RogueM3

Can anybody tell me why the Vitesse Turbo itself (in this particular instance, the stage 3 turbo) costs $1900 all by itself?? I arrived at this price by deducting the price of an MAF + PB kit from the cost of the full stage 3 kit. ($3700-$1800=$1900) Even if it were something as nice as a Garrett GT30R (which would be capable of even more power at the given boost levels of 15-17psi) it should only cost ~$1200 or so...

I was just looking at the site with alot of curiosity for my upcoming 951 purchase which will go unmodded for all of a few hours...my family gives me all kinds of crap for typically buying modifications for a car before I even take ownership of the car.

aeronautica86

the extra cost is to cover John's R&D as well as the custom modifications that he does to the turbos before he sends them out

Mighty Shilling

LOL I hear that... I just bought and installed an EBC for a turbo that I'll be buying in a month...

RogueM3

I can understand that...but I dont believe these turbos are even DBB turbos, so $700+/kit additional just to cover R&D and minor modification costs seems like alot.

Maybe im off base here...

streckfu's

It's good to question. Are his chips included in the MAF price?


What else are you looking at for options?

aeronautica86

well, businesses have to make money

also, take into account the cost/hp curve - it may only take $500 to get an extra 50hp (chips, gauge boost controller), but it'll take another ~$3500 to make another 50-60 hp on top of that (wastegate, exhaust, maf, injectors, small upgrade turbo like k26/8 or k27/6) - in other words, to get up into the higher regions of the possible horsepower range for a given car, it takes alot more money or put another way, it takes alot more money to squeeze out the last extra bit of performance. So basically you may be able to buy a dbb turbo that is well suited for the 951 for ~$1200 and it will perform quite nicely, but to get that little bit extra is going to significantly increase the price - so what do you want, good performance for $1200 or excellent performance for $1900? It just depends on whether or not that performance jump is worth it to you.


edit: yes, his maf kits include the needed software

TurboMojo

Great question, I'm consiering going this route too. From what I have read on this forum Vitesse is the best and I'm sure John will let us know why the kit costs what it does.

Chris White

For $100 I’ll sell you a true do it your self kit – a box of Iron ore and a chunk of aluminum. Think of the savings…

What you are paying for with John’s turbos is a product that works and is reliable. If you figure the time it takes to get a turbo out and back in it is not worth the effort to sort through a whole list of turbos that are supposed to be good. I have tried a number of combinations and some were pretty decent – they gave good power output but at the expense of low end performance. John’s turbos have both bases covered - he spent the time, money and effort testing out different combination and modification and it shows.

You can get cheaper turbos – but none that were custom made for 944s. After the third ‘cheap’ turbo you will wonder why you didn’t get the right one to begin with!

Chris White

fast951

I have many toys, so someone has to pay!! LOL..

The VR turbos are not something you get off of the shelf. Some of the components were not designed to be packaged in a way to fit the 951. As an example S3 turbo makes 1bar boost in the 3200-3400rpm, yet is capable of supporting 500+rwhp. The fast spooling and the performance capabilities take lots of work to achieve. Not to mention the work we do for the internals...

I have seen others claim their turbos does the same, however in real life it just didn't happen.
For those that want an entry level turbo, we offer it as well. $1250 for a entry level turbo, just don't expect all the extras you get with the VR turbos...

testarossa_td

RogueM3

This doesnt really apply here, as with the VR Stage 3 kit you arent getting the WG, Exhaust, Injectors, or Boost Controller Yes, I will agree that it seems like a super-well designed kit (solely based upon reviews on this forum) but lets be clear that the $3700 for the kit isnt the total amount of money needed to realize the power figures given on his site. I would argue its another ~$1000 for extra things as mentioned above that arent included in the kit that would be needed to run it efficiently.
Ill agree with you that paying for R&D is not unheard of by any means. I just didnt realize there was SO MUCH R&D wrapped up in these kits. (as evidenced by his need to price each kit ~$700 above normal cost in order to spread the R&D costs evenly.) Im not knocking his pricing and will more than likely pay it when the time comes because, as you say, saving the headaches and labor is pretty much priceless. I was just trying to get a feel for why his turbo by itself should cost so much. My example of the GT30R was a decent one, as it is sold as a T3 turbo with an anti-surge housing, providing full boost under 3800rpms as a result of the DBB, and capable of handling in excess of 450rwhp. (or a GT35R with a .63AR exhaust can support even more power at the expense of a little spool time.)
Thanks for the response, John. I didnt realize there was additional work involved to fit the turbos to the 951, and assumed any labor costs could easily be swallowed up with a slight price increase over other top-of-the-line turbos (which I think we can agree the Garrett GT series is).

As I responded to Chris White, I am a firm believer in avoiding DIY setups when there is a proven kit available, i was just perusing your site (which could DESPERATELY use an update. ) and started to wonder about the pricing.

Thanks.

gstreev

I've seen decent 951s for less than the price of an installed kit
Yes its true that each additional HP after say 50hp gets increasingly more expensive than the
previous one.

fast951

If you catch me on a good day, I might even throw in the injectors.. We run specials every now and then where we give you free injectors ($350-400) for free with the kit.

It's a no big deal to be a turbo reseller, get wholesale, mark it up and let it go. If you want "ok" products, the market is full of them. If you want a product that works as advertised, you have to do your homework.

This is not just for turbo selection... it applies to MAF, software....

special tool

John's stage 2 WILL DESTROY ANY CONFIGURATION OF GT30 ON A 951 in performance. At the track, on the street and at the dyno.
There are MANY hours of custom machining and all units are blueprinted.

The turbo in my car is a stock, off the shelf Vitesse stage 3. I have some special stuff for it, but I have never used it. It makes 600+ horsepower (soon to be 600 at the wheels) and I have 1 bar boost by 3500 RPM with stage 2 headers and HUGE intake valves.
You can have the same turbo I use - just ask. It may be expensive, but it will renew your fear of God.

danny951

I'll second that