I am interested in any relatively straightforward modifications that could be made to my '67 plate Superb. So far I have do/done the following:-

1. Always use 99 RON fuel.

2. Periodically use Cataclean.

3. Stage 1 re-map, increasing bhp and torque to 169 and 300Nm respectively (dyno checked).

4. Airbox and filter changed (K&N), which may have further increased bhp and toque a little.

Interestingly, neither 3 nor 4 have had any noticeable negative impact on fuel efficiency.

Is there any other low-hanging fruit that I might want to consider to further improve performance and/or efficiency?

Depends which aspect of performance you wanted. Better go usually means better stopping is advisable so you could get some better discs and pads; not necessarily bigger but drilled/grooved will stop heat fade so much; ceramic pads are lower dust as well as better performing over original. And braided brake hoses will stop any loss of brake fluid pressure albeit under relatively heavier/more sustained braking.

Rear anti-roll bar is useful to keep the rear from rolling if you’re going round some bends enthusiastically.

Otherwise, depends on budget and what you want - drop in a v8 lump? 😬

That K&N filter might not be improving the breathing.

So is it an Airbox & Filter kit meant for a 1.4 TSI? They (edit) were hopeless IME on 1.4 TSI Twinchargers at stage 1 or above and 210-220 sort of BHP, 320 Nm plus.

What spark plugs are you running,

Upgrading and also coils might well be the thing to go with.

Edited 26 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

7 hours ago, travs said:

Depends which aspect of performance you wanted. Better go usually means better stopping is advisable so you could get some better discs and pads; not necessarily bigger but drilled/grooved will stop heat fade so much; ceramic pads are lower dust as well as better performing over original. And braided brake hoses will stop any loss of brake fluid pressure albeit under relatively heavier/more sustained braking.

Rear anti-roll bar is useful to keep the rear from rolling if you’re going round some bends enthusiastically.

Otherwise, depends on budget and what you want - drop in a v8 lump? 😬

@travs Thank you for your thoughts :)

May I ask about 2 things you have:

1. Racechip XLR5 throttle adaptor - what are your thoughts? Would you buy again? Did you consider their 'performance increase' products at any point, or are they no match for mapping?

2. Forge 11mm spacers front and rear - I am interested in spacers. What considerations are there when buying such things? I have 18" OEM alloys.

6 hours ago, Ootohere said:

That K&N filter might not be improving the breathing.

So is it an Airbox & Filter kit meant for a 1.4 TSI? The were hopeless IME on 1.4 TSI Twinchargers at stage 1 or above and 210-220 sort of BHP, 320 Nm plus.

What spark plugs are you running,

Upgrading and also coils might well be the thing to go with.

@Ootohere Why do you say that re: the K&N? Yes, it's the box and filter i.e. 57S-9506. Are you able to rephrase your remarks, as I don't really follow I'm afraid.

Just stock OEM - are there alternative plugs worth investing in? I did buy some NGK Iridium plugs a while back, but they got changed during a dealer service.

When you say coils, do you mean coil packs? If so, what is the benefit of doing so?

Edited 26 April, 20251 yr by netman82

I have used K&N for tuned cars, for offroaders, where H2o and dust can be an issue.

As far as Performance, and possible performance claims with K&N, there can be better air flow with a standard filter sometimes.

When mechanics service emergency services vehicles with K&N filters they bin and do not clean them.

You have it now so as long as the filter stays clean.

Pipercross filters performed better IME.

If you want more performance than you have then yes you could go with different plugs not just brands, and ignition coils, Red R8 maybe. Fit a GFB DV+diverter valve.

That is the kind of stuff you discuss with the tuner / remapper really.

Edited 26 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

@Ootohere I have questions!

1. When you say different plugs, but not brands, may improve performance, what do you mean, I don't follow?

2. What kind of difference does change coils actually make?

3. Why might I want to fit GFB DV+diverter valve? What do they/it do?

4. In an earlier message you said something about Stage 1 and 210/220 BHP and 320 Nm, are you saying this is what a Stage 1 re-map on its own can achieve for this engine?

