How To Spec A Porsche 911 (992) Carrera S?

This is the brand-new Porsche 911 and they are plenty of articles online discussing what’s new and all the differences between the 992 and the previous generations. However, in this article we will discuss the different options you can get, what’s important and what’s not. So, if you are speccing up a brand-new car today or looking in the market for a used one, this article will help you.
One of the first things you will have to consider is the colour of the car. They are four base colours that are no cost options including Black, White, Racing Yellow and Guards Red. Our car is presented in Black and we think it looks fantastic, super stealthy and it’s a no cost option. You can spend more and get the Jet-Black metallic option. Other metallic colours worth considering is GT Silver and Agate Grey.
Porsche have introduced a few new colours for the 992 starting with Gentian Blue which is beautiful. Other new colours include Aventurine Green and Dolomite Silver. You can spend even more money to get one of the special colours like Crayon which is very popular at the moment, Lava Orange and Miami Blue. However, for us we love this black colour. It’s just flat black and even though it’s one of the hardest colours to keep clean, it’s worth putting in that extra effort when your car can look like this.

After choosing the colour, you will want to spec the wheels next. These are the standard Carrera S wheels but have been painted in Satin Black which is a cost option. For an additional £1,600 you can upgrade to the RS Spyder wheels. You can also get the Exclusive alloys or Carrera Classic alloys but we don’t think those two options are the best so we would stick with these painted in black which works very well on a black car or go with the RS Spyder wheels. The 992 Carrera S comes with steel brakes as standard but you can spec for the Carbon Ceramic brakes which is a £6,000 option. This is just a Carrera S and not a GT car so we would leave off the Carbon Ceramic brakes.

For the first time on a Carrera you can get a Carbon Fibre roof which is £2,500, but again this is a Carrera S, one of the more sensible 911’s so we would spec the exterior glass sunroof instead. It does make the cabin feel airier and less claustrophobic. The glass sunroof tilts and slides and it’s a great option to have. We know a lot of people who wouldn’t buy one without it.
Next up is the £1,800 Sports Exhaust. For a lot of people it’s a must have as not only does it make the car sound louder and better; but it also changes the whole rear appearance of the car. With the standard exhaust you get dual twin pipes at either side and if you spec the sports exhaust, you get big oval exhausts which look even more aggressive. There will be people who prefer the look of the standard exhaust, but we would highly recommend choosing a car with the sports exhaust as it makes it easier to sell and increases the desirability of the car.

One of the smaller options you should tick is the £387 Privacy Glass. You get blacked-out side and rear windows which completes the stealthy blacked-out look especially with a black car. Even for a light-coloured car it gives a nice contrast, so this is a nice cheap easy option to tick.
One of the new options you can get on the 992 are the LED Matrix headlights at just over £2,000. Not only do they look high-tech and cool, but they are very clever as well. How it works is that it has cameras in the headlights which detect any oncoming traffic and then it intelligently dips certain LEDs, so it doesn’t dazzle anyone coming and still illuminates the road ahead. If you are going to drive regularly at night, then this is a very cool and clever option to have. If you are not going to drive regularly at night, then you can probably leave it out.

Another option we recommend for you to spec is the £240 Electric Folding Mirrors. There is nothing more annoying than getting your wing mirror knocked off while it’s parked so if you are going to be driving in a city or driving in London, make sure you spec electric folding mirrors. One of the more expensive options you can get is the Sport Design Package. This is one of the more difficult options to decide whether to spec or not. It changes the whole front look of the car as it features a completely different front apron. Without it, you have a much more gaping hole through the front and the car will have more plastic parts.
With the Sport Design Package, you get more painted parts, more aggressive front spoiler lip and we think it improves the aesthetics on the front end of the car. You also get bigger side skirts which makes the car look more aggressive. The rear end of the car features a big change too. This Sport Design Pack changes where the rear number plate goes. Without the Sport Design Package, the number plate is placed a lot lower. With the Sport Design Package, the number plate is placed a lot higher which helps to make the rear end of the car look more proportionate. The lower rear bumper design is also different as the car features rear bumper end plates which makes it look more aggressive and improves the overall look of the car. Is it worth the £3,000? You will have to make that call but we believe that on a black car, it makes it look stunning.

