About to Jump - From 540BHP Audi to a 911tt?

Hello all, Well I currently own an older Audi S4 - chose this car as it offered the best of all worlds... Turbos 4WD 4 doors, 5 seats Now I have a C-Class oil burner to cover off sensible drives, its time for something more exciting. The list of requirements was simple: Turbo Ideally 4wd... Quick straight line Quick track Quick B-Road Comfortable for the odd long trip trip (to the ring etc) Short list only really left one option... that was the 911 Turbo. This quite excited me as it has been on the wanted list for a long time, however sensibility & practicality always moved it down the list of priorities. I suppose my only reservations are around performance... my S4 has smoked several 996's and 997's - naturally the hike in power accounts for this. Not a problem, as I can tinker with the 911. So my understanding so far is: 911 - std 420 Exhaust/wg/inlet/remap = 550HPish 911 x50 - std 450 (bigger turbos, intercoolers etc - internals the same as standard) Exhaust/wg/inlet/remap = 600HPish This would push the performance past that of my S4 which is great. The handling has to be better than the S4 as it is a bit of a barge. I guess another small reservation is it does scream look at me, where as the S4 is understated (okay mine is yellow...). Anyway... so there is a brief history, hello all, lets hope I spend a bit of time on these forums going forward! :thumb: Questions: 1. Who is the preferred tuner to work with in the UK? I am based in Devon... but happy to travel for the right tuner 2. Has anyone perfected a kit to convert to 997 front lights/bumper etc - what is the cost? 3. What should I be looking for when buying? 4. Should I be considering waiting a little longer and saving some extra cash for a 997? Anyone interested in a px PM me ) Cheers,

Audis are cool cars but Porsche is a different ball game, the fact i doubt youll find a single person that'd want to PX there 911 for tuned Audi a testimonial to how good 911's are. Have you test driven any 911's ? ? you seem very BHP orientated, getting BHP out of a engine isnt difficult its how well the car puts the power down that is important, this is what 911's are particularly good at. I think if you waited and got yourself a 997 turbo you would be very happy with it ! ! they are awesome cars and in my opinion that dont need to be tinkered with. If you look at the link you'll see what i mean . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT_WfYqdy8U Good luck

In my opinion as per previous post you should stop looking at the BHP. The two cars are completely different and horsepower is only one factor. It might be a good idea to try one of the Porsche driving experience at Silverstone to understand what we mean by that. I believe overall either the 996 or the 997 will offer a better driving experience and overall performance. As for the other question between a 996 and 997 if you have the budget go for a 997 but the 996 is a great car anyway. Theo

How exactly do you go about arranging that? There is no listed, paid-for course that uses the Turbo.

You have the option of a GT3 or a GT2 but even if you try a normal 997 C2/C2s you will still get a feeling what the differences are.. Theo

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Recently there was a 996 turbo up for sale which had £40,000 worth of upgrades by PARR (seem to recall it was 550 bhp). The car was rumoured to be around 0-60mph 3.5 sec with a top speed of over 200mph. A word of caution cause the car was advertised for £38,000 and would have thought an unmodified car of similar age and mileage would have been around £32,000 - so all those upgrades didn't count for much when it came time to sell

My observation from studying prices and specs prior to purchasing was that the 997 is probably a more desirable car, but at the moment even the cheapest of them is depreciating faster than the 996s Good advice about driving one. I certainly wouldn't swop for any Audi saloon even if it had 1,000 bhp. It's missing the point. R8 might tempt me though.

I went from an S4 to a 'normal' 911 C2 and the difference was unbelievable. Power aside, the 911 driving characteristics are so far ahead of the Audi in every single way. I can only imagine that the turbo is in another league again.

Thanks all for your comments so far... There is no doubt in my mind the 911 is a better fun car. The S4 was selected because it could perform like a 911 while being discrete & be a perfect everyday car... the 911 could not. However now I have the daily driver sorted, I can get a dedicated fun car. Seems a 996TT with chip/exhaust will run a high 11/low 12s 1/4 which is about the same as my S4. Money lost around modifications I can fully appreciate - the S4 has not been cheap. I suppose a few points have been raised here... Drive one - both 996 & 7 which I will. 997 certainly seems to be the car of choice... naturally. I had thought I would get more of you suggesting I go with the 996... but glad everyone more or less says the same. Still interested in who the best tuners are as I will like to open dialogue with them sooner rather than later. Thanks for those mentioned so far. Cheers,

Hi and welcome to the forum. I know a couple of customers who have gone from RS/S powered Audi's to tuned 996 Turbo's. What you will probably find is the 997 non turbo a bit "slow" for your liking in terms of acceleration and grunt. As you are obviously into boost I think you will find you prefer the 996TT. It is easier and cheaper to tune in terms of how much increase in performance you will get also. Tuning a 997 C2/CS will be big bucks for not a big increase on power. If your Audi is 500+ bhp, if you put it up against the 997, it will probably demolish the 911 and I fear the 997 will just not be enough of what you are after. The 996TT is highly tuneable and you will get that boost feeling when flooring it. There is a guy on here called "Dave" who I think has some mild mods to his 996TT, its worth speaking to him also. Regards G

Q: have you considered the 996 GT2?

But it's yellow! :grin: :welcome: aboard Your S4 sounds like an interesting car. I can't wait to see what you make of your 911, whichever you choose! I reckon a 996 TT will be perfect for you.