On 26/04/2025 at 19:53, netman82 said:

@travs Thank you for your thoughts :)

May I ask about 2 things you have:

1. Racechip XLR5 throttle adaptor - what are your thoughts? Would you buy again? Did you consider their 'performance increase' products at any point, or are they no match for mapping?

2. Forge 11mm spacers front and rear - I am interested in spacers. What considerations are there when buying such things? I have 18" OEM alloys.

No probs.

1. The pedal box is very noticeable. It has Eco, Sport and Race (with a +variant for each). I put it in Race+ and enjoy the relative hairline trigger throttle.

2. Spacers - this is a bit of a bigger topic, depending on what you want. The obvious point is to push the wheels out closer to the wheel arch body line; so you want to be sure that you don’t foul the inner wheel arch. You also want hubcentric spacers as these are machined to sit on the hub so they’re absolutely true. Non-hubcentric spacers have a small risk of not sitting quite central and causing vibrations but not sure of the reality of this. the other point about spacers is their impact on performance - whether they improve lateral grip by a wider stance, or mess it up by impacting the scrub radius. But these are probably more relevant to tracking than driving on the road. I went with 11mm because running 8” by 19” and 245 tyres which are a little wider than standard. Others have experienced a little rubbing on 15mm at the rear so I just stayed with 11mm all round.

On 26/04/2025 at 21:53, netman82 said:

Racechip XLR5 throttle adaptor - what are your thoughts? Would you buy again? Did you consider their 'performance increase' products at any point, or are they no match for mapping?

I have a throtthle adapter, and my experience is a mixed bag. Yes, it can drastically alter engine response to the skinny pedal, which means for driving briskly you have instant get-up and go.

However, this comes at the expense of a very harsh reaction from everything else in the car, that is not made to match it - in other words, suspension and body movement, engine, and especially gearbox are left behind when you set the controller in very sport/race mode.

I had it on and off for a couple reasons related to warranty work, so I could observe very well car behavior, and I see the main culprit in the lethargic response is the mapping of the darn DSG.

When the controller is in S/R my DSG becomes more jerky and notchy, and this is a behavior I do not like. I took it off for that reason and had the box checked, and there was nothing wrong. I suspect this happens because probably the gearbox finds the throttle input in unsync when in more aggressive modes, but so far I seem to be the only one having this symptom so most likely is driver problem 😁

Now the DSG ... in anything but "Sport", it upshifts at 1500 and downshifts at 1000. This means starting from a red light in a normal driving setting, you reach the legal speed limit in D5 in few dozens meters, and then basically you are left with driving a barge without engine control unless you rev it up, which is counterproductive, and obviously zero enging braking. I can comprenhend all the reasons for designing this logic - noise, emissions, fuel, blah blah, but from an engineering and car dynamics standpoint, is an imbecillity.

Now if this was a oiler that could be more acceptable, but for a forced induction petrol engine, this is a horrible combination. Nevermind the fact the engine runs always below its optimum band, which I presume is negative for colling, fuelling, and engine components .... I have noticed its sweet spot is around 2/2.5k RPM, in fact when driving manual its response is very pleasant and active regardless of the presence of a throttle controller, or car mode, and noise and harshness are very limited.

But the gearbox still .... not a problem then, flick DSG into "Sport" and here you go ... nope, as Bap and Martini said, now the engine RPM reaches 3k before upshift and 2k on downshifts - which are okay. But for the upshift this is fine only in a more spirited driving, not city use.

So at the end I am using a varied approach, combining Sport mode with manual flapping, and is a drag, honestly.

When I have to behave, say when Missus is on board and I need to adopt a near dormant driving style, I leave everything Normal/Sport with Normal DSG and suffer in silence.

I wish I could find a way to remap the DSG to raise its shift point in all modes except Sport, but will see this later on.

Sorry for the long post, but just to say the throttle controller will make you feel the car more responsive, but there are also other factors to consider ....

If I had a way with the remapping of both engine and gearbox, I think it could be redundant.

1 hour ago, leolito said:

I have a throtthle adapter, and my experience is a mixed bag. Yes, it can drastically alter engine response to the skinny pedal, which means for driving briskly you have instant get-up and go.

