I love a good automotive game, and the Porsche configurator is one of the best. While some people could spend hours speccing out their perfect Porsche, I prefer to leave reality at the doorstep and come up with some of the most absurd specs imaginable. Here’s what I made recently: A base Macan with more than the base MSRP worth of options added on.
Before we start, here are some extremely simple rules. Tequipment accessories are excluded as they’re generally dealer-installed add-ons rather than true factory options. In addition, popping for a higher trim doesn’t factor in to cost of options, and we’re not going to worry about freight charges here, nor count delivery to California or Atlanta. Everything else is fair game though.
First up, let’s indulge in Porsche’s paint-to-sample program with Speed Yellow. I’m a sucker for Speed Yellow, although $11,430 for a color most people won’t be able to tell apart from the free Racing Yellow on a base 718 Cayman is on the steep side. A set of 21-inch Neodyme wheels clock in at an equally eye-watering $4,850, while getting the lower plastic trims painted runs $1,840. Oh, and one other big frippery costs a steep $1,390. That would be carbon fiber trim on the lower doors.
Right, enough with the exterior stuff for now, time to talk interiors. Porsche loves leather, to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised if someone with deep pockets could pay Porsche to wrap their dining room in cowhide. As such, it shouldn’t be hugely surprising that our theoretical Macan features $21,190 in leather alone. It starts with a charge of $3,630 for black extended leather, followed by $5,460 in deviated stitching and centers. Leather interior trim is $1,950, with leather dashboard trim another $1,570, leather air vents for $1,950, leather seat consoles for $2,040, and leather sun visors for $660. It was at this point that I realized a very yellow Macan needed a nickname, so on came bespoke floor mats with leather edging for $1,470, and a bespoke owner’s manual wallet in leather for $960, both with “banana” embroidered onto them. Add in a few other leather-related goodies, and the total sounds about right.
As for performance, this fictional-yet-possible Macan gets all the goodies, from Porsche Surface Coated Brakes to air suspension. A torque-vectoring diff is obviously on hand, as is the desired Sport Chrono package. Total performance spend was $11,890, which seems surprisingly reasonable considering I’ve seen carbon ceramic brakes cost more than that. Equally reasonable is total spend on general interior bits, which came out to $2,430. Then again, I did option the Premium Package Plus, which included heated front and rear seats, ventilated front seats, a panoramic roof, blind-spot monitoring, and optional 18-way seats and black LED headlights. All that added $3,910 to the price.
Things quickly re-enter ludicrous territory with a textile Porsche calls Race-Tex. It’s another version of the mouse fur faux-suede so popular these days, yet a heated Race-Tex steering wheel with matte carbon fiber trim clocks in at a staggering $1,860. That’s more than having the headliner done in Race-Tex for $1,550. Chuck in the $660 Race-Tex gear selector, and that’s about enough faux suede for me. Mind you, that $1,860 oil-trapping steering wheel doesn’t even come close to the price tag of personalized carbon fiber door sills. Imagine paying $3,080 for two pieces of light-up plastic that say “banana” or other such nonsense.
The last big spend is $5,700 on the Burmester premium audio system. Add a few other bits and bobs like lane keep assistance and clear tail lights, and the total comes out to $79,220 or 137.7 percent of the base price in options.
In total, this Macan smashes straight through the six-figure barrier and into 911 territory with a $136,720 price tag, all while still packing four cylinders. Oh, and the best part is that I’ve tried to keep this build moderately tasteful. Should you wish to go overboard, you can ring up a higher number. Of course, nobody ever options all of these crazy high-margin bits onto a base Macan, but just because you shouldn’t doesn’t mean you can’t.
It all just seems extremely silly, don’t you think? I’ll leave a link to my entirely stupid Macan here, and I’d love to see you try to out-do me in the comments, whether you start with a base Macan, a 718 Boxster, or something else entirely.
All photos courtesy of Porsche
Alright *cracks knuckles*
How to add 79g ontop of a 59g BUCKET of a “Porsche” Mecan err Audi Q3 err Q5….
Rip out the interior.. custom colored cloth, nice tan maybe. Decent 5-6spd manuel. Gauges and running gear out of a 80s 911 Turbo. Lower the thing with a flat car crusher top. Add in the fabrication for a wagon for 25g, decent seats, decent motor, decent hips.. nice Whaletail.
None of this hybrid, electric, weenie bs.
It is a PORSCHE. It should DRIVE, look and act like a PORSCHE!
Bronze wheels on a yellow car? That’s a big nope right there.
Leather.. visors and all black leather interior?
Ive got B L U E VINYL that matches the exterior of my car.
