zoltan944

on the other hand with the organ pipes I can change my ISV without removing intake, I can replace TB and do that without Intake removal, etc.....

Landseer

Its possible to change your TPS with only removing center tube also

SteveG

Tom, Chuck Z lists 2,219 '85s and 2,887 '86s (US). I thought the number was significantly higher worldwide, but that doesn't jibe with Chuck's number as his site is pretty definitive containing a master list of all US vins. My point is, there were several thousand of each MY year.

JHowell37

It's not uncommon for a company to design and develop something, dumb it down for initial sale, and then over the course of its production life, they "upgrade" back up to the level it was at during it's initial design. As long as your product edges out the competition, there's no need to play your entire hand right away. In fact, doing so is almost foolish because not only will your competition catch up, they just might surpass you before you've had enough time to reap the rewards.

Look closely at the '85/'86 intake. I bet that it cost almost nothing to design, and compared to the later intakes, the manufacturing costs were pretty low as well.

For whatever reasons, Porsche decided the 32 valve engine had to go on sale in the US for the '85 model year. There are several possible reasons for holding back on the intake.
1. The base price jumped $6K from '84 to '85. The S4 intake was far more expensive to produce. By using a crude and inexpensive intake, Porsche was able to control some costs.
2. In '85 the car received the interior update which would be used in the S4 with minimal changes.
3. In '86 ABS became standard. For '86.5 the S4 suspension, brakes, floor, and most of the exhaust were implemented.

Had Porsche used the S4 engine for '85 and '86 in addition to all the other upgrades during those two years, the S4 would have been viewed as little more than an exterior cosmetic update. By holding back on the engine/engine management they were able to introduce it in '87 as part of the upgrade to the S4 which added some substance to the the car.

Holding back allows you to always have something in your bag of tricks.