Cole

I have been shopping for used 2005-2006-ish CTTs for a few months now.

Several of the ones I come across online have the "S" after the turbo on the rear hatch. This is on Cayennes that look totally stock. (no fancy wheels etc) They are only listed as "turbo" not "Turbo S"

So when looking at pictures is there any way to tell a turbo from a real Turbo "s"?

VIN indicator?


Or are there really that many people out there buying the "S" and sticking them on their Turbos?

Dennis C

I'm sure there's a way to tell by VIN number, but a few visual things that I know about are:

• grilles painted body color on the Turbo S
• 20" Sport Techno wheels are standard on the Turbo S - 10x20 rear and 9x20 front
• sport tailpipes are standard on the Turbo S

Here's an example I found online that shows the grilles and the wheels:

jmm

Before the Turbo S was released, you could order a Turbo with the X50 package. It had increased horsepower, bigger brakes (by far) and because of the bigger brakes, bigger wheels than standard. The difference in the wheels between the same style wheel ordered as an option, was a much larger offset (deeper dish) on the back wheels. On the regular turbo with that style of wheel, the back wheels were deep dish, but not as deep dish as the X50 version. The spring rates were stiffer but unless you get to drive the ones you're looking at, I don't know how to distinguish that. The ride was flatter around turns. If you had ordered the X50 package you pretty much had everything the Turbo S had and the factory, after the Turbo S came out, sent you an S to add to the back (or at least they did send me one). I never applied it, but the dealer asked for it when I traded the car in and the new owner applied it.

I can identify the X50 or Turbo S models by the brakes and wheels.

Cole

Anyone have pictures of those brake and wheel differences? Is the option code "x50", meaning if I look under the rear floor at the options sticker I should find an "x50" code?

Dennis C

The wheels are pictured above. You should be able to look at the rear wheels and see that they are 10-inch wheels - it should be in raised letters on the wheel itself.

Cole

Stumbled upon another one.

Hope this link works.

Click here

sigs

The Powerkit version of the turbo debuted in early 2005 on the mid-2005 production-year runs. It was NOT labeled the X-50 package (as had been the correlative package on 911s). It was called the Powerkit package and showed up on invoices and build sheets as the E-51 power package, IIRC (I'd have to look at my paperwork to refresh my memory to be sure). It included the power mods (primarily the remapped ECU and larger intercoolers), as well as the moderately extensive brake and suspension changes, that were subsequently included in the TurboS package in 2006. The PowerKit package did NOT include specific wheels, which meant that, in addition to paying about $20k list for the package, one had to pay again to upgrade the wheels to 19" or 20" versions, because the std 18" Turbo wheels would not fit over the front brake calipers. When the TurboS came out, it included the 20" Sport Technos shown above, as I recall, with the 10" wide rears. It also included TPMS and, for all those truly serious conspicuous consumers, embossed front headrests. So, the TurboS had a few extra goodies not standard on the Powerkit version. It also advertised 521 hp, instead of the 500 claimed for the Powerkit, but folks with more time and far more expertise than I on other forums have apparently documented fairly well that the powertrains and ECU maps are identical and the claims for the PK version were conservative.

As for that extra "S" lettering from the factory, that is an interesting tale. I never received one, and this is the first time I've ever heard of it. Maybe something changed after I bought mine, which was one of the earlier ones in the U.S. Seems very odd that Porsche would send out something like that for someone to put on after the fact, especially since it would throw the rear hatch moniker off-center by adding a letter to the tail end. Personally, I would avoid any vehicle to which someone had added such a badge, as it would make me question their incentives and judgment elsewhere.

For the OP, if the prices are reasonably close, I'd look for the Turbo S, not for the extra equipment, but just because I think the reliability was incrementally better, overall, on '06 models - although any '05 PK model will be at least mid-late '05 production, which is better than early '05. The only way to tell the difference between std Turbo and Turbo-PK externally is the size of the brake calipers, and even that can be hard to judge, depending on the size of the wheels.

jmm

You're right about the terminology powerkit instead of X50. X50 is just the slang term that my salesman used, based on the 911's power kit. My PK was not an "05, however, it was an early "06. And yes, the wheels were extra, but the choice of wheels was rather narrow and the resulting ones were wider with more dish shape on the rears than the same wheels ordered on non PK versions. But they were the same price if I recall correctly. And when they sent the "S" it was with a brochure on the Turbo S that looked somewhat like the one the dealer had (remember the Blue Turbo S on the cover), but with a couple of extra pages. The self adhesive S was exactly like the one on the Turbo S and one of the reasons I didn't put it on was because I was afraid it would be off center. I don't know if the dealer, in affixing it for the new owner, shifted everything over or not. However, I have seen the vehicle several times (a policeman bought it the day I traded it in) and didn't notice any out of center problems. The car is easy to spot since it had the aerokit and painted aluminum grill.

Porsche 25th

VIN check will do it. Suncoast offers a free one and there are others on the web just a search away. Funny you posted this. I saw this a few days ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...5155&viewitem=

The S didn't look right and I'm pretty sure they didn't make them in '08. Sure enough: it's a nice Turbo but it's no TS.

sigs

Very interesting. Never noticed that on a PK, but there are very few of them out there. Must have been an '06 quirk right before they started using up all those parts from the unordered Powerkits in the CTTS. In early '05, there was never a mention of wider rears, and the grand total of two wheel options were the 20" Sport Technos (which look the best and which almost everyone ordered) and the 19" Turbo style (which I ordered because I actually use my SUV as an SUV).

As another couple of POIs for the OP - with either the PK or the CTTS, forget about the temp spare - not supplied with the vehicle and won't fit over the calipers, even if you want to yank the subwoofer and buy one, yourself. Second, if you care, there is a much more limited selection of N-rated snow tires in 19" and 20" sizes than in the 18"s.