At what price 340 bhp

cecilthesausage

cecilthesausage

...It's Never Finished...
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
931
Reaction score
113
Points
18
Location
Teesside
Hello everyone just wondering at what price and what actually you need to do to achieve about 340bhp Cheers Rob
 
Bit of a vague question. Presume you mean 340bhp in an S3??? Here's a simple answer 12,764.00 EUR MTM Performance upgrade AUDI S3 345 hp (254 kW) incl. exhaust system, MTM Turbokit w exhaust manif - Audi S3 (1,8 T 165 kW (225hp) Quattro)

I think there's quite a few factors involved, and simply asking how much to get 340bhp is a big vague and pointless. Do you mean how cheaply? You'd need to think about such factors as:

* Are you going to do any of the work yourself?
* Are you going to go hybrid?
* Are you going to go BT?
* Reliability
* Quality of parts
* Quality of work
* How much upgrades on you have on car already

The thread tuffty pointed you towards has some initial costs. I asked how the real costs match these initial estimates, never got a response! I would take a guess that the real cost is a multiple of the original estimate.

You also have to take into account that the thread tuffty pointed you towards, the guy was able to do a lot of the work himself. Which would have saved him a lot of labour costs. So you may need to factor that in.

Also, because Wellys project was a bit unknown territory it might not be a good gauge of how much 340bhp costs. In that he was dealing with a hybrid, it wasn't guaranteed that he would make 340, and there seems to be lot of experimenting and trial\error involved in getting where he has got to. So you would need to factor that in too. Possibly his thread has hit all the problems you'd hit with a hybrid, and thus save you time and money when doing it yourself.

There's a thread on here from a guy with a black S3 who I think is going for similar power, with a BT (do a search, you should find it easy enough). He has simply given his car to someone else to do the work I think, so his costs may be a truer reflection of how much it costs to get 340bhp when going BT.
 
Cheers metric I'm just toying with the idea wondering how much it would cost and what it involves
 
Or go out and buy the MTM conversion that's on (or certainly was) Pistonheads :)
 
Well, like i mentioned in my post, it depends on quite a few things that you don't give any information about i.e. where you are coming from (what mods are on the car), how much you want to spend, what route you want to go down (hybrid, BT, who is doing the work etc.).

Simply asking how much it would cost to achieve 340bhp I don't imagine is going to get you too many informative responses or responses that will help you figure out I guess whether you can afford the costs. As the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out" :)
 
I did write this sometime ago but I can't find where I wrote it.

If you were to do it from standard you need.
Intergrated engineering rods c. £350 (depending on exchange rate)
Front mount intercooler £400-£800
3 inch downpipe and sports cat/decat £370-£580
Cat back exhaust - £420 (milltek)
High flow exhaust mani - depends how well Welly's xs power one stands up but c. £450 for JBS
Hybrid turbo - £500-£800
Injectors - £300
Badger 5 TIP - £150
Jetex - £50
Water meth injection £?
Mapping £?
Labour £?

Then brakes - Brembos (new) £1000
Suspension - B8's & APex - £700

Welly's done a pdf adding everything up in his hyrbid thread that Tuffty posted.

If youre not so good under the bonnet like me - £7000 inc labour - broadbrush
 
Last edited:
Cheers Dane I have the Milltek,the downpipe and sports cat, an xs power manifold and the Amd porker big reds, Haldex blue and a peloquin diff on the way so I am gettin there slowly but surely lol... Cheers mate
 
Slowly but surely, makes the money easier to deal with.
Exhaust this month
FMIC next month
Hopefully the jbs mani will be finished by then so that
Then hybrid and injectors
Then fitting and mapping - Finished by May-June.
 
"Slowly but surely, makes the money easier to deal with."...and can hide the *real* costs :) . We all soon forget about £100 there, another £200 here etc. I'd say if people added up the entire costs of going hybrid or BT, it would be in the 7-12K bracket. When you think about it, it's a lot of money that you'll never see back even if you sell, and only worth going for if you really want something individual.

If power is your goal, it would make a lot more sense to sell your S3 and buy something that already has the power, like an E46 M3. You'll lose less money when you go to sell and more than likely have greater reliability as the car was designed for the power.

