it's pretty pricey, but theirs isn't a bolt on SC. they actually completely dismantle the engine and modify to lower the compression to accomodate the additional boost without undue wear on the engine, then they fit it with RUF ECU, injectors etc. Hans at RUF said it's about a 2 week job and will net performance of a 996 to somewhere between a TT and GT2. Their web site quotes it at, hold on to your tailpipe, 28K. if you're serious about it i'd give them a call and get a better price. A RUF Porsche would definitely put you in a class by yourself with the ultimate sleeper.

here's a breakout of their conversion:
http://www.rufautocenter.com/conversions/996.asp

 

here's a link to their 997 NA conversion, and since the 996/997 are fundamentally the same engine the overview should be close:

http://www.rufautocenter.com/conversions/997.asp

 

power is just a substitute for skill


you can get it sideways, but you better know what your doing!

 

From what I have seen of pricing on this board lately, you are approaching 996 turbo territory. That would be my call.

 

there's two kinds of people, those who pay interest, and those who earn it.
i kind of think that a sum of money that large should be gaining value over time rather than lost on a depreciating liability.

but if you keep your cash you could see it almost double over a 7 year period in the right investment, whereas if you just spend it on a car with the logic of "not having a payment" i think you're missing out on an opportunity to grow the money. And since cars are for most are a cost of living, you're always either saving for one or paying for one. With that in mind i'd keep the cash and get the benefit of gaining compound interest in the long run, and pay a little simple interest for a loan in the short term.

You'll be glad you did, especially when in 14 years your 45K could be worth 180K.

 

Another potential investment strategy would be to buy the car for cash and take the equivelent of the calculated loan payments which include interest and principle and invest them monthly. This would in turn spread some of the current market risk while setting up a long term investment strategy. By taking out the loan your asset (diminishing) becomes a liability (loan). You have to subtract the intrest paid for the loan from the interest earned on the investment. I am a firm believer in keeping a low debt profile especially during turbulent financial times.

 

i dont disagree with you on the low debt profile, but i kind of think if the times are turbulent then tying up a large portion of your net worth in a car may not be the best strategy.

To me what it comes down to is the math of fairly low risk (eg. muni bond) compounded interest gain vs. a simple interest expense. Obviously the risk in the muni bond example would be if the municipality went bankrupt, but there's no sure thing in life. You could wreck your Porsche and lose 35% of the value immediately just based on it not being "clean" anymore.

But i digress, in the context of this discussion, i'd probably never tie up a significant portion of my net worth in a car. The underlying principle to live by in any economic time (not just turbulent) is to live well within your means.

 

I absolutely agree that tying up a large portions of your net worth in a car is not a good financial bet. This is true no matter what the financial times are. But once you buy a car you are taking on the depreciation and loss risk, if you finance it or not.

To digress further, the risk of bankrupt municipalities is greater than ever due to the way they have restructured thier debt, Alabama and NY Port Authority, as examples.

The truth there is no one correct answer for all individuals and you have brought up some very good points.

Enough of my garbage philosophy lets get back to the cars.

 

to your point, we are off topic here

back on topic, i want a RUF supercharger on my 996!

 

How does the RUF compare with the EVO unit?

 

its a different animal, EVO is a bolt on whereas the RUF is almost a rebuild. the cost difference is pretty huge, RUF is near 28K for their solution. RUF is warrantied for two years, but that's actually less than the warranty my car has now (2011) so i'm unwilling to do anything to my car that would void the warranty. Stuff goes wrong too much on these cars and since i'm not a DIY guy, i dont want to tempt fate.

 

I had this mint '04 M3 purchased with 14K miles on it and dumped another $12K to get it to this:



Now I have this older, no factory warranty 911:



I would never, ever go back to the M3, even the new E92 version, for my "dated" 911. Many reasons why.

 

^ word.

Came over from the modded BMW camp, and also sold my sport bikes (CBR 900rr, Yamaha R1 and a screaming little RD350, I've had more than my fair share of fun on them).
After owning my 02 C2 for over a year now I don't think I could drive anything else except for another pcar. I drive mine daily.

$45k should get you into a good deal on a clean pcar. Mileage is typically the largest dictator of price from what I've seen. Good luck with the hunt!

 

This is what I would do. Buy a clean 02+ 996 so you get the bigger motor and updated look for around $32-35. You have to get the warranty. I can not stress that enough. Porsche offers a extended warranties for around 5k. I have already used my extended warranty and it's only been a month. The remaining amount should be sufficient for wheels, suspension, ssk, stereo system, pse, and intake plenum, and insurance for a year . Plus, you can also update the look to a c4s. I have seen turbo front bumpers for $500(direct bolt-on on c2), side skirts for $400, and rear bumper for $300(have to do some work on the rear quarter panels because of the narrowboby).

 

from the looks of your P car i can't say i blame you. i do wish my 02 had a little more "grunt" to it though. maybe the plenum is something i should consider. I've heard they help a little with the throttle response but i'm not inclined to believe their hp/torque claims.