After a lot of looking around for the right car, I've found a well looked after example and I'm now busy researching the hell out of potential mods. 

 

Currently absolutely stock:

272bhp

6 speed DSG

19" Wheels 

Has DCC

100k miles on the clock (but well looked after)

 

So basic goals before I bought the car were:

Don't spend too much £1000 to £1500 tops.

A bit more Go

Possibly firm things up a bit (consensus seems to the handling is like Jelly)

A bit more Stop.

BUT, the roads where I live are awful so don't drop.

Stick to 18s for more sidewall / squish for riding potholes.

Keep it looking looking stock, even when you open the bonnet.

 

My driving is mostly up and down the motorway to work, a couple of fun roundabouts, a bit of twisty B road, and a mile or two of rural alloy cracking hell.

 

Since driving the car for a couple of weeks a couple of things have changed..

 

First.. The car came with 19s and they look fabulous.. I don't want to go down to 18s unless I absolutely have to.. A change to 245/40/19s has been suggested so I'm quite hopeful this will be enough squish for me to keep the 19s 🤞

 

Second.. So far I'm not finding the handling too bad.. soft on the motorway feels like a limo. Nice. For the twisty bits I change to Sport and things firm up nicely. I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe I can live with it stock? I still have in mind possibly fitting a thicker rear anti roll bar and/or changing to Bilsteins when the stock shocks give up.

 

The DSG.. hmm.. Normal I'm finding more to my taste than sport. Give the throttle a medium hard poke and it takes off nicely and quite like the shift well before the red line. Sport seems over the top.

 

So that leads me neatly into the remap. I won't be able to stop myself doing this.. it's so much bang for your buck. And everything I read says get the DSG done at the same time. Partly to improve the change points, and partly to handle the increased Torque.

 

For what it's worth, I had an A6 BiTdi for a few years and loved the effortless, low down, point and go grunt. Any map that can get that feeling back would be great. I can't be bothered with revving the hell out of an engine to get it to go.

 

So learned folks.. given all that.. where would you be spending that money to meet the brief?

 

Here she is. Quietly understated. Just how I like them ♥️

Lovely looker. If there’s one thing a 280 Superb does well it’s a sleeper look.

 

Budget is the restraint - obviously you can spend big money but looking at addressing power, handling, stopping and gearbox you’ll have to compromise. One thing I was wondering about was that you could save money getting a plug-in box rather than a full remap. Racechip for example is about £600 but they have sales in knocking off a fair bit sometimes. A plug-in tends to tune less aspects than a full remap but still seems to get decent results.

 

The TVS gearbox remap is meant to be the best there is.

 

Brakes there are decent options sticking with the same size - Mtec discs are holding up well on mine and ATE ceramic pads are good for low dust. Plenty of other options for decent performing pads though.

 

Suspension - there is a mod you can do to improve the DCC without purchasing anything. Although comfort is great for soaking up a rough surface, undulations that move the weight of the car have you bouncing up and down. I prefer speed humps on sport mode as you don’t endlessly bounce down the road. 

congrats on ur new ride.

 

i've had mine for 7+ yrs now, and when i bought the car, the first thing i said was "i'm only going to change the wheels.  nothing else, no mods!!"

fast forward to now, there isn't a body panel that hasn't been touched, including suspension bits, interior bits, engine bits, retrofits, and tunes!!

lol

 

i would definitely recommend the following must haves:-

- Stg 1 ECU + TCU tune. makes a HUGE difference!  don't get those piggyback tunes!  get a proper tune from a reputable tuner like APR, Racingline, 034, TVS, Galano etc ec

- Lowering Springs to firm up the ride a bit.  Eibach Pro-kit springs r popular.

- Rear swaybars to keep it flat.  plenty sell them.  make sure u get the AWD version.  

 

if ur itching for more:-

- turbo inlet elbow + pipe

- aftermarket air intake

- DCC slider mod if u can find someone who can do it.

Edited 28 January, 20251 yr by JR RS

I agree with JRRS, as an accountant I was focussing on the budget side of things. For example, TVS ECU and DSG remap is in the region of €1200 so pretty much uses the whole budget. 
 

Of course, if more can be allocated then fill your boots with the list above!

13 hours ago, travs said:

Lovely looker. If there’s one thing a 280 Superb does well it’s a sleeper look.

 

Budget is the restraint - obviously you can spend big money but looking at addressing power, handling, stopping and gearbox you’ll have to compromise. One thing I was wondering about was that you could save money getting a plug-in box rather than a full remap. Racechip for example is about £600 but they have sales in knocking off a fair bit sometimes. A plug-in tends to tune less aspects than a full remap but still seems to get decent results.

