wf758

I found an '05 CTT for sale with the E-81 option. Is this a real option? It sounds great, but I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with one? What should I look out for?

Thanks!

ltc

Since you seemed destined for another run off the cliff, here is your Cayenne bedtime story for tonight.....

E81 is the Cayenne Turbo Powerkit, ~MSRP $19,900.

It basically includes the larger brakes
http://www.carnewal-europe.com/cpx_p55047.htm
along with ECU remapping and slightly larger intercoolers (nothing to write home about).

Now, these things weren't exactly flying off the shelves and PAG was stuck with them (and pretty upset with PCNA for a forecast that fell short, so they invented the Cayenne Turbo S, which was a Cayenne Turbo with E81 Powerkit plus a highly exclusive S badge. (Note: they did the same thing for the same reasons when inventing the 996 Turbo S.....996TT + X50 Powerkit + special S badge).

Now every CTTS owner will say...yes, but they retuned the suspension on the Turbo S.....OK, go check the P/N.

So, you have found yourself a CTTS with the S missing. The question is how much of a discount are they willing to offer you? I would suggest taking $19,900 off the price immediately and start from there.
As was previously posted today in a different thread, CTTS discounts are $20-25K.

sigs

Don't forget the embossed headrests on the CTTS! I would have considered my E-81 quite a bargain, if only I could have gotten those headrests for a mere $19,900.

IIRC, the CTTS also includes one other potentially significant option not on the E-81 - the TPMS.

O/W, as ltc noted, the P/Ns are supposedly all the same. Also, as ltc says, the demand was far less than expected. I bought one fairly soon after they came out, and the dealers were already dealing substantially on them.

As for the differences between the E-81/CTTS vs the standard turbo, the power and brake differences are easily noticeable, if not earthshaking, as are the differences in suspension. Of course, those gaps would close or disappear vs. the '08 CTT. Also note that the larger front brakes preclude any wheels less than 19", which can be a problem.

As ltc noted, expect DEEP discounts, especially without that all-important "S" on the back. Assuming that you are looking at a used vehicle, the premium over a standard CTT with similar equipment and miles will be fairly small.

ltc

Can't wait to see how this one turns out

STATMAN

Yes, I saw a 2005 with the X50 Power Kit (E81 option) recently on Ebay....see:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-...QQcmdZViewItem

The description on Ebay (and I believe I have seen this information elsewhere in the past) states that the X50 Power Kit delivers 500 HP. However, if the Power Kit comes from exactly the same parts bin as the Turbo S "upgrade" why is it that the E81 option provides 500 HP and the Turbo S upgrade provides 520 HP? Did the ECU remapping improve slightly with the Turbo S, or is there some other explanation? The 20 HP gain on a "6000 pound pig" (to use a "Larryism") is clearly not a big difference, but this would suggest that the two "upgrades" are not necessarily one in the same.

yetis

Power kit for Cayenne Turbo -- All Cayenne Models Exclusive Driver's Selection Online Shop

It is called a Power Kit, but it also offers a personality transplant, taking the Cayenne Turbo from awesome up to downright astounding, by dramatically enhancing not just straight-line acceleration but also braking and roadholding.

The specifications are impressive: first, a power boost from 450 to 500 horsepower, and a torque increase from 458 ft lb to 516 ft lb, courtesy of some brilliant turbo and engine management retuning. Second, an all-new brake system consisting of six-piston brake calipers with an enlarged brake disc diameter of 380 mm and a beefy rotor thickness of 38 mm. The rear-wheel brakes has also been enhanced: a brake disc with a diameter of 358 mm, and a rotor thickness of 28mm. Third, the Cayenne Turbo Power Kit also includes adjusted and recalibrated suspension parts, consisting of reinforced spring struts, reinforced tie rods, as well as improved rubber mountings on the control arms. The result: an even tauter suspension calibration.

