Crown

ISUK:

A word of caution on the white exterior/brown roof combo. It is very sensitive to wheel choice. It worked well with the Wagon wheels (my name for the Carrera Classics ) as they have what I would call a "softer" aesthetic finish with the contrast of the diamond cut face and the grey painted inner faces. It would not have looked so good in my opinion with a silver finish wheel (too insipid a contrast), platinum finish (too many colour clashes going on), or the black finish (colour clash and very bling).

I'd also think hard about the GTS exterior package as it's not inexpensive. It covers all the areas of the car that are very vulnerable to stone chips in shiny gloss black paint which shows up every mark, scratch and stone chip far more than the regular plastic finish does. If you coat the plastic areas with an excellent product like G Techniq's Plastic Trim Restorer or Swisswax's Plastic Protector from new they will keep a deep, shiny lustre that will be a lot less costly for your bank account

Thanks for your further advice - particularly regarding the GTS Exterior Package - something else to think about! Dick Lovett's demonstrator doesn't have the exterior pack so it will be interesting to see what it looks like.If I didn't have that I'd have the roll bars in exterior colour which is half the cost of the exterior pack. I'm staying with the standard 20" Carrera S wheel which I like. If I read you right, are you suggesting the black roof in that case?  

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Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

dreamcar:

ISUK:

A word of caution on the white exterior/brown roof combo. It is very sensitive to wheel choice. It worked well with the Wagon wheels (my name for the Carrera Classics ) as they have what I would call a "softer" aesthetic finish with the contrast of the diamond cut face and the grey painted inner faces. It would not have looked so good in my opinion with a silver finish wheel (too insipid a contrast), platinum finish (too many colour clashes going on), or the black finish (colour clash and very bling).

I'd also think hard about the GTS exterior package as it's not inexpensive. It covers all the areas of the car that are very vulnerable to stone chips in shiny gloss black paint which shows up every mark, scratch and stone chip far more than the regular plastic finish does. If you coat the plastic areas with an excellent product like G Techniq's Plastic Trim Restorer or Swisswax's Plastic Protector from new they will keep a deep, shiny lustre that will be a lot less costly for your bank account

Thanks for your further advice - particularly regarding the GTS Exterior Package - something else to think about! Dick Lovett's demonstrator doesn't have the exterior pack so it will be interesting to see what it looks like.If I didn't have that I'd have the roll bars in exterior colour which is half the cost of the exterior pack. I'm staying with the standard 20" Carrera S wheel which I like. If I read you right, are you suggesting the black roof in that case? 

I've had cars with unpainted plastics both in Cyprus (dry climate lots of dust) and in the UK climate/road environment. A PITA in both cases.

It will be a Pain to keep looking new in spite of the products used, unless the car is used as an occasional weekend toy or it is kept in ownership for a short time before replacement. But in any case, even having the need to apply the products often, will become a nuisance after a while.

All cars get stone chips and in a sportscar you get chips on the bonnet, fenders and elsewhere not only on the lower bumper. 

My vote goes to the Exterior Black 

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"Form follows function"

Keeping black plastic looking good is not a problem in the UK climate. We do not have the strong Mediterranean sunshine to contend with unfortunately. The products I mentioned only require to be applied once or twice a year max and are very quick and easy to do. The G Techniq product simply wipes on with a little applicator pad and there is no need to buff it up etc afterwards.

ISUK:

We do not have the strong Mediterranean sunshine to contend with unfortunately. .

A case of too much of a good thing, sometimes

"Form follows function"

dreamcar:

Thanks for your further advice - particularly regarding the GTS Exterior Package - something else to think about! Dick Lovett's demonstrator doesn't have the exterior pack so it will be interesting to see what it looks like.If I didn't have that I'd have the roll bars in exterior colour which is half the cost of the exterior pack. I'm staying with the standard 20" Carrera S wheel which I like. If I read you right, are you suggesting the black roof in that case?  

I think the general principle here is that the roof should go with the exterior of the car, so long as it doesn't positively clash with the interior. For one thing, with the roof up, you don't see that much of the interior from outside (particularly the case for other drivers on the road) and with it down, unless the brown top (that remains visible) matches the espresso (which I don't believe is the case, although I haven't seen the combination in the wild) it's not going to necessarily look "coordinated" anyway; black isn't going to clash with espresso and may actually go with it better than a different shade of brown. Probably best to coordinate the top with the black exterior bits (w/ or w/o the GTS Exterior Package).

Oh, and, if you go white/black/espresso, it would probably be better to leave the roll bars alone -- i.e., not get them painted in exterior color. In black, they'll match the roof, white might look a little busy.