 

The TVS gearbox remap is meant to be the best there is.

 

Brakes there are decent options sticking with the same size - Mtec discs are holding up well on mine and ATE ceramic pads are good for low dust. Plenty of other options for decent performing pads though.

 

Suspension - there is a mod you can do to improve the DCC without purchasing anything. Although comfort is great for soaking up a rough surface, undulations that move the weight of the car have you bouncing up and down. I prefer speed humps on sport mode as you don’t endlessly bounce down the road. 

Ah yes, I've spotted the DCC slider mod.. I'll have to have a ring around and find a VAG independent garage to see what they want to do it.. not entirely beyond me to work it out myself and buy a VAG.COM .. or not risk bricking the car. To be decided.

 

Pads and Discs I guess I can look at next time they wear out.. maybe that can be from a different budget pot if they're not crazy expensive 😎

7 hours ago, JR RS said:

congrats on ur new ride.

 

i've had mine for 7+ yrs now, and when i bought the car, the first thing i said was "i'm only going to change the wheels.  nothing else, no mods!!"

fast forward to now, there isn't a body panel that hasn't been touched, including suspension bits, interior bits, engine bits, retrofits, and tunes!!

lol

 

i would definitely recommend the following must haves:-

- Stg 1 ECU + TCU tune. makes a HUGE difference!  don't get those piggyback tunes!  get a proper tune from a reputable tuner like APR, Racingline, 034, TVS, Galano etc ec

- Lowering Springs to firm up the ride a bit.  Eibach Pro-kit springs r popular.

- Rear swaybars to keep it flat.  plenty sell them.  make sure u get the AWD version.  

 

if ur itching for more:-

- turbo inlet elbow + pipe

- aftermarket air intake

- DCC slider mod if u can find someone who can do it.

Yep, definitely going for a flash remap.. current top 2 options in the UK seem too be APR or Revo.. Revo do a stage 1 and 2 and 3 different stages of gearbox flash.. about £800 for the pair. APR there's no stage 2 but apparently their stage 1 is pretty much stage 2 anyway. Still trawling the web for feedback on people who've tried both before I decide. 

 

The air intake stuff was a definite and then I read it makes a bit more of a whooshing sound.. great when I was in my 20s but these days I like the quiet.. I've ordered a performance filter and the OE air blanking plate.. and might maybe drill out the air intake.. we'll see. I'm very tempted by a proper R600 air box but I don't want insurers to spot the mods.. Turbo elbow on the other hand I might get away with.. as long as the noise isn't silly.

Rear ARB is definitely on the list of possibles.. I've read somewhere that possibly a Golf R Estate OE bar fits the Superb.. the cars are the same width.. it's 21.7mm.. any idea what the standard fit superb bar width is?

 

Bilstein B6s are the other mod on my list.. keep the standard ride height and upgrade when the stock shocks need replacing..

ARB info 👍🏼 I’m adding one of these to the shopping list too

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/503715-280-awd-roll-bar-kit/

The R600 intake with the lid on, is tame and not so dramatic (turbo whooshes), but it makes the right induction noises at a sensible level.

If u feel like u need drama, remove the lid n ur set.  But beware as u will now have an open intake that will suck in hot engine bay air!!

 

I have an APR Hi-torque Stg 1 ECU tunes, paired with an APR DSG tune.  It's been brilliant.  Almost 2+ yrs now.  I had it dyno'ed last year and it made 223kw 530Nm at the wheel power!!  Mine is a FWD 220 Superb. Not sure how much the AWD Superb will make, but u can except some drivetrain power loss.

Since then I've had the IE intercooler installed.

Downside with APR is there is no Stage 2 due to not meeting emissions.

Stg 3 would b nice with a bigger turbo but once u go stage 3, there r so many other things to do, and it won't b a carefree enjoyable daily drive anymore.

My tuner said I could get an IS38 turbo, and put an APR Stg 1 file that factors in the turbo, getting a bit more power.

 

I've only heard good things about the Revo tunes too, but as u say, their Stages r different power levels.  It's similar with other tunes such as TVS, 034 etc etc.

 

 

The AWD Superb shares the exact same rear swaybar as the mk7/7.5 Golf R.  I know of many owners who have that with no issues.

The FWD Superb, in my case, shares the same as the mk7/7.5 Golf GTi.

 

A vid of Gandalf on the dyno last year....

