no offence but if you ever drive a 997S you will not look at the Turbo from that day... (please do not quote me on seat-of-the-pant accelerations, it doesn't mean ****) the 997S with full leather interior and adaptive sport seat is much more eye pleasing than the 996's interior in my opinion... and if you have the chance you should try out a Audi or Bugatti or VW's DSG transmission they are simply just much better and much more advanced system than any F1 systems out there... DSG does everything better than the F1 systems (upshifting, downshifting, revmatching, and most importantly it is faster in acceleration and it does not jurk in manual or automatic mode like the SMG and F1 transmission do...)

 

I test drove a 997S for a solid, spirited 30 minutes with a friend of mine, who was looking to order one, about one month ago. And I'm being completely honest when I say I was not impressed. It was noticeably slower, didn't seem to handle any better (which makes since due to the TT being faster around the Nurburging and equal with it on the short Hockenhiem course) and the interior was not to my liking. After that test drive...he decided to purchase a 996TT instead.

I do think it's a very nice car (it's a Porsche). I especially like the exterior. And I would happily take it over 95% of the new cars on the road. But for both my friend and I...it just didn't compare to the TT. That having been said, I'm very much looking forward to the release of the 997TT.

Please keep in mind this is only my opinion. It's not meant to put you or your car down in anyway whatsoever.

 

i respect your opinion but i have to point out that with the 996TT's extra 70hp and being 50K more expensive it is only less than 5 sec faster on the 8min trach Nurburgring than the 997S while being the same pace as the 997S on a smaller circuit Hockenhiem course clearly makes the 997S the winner in the handling department... as i said in my post before please do not refer to seat-of-the-pant comparison between the two... one is NA and one is FI and 70hp difference simply does not compare in that case... and i didn't take it personally because i have owned a 996TT and a 996TTS(stage II) in the past and i have absolutly no regrets in my decision to switch to the 997S... PS i do about 20-30 lapping days every year in the summer with my Acura RSX which is done to SPEED CHANNEL WORLD CHALLENGE spec minus the roll cage and plus interior and i think my opinion regarding the 997S handling department is creditable...

 

 

Yeah they are close around a track until the c2s blows up.That's why you pay 50k more for a turbo. The motor is leagues ahead in durability and horsepower potential.C2s's are nice cars but not meant to be raced hence no dry sump and weak bottom ends.Not to mention awd.

 

Scott i agree.. A friend of mine took me for a ride in his new 997S, it felt exactly like my M3, every characteristic but better, just exactly the same and wasnt "fast" to me at all.. Turbo yes feels way different handling wise and power wise, but it just doesnt feel fast, it is fast as well .. Tough choice but i think for my performance needs 996tt suits me better as well although i dont know if i had a chance to trade straight up for 997 CS it would be a tough, tough decision, both are sick!!

 

Wow, i sense a war coming on

 

no offence but dry sump ya i agree that the C2S don't have that but come on the 3.8 is brand new motor much more technologically advance than your 3.6 which derived from what the 80's??? don't quote me on that cuz i don't really know that much about motors... and mind you that your FI engines are much more likely to blow up under any situation than my NA motor... a NA motor runs much cooler than any FI engine and thus making it much MUCH MUCH more reliable... a NA motor might not have as much of potential as your FI engine but talking about Technology any car guy would agree that a NA motor is much more high tech than a FI engine in compression ratio and timing and what ever else... again don't quote me on those since i'm no mechanic... but do realize what you are saying... we are dealing with Porsche here not some American or Japanese products which is much more likely to "blow up"... i agree that the 3.8 does not have that much potential until you lower the compression and reinforce the bottom end then FIing the **** out of it... in my opinion and my driving tastes (most Carrera, GT3 and CGT drivers will agree with me) i much prefer a NA motor that makes less HP but in a much more smooth and efficent way of delivering that power than a Turbo motor where you have to wait for a couple of thousand RPMs before it does its job... and man there is nothing like Reving high with an NA motor (my RSX revs to 9200RPM without fuel cut) and it is just that much more pleasent than feeling the acceleration GFource for me... too bad the Turbos only know how to go fast in the straights(please not post anymore Ring times or whatever since the Turbo has much more HP than the Carrera) and by the way AWD are for pussies and it handles like ****...

 

The 996tt motor is based on the GT1 racing motor and will hold up MUCH better than your 997 block. The bottom line is you are happy you switched to the 997 from your 996 tt but most people on this 996 tt forum do not agree!

I have driven the 997 S and would NEVER trade for my 996 tt. Just my humble opinion of course!

 

If the old engine was better why would they change it?

The 3.6L is aging... please don't take that out of context. I know, buddy, that people like you and craig and many others on this board will probably keep your 996TTs for quite sometime and have the utmost success against virtually any car but with the competition coming in at ~500hp everywhere the old design is just lacking in stock power.... again don't take this out of context i'm comparing stock vs stock and you have to admit that with competition like the new Z06 having the same straight line performance as the GT2 changes must be made.

 

LOLLLLLLL too bad the turbo is only good in the straights this guy said, are you really as ignorant in real life as you sound on the computer, just wondering.. Im a RWD nut as well so it took some time to adjust to this AWD< but all i can say is its amazing the cornering speeds and turns you can take in this car!

 

I am all for change if there is change but going from 415 to 480 when the competition is at 500 and above doesn't sound like much change to me!

 

Change it for many reasons including costs and it is possible that the 3.6 had reached its NA reliable horsepower limit so additional displacement was needed. Costs unfortunately seems to play a large role in the 911 and Turbo lines in the last 10 years while Porsche is going into new lines.

The GT2 is 4 or 5 year old technology and the Z06 is brand new. 0 - 60 are virtually same and the Vette hits 60 in first gear. Shifting may take a little time.

Porsche stayed with the 3.6 on the Turbo and one could speculate that the case on the 997 may not be up to the task for 550 and a whole lot more hp. Porsche knows people are going to mod the 997TT like crazy and customers would be pissed if the engine on the 997TT started failing at 600 hp. The old GT1 dry sump block can handle a **** load of power and go alot of miles under a great deal of stress. Anyone having RMS issues on the 997 yet . . .

That being said, I was very dissappointed that the 3.8 was not in the 997TT. Porsche could be keeping costs down as I am sure it is very expensive to develop a new motor to handle forced induction while being a daily driver. Porsche is also dumping a lot of money developing new cars so the 997TT may have gotten chinced a bit.

 

There are a lot of Turbos drivers out there that apparently disagree. I demoed the 997S overnight and passed and historically, I get a new Porsche every year as I put a lot of miles on my daily driver. My 04 TT cab now has 31,000 miles and I desperately need a replacement, but cannot find anything I remotely like with a back seat.

I also know a few others that decided to keep their 996TTs and wait for the new Turbo. I wanna like the 997 because I need a new ride and I love Porsche. I ***** even though it probably will not do any good because I hate to see Porsche grow stagnant like it did in the early 90s. BTW, I was driving 911s bacK then, were you?

 

Again, my main question was how many 996TT owners were going to jump based on the new 997TT. I am really pointing out the look of the car-It does not look aggressive or different enought..IMO..

I was really hoping for the change from 964 to 993 or 993 to the 996...Larger steps forward in the general look. Porsche performance will not be the main issue..