1.8T Quattro: 165bhp buying advice and upgrade

[A4Chris]

Hi

I've run my B5 1.8T sport for just over a year now and been very happy with it. However, I'm now in the market for a B6 1.8T Quattro and have a couple of questions I'm hoping people may be able to answer.

Ideally I would get a 190 Quattro S-line saloon (in black) but as I have around £6500 max these are a little out of budget. Therefore my plan is to go for a fairly mundane looking Quattro sport in 165bhp tune and then get the Star Performance 195bhp upgrade, fit a factory spec RS bodykit and some 18 inch 5 spoke RS6 style alloys. et voila, a B6 with the s-line power and look for hopefully less cash? (although the insurance will probably end up being more than for an s-line due to 'mods'!).

So, before I go ahead with this I was wandering if you guys have any experince of the above? Has anyone had the 195bhp Star Performance upgrade and is it a good package? Out of curiosity, can the 165bhp engine be taken beyond 195bhp (to say 220) without the need for strenthened con-rods etc?

 

[chris_20]

thats exactly what i had to do. i bought my a4 when i was 21 so had to go for a fairy bog standard one due to insurance. i have put the RS6 wheels on and done the bodykit aswell. its definately worked out cheaper. as far as remaps iv not had any experience so couldnt help u there im afraid

 

[jase0851]

is the star performance map from 163 to 195 a generic map or custom? you,d get more with a milltek and an alloy turbo intake pipe aswell as the map

 

[golf]

I've heard good things about Star performance, Bubstar here will vouch for them I know he's used them, and he lives in Surrey!

There are a number of ways to get the power up on a 1.8T without changing any of the internal parts. For example you can get a down pipe (sometimes referred to as a test pipe) which makes the turbo spool up a little quicker, makes a little more noise and a few extra horses. These replace the catalytic converter and will fail an MOT, but are easy enough to change if you have access to a ramp.

You can get larger injectors (best bet is to get the set from a BAM S3 or TT) and when the new map is applied these babies give the engine an extra 25bhp and 50lb of torque in addition to the remap.

People have also changed the N75 valve to a N75J or N75H race valve which will give more torque and power, but can cause limp mode as it can overboost.

A Turbo Intake Pipe (TIP) is also good for freeing up more ponies.

Without changing the turbo I reckon you can squeeze out 220-230 bhp out of the little K03 if you get all the mods I've mentioned. I have all those mods (bar the exhaust) on my A4 1.8T (for sale incidentally ) and it was fairly rapid, without being crazy fast.

 

[A8UK]

Hi

I've run my B5 1.8T sport for just over a year now and been very happy with it. However, I'm now in the market for a B6 1.8T Quattro and have a couple of questions I'm hoping people may be able to answer.

Ideally I would get a 190 Quattro S-line saloon (in black) but as I have around £6500 max these are a little out of budget. Therefore my plan is to go for a fairly mundane looking Quattro sport in 165bhp tune and then get the Star Performance 195bhp upgrade, fit a factory spec RS bodykit and some 18 inch 5 spoke RS6 style alloys. et voila, a B6 with the s-line power and look for hopefully less cash? (although the insurance will probably end up being more than for an s-line due to 'mods'!).

So, before I go ahead with this I was wandering if you guys have any experince of the above? Has anyone had the 195bhp Star Performance upgrade and is it a good package? Out of curiosity, can the 165bhp engine be taken beyond 195bhp (to say 220) without the need for strenthened con-rods etc?

Im in the same position as you. Im also after a 1.8T and have a budget of around £7300. I was going to get a 163 but i think a 190 Sport is a better bet as it already has the S-line kit, wheels, sport seats, etc

And it has a better engine, as it has twin intercoolers, bigger turbo and injectors. Early 2003 190 sport's are around £8k mark at the moment so im waiting until the end of the year when the price drops abit more. I know its a long wait but i think it will be worth it.

 

[J7USS]

Im in the same position as you. Im also after a 1.8T and have a budget of around £7300. I was going to get a 163 but i think a 190 Sport is a better bet as it already has the S-line kit, wheels, sport seats, etc

And it has a better engine, as it has twin intercoolers, bigger turbo and injectors. Early 2003 190 sport's are around £8k mark at the moment so im waiting until the end of the year when the price drops abit more. I know its a long wait but i think it will be worth it.

Gosh, you are very patient mate!

 

[A4Chris]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Yeh, I've got a couple of options I guess. The longer I run the B5 the more cash I have for a B6 so I guess I could just bide my time and hold out for a 190 quattro s-line. Thing is, I quite fancy a bit of 'tweaking' and reckon I can pick up a very dowdy looking 163 sport quattro with a low mileage that's only ever been driven canny for around the £6000 mark. I can then spend a couple of months speccing the car up to how I would want it with the Star Performance upgrade (plus S3 injectors and a Forge intercooler???), RS bodykit and RS6 5 spoke alloys. The s-line 190's I've seen look amazing but are around £8000 or upwards and the cheapest ones (i.e. sub £10,000) are all getting on for 100,000 miles and may have been thrashed all their lives (being powerful s-line's)??

Decisions, decisions.