 

 

The IS38 is the one on the AWD so would put you towards that tuned power (given you’re already over standard power).

The 272 suffers from tuning options on the exhaust side due to the GPF I guess; same as mine. 
 

As for the lid off on the R600; I was getting classic unnecessary sarcasm off people who didn’t understand it on my project thread. But…tbh it’s probably pretty close to closing in against the soundproofing on the underside of the bonnet. Plenty of setups do that (I had one on an E36 20 years ago). Either way, I starts to move the class/classiness of the car to a hot-hatch Golf; just my 2p.

 

 

correct - the IS38 is used in the AWD Superb and Golf R.  so if i can pick up a secondhand one in good condition, for cheap that would be the way to go for me.

the downside is that the bigger IS38 takes longer to spool and build up boost, compared to the smaller IS20 used in the FWD which is a lot more peppy/responsive.

 

ideally i would've liked an APR or IE downpipe, but because APR don't do Stg 2 anymore, that is not an option for me, unless i start from scratch and switch tuner altogether!!

so for now, i've done the RPM Resonator Anti-Drone Delete pipe.   

 

yeah, i saw the comments responding to ur R600 intake and the inlet pipe - i would just ignore them.

i have the cotton filter version in mine.  its easy to clean.

Edited 29 January, 20251 yr by JR RS

Ok so Golf R Estate OE rear anti roll bar sounds like the way to go for me. A small and fairly cheap tweak, and all looking nicely OE. Winner winner 👍

 

Remap choice I'll have to keep digging. I noticed the APR gearbox remap they mention increasing clutch pressure to keep up with demands of their high torque stage 1 map. Revo do that in their stage 2 gearbox map so I'd probably want that one. Revo stage 1 with stage 2 gearbox map. Or APR Stage 1 high torque with their standard gearbox map.

On 29/01/2025 at 02:47, JR RS said:

correct - the IS38 is used in the AWD Superb and Golf R.  so if i can pick up a secondhand one in good condition, for cheap that would be the way to go for me.

the downside is that the bigger IS38 takes longer to spool and build up boost, compared to the smaller IS20 used in the FWD which is a lot more peppy/responsive.

 

ideally i would've liked an APR or IE downpipe, but because APR don't do Stg 2 anymore, that is not an option for me, unless i start from scratch and switch tuner altogether!!

so for now, i've done the RPM Resonator Anti-Drone Delete pipe.   

 

yeah, i saw the comments responding to ur R600 intake and the inlet pipe - i would just ignore them.

i have the cotton filter version in mine.  its easy to clean.

Cheers, good to be grounded on that - I bought the foam sock so I’ll probably just swap that out when needed.

 

That’s a shame about APR. Bit of a faff trying to change tuner - although giving what you’re putting through the front wheels would it be worth searching for much more?

On 29/01/2025 at 14:25, spen686 said:

 

 

Remap choice I'll have to keep digging. I noticed the APR gearbox remap they mention increasing clutch pressure to keep up with demands of their high torque stage 1 map. Revo do that in their stage 2 gearbox map so I'd probably want that one. Revo stage 1 with stage 2 gearbox map. Or APR Stage 1 high torque with their standard gearbox map.

If you go that way have a look at RacingLine for comparison too - they have the same high torque version needing a TCU remap for increased clutch clamping pressure too.

4 hours ago, travs said:

Cheers, good to be grounded on that - I bought the foam sock so I’ll probably just swap that out when needed.

 

That’s a shame about APR. Bit of a faff trying to change tuner - although giving what you’re putting through the front wheels would it be worth searching for much more?

 

correct - i'm not chasing more power.  300bp and 530Nm at the wheels is plenty for a daily drive.  there is only so much u can push out a FWD. 

if i had an AWD Superb, i would've gone with a different tuner.

 

now it's about efficiency and reliability.  hence the IE intercooler already done.

i'm contemplating the Racingline DSG Cooler.

On 28/01/2025 at 19:24, travs said:

ARB info 👍🏼 I’m adding one of these to the shopping list too

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/503715-280-awd-roll-bar-kit/

I've just bought myself an OE Golf R rear ARB and just posted my finding on sizes in that post too.

 

The gist of it is, if my googling is correct (?) our OE Superb rear bars are only 19mm . An OE Golf R bar is 21.7mm, so nearly a 3mm increase. If you had a Golf R, to get a similar improvement you'd need to be going 25ish..

 

Anyway, I'll find out soon enough once it's fitted 🤞

Edited 6 February, 20251 yr by spen686
Punctuation

On 05/02/2025 at 21:43, travs said:

If you go that way have a look at RacingLine for comparison too - they have the same high torque version needing a TCU remap for increased clutch clamping pressure too.

