Ed NY

I read that the 2010 Turbo S will now be offered only in coupe form in addition to only PDK. Any truth to this? Any additional information on the model?

Thanks for the replys, guys.

My Porsche service rep contacted me for an annual service appointment. The car has 8,600 miles on it. He suggests the Low Mileage Annual oil change/check up at $489 plus flushing the brake fluid $310, which he says is required every two years. Obviously the Porsche service costs are ridiculous but that aside, what is everyone’s opinion of the necessity of annual low mileage service and flushing the brake fluid every two years? I have always changed the oil at least every year (is that even necessary with synthetic oil) but I have never flushed the brake fluid of any of the previous 911s I have ever owned, never mind every two years. Perhaps the current brake fluid being used is different for the Turbo than it is for the Carrera? The service reps explanation for changing the brake fuild is that the high temp racing brake fluid that is used has a tendency to build up moisture that can damage the brake calipers if not changed on a two year basis. TIA

Thanks for the info.

YES THEY DO! FWIW I just bought a 2002 996TT and installed a whole new aftermarket system. I got the Alpine IVA-WR205, which had everthing I need. AM/FM/Sirius/Nav (with a dockable portable nav unit)/Bluetooth/Great iPod integration. Can be expanded to include HD radio, XM, backup cameras. Not cheap, but the old radio was a cassette and I'd have to have a bunch of other stuff to get all the features.

Thanks for the reply. I'll keep searching plus the longer I wait the more chance some new product will come out that may solve my needs. Nice mods. Black Turbos Rule! :)

Black is great when it's clean (which last about 5 minutes), right? :) You have to love to wash and wax a black car as much as you love to drive it. Thank's for the reply and info. I have an FM transmitter which isn't great. I was hoping there was an easy whay to hook up an auxiliary plug adapter without loosing the use of the CD changer as the Dension type products require. However, my search of the web so far has not produced such an item. I'm really not interested in controlling the iPod through the car's PCM as the PCM display is not the digital graphics of the iPod anyway. There are companies that make the cable for the iPod that connects directly into the CD player RCA jacks but there again you loose the CD changer. I guess I'll either bite the bullet and loose the CD changer or live with the FM transmitter.

Its there any option, other than the DENSION unit, to connecting an iPod to my '05 digital radio? For example, connecting an auxiliary mini plug to the radio, like my relatively inexpensive ’05 Jeep radio has? Ed

You're welcome. Don't be reluctant to jump on it in the proper setting, as long as you properly maintain your brakes. The turbo brakes are quite excellent.

I can't speak directly to your driving experience with your turbo or in comparison to your fiend's TT, and I don’t know what other non-turbo Porsches you have driven, so perhaps I’m mentioning things you already know: At 1,000 rpm you’re not going to notice much from any Porsche, in my opinion. That being said, when I first drove my turbo after having normally aspirated 996 C2s for a number of years I felt the turbo was sluggish at lower rpm in comparison to the non-turbo C2s. I had also driven a 997 C4 with the sport chrono package which again seamed much more responsive at lower rpm than the 996 turbo. I had asked my dealer’s tech if the e-gas was the possible problem and if so was e-gas adjustable. I was informed after inspection that there was no problem with my car and e-gas was not adjustable (although aftermarket chips can re-map the acceleration curves as we know). It took awhile for me to understand that to experience the full torque of the turbo I had to learn to drive it differently from the C2s. I had to learn to depress the accelerator much more initially to get it going than with the C2s. The difference is obvious when the turbos kick in and you are pressed back into the seats. I certainly never experienced anything close to that torque and acceleration with the 996 C2s or the 997 C4. The turbo is extremely fast when I keep my foot down. The all-wheel drive also adds a different feel to the turbo than the C2 at lower rpm. At speed, drop it down a gear and then punch it and I doubt you will feel any turbo lag as you will be engaging at over 3,000 rpm. So now that I’ve learned how to drive it, I’m having much more fun as it screams along. One other thing I have found to be helpful is to set the computer so that the digital turbo boost gage is displyed in the tach. This helped me to learn what I needed to do with the gears and my foot to get the turbo boost going and maintained. In my case having the “S” with the larger turbos, the turbo lag is reported to be slightly more pronounced but I haven’t driven the standard turbo to know that first hand. I hope some of this is informative or perhaps I'm all wrong on this? Keep your revs up!

are the turbo 997 wheels a direct fit to the 996 turbo, or do you need spacers or anything? Speak to the guys at Wheel Enhancement and visit their web site. They will tell you exactly what you need and provide fair pricing.

