My New 610 HP Toy...
#1
01-25-2010 | 06:07 PM
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From: Victoria BC
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My New 610 HP Toy...
Hey guys
Well, several weeks ago all the paperwork (and the US > CAD importation cash-grabs) got completed, and I now my baby's finally legal. Took forever... good God.
Anyway, here's the details, a first-impressions "review" and some pics...
---------------------
2002 Porsche 996 Twin Turbo
6 Speed Manual, Gunmetal Gray w. Black interior, 32000 Miles (55000 Kms), stock rims (although it also came with some fancy 19" aftermarkets that I'll use in the summer), and generally well-optioned.
Alright - here's the good stuff:
GMG Racing's Stage 2/2+ Kit brings it to 610 HP on 94 pump gas and a hair over 700HP on 100+ octane. Basically the package includes larger KKK turbos, GT2 intercoolers, air intake, GIAC chip/"flash", and headers I believe, along with some other little goodies (see GMG's site for details).
It also has Tubi exhaust and a H&R racing suspension. (Tubi sounds awesome anywhere past 3000 RPM).
Not sure what the torque ratings are (or the WHP figures), so I'll have to get it dynoed and post those later at some point. Judging by the way it drives, I'm guessing torque is very close to 600 ft/lbs.
As for WHP, no idea but it's ridiculously powerful and when accellerating full-out it's literally a challenge to reach the gear shifter (or shift forward into 3rd). Maybe WHP is a bit diminished due to the awd. We'll find out soon enough...
My First Impressions:
To start off, I need to make it clear that though I'm a major enthusiast (and car nut), I'm not a professional driver. Haven't done much track time - so my "insights" here should be taken as such.
Also - I've actually never driven the stock version of the 996TT, so I can't accurately judge the mods against the factory performance.
With that said - here's how she drives...
It's immediately apparent as soon as you turn over the key that you're dealing with a serious car. The engine almost sounds "lumpy" at idle - a far cry from the smooth-sounding whine of the I-6 in my previous M3.
I suspect that has a lot to do with the GMG tuning and throttle mapping.
Once the engine is warmed up within the first few minutes of driving (usually on my way out of town heading to the highway), it's smooth as butter and surprisingly civil and linear.
This is a car that you can drive "normally" and you'd never have a clue about what's under the hood. Shifting is smooth and and the clutch is always predictable and easy. The engine is certainly torquey (even with zero boost), but never overbearing in town.
It's actually much, much easier to drive than my previous E46 M3, which had a clunky transmission and required high-revving operation if you wanted to have the engines power immediately on tap.
With the Porsche, the torque-band is practically the entire rev range.
So for "civil" driving, the porsche is actually far easier to drive around and more civil than my old M3. The visibility is superb as well - although the rigid suspension (and very low clearance) do add a few twists to seemingly everyday tasks - such as exiting a steep parking lot or driveway.
Now let's talk about what it feels like when you're really driving...
The most obvious, glaring difference between the Turbo and all the other performance cars I've had or driven in the past ('02 M3, '07 F430, '02 Maserati Coupe GT, '02 C4S, '07 Lancer EVO) is the insane, unspeakably fast acceleration.
I still can't get over it - and it's not just the typical 2nd gear pulls that produce shock and awe...
Even in 4th gear you will sink in your seat when you punch it. I've never driven a car that literally pulls as hard from 60 - 100 MPH as it does from 25 - 60.
I haven't clocked it - nor do I think that I can shift fast enough to get a fair reading - but this is a car that can easily pull off a 0-60 time in the low 3's with a pro driver at the wheel.
There's definitely some turbo lag which takes a bit of getting used to, although when you're applying the throttle smoothly (ie. not just mashing the pedal) the power is available near-instantly.
And even with the small bit of lag, it still takes less time to hit the "power zone" when accelerating with the Turbo than it does to wind up a Ferrari F430 (or M3) to their respective powerbands.
However, where the naturally-aspirated high-revving cars like the M3 do have a small advantage over the Turbo is when it comes to maintaining power through gear-changing, and, obviously - shift points.
When you're comparing the Turbo's 6500 RPM redline to the 8500 redline in the Ferrari for example - even though the Porsche does have longer legs on the top end (and accelerates faster), sometimes the shiftpoints are a little awkward in the P-car simply because you need to shift a little earlier.
And when you can't shift like Schummacher, every bit of rev range helps.
Now, let's talk about handling...
All I really have to compare the Turbo with in terms of handling is the M3, since I drove the M for over a year and got very comfortable with it.