Let’s talk about the interior. Being a Carrera S, you get a full leather interior as standard. This example features the black leather which is the safest and best option to go for. You can get Bordeaux Red Leather, Slate Grey Leather and Porsche offer Club Leather packs with funkier designs. They are all to be frank, quite an acquired taste so we believe for resale you should go with the Black Leather. For some added contrast, we would spec the Crayon stitching as it helps to give the interior a lift.
The owner of this car originally specced a few Alcantara options including the £1,500 Alcantara steering wheel, Alcantara on the storage bin and Alcantara roof lining. Again, expensive options but nice to have as it helps to give the interior a slightly more luxurious and richer feel. One last thing is the Matt Carbon Interior Pack. This is a new option on the 911 which includes the Matt Carbon Fibre on the centre console, dashboard and door trim. It’s a £1,263 option and it’s quite expensive but it’s an upgrade on what comes as standard which is a textured material. All in all, this is a pretty perfect spec interior.

They are a few different options available when it comes to speccing the seats on a 992. As standard the 992 Carrera S comes with electric 4-Way Sports Seats but this example comes with the optional Sports Seats Plus. They feel perfectly comfortable, they are heated as standard and they look good too. The main difference with these is you get a manual lever to move the seat backwards and forwards and they move much quicker than the electric seats so if you do have kids getting in and out at the back, they are very useful. You can get the 14 Way Fully Electric Sport Seats with Memory Function or if you want to go for the top of the range, you can get the Adaptive 18 Way Sport Seats which cost just over £2,000. We wouldn’t argue against it but we believe the Sports Seats are more than enough.

When it comes to convenience and technology features, there are so many options you can tick. You can really get carried away and let the cost run away with you. Most of these features fall into the category of nice to have, probably not essential to have although it’s personal preference of course. But things like Night Vision, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Change Assist, Lane Keep Assist, Front Axle Lifts are probably not necessary. One thing we would choose though is the upgraded sound system. This car is going to be used as a daily driver and a good sound system is something most people will want. For just over a £1,000 you can get the BOSE Surround Sound system or you can spec the Burmester Surround Sound system which is a £3,000 optional extra. We would recommend opting for the BOSE Sound System.

Let’s talk about some of the more performance-oriented options. The number one must have is the Sport Chrono Package. This is a feature that has been on Porsche 911’s for a very long time. On the 992, it gives you the Sport Plus mode and on the steering wheel you have a mode selector where you can toggle between Normal mode, Sport mode, the new Wet mode, Individual and Sport Plus with the Sport Chrono package. Even though it’s a £1,600 option, you get a lot more driver involvement and we know a lot of customers who’ll refuse to buy a car without it.

If you are a real driving enthusiast, a great option to choose is the Sports Suspension called the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM). It’s only £665 and it changes the setup of the car slightly. So you get firmer suspension and lowered ride height by 10mm which not only gives the car a meaner stance, but it also improves the handling of the car. In addition, it adjusts the aero on the front spoiler lip and rear spoiler, so it gives you more downforce and more performance. It’s definitely an option the driving enthusiasts are going to appreciate.

A few other options you might want to consider is the Rear Axle Steering and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC). These are nice options to have but they are expensive and might be too over the top for a Carrera S. You don’t want to run away with costs on a Carrera S model so we believe these options might be unnecessary and are better left to the GTS, Turbo S and more driver focused models.

Hopefully that gives you some insight into the different options you can get on a Porsche 911 (992) Carrera S and how we would spec our 992. Check out the full video here on the How To Spec A Porsche 911 (992) Carrera S: