W210

Perhaps some driving lessons from Mrs. Krutch is in order?

JAY55

I ran a 996 turbo yesterday on the freeway and man, I wish it was a straight away cuz the Porsche had no problem cornering while my Beast struggled

Marcus Frost

[/b]

1.8 on stock continentals. No traction contol. Friend's 996 is a 6-speed. My rear tires lasted about 25k miles before I replaced them.



I have the E55 up to 100+ just about every week (very late night highway driving) and I constantly am told by people how smooth the car feels and if they closed their eyes would have no idea the car was going as fast as it was. I don't think it makes sense to compare "solidness" of a sports car with a sporty sedan, but the E55 is extremely solid at 100+... it feels right at home.



We have some highways out a little west (about an hour or so) which are extremely dead too... my good friend has done 213mph (calculated using rpm and tire size) in his supercharged Viper GTS. Fastest I've been out there is 180mph speedo indicated.



The race wasn't even really an even start. He took off after someone else, and was coming up to me when I hit the throttle... he was still pulling on me until we got to 100mph where the pulling stopped and we stayed dead even.

Dyno #s for the E55 are extremely deceptive because of the massive power loss we get from heat soak. My car on the dyno made 410rwhp, but with the cooling effect of 100mph winds on this car I'm sure I was making more power to the ground than he was. My car lost 30rwhp on back to back dyno runs because of head soak.

-m

macmtr

A guy that works for me has an 01 911 TT. I ran him from a 30 mph roll, and I pulled away from him to his disbelief. He was actually on his way to have his car dyno'd. His comment was his car was not running properly, until his dyno results came back at 384 rwhp... Which was normal for that car... He sold the car 4 weeks later, and wants to get an MB55??

Macmtr

Marcus Frost

Nice race! Interesting post, and good to read as at higher speeds the E55 is I think greatly underestimated, even against slightly modified 996TTs.

Very nice car collection BTW. Woman just picked up a QX56 as well and I was considering a 996TT but for now have decided to try out something a little different (and a lot cheaper!) with the '06 Z06. Initially I was planning on maybe picking up a '02-'03 996TT. Nothing is written in stone yet, but we shall see. Just thought I'd compliment you on the cars, great minds think alike...

-m

ColorChange

I also own both and concur with Jkrutch. When rolling, the E55 will beat a stock tt. From a dead start, and a good driver, tt wins. At the very high end, tt wins again (140+).

My tt is at 600hp so ... no contest.

vrus

Hey Marcus,

What color did you order? I have been tossing around the idea of ordering a black one. They look menacing in black. My alternate color was yellow. The performance is just to good for the price point so I have been struggling with whether or not to grab one.

JasonC

I have an E55 and 996TT-S (ie X50). The E55 is very fast in a straight line. It is a great car but it comes nowhere near the TT once the road starts bending. In difficult (such as wet) conditions, getting power to the road is very hard in the E55.

They are just different cars. They feel different, handle very differently and comparing 0-60 times is just pointless.

vrus

I think it's safe to assume everyone knows you can't compare a 996 or 993 Porsche to an E55 when it comes to handling. The Porsche will wipe the floor with the E55 around a race track.

Pointless? Why? I think it is a great tribute that an E55 CAN be compared to a 993TT or a 996TT because they are fairly evenly matched in a straight line drag race.

Having owned all types of different cars from Porsches, Lambos, Ferraris and now Mercs, I can say that I am truly impressed with the power of the E55. I would never compare it to my Porsches because I always had modified ones, but stock for stock, the E55 will hold its own.

Marcus Frost

Victor,

Mine will be black with black interior and silver accents. Bottom line is that it is one hell of a deal for what it is. They've improved the things that bothered me the most to an acceptable level so I'm going to shoot for it. All the stereotypes and etc are just ignorant nonsense. I drive a car because of what it delivers, and yes image is a factor, but the numbers don't lie.

I also agree with your points on the 911. People will immediately throw in the handling factor when their car is contested. We have a lot of cards we can throw in as well... rear passenger comfort, ameneties, utility, $40k cheaper pricetag, etc... two different cars yet people still feel that they need to be compared... the fact that the E55 is basically as fast as a 911TT is just a testatement to it's acceleration... it isn't a sports car and was never intended to be. It's just using a benchmark for sports cars to put in perspective what it's able to accomplish... not saying the E55 is better than the 911TT.

-m

jkrutch

Like I said, my 996 only has 1,800 miles and isn't at full potential. Regardless, at full boost the E55 was still pulling. My shift was dead on...she still pulled. She backed off at 90 or so...I think the Cd of the E55 also helps. On a turn, the E55 sucks (sorry), but very few cars can touch it on a straighaway. A while back I shocked a Gallardo (e-gear)...that was funny! My CLS 55 arrives in about 8 weeks. Hopefully the wider tires and lower center of gravity will make the MB a bit more fun to drive. I have access to one of the 1st new Z06's arriving to my local Chevy dealer. I might move from the 996TT...tough choice.

M5KILLR

i have my 911 for sale and cant wait to repalce it with the new z06 in yellow. never owned a chevy before but for the price that car just cant be ignored.

Kens-E55

Hold the presses everyone:
Its great we want to compare the 2 cars - and give the nod to the Porsche in cornering, but.............................
lets say I go with 19x9 front and 255-35-19 and//19x10 rear and 295-30-19

better yet......20x9 front and 265-30-20 and//20x10.5 rear and 305-25-20
Stage 3 with enough cooling from EVO or Kleeman,
lowering module, 2.82 OR 3.06 LSD rear gear and POOF......
Our E-55's will be a legit problem for any production car.
BTW-If I'm prudent with my $'s, I'm still under 100K with this set-up!!

Take noth'in away from Porshe, but watch out for our E-55's!!