 

The more I read, the more worried I am about how much torque that DQ250 box can handle. The info on the TVS Engineering website seems like they really know their stuff and that it's really important to get it right or the box can't take it. What's everyone else successfully putting through theirs and have you had any issues?

And one more for tonight.. Driving the car today I got a big whiff of cat fart 😬 I guess that's my warning sign the cat is on its way out.. If it is.. the question is do I just get an OE replacement or a non standard replacement. Or do I invest in a high flow cat.. hmm. Any ideas on difference in cost and impact on power, noise, etc?

i would b very very surprised if the AWD Superb stock rear swaybar is 19mm.

for some reason i'm thinking its either 21 or 22mm.

anyways, u'll find out soon.

 

 

regarding the DQ250 - it can handle a lot of torque, up to 600Nm comfortably, with a TCU tune. 

once u start pushing north of 600 Nm, then u need to start changing clutch plates n other bits of hardware.

 

mine is putting 530Nm at the wheels, with no complaints, side effects or issues, apart from losing traction if i push it hard.

 

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/borsehung/20151433

That's the only "standard" part listed for the rear and is 19mm....however, that also seems to be the same for the Golf 7 R (Hatchback and Variant which I'm assuming is their term for estate). They don't have a rear for the Arteon R.

 

It feels like the Superb has more weight to through over and so the car will be more susceptible to roll than a Golf. I'm still eyeing up a Whiteline 24mm at the moment...

 

For TVS - I'd say they have hands-down the leading reputation for DSG remaps. They get you over a barrel though, as their initial Driveability offering for $499 doesn't tick any upgrade boxes and you wouldn't get anything like it until Stage 2+, which is $799 but does offer a lot. At that point, it gets very expensive on its own, so you start to consider the TVS ECU Stage 2/DSG2+ combo package for $1,249 - as per my first post...that basically uses your budget.

 

For cat - is this the same as deleting the GPF? If so, Racingline seem to say removing it will breach emissions regs, but if its not the same thing and I'm being dumb, then I'd say go for it. Only thing I find is there seem to be very few options for the Superb (versus the Octy), and none are cheap. JR will def have more info/ideas on that topic though

 

 

 

12 hours ago, spen686 said:

 

The more I read, the more worried I am about how much torque that DQ250 box can handle. The info on the TVS Engineering website seems like they really know their stuff and that it's really important to get it right or the box can't take it. What's everyone else successfully putting through theirs and have you had any issues?

My map for Gen4 engine is 420bhp (with R600) and 520NM - these are quoted figures (I flashed at home and haven't RR'd) so I'll take with a pinch of salt; and probably flywheel adjusted rather than at the wheels. If I get the intercooler and I remap it (for free as all maps are included in the price) to Stage1+ that is 433bhp and 550NM. Again, until I RR it, I'll caveat my figures like they're the pub stat that they are.

I can go to a Stage 2 which needs the GPF replacing which seems to invalidate emissions. I'll pass on that tbh.

 

This is Racingline's page for TCU tune https://www.racinglinetuning.com/tcu-dsg-tuning

Edited 7 February, 20251 yr by travs

10 hours ago, travs said:

It feels like the Superb has more weight to through over and so the car will be more susceptible to roll than a Golf. I'm still eyeing up a Whiteline 24mm at the moment...

Eyed up. PayPal credit 4 months free wins the mental argument again 

On 07/02/2025 at 12:48, travs said:

For TVS - I'd say they have hands-down the leading reputation for DSG remaps. They get you over a barrel though, as their initial Driveability offering for $499 doesn't tick any upgrade boxes and you wouldn't get anything like it until Stage 2+, which is $799 but does offer a lot. At that point, it gets very expensive on its own, so you start to consider the TVS ECU Stage 2/DSG2+ combo package for $1,249 - as per my first post...that basically uses your budget

Yeah, they seem to really know there stuff.. I thought I'd spotted an option for an engine ramap and matching gearbox map for €999 although I've just had another trawl through their website and can't find it. Tempted at that price but.. 👇

On 07/02/2025 at 12:55, travs said:

This is Racingline's page for TCU tune https://www.racinglinetuning.com/tcu-dsg-tuning

.. but, I really like the sound of this one. So they're saying clamping pressure is dynamically adjusted by engine torque so it should cope with torque loads as you add performance to the car..  anyone have this gearbox map? Any idea how much it is?