tstafford

All,

I'm trying to understand how to weight whether or not a car has LWBS in my assessment of the market for used GT4s. I'm interested in comments from other Rennlisters on what they think. Would you consider a car w/o LWBS? Are they a deal breaker? If you had two comparable cars how much more would you pay for one with LWBS. Whatever you can tell me to help me understand the market would be appreciated.

Basically I'm trying to understand how heavily this should factor in to my search. If it matters - I plan to drive the car a few times a week and use it for DE events four or five times a year. For me personally - I don't much care about the seats, but I can tell it is meaningful in how people view the car.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

Rick-A-Shay

There have been MANY discussions on LWB seats.
#1: Will you physically fit in them? If you don't fit, why have them as you will be miserable?
#2 Climbing over the side bolster on entry/exit requires extra skill.
#3 No LWB's is a deal breaker for those who want them in their car. Those who got early allocations/delivery got NO LWB seats due to supply issue and were p***sed! Some ordered w/o LWB seats because they had no purpose unless tracking car or VERY sporty road trips.
#4 Stop focusing on "investment/resale value, find some LWB's to sit in and make decision!

rk-d

This is, of course, my favorite topic. It requires no greater authority or expertise than the willingness to pay $5k and the ability to sit.

There have been a few who've turned down cars without the buckets and those who've sold their GT4s without buckets in order to buy a GT4 with buckets. I used to think these folks were silly.

Now owning the car and with the benefit of living with them - I'd rather not own a GT4 than own one without them. It's stupid, but there it is.

Radiantm3

Never understood why people buy cars for themselves, but spec them for the next owner. Buy what makes you happy to drive and own the car. That's why you are buying the car in the first place. There will always be a buyer that wants your car second hand. Second hand buyers are generally less picky than when buying a new car.

Shockwave

^^ This.

ExMB

Agreed with a caveat: or the stealer.

If that would've been the case I could've easily spend another $25k - $30k. And we all know how well options keep their value.

2WheelsRBetter

I purposefully ordered mine without LWBs for three reasons:

1) I will not have access to a track hence; this will be a road car for me. (If we move to where I can track it, I'll install Race Tech or Recaro.)
2) When I approach retirement age I intend to drive this car on as many outstanding roads around the country as I can steal time for. So I figured the 18-ways will accommodate me and my bride for longer hours on the back roads of America.
3) My lovely bride wants heated seats, given that I have wooed her from her traditional homelands to the colder north.

All this said, I lust after the LWBs and all things carbon fiber (as evidenced by my motorcycles), and had I been able to sit in one to see if I fit (and given how sexy they are - maybe even if I didn't fit), I'd probably have the LWBs. I do not regret the 18-ways though. I love my GT4 and am grateful to have it.

Bill Lehman

I spec'd my car with LWB. I'm a long time track driver and will add 6 point harnesses and a roll bar. My old 987 was fitted with Euro GT3 seats and the LWB seem to fit in a similar way. I'm 6'-0" and 185# and am comfortable. A few larger friends have tried them out and seem to fit. I suspect that on a long trip that the relative lack of padding will be troublesome. If tracking the car is a priority, I would insist on the LWB. If primarily driving on the street and touring is a priority, I would avoid them. As others have mentioned, don't worry about options on resale.

Underblu

I was concerned about the LWBS before I got my car (a Spyder) now I really can't imagine any other seats and it would be a deal breaker for me.

The LWBS are more comfortable than my previous 14w seats which themselves were fairly comfortable. They also connect me to the car more directly. They are my favorite tactile element and they work brilliantly for me

On the downside, they are not easy to get in and out of. I feel like Dukes of Hazzard, the upscale German edition, levitating myself in and out of the car.

With that said its a personal decision. If you find them comfortable and don't mind the ingress/egress effort than I would definitely go for them.

usctrojanGT3

For me, no LWBS = no care. Same goes for the GT4 and same for the RS and GT3. I don't care if cars with LWBS sold at a discount, I'd still get them on my cars.

jphughan

I probably wouldn't have gotten the car without LWBs, not because it wouldn't still have been fun but because if I'm going to spend $100K on a car and feel ok with that, it'll need to be configured the way I want it, with no or at least only very minor compromises, and seats are a major factor in how a car is experienced IMO. Like you OP, I didn't consider seats a major factor of the car until I was ordering a car that had different seat options, and I've found that they dramatically enhance the experience of the car for me. Others who have swapped between regular seats and the older GT2 buckets on other Porsches have noted a significant difference in feel and overall experience between the two, fwiw.

Your best bet is to post a thread here and maybe on the GT3 section asking if any RLers local to you with LWBs would be willing to let you test fit them. A few people have done that already and had offers within 24 hours. Failing that, judging by others' reported experiences here, statistically you will probably love them. The next most likely outcome is that you're on the skinny side and therefore don't benefit from the bolstering since you still slide around, in which case you might still like them for looks but at least won't dislike them, except maybe for lack of value in your case. And the last option is that you're maybe on the larger side or have a physical ailment which makes sitting and/or getting out of them difficult to the point of tainting your experience of the car, but very few of the people who have actually tried them have felt this way. Several avoided them out of fear they MIGHT feel that way, though. As for me, I'm DDing them and have no comfort issues even after 200-mile nonstop drives and would therefore get them even if I weren't tracking. Egress isn't difficult at all if you're able-bodied once you've developed a finesse for them, which takes maybe 3 attempts.

Scrappy1972

It's my daily driver so I chose sofas. Besides the comfort issue, I always feel like I'm making a graceless entrance whenever people see me climb out of my RS. It's borderline embarrassing sometimes

jphughan

Is this a 991 RS with the LWBs? I'm able to get out by pressing one arm into the center armrest to push myself far enough over that I can then put the other hand on the outer door sill while swinging my leg out. Then I can shift my weight to the arm on the sill momentarily, which gets me leaned far enough out that my leg is on the ground outside, and then I just step out. Easy peasy. I'm DDing mine too and have no issue with that.

jslee225

No lwbs is deal breaker for me. Had first non vip deposit for gt4 with aug 15 delivery in Houston but lwbs was not available during that time, so gave up allocation for feb 16 delivery instead and couldn't be happier!

Scrappy1972

Yes, a 991. The problem is that I have long legs and arms. It's especially ugly when I'm parked next to a car and can't swing the door fully open. I probably would have spec'd the buckets and dealt with it if I didn't have an RS to satisfy my bucket seat desires.