Because of the larger rotor diameter, only specific 19- and 20-inch wheel choices are compatible with the Cayenne Turbo Power Kit. 18-inch wheels may not be used.

part no. 955 044 100 00


LTC, being as you seem rather connected, I am going to take a skeptical view towards this description. Are the part numbers really the same, yet they insist that the parts of different?

sigs

Like so many of their "official stances," this one appears to be misleading. I'm sure ltc's sources are more direct than mine, since mine have sometimes been, themselves, misled by the mothership, but all available independent info is that all the mechanical particulars are the same between E-81 and CTTS, including the ECU mapping. I've never seen any listing of the specific part numbers that varied between the two, but I'm just an interested, very third-party, observer. The original HP figures were probably conservative, intentionally. The few folks who have gone to the trouble of posting their dyno results on their E-81s all hit the 521 mark with room to spare, IIRC. I have not dyno'd mine, but the power is easily distinguishable from the stock CTT and not (to my backside) distinguishable from the Ruf version listed at 550 hp.

The more cynical among us might say that PAG already figured they were going to pull the CTTS stunt, and wanted to make sure that the CTTS would appear to be a power upgrade. But, since there are no cynics on this forum, I'm sure you won't hear that here.

wf758

STATMAN, that is the one I was looking at. And he added the "exclusive S" badge (larry is rolling in his grave over the word "exclusive" ), although it all looks slightly off center to my eye (think I would de-badge it).

Thanks to all for the commentary guys. It has been instructive.

STATMAN

Will, I know, I saw the re-badging attempt on that one. Slap an "S" on and call it exclusive, right? I am not fond of the idea of "poseur" badging (reminds me of the Dr. Seuss tale of the star-bellied Sneetches), but I suppose this one has just about as much rigt to wear the "S" as any other legitimate "S."

No word from Lewis (or Larry) regarding the discrepancy of 20 HP between the 500 HP with the X50 Power Kit and 520 HP with the "S" upgrade. I think he is either stumped or has keeled over (again).

wf758

I thought my prodding might draw him out too...

ltc

Stumped? More like bored.
Keeled over? Not yet.

So, take an E81 ECU on a CTT, reflash it with a very slightly modified image (via PIWIS) and voila!......now its 520 instead of 500.......then apply S badge.....done. Such is the nature of Turbo engines....re: easy to tweak.

I'll skip the whole "improved rubber mountings, reinforced tie rods, yadayada"....I simply don't have the stomach for it right now......yeah, the Turbo S is a completely different vehicle from a Turbo.

LastMezger

20-hp won't make much difference on a 3-ton SUV.

ltc

True, it's the 'lipstick on a pig' yet again.

sigs

Ahhh, but it's being able to brag about whose pig has the prettiest lips that's important. Right? I mean, really, - what's more important - extra horses or the esteemed "S" on the back? Based on sales, - seems like maybe neither

I doubt that many could feel the difference in 20 hp, or even the 50 or 70, but the ECU mapping (which one Rennteam member apparently analyzed and found to be identical between the E-81 and the CTTS) also is a bit more aggressive with shift points, etc., so the feel actually IS different between the CTT and the E-81/CTTS. Is it $20k different? Oh, h*** no! But hopefully not many paid that much. For a small minority of us, the overall package was actually worth a bit more to add to an already ridiculous price for our daily drivers, without voiding the warranty. It would probably be a more reasonable(relatively speaking) consideration on the used market, if the premium over a similar CTT was only a few $k. But, since we don't know yet if there will be increased maintenance headaches down the road, I think I'd want it to be a CPO vehicle.

Still dreaming of those embossed headrests I could have had on the CTTS. If I only had those, I'd just have to turn my head to know I was driving a REAL Porsche.

ltc

I would imagine that Gert and/or Sunset Imports could get you a set of leather skins with the Porsche crest embossed, or you could maybe find a wrecked CTTS and get donor seats from the usual salvage yards.

Technically, you should have the VAG crest on the seats......