Having had the GT28R kit on for 2 months and 2000 miles now I can post some more impressions/experience of my (modestly) modded A4.
If you want to see my 1st impressions see here
General status
I blew a coilpack about 4 weeks ago – replaced all 4 with shiny new ones but still had the CEL on. $20 of ebay VAG-COM cable goodness and that’s behind me ( the CEL was cylinder 2 misfire which was the blown coilpack…).
Pros
4k – 5.75k on the tach in any gear (including 6th) is just plain brilliant. I’ve driven some pretty powerful cars and although not the quickest, the A4 really shines now in that powerband – third, fourth and fifth are just great on twisty backroads or the freeway. Hills seem to have hardly any impact where as I91 in VT used to sap the car in 6th and sometimes 5th it now surges up them with a dab more accelerator. Acceleration is progressive and predicable - no odd surges or drop-offs when pulling hard in the powerband.
The rear sway and Konis really come into their own on sweeping freeway curves and the backroads of VT. On the freeway there’s so much less bodyroll which allows me to keep on the throttle when I used to lift off. On the backroads the lack of ‘wallow’ means the car isn’t as unsettled by camber changes or undulations as it used to be. I covered the 45 miles from my place in Springfield to Stratton in close to 40 minutes yesterday (in the rain – all small roads – several towns with 25mph limits which I stuck to). Probably 7-8 minutes quicker than I would have previously done the same trip...
Cons
There’s plenty of torque once the turbo wakes up, but I’m still not used to driving the car at the upper end of the rev range. At 70 on the freeway I keep leaving it in 5th and pushing the accelerator & all that happens is the exhaust starts booming. Drop it into 4th and it’s a whole different story.
1st gear is still over too quick – if I were to try running a drag, I’d have to sort the shifter and clutch out, the stock shifter is ok (nicely slotting into gears but a bit too much play between them), the stock clutch is (a) on its way out and so (b) a little vague in the bite – ok from third gear up, but a little problematic when making WOT shifts from N-1-2. Not much I can do about the length of the gears though… ESP light comes on sometimes during WOT which I presume is the clutch...
The stance from my Koni coils is super aggressive even on my stock 17” sport rims, but it’s too low. Any significant camber in the center of the road and I’m scraping the center resonator of the APR exhaust. Drove super slow yesterday on a gravel road about 500 yards to a friend’s house and had about 10 buttock clenching moments as the gravel grazed the bottom of the resonator. Its currently 24.5 all round so I’m going to run 25.5 all round when I swap out to my new BBS CKs next weekend.
Although it drives mostly stock-like when on vacuum and banzai at WOT, there are a few points in each gear where the engine seems a little confused at constant throttle – not hesitation per se, but a little wobble and some occasional pops from the exhaust which sounds almost like misfire. Its not enough to concern me – probably just a quirk of the ECU map, but its not like the stock car which was like a battle tank at constant throttle.
Overall
The list of cons may look longer than the pros, but assuming the setup stays reliable then this car will do just what I want which is stopping me spending 30K on a B6 S4 & allow me to wait for the new S4 wagons to come out & let me pick up a second hand one in a couple of years… The grin every time I hit the gas in 3rd from about 50 tells me I spent my money wisely!
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Originally Posted by 400HPA4
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