INTERIOR
The interiors of the different 911 (Carrera, Turbo, Targa, etc) look all very similar, even to other models like Cayman or Boxster, so the combination of black alcantara with the red stitching give the GTS interior a bit of a different fresh look, similar of what happens in the GT3. The carbon fiber bits of the interior as well as the GTS branded elements all over the interior also contribute to that, like in the center sphere of the instrument panel, the headrests, door sills, carpets, etc).
The alcantara, which all over the interior, gives it a sportier look and combined with the red stitching even more. Specifically the alcantara covers the middle of the front and rear seats, the steering wheel, the PDK stick, the center armrest, the doors, the glovebox, and the roof and its pillars. The rest which is not alcantara is black leather.
The seatbelts have a carmine red border that matches the other red accents of the interior, it's a nice touch without making the seatbelts too loud like when they are solid red.
The inside trim strips are in carbon fiber which is the most fitting in such an interior. The only thing is that the finish on the carbon fiber elements is too shiny, would look better if they were matte.
The GTS comes standard with the SportDesign steering wheel, which has a... you guessed it, a sportier design, and with the perfect thickness in my opinion. It also displays SportChono modes and launch control indicators in the radius. What did surprise me was how nice to the touch was having the steering wheel covered in alcantara, and provides great grip.
Something very important about the steering wheel is that it has paddles to control the PDK and not the anti-sportive un-ergonomic buttons on the radius. Speaking of buttons, fortunately being a sport steering wheel, there are no button of any type on it, I never liked any on the steering wheel because they sometimes got in the way when you are changing hand positions quickly and aggressively, and also tend to make the steering wheel bigger in the middle in order to have enough surface to house the buttons.
Another detail in the GTS if you opt for the GTS Interior Package is that the central sphere of the instrument cluster comes in red which compliments very well all the other red touches of the interior (without the GTS Interior Package it would come in black, the same as in the base Carrera, and in the CarreraS it comes in silver color)
In general, the interior of the 991 gives the sensation of being a bit more spacious than the 997 and 996, I think due to the fact that the windshield in the 991 is more curved and therefore the center part is more forward, and the fact that the seats have a bit more travel backwards due too the greats distance between axles.
The GTS comes with Sport Seats Plus and the GTS logo engraved in red stitching on the headrests. I already had these sportseats in the 997S which we excellent in terms of comfort and lateral support, but I under the impression that they are even a bit better in the GTS, maybe because of the alcantara holds you more in place than regular leather.
The doors in the 991 have a bit more storage room than in the 997 with two separate compartments, one is open and the other has a lid which opens laterally, which I quite like better than opening upwards like in the 997.
The SportChrono dial on the dash now works as an analog/digital watch as well as a crono, and not just a chrono like when the 997 came out back in 2004, so at least not the dial is not completely useless.
The quality of the interior has improved significantly with respect to the 997, for example the buttons are much better, in the 997 they were not only more simple and generic but also the rubberised coating tended to degrade in time. As is customary in Porsche, all the controls you need to access during driving are laid out in buttons through the console, no need to dive into menus and submenus using joystick or wheel-buttons. Some may not like so many buttons but everything is functional and rapidly accessible via buttons which is important especially in a sportscar, just like on racing cars.
I still don't like the PDK stick, it is very well built and nicely finished, more so in the GTS because it's covered in alcantara, but that is not the problem, in my opinion this thing is too big, it looks huge in the middle of the console and there is no need for that, it would look sportier if it were smaller, at least the size of the manual stick, and looks more like the stick of a sedan or SUV.
The PCM has come a long way since when it was introduced in the 996 Mk-I I had. It has a lot more functions now and the 7” screen has a touch interface, just don’t expect it to react like a tablet or smartphone, it is slower and less responsive, specially trying to scroll through a list or the GPS map, for things like that you are still better of using the wheel-buttons.
That said, the touch feature is very useful to select options very quickly without having to move through the different elements on the screen with the buttons and selecting them. The only thing is that the screen gets more dirty now because of touching it.
With the Mobile Phone Preparation option you basically get Bluetooth connection to your phone. Linking the phone the first time takes two seconds and the operation of the phone functions are very easy. It also allows for streaming music from your phone to the PCM via Bluetooth.
I also included the GPS Navigation extra, more for the multimedia features it includes than the actual Navigation. You get a 40GB hard drive (Jukebox) where you can store all your music, and you also get a USB port in your glovebox that can also reproduce music or be used to copy music into your Jukebox. You get a 3.5mm jack as well but with the Jukebox, USB port and Bluetooth streaming, the jack is kind of superfluous.
The optional Comfort Package for the GTS actually includes the Navigation extra mentioned in the above paragraph, as well as rear camera that when activated by selecting reverse gear, can overimpose the front&rear ParkAssitst animation. The rear camera also shows that car’s trajectory when back up according to the steering wheel position but it's difficult to trust what you see in the camera and still rely instead on the mirrors and rear window, and ParkAssist.
The BOSE sound system is decent, at least in the coupe version, and in my opinion the best quality/price ratio. Something I notice though is that if you turn the volume up, the base of the speakers in the doors may cause metal things like keys in the door pockets to rattle.
The instrument cluster in the 991 is similar than in the 997 save the left sphere which in now a LCD screen. Not a fan of all the instrument spheres being screens, it's like using a digital vs an automatic analog wristwatch, but having just one of the lateral spheres being a screen is a good idea. Its very functional providing information without having to look over to the PCM screen and easily switching from the different displays via a stalk on the steering column. It can show info like the navigation map, navigation directions, on board computer trip info, tire pressures, G forces, chrono, temperatures, music, and phone.
The smokers package is a no cost option that gets rid of the ugly change open pocket in the center console, and in its place provides a lid with a small pocket and a lighter that when removed leaves an extra 12v outlet. Bellow you can see the difference between the standard non-smokers pocket and the optional smoker’s package.
To end this trip through the interior just mention the rear seats which are basically the same as in the 997.
Re: 991 Carrera GTS - Extensive RoadTest Review
