Whether the Porsche 911 is your dream car you yearn to own or something you would never spend a cent on, building it online and seeing how much its costs is a whole lot of fun.
Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself on Porsche South Africa’s website.
The website lets you select the model you want and then upgrade it as you see fit – which includes everything from wheels and paint, and brakes and seats, to decals, carbon fittings, and seat belt colours.
All these elements are available in a range of options, and all come with their own price tag.
This means that not only do you get to live, however fleetingly, in the fantasy of buying and customising a 911 – you are taken through an educational journey.
How much do leather sports seats cost? Do those “911 Carrera S” stickers come standard on the doors? Can the extra equipment on the car cost more than the base car itself?
The answers, as you will discover, are: a lot, absolutely not, and of course yes.
The base car
We begin with the base car, and we selected only the finest: The new 911 Carrera S.
The Carrera S features the classic 911 style, and is paired with a 6-cylinder 3.0-litre engine that produces 331kW and 530Nm of torque.
Its revs to 7,500rpm and will take you from 0-100 km/h in 3.7 seconds – and then all the way up to 308km/h.
At R2,049,000 with a 5-year drive plan, we can begin.
The exterior and seating
The first item to adress is the colour. Plain white will not do, and the obvious choice here was the “Special Colour” option Carmine Red at R65,910.
Mags were next, and we paired the red with a classic set of Carrera wheels at R27,760.
Naturally, we then had to add a long list of additional essentials, such as:
- Lightweight carbon roof – R86,430
- Aero kit painted in high-gloss black – R175,180
- Electric folding exterior mirrors including courtesy lighting – R8,250
- Exterior mirrors, upper trims carbon – R36,140
- Porsche logo LED door courtesy lights – R3,450
- Model designation on doors – R5,060
- Engine compartment lid painted in titanium grey – R10,130
- Exclusive design fuel filler cap – R3,190
- Slat inlays rear lid painted in exterior colour – R14,140
- Tinted LED headlights with Matrix Beam including Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus – R85,430
- Exclusive design tail lights – R20,250
- Automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors with integrated rain sensor – R13,310
- Lightweight and noise insulated glass – R32,390
There are two items which need a special mention here, and were added on top of the options above.
The first is the “Protective Foil Front”, which is a transparent, protective foil placed at the front of the car over the luggage compartment lid, front apron, front wings, and exterior mirror upper trims. This is R46,270, and will keep that front end safe from daily life.
The next item concerns the seating and interior finish of the 911, and is:
- Adaptive sports seats with electrical 18-way memory package in black leather – R87,870
The drive
With the exterior styling sorted, it was now time to take care of the handling.
The 911 Carrera S comes standard with an 8-speed PDK box, meaning there is no extra charge for its paddle-shift brilliance.
“PASM Sport Suspension”, however, was an additional R22,830.
As it provides an electronically variable active damping system with two manually selectable modes – Normal and Sport – we felt it was a must.
The Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport and Sport Chrono Package were added, too, as you do not want to arrive at a track day and have to answer “no” when someone asks: “Do you have the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport option installed?”
These were R78,050 and R57,800 respectively.
A sports exhaust, rear-axle steering, and ceramic-composite brakes were among the additional performance options added, as shown below:
- Sports exhaust system – R63,300
- Rear-axle steering – R54,650
- Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake – R237,030
- Power steering plus – R6,370
- Lifting system front axle – R58,670
The extras
We are almost at the finish line now, with just a few more extras to add.
These include a park assist system with “surround view” at R41,030; keyless entry and drive at R13,310; and a heated GT sports steering wheel at R13,410.
Of course, select parts of the interior finish need to match the exterior paint colour, which was R26,020, and the seat belts need to be a sporty red (R10,690) as this would be worth at least a 15km/h speed increase in the driver’s mind.
Another must-have was the “Extended Package Leather Interior” option, which included leather inner door sills, fuse box cover, and air vents – at R95,990.
Taking us to the end were the:
- Sport chrono stopwatch instrument dial – R57,800
- Tachometer dial guards in red – R8,380
- Roof lining in Race-Tex – R28,200
- Burmester surround sound system – R77,480
This brought the grand total to:
- Ultimate Porsche 911 Carrera S – R4,082,630
Money well spent.
The finished product
Keyword: I built the ultimate 911 on Porsche South Africa’s website – Here’s how much it costs