1. right, my 997 Turbo is basalt black met.
2. no, exhaust pipes are the original ones, the chromed pipes weren't available when I ordered the car
3. no, I always wanted Tiptronic S on the 997 Turbo, never had even the slightest thought about manual for some reasons
4. yes, I was pretty sad that my wife got Tiptronic S on her Boxster S and although I got used to it and it works fine, it still isn't at par with manual
5. some of you guys, to use the words of Carlos Mencia, don't pay attention. The Tiptronic S in the 997 Turbo has NOTHING to do with the setup used in ALL the other current Porsche models.
6. I was actually doing 284 kph on the speedo on our way to Garmisch, the 275 kph were achieved when I had to slow down because I had my wife take the picture and she didn't turn on the camera fast enough. The Cayenne Turbo Powerkit is an unbelievable family car, the brake system is out of this world. Also had some "fun" with another Cayenne Turbo with austrian license plates (YANG4 at the end...) and I realized how well my Turbo is going (which would probably explain the frustration CR had in his F430 Spider... . I pulled away in any speed range and the austrian CT driver came two times on my right side and was laughing and shaking his head according to my wife. The difference in performance was HUGE, I pulled away around 100 meters in a few seconds each time and don't forget that my CT was fully loaded with luggage, kids, wife and of course me.
7. I never drive at the limit with my family and therefore never had a criticial situation. NEVER. But most people worldwide would probably think I'm nuts but believe me, from my point of view, it is safe. The CTP is an unbelievable car and if maintained properly, a blast to drive. And since it seems I have lots of power too (press car), I may enjoy it even more now.
8. the tire pressure was that high because of the outside temperature (32 degrees Celsius) and probably higher asphalt temperature. I put 0.2 bar over the factory recommended tire pressure (2.6 bar front and 3.4 bar rear for a fully loaded car) due to the high speed driving.

If you have more questions, ask.