Ben Przekop Mercer Island, WA
@benjaminprzekop
My 2022 911 is still on its way to me, but now it is oh so close! After a lengthy sea journey which began on 27 October at Emden, Germany, it finally docked at Benicia, California on 29 November. As I write this, it is undergoing port-based servicing by Porsche, and then will be transported by truck to Porsche Bellingham, with an estimated arrival on 17 December, after which they need a couple of days to prep the car for delivery.
In the meantime, I thought I would share some lessons I learned about configuring and ordering a 911 in these COVID and supply chain constrained times. More folks than ever before are ordering 911s for the simple reason that dealers simply don’t have any new cars in stock to sell, and pre-owned cars, if you can find any worth having, are selling at a significant premium. The car shown in the photo was taken at my dealer, who is displaying some of the owner’s personal collection to fill an otherwise empty showroom! So, if you want a new 911 the first thing you will have to do is get on a waiting list, and that usually involves putting down a deposit. Be wary of dealers who require you to pre-order a minimum number of options (read: max price), or demand a very hefty deposit, or worse still who tell you they have to add a ‘Market Adjustment’ cost of 10-20% to the MSRP. If you don’t have a relationship with a reputable Porsche dealer, check with your local car club community to find out who is trustworthy; sadly, not all dealers are.
Secondly, as you spec out your dream 911, make sure you thoroughly research the myriad of options available on the
992, but at the same time be realistic and make some tough decisions about which ones you are really going to use… setting a budget helps! I strongly recommend you check out a Youtube video (“992 Every Option”) by a jovial Porsche enthusiast named Nick Murray that indeed goes through every option available on the new 992s. He also offers his personal opinion on the relative value of some of the newer options, for example rear-axle steering or dynamic chassis control, which I found helpful. In addition, he shows where you can actually get some things ‘for free’. A good example of this is that the ‘standard’ Porsche interior has a limited amount of leather surfaces, so Porsche offers the extra cost option of ordering a ‘full leather’ interior. But even though you just paid a hefty fee for that full leather interior, if you want the stitching in a different colour
(e.g. red stitching on black leather) it involves choosing the ‘deviated stitching’ option which costs as much as the full leather option itself! However, Nick points out that there are some ‘standard’ options to customise the interior which incur no extra cost, such as chalk stitching on black seats (my choice), or different coloured seat inserts, which are great things to be aware of.
In summary, configuring and ordering a new 911 can be one of the most enjoyable experiences of your life; this special car will be uniquely ‘yours’, even if you have to wait a bit longer for it. And isn’t the delicious joy of anticipation half the fun?