sgtpeper

Hi All,

She arrived! Thanks to all of you for listening to my saga of finding the right car.

My '03 Turbo X50 showed up today and I couldn't be more excited. I've driven it ~30 miles now and here are my first impressions.

1. It definitely needs a good detailing. The headlights have a bit of film on them and feel a bit rough to the touch. However, the paint is really good. I counted maybe 4 or 5 small rock chips on the entire car. There is one small scratch in the bumper and I think that will buff out too.

2. The clutch - maybe I'm not used to a Porsche clutch, but is it supposed to sort of feel like it's harder to push sometimes and easier to push other times? None of my previous cars felt exactly like this including my current '74 Alfa or my old 335, my supras, STis, or even my GSX in high school haha.

3. I don't think it has a tune - which is great. At WOT I held .9 solidly on the highway.

4. It does have a short shift kit from Porsche - which was a surprise but seems to be really nice so far. Again, I'm used to the super long throws on my Alfa sooo this is just an adjustment.

5. Holy **** is this car fast... With the A/C on, here at 5280' above sea level, it felt quite laggy - then I took it out and turned the A/C off - HUGE difference. Keeping it above 3500rpms it's just amazing. It's not necessarily how fast I was driving, but how fast I got there. It just accelerates so hard.

6. The sport seats - They look great. I for some reason didn't realize they were manual bottoms - which I actually like. That said, it's also a good thing I'm only 5'5. They REALLY hug you. How do you taller/bigger guys sit in the sport seats??

7. With the passenger seat all the way forward, I was actually able to get my 9 month old daughter's baby seat in the back! She won't be riding in the car often but I'm happy to report it fits - plus then I was able to show the wife the new toy.

8. Anyone else have a slight rattle from the sunroof cover? When I hit decent bumps it definitely rattles a bit when closed.

9. Carlo told me about there being a funky aftermarket rear view mirror in the car. It turns out it actually has a full blown Valentine 1 radar detector in it. Which is awesome! I love my V1 in other cars.

So far, I'm loving this car. More to come as I get more used to it.

sgtpeper

"02996ttx50

congrats on the car. they are a blast for sure.

couple of thoughts.. the k24 turbo'd cars are traditionally "laggy" in ways that the k16's or aftermarket turbo'd/tuned cars are not. i hated the "wait time" in my previous k24 turbo'd car, although the wait was obviously worth it.

re: the sunroof "rattle": there is a support wire somewhere under the alcantara that will often click or mimic a cricket chirping ( really ). if that's what is causing your noise? you ( or someone ) will have to mess with it, but it is possible to eliminate it.

enjoy the car.

sgtpeper

One other question - after a drive, I parked it in my unvented garage. The fans were going on and off for awhile when I went inside. Now when I go in the garage there's a bit of a fuel like smell. Is that normal?

s65e90

The crap clutch feel is why many convert to gt2 and eliminate the assist.

s65e90

And yes, the sunroof and headliner is like an old school bow type and under tension. On hard bumps it may move around.

DarenB68

Congrats, lovely looking car. Just had mine for about 4 weeks. Mines the non X-50 but has the pocket power tuner to give it a little extra somethin' somethin'. Same here with a few rock chips. aside from that, totally stock. The sunroof had apparently never been opened before I got it.

Third-Reef

Congrats on the nice car. The clutch should always be soft and easy, if not you may have an accumulator going out. If it is hard when the engine is off then definitely need an accumulator. Turbo lag is a street driving thing. I just got back from Laguna Seca with my X50 and did not experience lag in track conditions. Theses cars are smoking fast.

sgtpeper

Third-Reef-

Yes, the clutch is super hard when off. It firms up pretty quickly when it's shut off.

pfbz

Funky clutch stiffness, especially after sitting, can be a sign of the clutch accumulator or slave starting to fail?

Are you in Colorado?

sgtpeper

I am! Are you as well? I'm looking for a good shop to bring the car to for some routine service as well.

pfbz

Yup. Near DTC. Picked up a 996 Turbo myself a few weeks back.

Happy to help if you plan on working on the car yourself. Just did an oil change, fuel filter, motor mounts, cabin filter, air filter, serpentine belt. Brake flush is tomorrow... Plugs on deck, but I'm putting it off!

As for shops, there are some good ones, but they all seem super busy right now. Stevinson and Prestige are also both pretty good, but silly expensive for non-warranty work on 15+ year old cars.

Storz is a good old-school shop. 3R is a great race shop. 3-zero-3 gets mostly good reviews, but too far for me.

What part of town are you in?

jason952

Congrats. First thing I did on mine was the accumulator, same symptoms. Made a big difference!

Cost me 300, I had it done where I got the PPI done. All the basic stuff I have done since then myself. Half way through an exhaust swap now.

Freddie Two Bs

The sunroof rattle, there's a tsb for that. If I can dig it up I'll send it to you tonight. I haven't had it fixed yet.

The fans going on is normal but not sure about the fuel like smell, mine doesn't smell like that.

The X50 is slightly laggy but just a hair. If it feels like it's a lot, I wonder if it might be because of the thin air at altitude. Maybe it can be solved with a tune?

hybridporky

Congrats! Car looks great! I am not sure if your interested in this, but one of the other things i would do, is get an oil change, and a test on a sample of the oil currently in the car, to see the health of the engine.

Also, a boost test won't hurt + AC recharge