Short answer: 2005-2006 Fiscal Year: 102,602 2004-2005 Fiscal Year: 90,954 Thanks Eric: I was wondering how many '05 Turbo S Cabs were produced. I'm not sure the specific information is available.

Know a source for model year 2005 production numbers?

I just went through this same decision process last winter. I had an '03 C2 Cab purchased new to my order with the X51 power kit, lowered suspension (after market), sport design wheels, carbon fiber, etc., and loved the car. But I wanted to get the trade-up value for it before it got much older. There are features and aspects of interior and exterior design of both the 996 and the 997 that I like and dislike. The 997 interior is different but in my opinion not necessarily better in qulaity or design. the 997 is more of a retro design, which is currently in vogue at the moment with car designers, but I find the later versons of the 996, and in particular the Turbo, to be a more progressive design in many ways. In my opinion the 997 Turbo has a few design features that appear to be added to the car as opposed to an integral part of the design such as the front grill signal lights and rear exhaust openings. But those are minor differences. I test drove a C4S Cab with the chrono/sport package last fall and loved it. I was also considering a previously owned Turbo Cab. As a previous reponder pointed out, there is a difference in handling between the C2 and C4 but less so between the C4 and Turbo. However the power difference, especially at the top end, of the Turbo is beyond comparison. The decision was made for me a month later when my dealer called me with a '05 Turbo S Cab with 3,000 miles on it that the owner wanted to get out of for fiancial reasons. I was able to negotiate a price for the virtually new '05 Turbo S Cab for less than an '06 C4S Cab with a power kit that would not have included the ceramic brake system and other features of the Turbo. Being able to negotiate the Turbo price and not being able to negotiate the new C4S price made a big diference for me. I'm happy with that decision and have made interior mods as the Turbo had some interior options that I didn't care for. Bottom line is you will get more "value" on a previously owned car if you like them both equally. I would recommend buying a Porsche Certified pre-owned car if you go that route.

I have sport seats on my 996 Turbo and I find them very comfortable and they are not as fully adjustable as the 997 adaptive sport seats. Can't speak to the 997 sport seats but the best way to find out if you will like them is to test drive a car with them. Your local dealer will be happy to find you a car with sport seats to test drive. The sport seats give you a bit more support than the standard seats and I like the "look" much better. The 997 adaptive sport seats give you the extra adjustment of seat bottom bolster and backrest bolster adjustment for a custom fit.

I had Pirelli P-Zeros on my '99 but switched to Michelin Pilot Sports tires and loved them. Great handling and ride, and quiet by comparison, not to mention great tread pattern. http://www.michelinman.com/overview/pilot_sport/97.html

Ask to see the maintenance history (reports). The 996 did have engine rear seal leak problems. The seal was replaced twice on the '99 Carrera Cab but had no such problems with my '03 x51 Carrera Cab.

I have a set of manual seats in my basement. but I'm away for the weeked. I'll take a look at them on sunday night if you don't get a answer by then. I believe the spring just anchors to a notch in the rear of the frame but I'm not positive.

Given that the 997 adaptive sport seats have memory capability, does anyone know if 997 sport seats can be installed in a 996 with memory comfort seats?

Has anyone had experience adapting the backrest shell of a sport seat to the bottom of the power comfort seats to provide a fully powered version of sport seats. My car has heated comfort seats with lumbar and I would like to know if it's possible to convert them into full power sport seats with the comfort seat memory capabilities. The backrest frame part for both the comfort seat and the sport seat is the same (thanks Loren) so it would appear that it is possible to do this transformation by adding the sport seat backrest shell, padding and leather cover to the power seat backrest frame that contains all the electronics and motors, lumbar, etc.

What specifically are additional mods that can be added to the X50 package? Do the increases in HP also add torque?