Chaps,
Thanks for your comments. Very interesting to read, and helpful to have things summarised in one place, although I'm not sure I read anything I haven't heard before. Mind you, I am not making a decision I haven't made before, either ...
The (hypothetical) Seat Altea incident (that never happened) involved my S2 with two passengers (one of them was Mrs zcacogp who is small, but also a friend who is a fair bit larger than me), a bootful of junk and a full tank of juice. At a guess, this lot weighed an extra 200+ kgs (15%), which can't have helped the performance. We were stuck behind a coach on the A22 in Sussex, and the aforementioned welly-boot-waggon pulled out to go 'round the coach. I pulled out as well, and realised that I was working the horses pretty hard to keep with him. I can't say I was left behind, but I can certainly say that it was a depressingly even match and I doubt I could have got past. Driver error, Scott? Very probably. But still very depressing - not least the clouds of smoke being kicked out of the Altea being blown up our collective noses. Anyway, as I said, it never happened so I can't let it concern me ...
Debates about cars feeling fast or not - the S2 has never felt that fast. But the feeling of speed is illusory - our perception of speed is actually the feeling of the rate of change of acceleration (snap), so something that accelerates very smoothly and cleanly doesn't feel that fast. Something that has a torque curve with a sudden step in it will "feel" a whole load quicker as you are pushed into your seat, and yet may not be any much quicker at all. Perhaps this is mirroring what Fen said about S2's and Turbo's, but it does explain why the S2 feels so ... ordinary ... when being stoked. (Fen, I'm not trying to claim that S2's are fast after all, but I do think that your criteria for 'fast' is perhaps somewhat higher than some other people's. I recall you saying that essentially you like to go very fast in straight lines, and perhaps therefore you have achieved much more 'fast' than most. I'd certainly consider a 928S4 as being fast, for instance ... )
So, Turbos. Because of the huge variety in states of tune of the turbos on here, I guess there is no one experience. Thanks for your various inputs. FWIW, I usually recon about 380-400 miles from a tank on my S2 in mixed motoring. (Equates to 27-31mpg). Yes, I would like more performance, and Scott's description of his 951 being something that accelerates like a 1.8 focus when off-boost and significantly quicker when on-boost makes it sound very appealing. Paul confirms it ... Descriptions elsewhere of turbo's spinning their wheels in 5th at 70mph make me drool with desire, but hearing of huge bills being run up to make them go like that don't appeal. As I said, I don't want to bankrupt myself on buying a toy ... Fen's comments about a Turbo not being as nice as an S2 on the road until you are 2-3 times deeper into the overdraft than the cost of an S2 would suggest that the S2 is a much better value choice.
Having two cars is not an option. A nice idea - yes, but not possible. And if it was a turbo, I'd need to have it insured for business use, with modifications. People have said this could be tricksy ... maybe I need to call my broker and ask nicely for some advice.
Charles - sorry, but I really don't rate the 944 engines in terms of noise. They work well enough, but sound as boring as a Nova when being caned. You need to get at least one more cylinder (and perferably two or four more) before they sound at all interesting.
So .... I am coming back to my original point of view. My S2 is exceedingly competent, and I love it. It is more than fast enough for me 99.9% of the time (350bhp looks remarkably like 35bhp when sitting in a traffic jam, which I do quite a lot of) and I know the car - I think it is at least average, and shouldn't spring any nasty surprises. I do need to take the first silencer out and find a chip, and that may make it a bit brisker. And it needs a service.
I also don't really want to go through the hassle of selling it, and finding a good turbo to buy (before I start thinking about the cost of upgrading. What would I get for my S2? £4k if I am lucky? And how much does a mint 951 cost nowadays? Hmmm, I think there was a thread on that very topic recently ... ) So, sticking with my S2 seems like the sensible way forwards. It does me well, doesn't bankrupt me, requires enough fiddling to keep me happy (time is short, as ever), and I love driving it. I can live with being a slightly second-class citizen the world of 944 ownership (hell, I don't even have KW's - perhaps I am a third class citizen!), knowing that while I don't have the best 944, I have a fairly good one.
Peter - supercharging my S2 sounds like a great idea when you say it quickly, but the only person I know who has gone that route is ... erm ... you! This therefore says to me "nutters only need apply", and I am boring and square (as everyone who as ever met me will attest to.) It also appears to be a pretty pricey way of getting performance, compared to selling the existing car and splashing out on a 951.
Then I read posts like Damon's, and wonder if I am just being a bit too boring and conservative .. dammit! (Damon, please don't post things like that again. There's a good chap!)
Thanks for your input folks. Much to think about. (I suspect I will now descend into a semi-morose scouring of the classifieds, wondering whether a 245,000 mile turbo for £2k is the leggy dog it could be, then discover that Mrs zcacogp has blown any available budget on a pair of earrings. Or a holiday. Or chocolate. Or something.)
Oli.
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