4S to Turbo - is it worth it?

[smoothound]

Sorry as I suspected the 4S material is long gone -

However I have 2 quotes for a Turbo both over 36 months from October 2021

One with no options whatsoever price on-the-road £118.5K residual £72,733
and another for one with modest option taking it up to £124K - residual after 36 months £72,733

Same lease residual for barebones car and optioned one. Was that same with my A7 - and a previous Merc - same residual for bare-bones and much more heavily optioned versions

sorry about the 4S data - but from memory I added around 15-18K of options on the 4S - and the residual was also the same as the bare-bones - options generally add around £30 per month /£1000 option cost (a very rough rule of thumb at 6% interest) - so 15K options would add around £500 per month - in the UK, this would be around 30-40% of the total monthly cost for on a 100K car. Options are costly on a lease car in the UK.

There is still a delta between heavily optioned 4s and a lightly optioned but similar specced Turbo (standard features count towards residual). - but it may be less than you think

U can only tell when you get firm quotes to compare

hope this helps - best I can do.

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[WuffvonTrips]

I'm less interested in the front end difference and more the residual difference on re-sale. It would seem to me (without evidence, maybe you Porsche lifers can help here) that the residual value of a Turbo would fall less than a highly optioned 4S to match the Turbo would, meaning that ~15-17K difference up front gets drastically reduced when it comes time to sell the vehicle. Am I off here?

Based on comparable quotes I got last year, the Turbo would retain a higher % value than a 4S but it would still lose more value in absolute terms-
High-line numbers from 3 yr low mileage PCP quotes, residual calculated by me assuming that the optional final payment = the residual market value:
4S cash price £106,200 / optional final payment to own £59,300 / residual 55.8%
Turbo cash price £128,200 / optional final payment to own £77,700 / residual 60.6%
...so the Turbo loses more value than the 4S in absolute terms, but less as a % of the original price.
EDIT- I should add that that Turbo still had a significant (c£10k) amount of cost options, so I'm guessing a more lightly optioned one would have an even higher %RV.

 

[David Bennett]

Due to poor signal I’ve not been able to read the last few pages but here is my take. I’ve got a 4s and would have had the turbo if I could have got an allocation within a reasonable time period. I had to wait 9 months for the 4s and supposedly an EXTRA 9 months for a turbo. That would have resulted in me experiencing the extra delays due to the supply chain issues we now have.
In terms of power would I like more? Yes, almost every drive I have the chance to use more than I have and miss it. At the same time on almost every drive I am frustrated by not being able to deploy the power that I have. Usually for much more time than I miss extra power.
Am I glad I got the 4s a year plus earlier than the turbo? Yes.
Would I have gone for the turbo if I could have had one in time? Yes, and still would but right now I’m locked in a lease I can’t change.
I’ve got all the chassis options and it sticks like glue in the dry. I can feel it move around in the wet. Would I like the extra power of the turbo to exercise the chassis more? Yes.
Am I content with what I have.? Yes, it’s a fantastic ground coverer and more than sufficient. I’d always want the chassis goodies, if that meant the turbo went out of budget then I’d rather have the 4s with them. Without any constraints (cost or lead time) it would be a turbo.

 

[Ross]

I was about to buy a 4S but after adding in all the options the price wasn’t too far from the Turbo. There is a difference in power - and it really depends how much you like g forces. 4S is fast for sure - but coming from a 911 it felt a bit slow. No badge btw.

Just wondering which 911 you had?
I had a 997 GT3 2008
No extras except carbon bucket seats.
Pre children track toy. Half the weight of a Taycan! Very quick.
Perhaps it could keep up with a Taycan 4S if I revved it to 7000 and smoked the clutch and tyres!
Perhaps it would lap the Nurburgring a few seconds faster than a Taycan 4S if you have balls the size of watermelons?!

To me in all real circumstances away from a racetrack the Taycan 4S is comfortably and noticeably quicker.
The power is just so much more accessible!
I was a huge a huge 911 ICE fan 15 years ago but I must admit I am now a huge EV convert so perhaps a little biased.

I could no more be arsed with a noisy exhaust and a manual gearbox than I would want to cook dinner over an open fire in the garden.

{I had a Cayman GT4 manual for a 2 day loaner. Like driving a noisy (very quick) banger from last century. }

 

[Archimedes]

Drive both and get back to me. I’m sure you are aware the front and rear end design of the turbo S are different. Maybe not. Also saying that a a car that has toque vectoring isn’t affected by the absolute torque of the vehicle makes no sense. Maybe we need a a physicist to chime in….

Both cars have PTV+. Do you know what PTV+ does?

Again the only difference between the cars is horsepower and torque. In every other regard you can spec a 4S to perform identical to a TTS.

 

[BeauJTaylor]

Thanks for all the data! I think the leasing market gets screwed in a number of ways and you definitely called out one of the major one w residual values being the same. The phenomenon I'm talking about is available in your numbers in that actual dollar gap between turbo and 4S goes down over time and I think in the US private market (not lease), this gets exaggerated even more. I would expect a lightly optioned Turbo would retain a higher percentage of value to original MSRP vs a highly optioned 4S because options just don't hold market value when there are much cheaper 4S options to choose from on the used market for uninformed buyers. They won't understand why your 4S should get more because it's "basically" a Turbo that you paid 16k less for. I think too many people in this thread ignore this behavior. A turbo is a turbo is a turbo and won't have the spread in options depressing its resale value like the 4S has to deal with.

Long story short I don't think a 4S that's optioned similar but 16K less is a valid analysis given how drastically different the resale market will be with the inability to capture the value of those options vs someone just getting all that and more guaranteed with a used Turbo.

 

[Jhenson29]

How similar is Porsche TV+ to Apple TV+? TIA

 

[Tincan]

I guess you're joking but just in case PTV = Porsche Torque Vectoring

Maaaaaan this topic... Like a few people here I could have had a CT4 in 6 months or another trim in 12, so I took the CT4. This is reviving some torments :|

 

[soamz]

I had driven both 4S and turbo.
really did not find much difference at all.

 

[TAYC4S]

I can understand if you are staying in every day driving there is generally no or very little difference but, on flat out acceleration there is a massive difference. The 4S is very fast but in a safe relatively easily controlled way. The Turbo can feel dangerous on normal roads because of how quickly you approach cars in front and you tend to lean more on the brakes as a result. That’s my interpretation and hence the reason for the OP.

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