What's immediately apparent in the Porsche is that it takes a lot more speed to reach the car's "edge" than with the M3. Some of my favorite roads in the M are actually pretty boring in the Porsche, simply because the tight corners that were fun in the M are simply too "small" to really hit it around with the Porsche.
It's just too fast.
The Turbo wants a winding freeway (or more accurately, track), whereas the M3 likes to play around with more technical, tighter turns like switchbacks, etc.
Cornering in the M3 was all about riding on the edge of the car's traction envelope (and occasionally throwing out the backend just for fun, which was very easy to control).
In contrast, the Porsche is all about lining up your corner properly and then throttling through the turn. (Even with all the nanny controls and AWD, the Turbo will come loose if you enter a corner too fast and try to brake mid-turn... trust me.)
Both handling styles are exhilirating, but the Porsche takes the upper hand because it feels a lot more "planted" and can handle a lot more lateral G's before coming loose.
The difference is that the M3 can defy physics a bit simply because of the "return to center" effect offered by a well-balanced front engine layout. Whereas the Porsche is like handling nirvana - right up until you slightly surpass the physics envelope... and then things get scary. Fast.
So long as you're aware of this and respect the laws of physics, the Porsche will outhandle almost anything.
(But there's still something really fun about oversteer...)
First-Impression Summary:
I feel like I'm a Cessna pilot that just bought an F16. The car is far more capable than what my own abilities as a driver can accomodate. Yet.
I can certainly see the limitations of the Porsche design to some degree, but its exclusive benefits far outweigh these limitations - highest on the "exclusive benefits" list being its handling style. And second is the ***-kicking rear engine acceleration. Wow.
The bottom-line is that this is a serious performance car, whereas the M3 was more of a "drivers car".
And my experience with the Ferrari F430 (drove the hell out of one for 2 full days) made it clear that the F-car is all about high-revving track performance, and not so much acceleration or torque. It was fast, but in all honesty, not much faster than my M3.
A Porsche with 610 HP, however, is in a different league.
In an ideal world, I'd have both (Turbo + M3)
But there's this thing called "I have a mortgage and a wife", which, for the moment, keeps my ridiculous car obsession to a one-by-one basis.
I'll post an update to this sometime in the future perhaps.
Here's some PICS (Attached)...
Cheers!
-Chris
Well, several weeks ago all the paperwork (and the US > CAD importation cash-grabs) got completed, and I now my baby's finally legal. Took forever... good God.
Anyway, here's the details, a first-impressions "review" and some pics...
---------------------
2002 Porsche 996 Twin Turbo
6 Speed Manual, Gunmetal Gray w. Black interior, 32000 Miles (55000 Kms), stock rims (although it also came with some fancy 19" aftermarkets that I'll use in the summer), and generally well-optioned.
Alright - here's the good stuff:
GMG Racing's Stage 2/2+ Kit brings it to 610 HP on 94 pump gas and a hair over 700HP on 100+ octane. Basically the package includes larger KKK turbos, GT2 intercoolers, air intake, GIAC chip/"flash", and headers I believe, along with some other little goodies (see GMG's site for details).
It also has Tubi exhaust and a H&R racing suspension. (Tubi sounds awesome anywhere past 3000 RPM).
Not sure what the torque ratings are (or the WHP figures), so I'll have to get it dynoed and post those later at some point. Judging by the way it drives, I'm guessing torque is very close to 600 ft/lbs.
As for WHP, no idea but it's ridiculously powerful and when accellerating full-out it's literally a challenge to reach the gear shifter (or shift forward into 3rd). Maybe WHP is a bit diminished due to the awd. We'll find out soon enough...
My First Impressions:
To start off, I need to make it clear that though I'm a major enthusiast (and car nut), I'm not a professional driver. Haven't done much track time - so my "insights" here should be taken as such.
Also - I've actually never driven the stock version of the 996TT, so I can't accurately judge the mods against the factory performance.
With that said - here's how she drives...
It's immediately apparent as soon as you turn over the key that you're dealing with a serious car. The engine almost sounds "lumpy" at idle - a far cry from the smooth-sounding whine of the I-6 in my previous M3.
I suspect that has a lot to do with the GMG tuning and throttle mapping.
Once the engine is warmed up within the first few minutes of driving (usually on my way out of town heading to the highway), it's smooth as butter and surprisingly civil and linear.
This is a car that you can drive "normally" and you'd never have a clue about what's under the hood. Shifting is smooth and and the clutch is always predictable and easy. The engine is certainly torquey (even with zero boost), but never overbearing in town.