It would be great to see the entire costs from start to finish, of either going hybrid or BT, inclusive of labour. Maybe Bill will start offering a package deal :)
 
1.8T 210/225 to 350 Big Turbo Kit | Shop VAG 1.8T | Backdraft Motorsport

Link to Backdraft' BT kit (im not endorsing, it just has a price)

However that doesnt include suspension, brakes, internals :0, FMIC, mapping etc etc so you could comfotably add £800 for suspension, £800 for brakes £500 FMIC, £600 mapping plus all the other bits it would require like rods at £1 - 1.5k
 
Blackcupraa said:
1.8T 210/225 to 350 Big Turbo Kit | Shop VAG 1.8T | Backdraft Motorsport

Link to Backdraft' BT kit (im not endorsing, it just has a price)

However that doesnt include suspension, brakes, internals :0, FMIC, mapping etc etc so you could comfotably add £800 for suspension, £800 for brakes £500 FMIC, £600 mapping plus all the other bits it would require like rods at £1 - 1.5k
Click to expand...

Backdraft have a few good options. Even with that one listed there, and all the extras you've mentioned, you're well into the 7-12k bracket. I guess bigger power ain't cheap :)
 
finesse said:
power is not cheap if done properly or by someone else
Click to expand...

This definitely seems to be true! Which supports the point...if bigger power is your thing, buy a car that already has it. Unless you really reallyyyyyyy want something original (that will cost you a fortune, and you'll never see the money back - in comparison to a car that already has the power when you bought it).
 
badger5 said:
£7k-£12k for 350bhp? your joking surely
Click to expand...

I've no idea. Just guessing based on prices available. But MTM certainly think it costs 12k for 340bhp. Backdrafts package, if you include various other mods, would be hitting over the 7K mark it would seem also. Hence the 7 - 12k bracket.

What kinda figure would you think it would cost to bring a totally standard S3 up to a reliable 340bhp S3 that is capable of handling the power?
 
7 to 12K for 340 bhp?
Somebody best hide this thread !
If the other half see's this ... im a dead man !
when she asked how much ive spent ( only around 310 atm ) i just mention "not mad money"
From a good stock BAM S3 i would expect to pay ... no more than say... 4? 4.5 k?
Depending on how exact the 340 is
If it was going to cost even 7k that would make it.. around 13k including a stock S3 !
Forget that.. bang for buck... my money would go elsewhere
 
4.5K, that's better news. So that would included everything from getting an S3 from totally standard to 340bhp? Including all the labour? And taking into account that we are talking about cars that are 10 years old here?

Maybe MTM prices are probably a bit over the top. But even with Backdrafts package 1.8T 210/225 to 350 Big Turbo Kit | Shop VAG 1.8T | Backdraft Motorsport you are talking a minimum of

Package: 3,250
Fitting: 745
Remap: 599

Add on 20% VAT and that's a grand total of 5,512. That doesn't take into account any other mods like a intercooler. Or things like suspension - are you really going to want 340bhp on standard 10 year old suspension, doubt it :). Add on the two of them, and I'm sure you would be hitting 7K easily...and that is leaving out brakes and rods.
 
Its not difficult to get up to 7k from scratch......it really is not!! ive got reciepts for just short off 5.5k now and im still not finished ..:crying:
Parts still requierd:
High flow mannifold.....£500+ if it ever happens
injectors £200
custom stage 3 map £400+?
WMI £350
performance haldex £600
Possible uprated fuel pump/regulator..£200
4k of it was parts and labour, the last year or so it was all my own labour so it would have been alot more....:faint:
 
Exactly, it's not very useful when you read "it cost me 3k to get to 340bhp" without having the context, as it just paints a false picture of how much such power costs. You need some context on it so we are all talking about the same thing i.e. starting point of car before hand, who is doing the work, quality of parts, how reliable the power is etc.

From a starting point of a standard S3 (that has poor handling & poor brakes) and is going to be hitting 10 years old...then the 7k - 12k range would seem like a realistic figure based on what companies are offering. Obviously this is based on the two companies I have listed, which may of course not be representative and way over priced.
 