However, this comes at the expense of a very harsh reaction from everything else in the car, that is not made to match it - in other words, suspension and body movement, engine, and especially gearbox are left behind when you set the controller in very sport/race mode.

I had it on and off for a couple reasons related to warranty work, so I could observe very well car behavior, and I see the main culprit in the lethargic response is the mapping of the darn DSG.

When the controller is in S/R my DSG becomes more jerky and notchy, and this is a behavior I do not like. I took it off for that reason and had the box checked, and there was nothing wrong. I suspect this happens because probably the gearbox finds the throttle input in unsync when in more aggressive modes, but so far I seem to be the only one having this symptom so most likely is driver problem 😁

Now the DSG ... in anything but "Sport", it upshifts at 1500 and downshifts at 1000. This means starting from a red light in a normal driving setting, you reach the legal speed limit in D5 in few dozens meters, and then basically you are left with driving a barge without engine control unless you rev it up, which is counterproductive, and obviously zero enging braking. I can comprenhend all the reasons for designing this logic - noise, emissions, fuel, blah blah, but from an engineering and car dynamics standpoint, is an imbecillity.

Now if this was a oiler that could be more acceptable, but for a forced induction petrol engine, this is a horrible combination. Nevermind the fact the engine runs always below its optimum band, which I presume is negative for colling, fuelling, and engine components .... I have noticed its sweet spot is around 2/2.5k RPM, in fact when driving manual its response is very pleasant and active regardless of the presence of a throttle controller, or car mode, and noise and harshness are very limited.

But the gearbox still .... not a problem then, flick DSG into "Sport" and here you go ... nope, as Bap and Martini said, now the engine RPM reaches 3k before upshift and 2k on downshifts - which are okay. But for the upshift this is fine only in a more spirited driving, not city use.

So at the end I am using a varied approach, combining Sport mode with manual flapping, and is a drag, honestly.

When I have to behave, say when Missus is on board and I need to adopt a near dormant driving style, I leave everything Normal/Sport with Normal DSG and suffer in silence.

I wish I could find a way to remap the DSG to raise its shift point in all modes except Sport, but will see this later on.

Sorry for the long post, but just to say the throttle controller will make you feel the car more responsive, but there are also other factors to consider ....

If I had a way with the remapping of both engine and gearbox, I think it could be redundant.

Have you spoken to TVS about this? Could be something they'd look at; in fact you might find a TCU remap would leave the Sport shift points alone. They're looking for optimum shift points, which may already be the case for the car in Sport and not need to be messed with...

It is high in my agenda, but I still got other things to sort out, but yes, a "personalized" map for the DSG I think it would make the driving experience much more pleasurable!

There is a TVS dealer up Northeast towards the Black Sea, so will be certainly an option!

On 28/04/2025 at 07:08, travs said:

No probs.

1. The pedal box is very noticeable. It has Eco, Sport and Race (with a +variant for each). I put it in Race+ and enjoy the relative hairline trigger throttle.

2. Spacers - this is a bit of a bigger topic, depending on what you want. The obvious point is to push the wheels out closer to the wheel arch body line; so you want to be sure that you don’t foul the inner wheel arch. You also want hubcentric spacers as these are machined to sit on the hub so they’re absolutely true. Non-hubcentric spacers have a small risk of not sitting quite central and causing vibrations but not sure of the reality of this. the other point about spacers is their impact on performance - whether they improve lateral grip by a wider stance, or mess it up by impacting the scrub radius. But these are probably more relevant to tracking than driving on the road. I went with 11mm because running 8” by 19” and 245 tyres which are a little wider than standard. Others have experienced a little rubbing on 15mm at the rear so I just stayed with 11mm all round.

@travs

1. Do you think it's worth a go on my manual 1.4TSI?

2. If I were to buy the same spacers as you, for example, would I require longer bolts all round? Are there any tracking/alignment considerations to be made when adding 11mm spacers, would you say?

Edited 29 April, 20251 yr by netman82

@travs

1. Do you think it's worth a go on my manual 1.4TSI?

2. If I were to buy the same spacers as you, for example, would I require longer bolts all round? Are there any tracking/alignment considerations to be made when adding 11mm spacers, would you say?

