Darwantae951

TBH...all that will really tell you is that the particular engine block was initially from an S. With as many engine swaps lately as I've heard, and seeing people buy engines, I wouldn't say that is a gaurantee that anything is a real S.

Cory9584

The sticker and engine number look like an ordinary turbo, but oddly the calipers look like theyre from an s.

Darwantae951

Going off that sticker, it isn't an S. It says engine code is M44/51.

blade7

I have the tower reinforcement plate and the 44/52 engine code on my 91 turbo, still on it's original engine. I don't think the S has any real advantage over a fully optioned later turbo.

Van

The 1989 and later model years are all Turbo S cars.

'88 is the only year where there were both flavors.

Darwantae951

I'm confused...A late car IS a Turbo S, essentially. Slight differences, but pretty much the same.

blade7

I think in the UK and Europe the Turbo S was only officially produced in 88, what came after didn't have the S chassis numbers, even though it may have been ordered with all the same parts. Maybe it's different in the US ?

Darwantae951

Nope, same in the US.

Thom

In Europe only the '88 S are called "turbo S". All later cars are just called "turbo" though they use the same shell, M44/52 engine, AOR trans, medium black calipers, ABS and A/C as standard.

blade7

AFAIK in Europe all the Turbo S shells had no sunroof as standard.

Darwantae951

Thom, US is the same.

MartinRS2K

My Turbo S has the M44/51 Code on it which is correct as it is a Silver Rose.

The Option Code M758 defines it as a Turbo S along with the VIN Number range for USA of : WPOAA295_JN150001 – 1874 but not all cars in this range are Turbo S

It should have Options : 593 - ABS, 685 - Split Rear Seats, M030 - Club Sport Package, 220 - LSD

divil

Now that I think about it, I have seen the same thing with the engine code when decoding VIN numbers. Turbo S cars have M44/51, 1989s have M44/52. I had forgotten that, but I pulled out an old silver rose VIN number from my email that I was thinking of buying years ago, and it's a 51.

For the US models at least, the only performance related difference is that the 89 Turbo has the front sway bar from the S, but it has the rear sway bar from the early turbos.

Darwantae951

I'd ask a dealer to pull the info on the VIN as my Silver Rose had an M44.52 engine (I pulled it for the new engine and can verify, as its downstairs)

I've never heard of a Turbo S car having an M44.51 engine but I could be wrong.

joker2cv

Turbo S (M758) is a special edition of my 88. Engine is M 44/52. The production was about 1600 cars, the first 1000 was only silber rose colour.