Lol for a newbie ive started something here..... Metric ive only been on here for a very short time but your sharp, concise but very philosophical posts are a breath of fresh air....nobody wants an E36 BMW !!!! cos only ****** tossers drive them we like our understated S3,s (less you show more you know scenario) but we still like to extract every last ounce of newton meter that we possibly can get lol ps that backdraft package looks very appetising........
 
cecilthesausage said:
Lol for a newbie ive started something here..... Metric ive only been on here for a very short time but your sharp, concise but very philosophical posts are a breath of fresh air....nobody wants an E36 BMW !!!! cos only ****** tossers drive them we like our understated S3,s (less you show more you know scenario) but we still like to extract every last ounce of newton meter that we possibly can get lol ps that backdraft package looks very appetising........
Click to expand...

Oooops, apologies if I was sharp, not meaning to be. I just think we need to be a bit realistic here. Realistic prices with all the neccessary information, so that you have the context, will help people make informed decisions. Rather than starting off thinking they'll get 340bhp with 3/4k...and end up a few months down the line watching the costs go well beyond that.

Compare apples with apples :)
 
To Be fair ive done a similar post a few months ago....
my costings dont include cosmetics like wheels etc....If you doing it over a year or 2 it is very easy to loose track, but it does makes it bearable too..Just hide the evidence from yours mrs...
 
Hahaha dont apologise mate when i say sharp,concise and philosophical they are still very informative. You must forgive me I am new to the S3 world. I am like an adolescent teenager full of bhp (****) and testosterone (newton meters) ie like an 18 year old boy. Were as you are like an old timer full of all the pillers of wisdom about all the pro,s and cons about trying to gain more bhp and nm from our tiny little unit..... And for this reason I have the utmost respect for you on the very short time I have been on here.... Compare apples with apples :)
 
In all honesty, I've been reading these pages for a while now, and the prices to get an S3 to run more than 300 horses have out me right off, I would rather buy a car that had 300+HP in the first place than spend £3k+ for the upgrade in power, but that's just me.

It's not just the turbo conversion, you have to uprate everything else for the car to cope with the power.

I will probably stick a 3" intake and maybe a performance exhaust on my S3, and then I'm pretty much done in terms of power. If I want more power, I'm going to buy an Evo or RS4 as a replacement.... that's my plan anyways.
 
jojo said:
In all honesty, I've been reading these pages for a while now, and the prices to get an S3 to run more than 300 horses have out me right off, I would rather buy a car that had 300+HP in the first place than spend £3k+ for the upgrade in power, but that's just me.

It's not just the turbo conversion, you have to uprate everything else for the car to cope with the power.

I will probably stick a 3" intake and maybe a performance exhaust on my S3, and then I'm pretty much done in terms of power. If I want more power, I'm going to buy an Evo or RS4 as a replacement.... that's my plan anyways.
Click to expand...

Nail on Head, if you want big power, buy it.

I like my S3 it does what I want it to do, however if I did crave more power (ie 100+BHP more than the S3) I would probably get something that was built for it.

However Welly, Tuffty et al I have nothing but admiriation for the work you have put into your cars to get them where they are. I would have said money as well, but the lady folk can use the internet as well :)
 
metricspaces said:
I've no idea. Just guessing based on prices available. But MTM certainly think it costs 12k for 340bhp. Backdrafts package, if you include various other mods, would be hitting over the 7K mark it would seem also. Hence the 7 - 12k bracket.

What kinda figure would you think it would cost to bring a totally standard S3 up to a reliable 340bhp S3 that is capable of handling the power?
Click to expand...

my estimate would be £4k-£7k region depending on internals or not
£12k for 340bhp is somewhat high dont you think?

I can get a lot for £12k... as could a lot of others
 
s3dave said:
Its not difficult to get up to 7k from scratch......it really is not!! ive got reciepts for just short off 5.5k now and im still not finished ..:crying:
Parts still requierd:
High flow mannifold.....£500+ if it ever happens
injectors £200
custom stage 3 map £400+?
WMI £350
performance haldex £600
Possible uprated fuel pump/regulator..£200
4k of it was parts and labour, the last year or so it was all my own labour so it would have been alot more....:faint:
Click to expand...

you should see my recipts for stuff!! and engine isnt even over tuned!

on a plus side there is this option though 1.8T 210/225 to 350 Big Turbo Kit | Shop VAG 1.8T | Backdraft Motorsport

never delt with dackdraft so have no experience of there work etc there was a lad on here a while ago who had this kit fitted but didnt have the best experience as he was one of the guine pigs for mapping but didnt realise the extent of the development
 
I'm happy with a stage 1 remap :)

The natural prgression would be an 8P + remap or an RS something
 
badger5 said:
my estimate would be £4k-£7k region depending on internals or not
£12k for 340bhp is somewhat high dont you think?

