John D II

Has anyone on the board driven an X-50 optioned car and a standard TT to compare the two? If so, is there a noticeable difference in the accelleration? What about exhaust sound - any difference? Are there any figures (0-100 for instance) published by Porsche that document the anticipated performance enhancement? Any feedback appreciated.

John

Pierre

Hi,
I own a stock 996TT, and test-drove a brand new 996TT/X50 about 2 weeks ago. As an average driver, all I can tell is that the X50 seems to make the car a bit more aggressive, but the difference is not huge. Again, I'm no specialist, and I didn't drive both cars back to back on the same roads.
And yes, the X50 makes the car sound better... ;-)
Sorry for the lack of feedback!
Greetings,
--Pierre

PerformanceMS

Hello Pierre,

Since you have been fortunate enough to drive the X-50, would you consider it to be worth the extra 15K + dollars? Thanks!

Dock

John,

Porsche claims the X50 optioned Turbo does 0-100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, the same as the non-X50 Turbo.

I believe Porsche says top speed is 2-3 km/h higher with the X50.

John D II

Thanks guys - for the posts and e-mails regarding the X-50 option. The soonest I could find one was end of 2002 on a MY2003 and after some thought, decided to pass on the wait.

Pierre

[quote]Originally posted by PerformanceMS:
<strong>Hello Pierre,

Since you have been fortunate enough to drive the X-50, would you consider it to be worth the extra 15K + dollars? Thanks!</strong><hr></blockquote>

That's the killer question... Frankly, I'm not sure.

On one hand, the difference isn't much noticeable (it wasn't for me). But on the other hand, it's not just a power increase, but almost another car: other turbos, reinforced transmission, adapted exhaust, etc.

For normal (ie road) use, I'd say it's not worth it, even if you're hard on the car from time to time. If you're often on the track or really push it often very hard, the reinforced transmission might be worth the investment maybe even more than the additional power.

I tried the X50-equipped car because I am/was very interested in getting more power (Techart's 1st level kit looks nice with 470hp and 690Nm). After having got lots of external advices from competent people, I decided to first work on the weakest part of my Turbo: the driver... ;-)

The only mods I'm going to install is a lowered suspension from H&R and probably the Porsche bucket seats. Improving my driving skills should help getting much more fun from my TT than a raw power-increase. But yeah, more power still will be an issue one day again... <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Again, I'm no specialist, and have no real track/racing experience (yet)!. So don't trust me too much!... ;-)

Greetings,
--Pierre

JEFFMD

I have had my X50 that I purchased at Stevens Creek in Sanjose Cal since about jan 15. I paid 10k over sticker hmm oh well there is always a first time ha ha. But yes I can feel the difference,, is it huge probably not but, you also get-
1)steeper gearing,porsche says stronger (feels steeper
modified turbos hmmm maybe K24 instead of kk16
2)I still have to look been busy moving.
3)modified exhaust
4)modified ecu
If you go to suncoast porsche web site and see there porsche bullentin board it explains the x50 option in detail. I think you will see that porsche marketing guys are dancing around what you are actually getting it sure sounds like a GT2 to me. You decide GT2 462hp 200K out the door or X50
456hp about 155K out door. This is why they Porsche marketing is saying things like modified exhaust and modified turbos hmm. This is why I bought the x50 its a better deal. Alas ,, I heard only one per dealer but could be wrong. Good luck
Jeff
I get 0.7 bar at full throttle then 0.8 bar if I lift off throttle I guess thats the overboost point. I think the 996TT with out x50 is 0.6 ?? not sure. I have had alot of fast cars but this thing is as near perfect as it gets cant say enough about this car just awsome. Ive driven the exotics but this thing is the best all around.