I would admitedly do some seriously questionable things… to get colored wheels, or color matching wheels that match my car.
THAT.. would be worth.. 79g.
My brother-in-law worked at an Audi dealership in Dublin, Ireland and said some employees were screwing around on the configurator building ridiculous spec vehicles only to find out they had actually placed orders for the units. The worst one was a fully loaded Audi Q7 with the base 2.0L 214hp engine and an awful colour combination. I think he said that one sat on the lot for over a year before they found a buyer.
Not that most buyers would pay the premium, but it is cool that Porsche at least offers this level of customization.
It is a bummer when I go build a “normal” car and get to choose from white/gray/silver/black paint (maybe there is a red or blue if you are lucky) with black interior….and that is it.
$11,430 for yellow paint?!
After a minute search, for that price in Japan (¥1,600,000) you can get a fully specced out “shinkosha” (10km on the odometer) Suzuki Hustler hybrid.
https://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/AU0256156561/index.html?TRCD=200002&RESTID=CS210610
…After a one-minute search, etc. etc.
I want that Hustler thing so bad.
WTF is a leather air vent?
And yeah, suede anything on touch points is just so dumb. So incredibly dumb. Headliner, fine. But steering wheel? You’re basically asking your car to look terrible in under 5 years, but I guess the people that like that stuff don’t even keep a car that long.
I saw leather air vents for the first time years ago on a Boxster. It was micro-thin sheets of leather colour-matched to the other leather surfaces, pasted on to each fin of the vents. Tasteful!
Many decades ago, one of my classmates at college was wondering out loud about designing an all-leather car. I wittily piped up “What about the windows?”, to which one of my other classmates immediately came back with “Jellyfish leather!!”
He now works for Porsche…
All-leather car… like… a horse?
Because I have no doubt the options on those can get pretty steep.
I merely doubled the cost of this base-model Cayman, but at least it has decals on the side – sadly not reflected in the pictures – that say “69”. And most of the colors clash.
I didn’t go all out and get a paint to sample color though.
PP37NCZ2
OMG, those wheels are truly fugly!
I’m absolutely positive I would not like the kind of person who selects them.
“banana”?!?
“Minion Macan” was right there!!!
Shouldn’t you call it Bananananananana? More text = more cost.
My only change to this package would be a name change. I live fairly close to some celebrities and ran into Whoopie Goldberg years back with her exiting the restaurant I was about to enter. She was wearing a yellow on yellow track suit and fur lined yellow Crocks. So, naturally I would name this vehicle Ex-Danza.
Can’t edit after a post. I meant Ex-Danson
Let us all remember the Ted Danson blackface incident!
Challenge accepted: http://www.porsche-code.com/PP325ZJ3 $139,870
The front end has a black bumper cover. That seems to be a bug in the program, as it was added when I added 360° surround view. It should be green like the rest.
Good choice on the Christmas spec! I see you’ve found the surround view camera glitch, I’m surprised Porsche hasn’t fixed that yet.
Thanks. ’tis almost the Season….
As a German I’m appalled by Porsche’s lack of attention to detail. Slobs!
Thomas this is one of the most sensible posts ive seen. The marque brands are no longer that superior over vehicles you can buy off the lot. A corvette or Saab at half the price could outperform a Porsche or Lambo, and even moreso with a Daytona start. But despite what another site tries to claim its not pickups owners that have little willies it is Porsche owners. But Porsche cant add performance, yeah 911 buyers bite me, so many cars at half the price can beat them. But yes the old i have $1200 floor mats and $50,000 rims just proves it is Porsche owners have the smallest weiners of all.
Memphis: Roger, I have a problem…
Roger the Car Salesman: Yes?
Memphis: I’ve been in L.A. for three months now. I have money, I have taste. But I’m not on anybody’s “A” list, and Saturday night is the loneliest night for the week for me.
Roger the Car Salesman: Well, a Ferrari would certainly change that.
Memphis: Perhaps, Mmmm. But, you know, this is the one. Yes, yes yes… I saw three of these parked outside the local Starbucks this morning, which tells me only one thing. There’s too many self-indulgent wieners in this city with too much bloody money! Now, if I was driving a 1967 275 GTB four-cam…
Roger the Car Salesman: You would not be a self-indulgent wiener, sir… You’d be a connoisseur.
Memphis: Precisely. Champagne would fall from the heavens. Doors would open. Velvet ropes would part.
Roger the Car Salesman: Ya know, we dont have any here. But I think we have something like that at the Warehouse.
Memphis (with his eyeglass piece in his mouth): OH REALLY, what ELSE do you have at your warehouse?!