Official Audi tuning

[Chiefbadger]

For the life of me I can't remember where I read this, but I'm sure that I saw that Audi were due to announce a series of official power upgrades in conjunction with a tuner (presumably ABT) in a similar manner to the Ford/Mountune partnership.

Does anyone know if this is true or just another internet myth?!

[graeme4130]

Chiefbadger said:

For the life of me I can't remember where I read this, but I'm sure that I saw that Audi were due to announce a series of official power upgrades in conjunction with a tuner (presumably ABT) in a similar manner to the Ford/Mountune partnership.

Does anyone know if this is true or just another internet myth?!

Similarly, I can remember reading it to be true, but I too can't remember where
It wouldn't surprise me with so many other OE brands offering aftermarket style warranted tuning to avoid actual aftermarket brands ruining the company image by destroying engines with poorly thought out mods
I'd imagine this to be further true given that many of the flagship models are now going Turbo Charged (next RS4/5 for example), and the ease in which you can simply 'turn up the boost' to a ridiculous level with a chip

[bungle]

Listers offered it about 10 years ago, the "Listers Motorsport Package".

"Listers spice it up with High Performance Pack" (yes, it really said that as the headline).

Remap, Miltek, sports cats, etc.

They warned... "beware, this is not for the faint hearted"

[Raven Flyer]

ABT are offering it in most of Europe, with Audi approval... but not in the UK.

Yet(?).

[Chiefbadger]

Raven Flyer said:

ABT are offering it in most of Europe, with Audi approval... but not in the UK.

Yet(?).

It's still not 'official' in Europe, but sounds like Audi are a bit more likely to cooperate. Interestingly, although the cost is massive, the ABT ECU doesn't flag the TD1 code apparently as its a piggy back complete ECU effectively. I asked the guys at Richter Sport about any official tie up and they didn't confirm or deny but did say that they'd heard it would be limited to things like Exhausts/brake upgrades etc. Nothing software related.

[Chiefbadger]

I'm assuming that if this ever was in the pipeline it's now more unlikely given the latest VWAG shenanigans but I'm still living in hope!

[PhantomPH]

I would be interested in an official (and presumably warranty backed) tuning menu from Audi.

Personally, I think they would limit it to cosmetic upgrades, tho. If I could have bought my S3 and paid (for argument's sake) £800 for a power boost that saw it tread all over the toes of the RS3, I cannot imagine Audi officially allowing that. They have defined 'performance brackets' for that - if you want to 'officially' go faster, you need the RS, sir....

That being said, if I could pay £500 and have the stock exhaust replaced with an officially sanctioned ABT one which made plenty of noise in Dynamic mode, but was every-day-livable in other modes, I'd be all over that st.