keeping an aging B8 competitive with 2015+ model cars from MB, BMW, Porsche

B8 S4
#1

To me cars are a platform for modifications. American cars are a fixture for the cheapest thing that can possibly work. Mid range German cars like Audi, BMW and MB offer wider variability in optioning performance - most of these chassis can be priced from $35,000 to $75,000. Porsche is perhaps the best at offering you factory modifications on a car for the price it would cost you to do them aftermarket with labor, like a $5000 high performance body kit with valences and wing or $8500 for carbon ceramic brakes or $17,000 for forged engine internals and cooling.

The B8 is a pretty amazing platform, more so than its E90 335i sister, because of the traction the sport diff and quattro system provides. The 3.0TFSI is reliable stock and with aggressive tuning.

Here’s a list of “everything” you could do to a B8 to keep it competitive with the newer factory offerings of 2015 models, which are up in price quite a bit from their 2010 predecessors as they add some of this technology stock:

http://i59.tinypic.com/2vmhx69.png

#2

$3k lithium battery? Come on…

#3

The M3 and the MB are using lithium batteries to get half of their 50-100 pound weight loss generation over generation. If you want a reliable full size battery, that’s what they cost ($2500+). If you want your B8 to get under 3700 pounds like those cars, you have to do it.

#4

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0091QROOY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3O2EMXPJSTZ5E&coliid=I2IQ3401T50ZLU

#5

Still 21.5 lbs… Doesn’t seem worth it.

#6

Tell BMW. They did it to save 30 pounds. In the Audi case it saves over 40. More importantly it has a lower draw on the electrical system and alternator, something the Corvette team that uses this exact battery pointed out. It’s also a lifetime battery, effectively. These can even be used for storage of the vehicle, without turning it over for months. Lithium starter batteries are an underappreciated technology. We’re so used to how shitty wet batteries are.

#7

I’d have to agree there’s suitable weight loss options for a fraction of the cost. I can appreciate your suggestion. I believe you possibly got the intake pipe and coil price swapped.

Interesting post however. I like the performance potential of the b8.

#8

I’m been running a $260 5lb lithium ion battery in my B6 S4 for a year now with good results.

#9

I was thinking the Ignition Projects coils, which are about $960 at dealer cost. They’re plasma coils. Does it matter? I don’t know. If I’m trying to squeeze 450 HP out of this poor engine with a Revo 1+ and 100 octane fuel I might use it as an insurance policy.

#10

Interesting.

Also interesting is that many of those mods would match a B8 RS4 which would probably only be $16,000 more than a stock B8 S4. Shame it didn’t come here. You’d still not have the widebody, rarity and resale value though.

#11

^^and no wagon!

#12

An interesting mental exercise to go through is whether it’s worth it to buy a Cayman GTS for $80k or a Cayman base for $60k and mod it. A stage 4 motorsports suspension with external reservoirs is like nothing offered on any Porsche including a GT3 RS. Arguably the $60k Cayman could run circles around the GTS on a track with that one $5k mod, despite being down 1/2 a liter on displacement.

I see folks pick up a used 997 GT3 and immediately gut the stock rotors and install StopTech or Brembo all of the time. It begs the question of what the point is, if you’re a new buyer.

#13

It has to do with cost of replacement with OEM Porsche parts.

Most Porsche owners will put on Stoptechs because they are cheaper to replace, as you will probably do it 3-5 times over the life of the car.

And then when you go to sell, people want it back to stock so its worth shelving the stock system.

I would never buy a Cayman base model if I were tracking the car. Rather buy a BRZ and date a stripper with the money left over. 911 Mezger or go somewhere else.

#14

And here is the $900 battery I put in my 964 track car:

https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@www.voltphreaks.com/ssl/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_5&products_id=81

#15

I have always found strippers to be a cheap date if handled correctly. They usually are very different people when they are outside the club and not on a metal pole. Dated a few over the years.

#16

I married one lol. its just a job.

#17

The B8 road race superstar to stripper defense thread! LOL

One date with an amateur in college. She was gorgeous, a sweet Southern Belle, but way too extroverted for me, wore me out!

#18

here comes another half page off topic lol.

#19

Agree 100% that a Mezger engine equipped Porsche is one of the best motorsports engines you can own in a street car.

The BRZ is so not in the same league as a Porsche it might as well be a 3 wheeled vehicle, like those taxi cabs in India and south asia.

SUBARU BRZ • 3:18.6
PORSCHE CAYMAN S • 3:02.6

Those are the car and drive lightning lap times for the two vehicles in question bone stock. 16 seconds on a track is a lifetime. You could spin the Cayman, wait for traffic to go by, get your wits together, and still beat the BRZ to the podium.

The only positive thing I’ve heard about StopTech is the customer service is amazing when you eventually have an issue. I’d prefer just to not have an issue.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-2014-ll3-class-feature
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-2013-hot-cars-hot-track-hot-laps-feature-lightning-lap-2013-ll1-class-page-3

#20

Hey westwest, didn’t you just put 1% of total weight distribution back on the nose of the car by going with a lithium battery?
Considering the stock location of the battery…having something portly back there is not a bad thing at all, given the engine placement in our cars.

If you were serious about weight reduction and had 3k to burn, why is it that you haven’t taken out both front seats + swapepd for fixed buckets? We are probably talking at minimum 100lbs weight savings by doing that, whilst maintaining factory weight distribution. Not flaming…just curious. You don’t find there’s a crap ton of inertia in the front of the car, and it already is not good at transitions?