Why Was The 964 Flachbau X85 Option So Expensive?

Back in 1994, the wildest car you could special order from Porsche had to be the Flachbau 964 Turbo S. A standard 964 3.6-liter Turbo in 1994 would cost you a massive $99,000, but if you wanted the slant nose and funky headlights, it was an additional $60,000 price tag! When adjusted for inflation, that same X85 option in 94 would cost you $104,000 in 2020 money. So, aside from the funky fenders and the 928-looking flip-forward headlights, what did that extra sixty grand buy you?

There are quite a few tweaks to the car’s bodywork that you wouldn’t see on the regular turbo. Up front you’ve got a special flachbau-specific nose splitter. That’s matched out back with a special louvered fiberglass whale tail rear wing. The quarter panels have been specially shaped to include a side air intake on both sides. And to compliment that extra intake air, there’s a quad-tip performance exhaust to allow that air somewhere to go.

From a performance perspective, the brakes and suspension are standard Turbo fare, but the wheels are upgraded to multi-piece Speedline For Porsche rolling stock with wider tires. The big change in performance comes from the engine compartment where you will find an X88-package ANDIAL-fiddled 3.6-liter Turbo engine with bigger intake and exhaust ports in the cylinder heads, a bigger turbo, and larger fuel injectors. All of that was good for an extra 25 horsepower over the stock Turbo, adding up to a massive 380 ponies.

Check out this video on the 964 Flachbau from Road Scholars to get all the details!