If it was me:

with GTS exterior black package, white with black roof. You get, going back towards the front: white (rear lid), black (roof), black (roll bars), espresso (roll bar trim) .. a seamless change of colour

without GTS  exterior black package, white with brown roof and white roll bars. You get, going back towards the front: white, brown, white, espresso .. 2 colours complementing each other well.

GTS exterior black package, white with brown roof would not work as well. You get, going back towards the front: white, brown, black, espresso .. begins to look like a rainbow

ISUK:

It covers all the areas of the car that are very vulnerable to stone chips in shiny gloss black paint which shows up every mark, scratch and stone chip far more than the regular plastic finish does.

it's only really the front diffuser, isn't it?

side air intakes are higher up, quite far away from the front wheels,

mirror supports are higher up but nearer the front wheels,

roll bars barely ever get chipped,

rear diffuser away from line of sight of rear wheels.

Doesn't your Cayman GTS have the GTS exterior black package?

You get four choices with the roll bars,

1) gloss black (only with GTS exterior pack)  nice.

2) exterior colour, again nice but no contrast 

3) alumimium look - wouldn't match with anything

4) as standard cheapo plastic finish

option 1 is by far my favourite, and as it's only available with the exterior pack I think I will stay with that. In which case white paintwork, gloss black trims and roll bars, espresso leather and I think that black roof would be safest . Even without the GTS bits and bobs I still think black roof would be best with the white roll bars I would then specify.

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Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

It does but only the side intakes and door mirrors are gloss black. The rear vertical face of the side intakes get peppered thanks to flying stones thrown by the front wheels when cornering

On the R the front bumper extensions are body coloured, the intake grilles are black plastic and the rear diffuser is body coloured. The front bumper lower extensions take a pounding from stone chips so would look really scruffy in gloss black. Being finished in Peridot on our car they are surprisingly easy to touch in and hide.

Alu roll bar only works on dark exterior colors (mine was black with alu roll bar and that worked, but it looks out of place on a light exterior color)

On the GTS, I think the gloss black looks best (sportier) i.c.w. Black roof. On a white Boxster S, I would go for roll bar painted in exterior color, i.c.w. Brown roof. Just my 2c....

Suzy

2013 Porsche Boxster S (MT) | Basalt black metallic    [SOLD]
2014 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 BiTDI Quattro | Moonshine blue metallic
 

dreamcar:

You get four choices with the roll bars,

1) gloss black (only with GTS exterior pack)  nice.

2) exterior colour, again nice but no contrast 

I think you may be able to do a Z offer request on the roll bars and ask for gloss black if you order them in body colour as it is a standard range colour so you are only really asking for the roll hops painted in deviating colour. Worth asking about  when you are at Swindon if you like them. I wouldn't do that though if not taking the rest of the GTS exterior package as I agree with sfo that it will be too many different colours/finishes on the car.

I had the body coloured roll hoops on mine. It looked really good when the top was down.

That doesn't even take a Z-order anymore. You can always choose the color of optional painted parts now.  The salesman just needs to mention it on the order. (On the configurator you can also choose the color).

you can also opt for option 546 in exterior color, option CAC in gloss black and option CNL in gloss black, but  i guess that is more expensive.

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Suzy

2013 Porsche Boxster S (MT) | Basalt black metallic    [SOLD]
2014 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 BiTDI Quattro | Moonshine blue metallic
 

Very nice indeed ISUK!

I was at Reading today. And admired quite  a few Caymans in the showroom. What a gorgeous car. I love it! For me the best of the current lineup. Lines are tense, looks so muscular compared to the old one. The GTS is close to the ground with -20mm suspension. really gorgeous. And dynamically, with the engine in the right place I bet you it's a peach to drive. I hope they do a Clubsport version! Or R or whatever. Something nice and extreme(ly light).

reginos:

The sapphire blue looks very good on the Boxster. Also notice how well the blue roof blends. But then you would have to go for a non-black interior.

Perhaps, the GTS with the black exterior trimmings will suit a black roof more 

Achtgrau (agate) grey full leather which looks very dark brown would go awesome with sapphireblue IMO.

Actually, I very much like the Cayman we owned; like it much more than I thought. At the beginning, I wasn't too keen on the options since I also have a 458 but now I wish it was a S model with sport chrono, PASM and sport exhaust.

Now lust for the GTS but it is too much money in Turkey. Have to pay 70-75% more over our Cayman puts me not pulling the trigger. I think , it is a no brainer to go for GTS for someone who is looking for a S model. It is the best bang for the buck model in the entire Porsche model range (next to GT3).

