Dock

Not IMO.

bugeyemilo

If starting from a stock K16 car there are lots of hybrid turbo options with more bang for the buck than a stock x50 K24 kit.


when the X50 was new it was the jam! also a nice to have value adder when selling

manimal

When I was shopping for my 996TT (over a year ago), I actually stumbled upon a late 2001 model that had a dealer-installed X50 package. It seemed 100% legit as far as I could tell, but I haven't ever seen a reference to any cars like that on the Internet.

Dock

I don't believe dealers were authorized to install the X50 package.

Stephencs601

I have the X50 and is worth any costs.

manimal

Nothing is worth any cost. At some point, you can build a better big turbo setup for less.

champignon

My 2003 996TT has a 93 Octane Softronic tune on it, and supposedly produces 500 hp on 93 octane gas, although I have no way to test that. It certainly has enough power on acceleration to make the driver and any passengers lose their lunch. I can't buy 93 octane where I live, and although I considered paying another $500 to get a 91 tune, instead I have been using Torco Octane additive to get to 93 octane level, as it would take 6 or more years to break even on the new tune vs. just putting the additive in, for the amount of driving that I do with this car.

As to some of the miles per gallon I read reported in this thread, my only comment would be that these numbers seem incredible to me, beyond belief. Mileage in town is abysmal, like maybe 12, if you are lucky. On the road, you might get 20. 25 sounds very high to me. I do live at altitude, so perhaps this effects the mileage negatively, however even when I drove the car back from California, I never got much above 20 on the highway.

And no, there is nothing wrong with my car. The engine was dropped twice in the last 2.5 years, 12K miles before I bought it, and it recently had about $12,000 worth of work done on it (including an engine drop) at a highly respected speed shop in the LA area prior to my purchase, plus it recently was worked on by my local Porsche dealer.

"02996ttx50

this thread ate my post yesterday, yet i am indefatigable.

my x50 was nice/clean and purrty, and i hated the ( wait for it ) lag.

my beat up 03 hybrid16/24 car with most all bolt on's and tune is vastly improved on power delivery as compared to my once pristine 02 x50 car. x50 was the best one could do from the factory in 2002! frunk sticker, or not, feel up under the IC's. rough is gt2/x50. smooth to the touch is k16 stock. also, boost numbers would also help determine what's what.. 0.7 k16 w.out a tune? and .0.9 for the x50 k24 car ( pre tune/remap ).

there is nothing about a tuned/modded car that will contribute to premature part wear or even gas mileage, other than perhaps tires. I'm at approx 575 RWHP and my occasional hi way jaunts return about 25mpg if i use CC and stay under 70.

as to premature parts wear? clutch etc? the car doesn't "wear" parts, so much as the drivers do.

"02996ttx50

true, factory only.

manimal

I wish I had saved the picture of the sticker. Not saying you guys are wrong, but it was interesting.

Regarding premature wear, what about MAF, plugs, coils (and clutch)?

"02996ttx50

i'd answer that by saying, that "wear parts" are often caused with "maintenance parts". i.e. mafs/filters/plugs/coils/expansion tanks/ignition switches/tires/and assorted rubber bits incl wiper blades and top mounts/motor mounts and the like, don't count lol. maintenance items, are just that.

as to clutch life? driving style and driver (ab)use would be the main determinant. the stock oem sachs is potentially good for 100k (+) miles.

manimal

Overall, I agree, and I put the clutch in parenthesis for a reason. I think most car enthusiasts understand that more power will wear out a clutch faster.

Porsche over-engineers everything, which is what is so awesome about these cars. But they don't do it so that guys can simply crank up the boost from 0.7 to 1.1bar without making any other changes. The X50 package does more than simply up the boost.

Taking the MAF, in particular, as an example -- it's engineered to work within a pretty specific range of parameters, and pushing the boost from 0.7bar to 1.1bar begins to input parameters that push the boundaries for which the system was engineered.

I don't think any of the things I mentioned should discourage anyone, I just like to think about what the Porsche engineers were thinking, and I think there's a distinction between normal wear items, and items that are now being operated on the very edge of their specs -- which Porsche wouldn't do from the factory.

911mhawk

Gas mileage eh???
These get better gas mileage than most any 450hp car period. Do some mods and it doesn't seem to matter.
If you keep you foot in it for regularly long periods; you'll get 10mpg at the track.
UMW turbo's- more gas and still get over 20 if keeping it under 130.

"02996ttx50

Agree if I'm close to home ( canyons ) I get 10 mpg and a quick store run and back uses a 1/4 tank exactly.

If I'm far from home and don't know where smoky the bear is hiding I get up to 25 hiway.

The gas mileage when freeway cruising closely and miraculously approximates that of my vw gti.

Stephencs601

Here is the reason, I did not have to do it, and it was done at the factory. They engineered it they own it, they would have to fix it.