Hey handsome 996 forum members!

986S feller here looking to step up to a 996.2 C2.

I have a beauty picked out in seal grey with low miles and a good history. The car has many options, tecnik2, psm (lame), sunroof (also lame), bose, rear wiper (meh), others, in fact, the actual sticker shows it going for just over $80k in 2002.

Surprisingly (to me at least) for a car that the purchaser spent some money optioning, the car only has leather front and rear seats, and does not have full leather interior (sad trombone). I would immediately swap out the door panels for black leather ones, as well as the trim above the instrument cluster to get the nice stitched line. The dashes I have a very difficult time telling apart from leather to non-leather, so while the leather ones I've seen in C4Ss and do look better, it's certainly not a deal breaker for me. Ok, so here's my question:

I can swap the doors and instrument trim, and don't care about the dash. The seats are already leather. I don't care about the rear interior quarters being leather, so is there anything else I am missing with a full leather car? Any other pieces that can be swapped that are noticeable? This particular car has a dark alcantara headliner.

Folow-up question; is a dash swap worth the $550ish and all the labor? The dash in my non-leather boxster is the single best piece of the interior and looks perfect 16 years later.

Appreciate your expertise!

 

pre-emptive edit: I did try searching for answers on this but mostly came up with junk about the physical differences between leather and leatherette/vinyl. There, saved you a complaint.

 

The full leather option was the one option that my 996.2 did not have.

I was really disappointed about it, the look of full leather is very nice.

I convinced myself, that the standard leather was more durable, LOL.

The place that makes custom steering wheels, also offers stitched leather upgrades for various parts of interior. DCMT, I think is the name of the place.

 

Try www.exclusiveoption.com.

Full leather also includes the pieces on the sides of the center console, the storage lid cover, and the center stack trim pieces. The full leather dash has a few options too, such as stitched leather defroster vents. My C4S came with the upgraded shift **** and boot, as well as the upgraded leather and aluminum emergency brake handle.

 

Wow, interesting site, thanks. It also looks like maybe the seatbelt columns are leather covered too?

Door column

Doesn't really look like leather to me, anyone know if these are different?

 

You're right - the A and B pillars are leather covered if your car is equipped with the full leather package.

I ordered a few things from www.exclusiveoption.com for my 997, and they were very nice. Little things like the triangular mirror attachment point finishers look much more upscale when covered with stitched leather, and they are very visible in the cabin.