Little known fact IPGparts has a project Audi RS3 that happens to be Tom's daily driver. The car has been getting attention over the last couple of months but today's update is about what prompted the decision. When you start looking at the best bang for the buck cars in the $50k range you start getting into some heavy hitters on the new and used market but none stand out like the Audi RS3. 4 doors, a factory turbocharged 5 cylinder engine making 394hp / 354 torque and a Dual Clutch Transmission that has proven itself to handle the abuse. Those basic stats net a sub four second 0-60 time and quarter mile times deep into the 12 second zone off the showroom floor wrapped into a German luxury package.
So the question is what are the plans for it? Well, mainly it is Tom's daily driver but he has been tinkering with it and we constantly kick around ideas of what path would be fun. For now we are just keeping an open mind and when opportunities present themselves we will chase them.
To show some progress that has been made Tom drove down to Mexico with his Dragy installed and in stock form ran a 12.0 @ 113mph 1/4 mile time as a baseline.
The obvious first modification is an ECU tune. This is the quickest way to unlock more horsepower and torque with any factory turbocharged vehicle and we went with APR as they continue to have the most reliable and efficient tunes on the market. Their Stage 1 ECU & TCU tunes in conjunction with the APR intercooler install at the same time helped run a 11.58 @ 120mph 1/4 mile pass on the streets of Mexico with 93 octane in the tank. Not bad at all for a stop light to stop light, get around town cruiser.
Stay tuned for more as we continue to work with this platform. So far it has been nothing less than stellar at what it is capable of.