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ONUR

THE BEST CAR EVER 

11 E92 M3 CP - 09 Audi TTS Coupe - 07 997 Carrera S - 05 M3 Coupe - 03 M3 Coupe - 96 M3 Coupe EVO (PASS TIME HISTORY)

Been thinking yet again - as one does with Porsche specs - looking at the interior photos of espresso I note that the lovely stitched leather door pulls of the 911 are replaced by cheap plastic items in the Boxster, no doubt to justify the massive cost differential and that's a shame, detracts to my eyes from the beautiful espresso leather. I wonder if the leather door pulls can be fitted? Probably ridiculously expensive if they are!  So thought has come back to the GTS alcantara interior, with silver stitching, maybe funded by ditching the GTS exterior pack and PTV. My logic of  deleting PTV is that it's perhaps more beneficial on the sharper Cayman or if the -20mm sport suspension ( neither of which I would even think of having). As Steve Sutcliffe said on his Boxster GTS video, the Boxster is perhaps the slightly more boulevard of the two GTS models.

Aargghhh I wish I could make my mind up!!  

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Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

dreamcar:

Been thinking yet again - as one does with Porsche specs - looking at the interior photos of espresso I note that the lovely stitched leather door pulls of the 911 are replaced by cheap plastic items in the Boxster, 

initially, 981 with full leather intetior door handles had a cheap patch of leather on the door handles (my carrera red interior had this, was produced in June 12).

now, 981 with full leather interior door handles are the same as 991. 

problem solved!

Sorry to have missed all the good discussion, I was away from the PC. It sounds like you're going away from espresso interior and brown top but if you do reconsider it you need to think about the rear smoked lights with the brown top. Maybe the normal red would be better there.

mcdelaug:

Sorry to have missed all the good discussion, I was away from the PC. It sounds like you're going away from espresso interior and brown top but if you do reconsider it you need to think about the rear smoked lights with the brown top. Maybe the normal red would be better there.

Hi mcdelaug  Not entirely sure about espresso.....we'll probably keep changing our minds and coming up with fresh ideas until such time as the order is placed and the spec frozen.....and even then having second thoughts! 

Most items pretty much decided on - just colour and interior trim...white with espresso or GTS interior or sapphire blue with GTS interior (to my eyes espresso and sapphire blue wouldn't be a good match) are our short listed choices at the moment.

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Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

Here is another shot of the Rhodium silver car to confuse you further

I'm not a silver fan, but with the dark wheels it looks pretty nice.

2012 Cayenne S White/Espresso 

Ex: 993 Targa, 986S, 986 and 964 C2

993Targa:

I'm not a silver fan, but with the dark wheels it looks pretty nice.

Silver, white, sapphire blue...... 

No painted wheels though, too bling for me and the platinum painted ones always look like dirty silver wheels to my eyes.  Each to their own.....

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Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

Silver is the new white - it's the way to go!!! 

991 Carrera Black\Black, XC90 Black\Black, 120 Cab Black\Coral Red - 2 kids, 1 dog

bridggar:

Silver is the new white - it's the way to go!!! 

Don't tell me, tell SWMBO!!

Skoda Octavia Mk.3 daily drive

dreamcar:

993Targa:

I'm not a silver fan, but with the dark wheels it looks pretty nice.

Silver, white, sapphire blue...... 

No painted wheels though, too bling for me and the platinum painted ones always look like dirty silver wheels to my eyes.  Each to their own....

I used to think that painted black wheels looked better. Not anymore.

"Form follows function"

I don't like the two shades of silver (wheels and paint). In this example I prefer the black, but the platinum would be even better. But this is of course a personal taste. 

2012 Cayenne S White/Espresso 

Ex: 993 Targa, 986S, 986 and 964 C2

Black colour makes the wheels look smaller than they are. This was my main objection.

"Form follows function"

Agree - you "lose" the wheel when painted black - the previous "platinum" silver looked a bit odd with silver wheels as they clashed - but Rhodium...... I like!

991 Carrera Black\Black, XC90 Black\Black, 120 Cab Black\Coral Red - 2 kids, 1 dog

993Targa:

I don't like the two shades of silver (wheels and paint). In this example I prefer the black, but the platinum would be even better.

+1 

Platinum, anthracite, gun metal, etc. or whatever people want to call it... the best wheel color IMHO. Black hides all the shapes into a blur of nothingness. Me not likey.

2014 991 Carrera 4S | Dark Blue Metallic | PDK | S-PASM (-20mm) | PSE

2010 Audi S5 cabrio | Ibis White

Silver is the best color for the wheels... The problem is the silver for the car 

Only the CGT 918, 550 spider and Mercedes Gulwing look good in silver. On other cars, getting silver is like saying you couldn't choose an actual color for your car...