Snowdeamon340

I have the 12v FWD and am not sure if it would be worth it to modify it or if i should drop the 30v in it or just buy a new car.

Any suggestions?

starting ...

yes

ModifiedA4

buy a new car, imho. people on the 12v development forum will have a different opinion.

shawfm

The cost to mod a low production engine like the 7A that I had or the 12v like you have ('93-'97) just isn't worth it. 1.8t you can chip for next to nothing. MTM is less than $500 as are most other chips. That will take you to more than you will get with your 12v for the same money. But it will never be as smooth as the 12v.

JWG

FWD gives better acceleration due to less weight and drivetrain loss. Quattro affords unbelieveable handling with an acceleration and weight penalty. Thus, your first question concerns whether you prefer off-the-line performance or cornering performance.

12v vs. 30v tunability: Normally aspirated, 12v has more tuning potential. However, PES supercharger on the 30v will ultimately make the most power--near 300. The price for about 240 hp on a normally aspirated 12v or 300 hp on a supercharged 30v will likely come out about the same, even assuming you can do much of the porting work on the 12v yourself. You really cannot do much normally aspirated tuning on the 30v without getting a check engine light. The 12v's less sensitive, but untunable, Hitachi ECU readily accepts all kinds of modifications without throwing a light.

Long-term Reliability/Service: The 12v is slightly more reliable than the 30v. I own one of each (A4 12v and A6 30v) and I talk often to my mechanic buddies who work on both engines and do the major services on my engines. 12v's tend to have fewer oil leaks than 30v's and suffer less sludge/varnish. You do not even want to price rebuilding two 30v heads versus two 12v heads. All around the 12v tends to be more robust due to its simplicity and lack of modern computer-aided design to inform engineers where they could "cut corners." Service generally costs more on the 30v.

For straight-line driving comparison (cannot compare Koni coilovers on A4 to stock A6), my moderately modded (ported and re-built) 12v out-performs my mildly modded 30v. My mechanic says that my mildly modded 30v is the strongest 30v he has ever serviced at his shop; even with the extra weight of the A6 Avant body, he thinks that it performs at least equally to a much lighter A4 30v sedan. Yet, comparing my two engines, my 30v feels stronger than my 12v only on a small part of the lower RPM band, because I have AAH cams on the 12v which moved the power up the RPM band a bit. Once my 12v gets into the upper RPMs, it pulls so much harder than the 30v, especially building up to redline. This likely results from higher capacity air flow in the 12v due to ported MAF, TB, IM, heads, headers, & 3" silicone hoses; even with 18 more valves, the 30v starves at high RPM due to air flow resrictions. My modded B5 platform 2.8 12v has more power than the next generation B6 platform 3.0 30v on a high-speed, steep-angle uphill run. I have not had an opportunity to go side by side with a B7 platform 3.2 yet (I may need to swap my fuel efficient stock Lucas injectors with my higher flow yellow tops to out pull a 3.2).

Thus, for 2.8l V-6's, the 12v and 30v will ultimately perform very similarly when reasonably modded to their normally aspirated potential with stock ECUs.

So, I as wrote in the subject line "it all depends on what tuning goals, budget, and skills you have."

dr.audios[the OG]

2nd.

tkarwin

Sell that tail dragger and whatever you get, make sure it is quattro!