I'm looking at upgrading my intercooler and I've been pricing the s3 cooler however I've found a few mk2 leon cupra ones for cheap, are they the same?

They seem to map to the same power as an s3 with no cooler upgrade and obviously they use a k04 so going by that id say they are however they are mega cheap compared to the s3 ones so I'm a bit skeptical.

Cheers.

The Leon one has plastic end tanks where the s3 has alloy ones. I once bought a Leon Cupra intercooler for my mk5 golf tdi only to discover that it was exactly the same as the standard part :(

Cheers mate, that's pretty much what I thought but seems strange that the cupra will map to over 300bhp with no intercooler upgrade and our cars won't.

Think I'll give it a miss and just get an s3 one then.

Does anyone know if you can still buy the metal end tanked s3 one from the dealers?

Cheers mate, that's pretty much what I thought but seems strange that the cupra will map to over 300bhp with no intercooler upgrade and our cars won't.

Think I'll give it a miss and just get an s3 one then.

Does anyone know if you can still buy the metal end tanked s3 one from the dealers?

Darkside motorsport  sell them they do two versions a standard s3 and a bigger one they will be cheaper than the  main dealers and they can sell you uprated boost hoses to go with it if you want them .

Cheers Willy, I must have found the ones that fitted the diesels as I was sure darkside wanted over £500 but I see now it's £300.

The benefit of the s3 cooler is it cools more efficiently and holds colder temps than the Leon one. It is however ridiculous money.

Another option is a Golf Mk6 'R' intercooler.

They have the same core as the S3, and although they have plastic end caps they are larger than the std Vrs/ Gti ones and so flow better.

S3 hasn't had alloy end tanks for about 6 years.

 

S3 / Golf R and TT all share the same IC but with different part numbers.  The plastic end tank S3/Golf R unit is more efficient than the alloy unit as it has more efficient flow (better design of the end tanks), more cores and something else that escapes me.  /dones flame suit

 

If you have a VRS the increase in efficiency is negligible (~10%).  You are better off getting something that is a quantum level above the S3 IC.