I'm new to Porsche-land so imagine my surprise at having to understand and rationalize 10 pages of options printed from Edmunds.com. I think I've gotten through most items and understand them except ...

P15 - Power seat package: Are the standard seats manual? (I know this seems like a dumb question but I was surprised to see this option as I assumed this would have been standard).

P74 - Xenon headlamp package: what the heck are "bi-Xenon" lights with dynamic leveling? I've heard of halogen lights and HID, but what are exactly these?

XRP - 5mm wheel spacers: Doesn't this change the scrub radius of the suspension geometry? Are Porsche wheels of a particular (Porsche standard) offset and therefore rather than trying to offer wheels with different offsets, it's easier to use spacers? (use of spacers seems contrary to what I've read. i.e., that spacers are a no-no).

342 - Heated front seats: Is this an option or upgrade to a standard option? I.e., do standard seats lack this item or are standard seats heated but this option is a 'better' two stage heat feature? I'm guessing that the standard seats aren't heated however at $490 this seems a bargain in Porsche land.

P77 - Leather sport seats: this seems straight forward, but what exactly are these sport seats? Do they have more side bolstering, etc? Seems like a bargain at $400. And what is AP Black (sports seat leather)? Do I interpret this as P77 gets you a sport seat, but if you want it in leather you have select antoher option.

435 Sport Steering wheel - seems straight forward, however there must be 10 steering wheels, from various materials multi-function, to thicker steering wheel in leather, to 3-spoke multi-function, thicker 3-spoke multi-function, steering wheel in smooth leather .... Help!!!

I think I've figured out most of the other stuff like PASMS, Chrono, 19"wheels. It doesn't seem hard to grab up $20K in options ....

I'm looking into an S, 6-speed with PASMS, Chrono, and 19" wheels. The rest of the options are what I'm trying to figure out and if they make sense for me and my purpose for buying this car (strictly week-end apex straffing and 'get-away' car for wife and me - I do the straffing ...) The sport seats seem like a good idea as well as the sport steering wheel. Heated seats seem like a given, given the price of this car. Bi-Xenon headlights might make for safer night driving. Bose stereo is a maybe, but geez what kind of stereo is standard in a $60K car? Power seats seem like a given, but geez $1550 to move seats up and back, down, etc.? PCM is looks to be a fancy marketing term for navigation.

The Cayman S is a very exciting and passionate car, however the dizzing array of options just confuses me.

 

first of all pretty much everything is an option on a porsche so...

p15 yes standard they are manual seats, more or less a lever that mover you back and foward up and down.

p74 are better than the regular halogen, they are that bright blue/white light you see on higher end cars such as porsche bwm ect. the auto leveling are when you are going around a turn or if the car is weighed down the headlights automaticly adjust so that they are pointing in you current driving direction, pretty much move like you eyes to follow the road.

xrp- spaces the wheels out more gives it sort of a wider stance

342- heated seats or an option cant really upgrade onces you have the car you would have to buy totally different seats due to the fact they are built in.

p77- the sports seat are an option as well they are a little bit thiner and grab you more on the top side pretty much like a racing seat.

435 the sport steering wheel is more a less luxuary and more sporty look.

 

to add to the post above, all bi-xenon means is that both the low and high beams are xenon. in the older first generation xenon cars, only the low beams were xenon (all accross the board not just porsche). also, all xenon lights are auto leveling, it is a DOT requirement due to the extra bright bream, they dont want u blinding someone just because you have extra weight in the car.

as far as i know, the spacers just add a bit more aggressive stance and you will also get a wider track which should theoretically mean better handling. btw, 5mm is very little and i personally think you can get more aggressive spacers for less money outside of porsche.

standard seats are NOT heated.

as far as the steering wheel, i would do just the base upgrade wheel. the nicer smoother leather wheel from what i remember is only available if you 1. do the full leather upgrade; 2. select the smooth leather upgrade (an additional charge to 1); 3. then you select a different steering wheel; 4. then you select the smooth leather. every step is an additional charge.

yes, i have been looking at a boxster S and my ideal setup is around $70k which is about $15k in options.

if this is just a weekend car i would keep the options to a minimum. also, most people argue that the 19's will have less handling than regualr 18's. i would also definitely do heated seats and auto climate control and xenons. from what i have heard at porsche dealers people dont care too much about power seats but personally i would get them. the nav for the boxster and cayman is $3k and personally i would probably skip this option as you can get a decent unit for $300. i am a bit upset that the same system that goes in the 911 costs $2k there and is an extra grand in the cayman/boxster.

 

That's because the 911 already has the PCM display and they just add Navigation to it.

 

somehow, i did not realize that. thanks for letting me know.

 

One of the other forums has a good FAQ section listing many of the options along with pictures so you can see the differences. So this may be helpful...

http://www.caymanclub.net/faq.php?faq=cayman#faq_cayopt

 

"p15 yes standard they are manual seats, more or less a lever that mover you back and foward up and down."

The standard seats are manual forward/back and up/down but have an electronic backrest adjustment.

As far as steering wheel, I have the sport steering wheel and it's awsome. I do not recommnd the base steering wheel, it's triangular and has a very thin rim. The sport wheel is much nicer and has better grips.

I work in a Porsche dealership so feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need some help ordering the car.

 

BTW you definately want BOSE if you plan on listening to the stereo. The base stereo is no good, having the sound of the engine inside the car. At least get the sound package plus, that gives you more speakers. I have the BOSE system and if I turn it up enough I can completly drown all other sounds and just be able to hear the music with no distortion and very clean, high quality sound.