Michael Kwok

Audi obviously makes a program which will optimize all with a safety margin (as all good engineers do). In addition, in the case of the 1.8T vs the V6 2.8L, I pretty sure that there was active marketing efforts involved to ensure that there was a significant difference in HP to justify the higher price of the 2.8L...not the worlds best engine by far.

The 1.8T has been bullet proof to date. And here is where Steve B makes some sense. You can only max your engine out to the weakest link in the chain. I'm not sure where this is but it could be one of many things (fuel pump, tranmission, header, etc).... it doesn't matter that the engine will take more, the weak link will fail first so do you research.

I remember a speech from a Nissan Engineer responsible for the original Z car. He said that in order for a car to be fun for the masses, you got to over over over engineer the car so that there is lots of room for modifications. This is still try at Nissan today (have you seen the 1000bhp Skylines on the road???) I'm hoping that Audi engineers thought the same way.

This is why I waited 3 years to chip my A4 1.8T....I wanted everyone else to test them first

Mike

MrBits

My question is: did Audi pick the boost level of the engine based on engineering concerns or marketing concerns. The 2.7 Manual is already quicker than the 4.2, the automatic is slightly slower. Look at the entire VAG lineup, These people are experts at pricing/value. Every car can be optioned up to a little more than the base of the model(s) "above" it. The 2.8 can't spec worse than the 1.8t, or VAG can't justify the premium. The 4.2 can't spec significantly worse than the 2.7 for the same reason.

As for me, my PSK is already a fast car. I may chip it down the road someday, but for right now I'm having sufficient fun exploring the envelope. Being competent and in practice with your ride is worth 50HP any day. Spoken by a former SHO driver with about a dozen 5.0 mustang street races under his belt in 108K miles. The only guy to beat me obviously knew how to launch. I'm not gifted, I've just spent a half a dozen nights at the drag strip, which is 6 more than most jokers who street race.

Bollinger

And for the record, the 2.7T TIP is 0-60 in 6.6 seconds, and 4.2 TIP is 6.7 seconds. So both 2.7Ts are faster than the 4.2. Outside the US this is even more true, as 2.7Ts only make 235HP there.

I would guess Audi (actually AoA) picked the performance level for the 2.7T by both engineering and marketing considerations.

The car was probably designed for some maximum HP. I couldn't guess what, but its probably 265HP or higher. So all parts in the drivetrain are good for a certain amount of HP and torque. Then they picked performance points which made sense.

In Europe, the S4 makes 265HP. Why? To harken back to the original Audi Quattro (Quattro Coupe in the US). When released, it wowed the auto industry with its 100HP/liter and incredible traction. The S4 has a 2.65L engine, so they made it make 265HP to match the feat of 20 years ago.

In the US (NA), the A6 2.7T makes 250HP, while in the rest of the world it makes 235HP. This would appear to be due an aggressive performance matching program by AoA. They wanted to match up with the S80 T6, a very comparable car in many ways.

In the US (NA), the Volvo S40/V40 came out making 160HP from its 1.9T engine. Suddenly, the US A4 1.8T makes 170HP when it used to make 150HP.

But the big factor is the testing. No car is designed to break, but its reliability was tested at the performance level it came from the factory with. Up your boost, and you increase your chances of tearing a TBB 5-fold (at least). What other "weak links" are 5 times more likely to break at 300HP vs 250HP?

I'm not telling anyone not to chip, because much like the TBB example, the car still seems reliable even with some parts having a 5-times (or whatever) larger chance of breaking.

Bollinger

Ask on the S4 board. Audi is very aware of chipping now. They aren't being draconian about it, but if you chip you do void portions of your warranty which cover parts which are subsceptible to higher boost or torque.

Your service manager is not supposed to cover this up for you, and if they do, they face repercussions (sp?) from AoA.

To a large extent, you become the only insurer on some of your drivetrain parts when you chip. Take this additional cost into account when considering whether to chip or not.