It's actually much, much easier to drive than my previous E46 M3, which had a clunky transmission and required high-revving operation if you wanted to have the engines power immediately on tap.
With the Porsche, the torque-band is practically the entire rev range.
So for "civil" driving, the porsche is actually far easier to drive around and more civil than my old M3. The visibility is superb as well - although the rigid suspension (and very low clearance) do add a few twists to seemingly everyday tasks - such as exiting a steep parking lot or driveway.
Now let's talk about what it feels like when you're really driving...
The most obvious, glaring difference between the Turbo and all the other performance cars I've had or driven in the past ('02 M3, '07 F430, '02 Maserati Coupe GT, '02 C4S, '07 Lancer EVO) is the insane, unspeakably fast acceleration.
I still can't get over it - and it's not just the typical 2nd gear pulls that produce shock and awe...
Even in 4th gear you will sink in your seat when you punch it. I've never driven a car that literally pulls as hard from 60 - 100 MPH as it does from 25 - 60.
I haven't clocked it - nor do I think that I can shift fast enough to get a fair reading - but this is a car that can easily pull off a 0-60 time in the low 3's with a pro driver at the wheel.
There's definitely some turbo lag which takes a bit of getting used to, although when you're applying the throttle smoothly (ie. not just mashing the pedal) the power is available near-instantly.
And even with the small bit of lag, it still takes less time to hit the "power zone" when accelerating with the Turbo than it does to wind up a Ferrari F430 (or M3) to their respective powerbands.
However, where the naturally-aspirated high-revving cars like the M3 do have a small advantage over the Turbo is when it comes to maintaining power through gear-changing, and, obviously - shift points.
When you're comparing the Turbo's 6500 RPM redline to the 8500 redline in the Ferrari for example - even though the Porsche does have longer legs on the top end (and accelerates faster), sometimes the shiftpoints are a little awkward in the P-car simply because you need to shift a little earlier.
And when you can't shift like Schummacher, every bit of rev range helps.
Now, let's talk about handling...
All I really have to compare the Turbo with in terms of handling is the M3, since I drove the M for over a year and got very comfortable with it.
What's immediately apparent in the Porsche is that it takes a lot more speed to reach the car's "edge" than with the M3. Some of my favorite roads in the M are actually pretty boring in the Porsche, simply because the tight corners that were fun in the M are simply too "small" to really hit it around with the Porsche.
It's just too fast.
The Turbo wants a winding freeway (or more accurately, track), whereas the M3 likes to play around with more technical, tighter turns like switchbacks, etc.
Cornering in the M3 was all about riding on the edge of the car's traction envelope (and occasionally throwing out the backend just for fun, which was very easy to control).
In contrast, the Porsche is all about lining up your corner properly and then throttling through the turn. (Even with all the nanny controls and AWD, the Turbo will come loose if you enter a corner too fast and try to brake mid-turn... trust me.)
Both handling styles are exhilirating, but the Porsche takes the upper hand because it feels a lot more "planted" and can handle a lot more lateral G's before coming loose.
The difference is that the M3 can defy physics a bit simply because of the "return to center" effect offered by a well-balanced front engine layout. Whereas the Porsche is like handling nirvana - right up until you slightly surpass the physics envelope... and then things get scary. Fast.
So long as you're aware of this and respect the laws of physics, the Porsche will outhandle almost anything.
(But there's still something really fun about oversteer...)
First-Impression Summary:
I feel like I'm a Cessna pilot that just bought an F16. The car is far more capable than what my own abilities as a driver can accomodate. Yet.
I can certainly see the limitations of the Porsche design to some degree, but its exclusive benefits far outweigh these limitations - highest on the "exclusive benefits" list being its handling style. And second is the ***-kicking rear engine acceleration. Wow.
The bottom-line is that this is a serious performance car, whereas the M3 was more of a "drivers car".
And my experience with the Ferrari F430 (drove the hell out of one for 2 full days) made it clear that the F-car is all about high-revving track performance, and not so much acceleration or torque. It was fast, but in all honesty, not much faster than my M3.
A Porsche with 610 HP, however, is in a different league.
In an ideal world, I'd have both (Turbo + M3)
But there's this thing called "I have a mortgage and a wife", which, for the moment, keeps my ridiculous car obsession to a one-by-one basis.
I'll post an update to this sometime in the future perhaps.
Here's some PICS (Attached)...
Cheers!
