The local Fire Department was on the street last night raising money (Fill the Boot campaign) for MDA. I had my top down, and I handed one of the fireman a donation. He took it, started to walk away, and came back to ask me..."How many tickets have you gotten driving that thing?". I replied "ZERO".

He started to walk away again, this time mumbling "then you don't drive it enough."

He doesn't know how true that is!

 

For me it was simple. I didn't want to deal with the extra cost of purchasing & maintaining the Turbo, especially considering I could never come close to using all that power. In the end I'd be paying a lot of money for something I couldn't use. My previous 911 was a 1989 Turbo, and I was only able to push it hard on freeway on-ramps. After 6 - 9 seconds, it was over. What was the point of a car like this in the suburbs?


I opted for a 997 C4S (love the wide body and AWD) with the X-51 power kit (381HP). That is more than sufficient for me considering where I live. To each his own.

Sean

 

You're referring to your 2006 Carrera S? I have a '11 C4S and in non Sport/Sports Plus, the car feels like a Camry/Accord. To really feel the power, you have to be in Sport or Sport Plus and RPMs above 3K.

 

Very interesting. I feel like I am lugging the engine anything below 3k. What's your average MPG? IIRC from the owner's manual, one can drive below 3k. When I followed this guide, there was no fun factor.

 

i was looking for an s or 4s. like many , i shopped around and thought i found the perfect car. thats where the story ends for most.

some of us, get conned into testing a turbo- i had an old 930 , and various 911's over the years, but after driving the 997tt, i went way over budget and then some ( ruf ) .

although turbos arent rare, you gotta admit , they are more rare than na 911's.
cost and availability are probably the number one factors.

 

Too much power that would lead me to bad outcomes. Too little opportunity to use it. Like Clint Eastwood said in "Magnum Force", "A. Man's got to know his limitations."

 

Two years ago I test drove a 2007 turbo. The salesman was trying to sell me what had instead of what I wanted. The car was beautiful, only 8k miles. Perfect condition. I told him I would end up killing myself, someone else, or best case lose my license. It took another year, but I ended up with a 2011 c4S and couldn't be happier. More than enough power and love the handling.

 

my favorite and most-quoted movie line...props to you!

 

I average around 19MPG in city/hwy driving. Yeah, even with 997.2 C4S, anything under 3K RPM the engine feels like its lumbering around town.

 

To answer your question, in one word: Overkill.

Just before Christmas 2013 my wife decided to upgrade her nearly 8-year-old Audi S4 Cabriolet to a new Boxster. Then she drove a CPO '11 997.2 S, and it was game over. It's her DD (about 40 miles round trip per day) and she's happy as a pig in sh*t. At 385 HP and 500 lbs. lighter than the Audi, it's both much faster and far nimbler.

If it were mine I'd put in the SharkWerks center muffler delete for the extra HP and growl, just so I could tell people "It's about 400 HP" without lying. But for her it's fast enough and she already thinks the exhaust is way loud, so no go.

We live just south of a wealthy town called Hillsborough, CA, and this place is crawling with Porsches of all types. Lots of Boxsters but many 911s, some S, some 4S. Most of them seem to be black like my wife's (bought used, we obviously didn't have much say in the matter). A schoolmate of my son's gets picked up in a Panamera, there are quite a few Cayennes, and a neighbor has a beautiful, cherry, orange-colored 914. There's a green 924 I see often as well, and what appears to be a mid-to-late '80s 911 dark-gray Targa. Another neighbor has an old ('60s?) 911 in his garage and a late '90s silver Targa 911 in his driveway.

 

I personally would love a Turbo but really don't have anywhere to use it. My 997 S has plenty power.

 

I would only get the Turbo so I can have "the bullet proof" engine. I have no need for more ponies..

 

In '06, bought one-owner 16K miles '02 996C2 from a friend. Car was nice & i really enjoyed it- only mods were X-74 susp & Tubi exhaust-

I watched a one owner, 19k mile, cobalt blue, 2007 Turbo with 2 yr CPO, drop in price by $20k between Jan-Mar 2013 at local porsche dealer. Took a test drive, then back in a few days for another. Offered a bit less & picked up car for under $62k in 3/13- Beautiful car, lots of Carbon, only issue for me was the Tiptronic, but for price i couldn't pass it up. After i got it, i spoke to original owner who got $60k in trade-
I really enjoyed the '02 996, but this 997 TT is a different car, even with tip, i just love it every time i'm in it, even in crowded Honolulu- The power is amazing & even when not using it, which is most of time, the car handles rides so nice. I couldn't be happier.
No worries about IMS bearing with the proven Mezger engine -thought the TT have their own issues & repairs/maint are certainly higher.
Wife has '07 Boxster S, which is really nice car- we enjoy it- She drives 50 miles daily- Recently took it in for svc - got a 2014 981 Cayman loaner - Didn't look at car, just drove it home- Nice PDK, put it in sport & got on it few times on freeway- thought - wow makes lots of noise but it didn't seem too fast- I was totally shocked when i got home & walked around car to find out it was Cayman S- really thought it was Non-S . As they say, once you go TT it's hard to go back to NA. Boy i found that out.

 

I bought '06 997 C4 with 6 speed and found the straight line speed underwhelming. I considered turning it in for a turbo but at the time the price delta was ~ $40k+. So... I ended up adding a TPC turbo for ~ 25% of the factory turbo cost. And I added an updated way bar, toe links and other suspension goodies. I did it all in 2009 and its run great ever since. No unusual maintenance, just change the oil. It's crazy fast and I don't have a worry about detonating the engine. I do have a fear of going way too fast and having to explain it to the authorities.

 

Just curious....what makes this setup detonation proof?