Help: 996tt or 770's? What to do..........
I've had my EPL tuned B5 S4 K04 car for around 2yrs now. On EPL's Dyno she put down 395whp and 406tq. That's actually with stock intercoolers as well. I love the car to death but I feel like I'm at the point where I might need to start putting more maintenance work into it, fixing small things that bug me, etc. I love the speed but I want more.

Here's my dilemma:

I've thought of just about every replacement car in the book. M5, M5 w/supercharger, M3, Esprit, Miata with V8, Z06 all kinds of stuff. I love the tunability of Turbo cars, and nothing really comes close to a Stg 3 S4 without spending a LARGE amount of money other than a 996tt. I pretty much pay cash for everything so I don't want to be financing something over 45K.

But then you're looking at probably a little over 40K to get into a used one 996tt, which is about 414hp (when it was new) and tuning a Porsche is going to set me back a bit.

or do I keep the Audi, even if it is 10yrs old, dump a good bit of money (which of course I will never get back) and build a car that is close to 650-700hp and will probably walk anything out where except turbo Z06's and maybe a CTS-V. (or some of your cars in this forum?)

I don't want to be an idiot with my money, but need a better kick in the pants when I hit the fast pedal. I'm curious to hear your thoughts/opinions/flames. What kind of cost am I looking at to get into a 996TT and get up to 600Hp or more?

 

First - no way you reached almost 400 whp on stock intercoolers.

I have a B5 RS4 with stock intercoolers which are bigger and way more efficient and they are still rubbish and at their absolute max in my car with 461 crank hp.



Second - go for 996tt, you will not regret it. The torque in this cars is amazing. I thought it would feel more or less the same to accelerate in my 460 hp rs4 and my recently purchased 500 hp 996tt - in real life it is another galaxy.

996tt is a natural way to go from S4/RS4, many people do that!

Good luck!

 

there are so many flashed 996tt's out there, just get one already modded. i don't think the car exists that can beat the 996 tt's bang for buck. i'm on my 2nd one, as the low mileage 997 tt's are still pricey ( to me ). with my flashed '03, there not getting away from me anyway

 

Sql_pl: I appreciate the insight from someone who owns both. I think I'm going to save a bit more until I can afford a decently modded 996tt that I can pay cash for and swap out the S4.

Also, just so I don't look like a liar I was a few HP off. My car made 387hp and 406tq last year on STOCK intercoolers. I'm attaching a pic of the Dyno sheet from EPL (a mustang dyno)

 

Owned both, well a well setup Stage 3+ B5 S4 and there is no comparison.

With a simple turbo upgrade, the turbo will be just as fast if not faster then any B5 S4.

I will not even mention cornering, no matter what I did with my S4 it does not even come close to the 996 capabilities.

 

I just switched from a 450whp EPL stage 3 B5 S4 to a 500whp EPL/AMS billet k16 996tt. It's night and day. The S4 was a great daily driver, but it wasn't a true sports car even with Stasis motorsport suspension(Ohlins). The 996tt is so much more fun to drive, so much faster and a true sports car. Not to mention, I'm not worried about the 996tt breaking every time I drive it.

The B5S4 did blend in much better than the 996tt. I feel I'm under a microscope everytime I drive the Porsche. Whereas with the Audi I could get away with a lot more and no one would give me a second look. I like the wolf in the sheep clothing Audi look vs. the flashiness of the Porsche. But that will depend on where you are located. Where I am, beat up buicks and lifted pickup trucks rule the world...

Personally, I think the Audi interior was much nicer than Porsche's as well, even though they are from the same vintage. Maybe once I replace a few beat up interior parts I'll change my mind... so that could just be my OCD clouding my judgement.

Other than those two things, I would say go with the 996tt over the Audi. The Audi will be fast, but it will still be a $5,000 car that breaks something at least once a week.

 

Dr. Jekyll: you just hit on one of my personal reservations as well. The Audi NAILED the interior styling and just fit/finish. The Porsche interior seems dated and kind of tacky?? I realize you can always dress it up with some GT2 buckets and a few pieces of Alcantara.

But you make a good point about little items breaking. I don't know how the Porsche is for maintenance and reliability, but when my rear window motor broke in the S4 yesterday it really started me thinking about looking into a different car.

If I could just find one locally that is in good shape for a good price. I can't see paying more than about $45k for one, but am I being unreasonable?

 

The reliability of the S4 is what really got me. After 6 years of ownership, I just got tired of wrenching on it every weekend and worrying about it on road trips. Granted I could have stopped using it as a daily driver and I'm sure less stuff would have broke. But it's only a $5,000 car and too practical to be a garage queen. So parking it and dumping 20-30k into the engine (yes it will cost you that much to hit 600whp) didn't make any sense to me. So I ditched it and got a modded 996tt and couldn't be happier.

Price wise, it depends on what you want. Look around and you can find some good deals. But you'll probably have to travel to find one. If you want a low mileage, well taken care of and tastefully modded 996tt, look in the 6speed classifieds. You'll likely pay a premium (relative to the 996tt market) for it though. But it will still be cheaper than starting with a stock car and trying to mod it.

 

Hello,
I have both cars you mentioned and both are over 600HP... The s4 doesn't come close to the overall performance of my 996TT. Speedwise I have not run them side by side yet. But my butt dyno tells me the 996TT with 24/18's is going to be quite faster..... needless to say at this power level the 996 will also be more reliable (in overall maintenance)

Good luck! I may be doing the TIAL 770 kit in the future so might have a chance to give you the feedback you are looking for....

 

Well you guys have given me the feedback I was expecting. I think I need to work on getting enough cash together and patiently try to find a 996TT that has everything I want.

If anyone knows of a white one for sale please let me know.

 

I don't want to jump the gun, but just doing a little searching today. What do you guys think of this car? Is that a decent price, and is the X50 package worth the hype?

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

 

Nothing against the S4, but it's really not in the same league as a 996TT. Good luck.

 

Depends on what you want to do.

x50 is great if

-You don't plan to upgrade the turbos
-You don't plan to upgrade the turbos
-Larger (not by much) intercoolers
-Holds slightly higher value versus non-x50
-A reflash can make the car significantly faster especially with 1bar wg's
-You can however, save money if you do a K24/18g versus a K16 setup.

x50 is not great if

-You plan to upgrade the turbos
-You plan to upgrade the turbos
-You plan to upgrade the turbos

I have a stock powered x50, love it. However, power hungry like most others I'll want more power.

 

not even remotely close. You cant compare them, not even for a second.

 

I owned a B5 S4 stage III for almost eight and a half years (~5 of those years at full stage III) and it's a great car no doubt. But I got the bug like most B5 S4 owners for the next best thing, so I did what a ton of us have done as that's move to the 996tt.

First off this place is a great place to find all in the info you need when putting together your perfect (for you) 996 tt. So do a lot of searches.

Next be patient (sounds like you have no problem doing that) and look all over the internets (eBay, cars.com, autotrader, Rennslist, here, ect) and you'll be able to find what you want.

I didn't feel like shelling out all the time, money and effort to mod my 996tt so I found one with all the goodies on it that I wanted. The only thing I have done to mine is the AWE flash (not that expensive) and now basically I got a beast on my hands.

While I loved the S4 the 996 tt was the perfect upgrade.

Good luck with your search.