-Chris
#2
01-25-2010 | 06:23 PM
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 593
From: texas
Rep Power: 52
nice write up chris and thanks for sharing. like the color and the ride height looks right. couple of questions:
1. how much did it cost you to get to canada and register it there?
2. when were the gmg mods done? the "larger kkk turbos" ... hmmmmmmm elaborate.
1. how much did it cost you to get to canada and register it there?
2. when were the gmg mods done? the "larger kkk turbos" ... hmmmmmmm elaborate.
#4
01-25-2010 | 08:08 PM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 99
From: Victoria BC
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Bringing it up to Canada essentially looked like this:
Taxes: 6.1% Duty, 5% GST and 7% PST (applied to converted purchase price - bill of sale price converted to CAD)
Shipping: $2000
Recall clearance letter search: $30
Provincial Inspection: $200 ish
Border Fees, RIV, Miscellaneous Red Tape crap: About an extra $1000
I was also JUST over the threshold for luxury tax, which added another 2 or 3% roughly.
Incidentals which applied to my situation and may not apply to others also included having to replace the tires ($2000) and getting a PPI in the US, which was about $500.
How that breaks down in total is this:
---------------------------------
Purchased car for $48,750 which was roughly $52,000 CAD at the time of transfer.
At the time of importation (which determines the taxation levels), the "price" was more like around $53.5K CAD, which triggered the lux tax.
All said and done I'm into it for about $62,000 CAD
I think it's a fair price, especially considering there's some '02 Tiptronics up here with a lot more mileage going for the same ballpark price point.
Even though mine's a "US car", which does carry some connotations amongst the Canuck porsche guys up here, being that mine is a nicely optioned 6-speed in actual mint condition (it was a concours garage queen its whole life prior to importation) with about $30K worth of performance mods...
...and 610 professional HP with the suspension to handle it... for the Canadian market, I believe I definitely could've done much worse.
Cheers,
-Chris
P.S. In the future I would likely only buy a car from a dealer in the US. It was a lot of juggling, paperwork and WAITING for the title to clear, etc.
#5
01-25-2010 | 08:13 PM
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Joined: Sep 2009
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Honestly, I don't know the exact specs of the Turbos.
But I do know and have receipts for the following package (2/2+) that was installed by GMG:
http://www.gmgracing.com/porsche_engine.shtml
This is an excerpt from their page:
Power Kit for 996TT - Stage 2/2+
GIAC Software: 3 programs, stock load level, 91 octane, and race 100 octane. Kit includes:
- KKK turbochargers, GT2 intercoolers, and Sport Exhaust System
with 200 or 100 cell catalyst
- Sport air filter and 2 sport diverter valves
- Exhaust is available in 3 sound versions (mild, loud, agressive)
Opional add-ons (Stage 2+): Sport Exhaust manifolds, larger throttle body and plenum
- Stock equivalent to X50
- Pump 91 - 610hp
- Race 100 octane - 640(Stg. 2)/650+(Stg. 2+)hp
----------------
In addition to that package, the car has Tubi Exhast, H&R suspension, a REVO intake (I believe), and K40 radar.
I think I'm actually going to call GMG this week and inquire about the Turbo specs.
They're definitely more "robust" than the stock turbos in my box of original parts that the seller sent up with it...
I'd actually like to drive a stock 996TT just to get a feel for what I've really got...
-Chris
But I do know and have receipts for the following package (2/2+) that was installed by GMG:
http://www.gmgracing.com/porsche_engine.shtml
This is an excerpt from their page:
Power Kit for 996TT - Stage 2/2+
GIAC Software: 3 programs, stock load level, 91 octane, and race 100 octane. Kit includes:
- KKK turbochargers, GT2 intercoolers, and Sport Exhaust System
with 200 or 100 cell catalyst
- Sport air filter and 2 sport diverter valves
- Exhaust is available in 3 sound versions (mild, loud, agressive)
Opional add-ons (Stage 2+): Sport Exhaust manifolds, larger throttle body and plenum
- Stock equivalent to X50
- Pump 91 - 610hp
- Race 100 octane - 640(Stg. 2)/650+(Stg. 2+)hp
----------------
In addition to that package, the car has Tubi Exhast, H&R suspension, a REVO intake (I believe), and K40 radar.
I think I'm actually going to call GMG this week and inquire about the Turbo specs.
They're definitely more "robust" than the stock turbos in my box of original parts that the seller sent up with it...
I'd actually like to drive a stock 996TT just to get a feel for what I've really got...
-Chris
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