) but so far I don't see any need for it - might be different if we were to go green-laning...
- no Bose or Burmester. I have B&O in my Audi and while it sounds good, the Macan sounds equally good so far. It doesn't have DSP which gives the spatial 3D effect that is the unique selling point of all these upgraded systems, and it's fine without. Bass is perfectly adequate; I might even turn it down one notch. I say this as someone who loves hi-fi but I've always been more of a fan of talented small speakers (such as my Spendor SA1s) or Quad ESLs than big boxes.
- Power steering plus: it is relaxed to cruise around at low speed. I haven't tried one without to compare, unfortunately, but I'd spec it again because I'm happy with it.
- GT steering wheel: small, tactile, rather nice - but I don't like the allen bolts in the button sections and I actively dislike the stitched insert at the top which is clearly intended to be a contrasting colour in a GT3. I would stick with the standard wheel if I bought an S.
- 14 way comfort seats. The memory is a no-brainer for my wife and I because we sit in such different positions. Quite happy with these over the sports seats; I love the fact that there's passenger seat memory too. BMW and Audi seem to offer driver memory only while Merc and Porsche do both sides, which is so much better.
- Surround view. Virtually the first thing I did with this was to put it into panoramic rear camera only mode, so I think I could make a saving here. Hoping the surround view saves the alloys being kerbed when my wife gets used to it, so consider it an insurance policy
- Heated windscreen. Has to be the least feelgood option when you collect your new car in June!
- Interior door/dash trim. The standard stuff is innocuous and blends in; I'm not a fan of brushed alumium, the wood looks very man-made and the piano black is too shiny so I'm quite happy not to have spent extra here.
- Sport chrono. Came as standard on the T though I wasn't bothered about it. I'm not a massive fan of the clock in the middle of the dash, and the sport chrono knob on the wheel again looks a bit too much like it wants to be in a GT3 not an SUV. Not something I'd pay extra for.
- No ventilated seats. But you still get the perforations, so don't let any chocolate fall on them. I'd probably go for ventilation in future simply because I've just spent 2 weeks away sweating in Ubers round New York and Boston, so it's right at the forefront of my mind.
The real surprises for me are the ride quality on 21"s without air and the sound quality without Bose. So I'm happy that I didn't make any horrendous mistakes by leaving those standard. I think I went overboard on the interior and could probably have achieved a nice luxurious effect for less money.
Edit: completely forgot, the thing that inspired this post - I reckon I should have ordered colour crest centre caps for the wheels. At least that's an easy upgrade!