I can get a lot for £12k... as could a lot of others
Click to expand...

£4k-£7k region hits the lower limit of £7-12k region :)

So (leaving crazy MTM prices aside) would it be fair to say that £4-7k will get you the power upgrade to 340bhp. But to have an S3 capable of handling that power you'd probably have to spend another £2-3K on intercooler, suspension, and brakes?
 
metricspaces said:
£4k-£7k region hits the lower limit of £7-12k region :)

So (leaving crazy MTM prices aside) would it be fair to say that £4-7k will get you the power upgrade to 340bhp. But to have an S3 capable of handling that power you'd probably have to spend another £2-3K on intercooler, suspension, and brakes?
Click to expand...

Realistically most people that are prepared to spend that kinda money on power usually have sorted suspension and brakes anyway... it is a lot of money to spend getting that sorta power but the parts aren't that much more than going stage 2 and fitting a new turbo which a lot of people have done already...

I have learnt that you can't compromise on components if you are after power as it can be a false economy... I have built mine progressively mainly due to not having loads of cash in one lump... its been interesting though finding the limit of the OEM components with regards to the power levels you can achieve before you have to replace them with something more capable...

A lot of the cost of going for power is labour... if you can do it yourself you can save a packet but there are some things you really need to leave to the experts to to do...

There will always be people who can't see the point and will just buy a faster car and be happy... for me its more that I like the tinkering and doing the work plus I think the S3 is a classic little car and I am a little old skool that way with cars...

<tuffty/>
 
badger5 said:
.... and then you will think, ****! that S3 was so much cheaper to run... I miss the old girl :(
Click to expand...

I know what you mean Bill, but in all honesty, I do 2-3k miles in the S3, and the replacement won't be any different, so running costs wouldn't really bother me, unless something broke of course! I see no reason to sell my S3 just yet of course, even though I crave for something faster!
 
tufftybloke said:
Realistically most people that are prepared to spend that kinda money on power usually have sorted suspension and brakes anyway... it is a lot of money to spend getting that sorta power but the parts aren't that much more than going stage 2 and fitting a new turbo which a lot of people have done already...

I have learnt that you can't compromise on components if you are after power as it can be a false economy... I have built mine progressively mainly due to not having loads of cash in one lump... its been interesting though finding the limit of the OEM components with regards to the power levels you can achieve before you have to replace them with something more capable...

A lot of the cost of going for power is labour... if you can do it yourself you can save a packet but there are some things you really need to leave to the experts to to do...

There will always be people who can't see the point and will just buy a faster car and be happy... for me its more that I like the tinkering and doing the work plus I think the S3 is a classic little car and I am a little old skool that way with cars...

<tuffty/>
Click to expand...

Greatly said....i think the 8L s3 is going to be classic before anyone knows it,,,,,,i wish i had hindsight before i scrapped a mk1 mexico for £80.......
 
tufftybloke said:
There will always be people who can't see the point and will just buy a faster car and be happy... for me its more that I like the tinkering and doing the work plus I think the S3 is a classic little car and I am a little old skool that way with cars...
<tuffty/>
Click to expand...

+1

Thats what being into cars is about for me. I like the engineering and the challenge as much as the finished product.
 
i scrapped a mk1 mexico for £80.......
Click to expand...

Ouch!


Cheapest way to get a 350bhp 8L S3 is to buy one that's already done! They pop up from time to time on Pistonheads etc.
Or slip your local rolling road operator an extra tenner and dictate your chosen power output!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Gavin G
Thermostat Price at Stealers
Replies
11
Views
2K
egesford
egesford
AARON77
Bhp at the wheels??????
Replies
35
Views
2K
Dane
Dane
keendean
S3 Bhp at the wheels???
Replies
18
Views
1K
Ryanc
R
trekbiker
18" RS4s at the BEST price around
Replies
5
Views
823
trekbiker
trekbiker
s3clarke
Tax price difference on different bhp models?
Replies
26
Views
1K
Administrators
Administrators
Top
Back