In a nutshell, spacers won’t improve “performance”, but they’ll provide a better visual “fill” of the tyres to the wheelarch. A Racechip GTS will give you an improvement of around 45PS and 75 nm of torque. I’ve been running one, plus their XLR throttle box for four years and I’m very happy with them both. I also had their diesel version on the CR170 MKII and was very happy with that too.

Expanding the above, besides the "visual fill", it would be interesting to consider when a wider wheeltrack can add a meaningful improvement in handling, like to justify adding spacers of x/xx mm to compensate.

For examples, "S", "M" and "Sportline" models of bygone era had wider tracks - especially at the front than their original counterparts, ranging from 3 to 8 mm, noticeable especially by the enlarged front fenders.

Anyone that had used a SIII without and then with say 10mm spacers, could be judged a noticeable change in the driving dynamics of the car?

Lowering has a greater impact on the handling compared to a wider track. But the difference could be the stiffness of the springs rather than lower ride height on it's own. Only way to measure that would be to have height adjustable coilovers and run them back to back with the same spring/damper settings but at different heights.

Tyres are probably the best value for money upgrade on any car to get what you want from it. Sticky for better handling etc.

VAG cars respond well to pedal boxes. I find the dsg is more ready to change down and it makes the car more reactive overall.

If you want a really affordable handling improvement, fit some spring assisters in the rear. The turn in will be a bit sharper. Just be aware of the potential for increased stress on the springs and the ride height might increase slightly. It's worth a try to see some of the benefits that a stiffer rear roll bar offers.

On 29/04/2025 at 10:26, netman82 said:

@travs

1. Do you think it's worth a go on my manual 1.4TSI?

2. If I were to buy the same spacers as you, for example, would I require longer bolts all round? Are there any tracking/alignment considerations to be made when adding 11mm spacers, would you say?

I have no idea how the pedal box affects the 1.4 compared to the 2.0 280 - I can believe they’re different naturally but if there is one for the engine, then there must be some sort of market for it. If the car is manual, then there’s probably less of an issue - as @leolito said, some of this is down to the DSG box and how the throttle interacts with that.

As for the spacers, it’s far more about aesthetics than handling; it’s an argument that a wider stance could equal more lateral grip but (a) it’s largely setup specific and (b) I have no idea if there is reduced grip in other ways.

As others have said there are better more directly relevant ways to improve handling such as rear arb, or stiffer springs 👍

Edited 1 May, 20251 yr by travs

The 1.4 4cyl EA211 lump has been in VAG cars for a fair few years - be it ACT, CoD or neither.

As far as I'm aware, interaction with the DSG box aside, both variations have the exact same throttle unit (put your foot down and you'll feel the kick down click at the bottom.

The EA211 owners group on FB is worth a look - people there are regularly hitting 250bhp without anything significant turbo wise. There's also some good stuff here. Generally speaking, small upgrades to better performance usually worsen NVH and everything else. Stuff like dogbone mounts can tighten things up and make your gear changes quite sharp, but (IME) this has a slightly negative effect on NVH.

There's nothing else you can really do for more power, without looking at a bigger turbo and other such mods. Sure, putting in some nicer plugs and looking at fuelling, cooling, etc will be a nice touch, but I highly doubt you'll see anything performance wise. Where do you get it mapped? I would suggest seeing what they say.

Spacers won't affect an alignment. They'll increase the scrub radius, which can affect the steering, but otherwise you'll be fine. Spacers do, in theory, increase lateral grip, but there's so many other factors that you won't see any difference.

You'll get significantly more grip by sticking on some PS5s than you will increasing your tyre/track width by 10mm.

Oh and yes longer bolts for spacers (sorry for missing that earlier). The existing bolts for mine were 38mm long thread so added the 11mm to get 49mm. The ones that I think came with the spacers were 50mm. You definitely don’t want to skimp on that!

@OccyVRS

Thank you for your detailed reply, summarising and tying up some loose ends 🙂

I never knew that about that the kick down click, or even that it was there in the first place! I will probably add a throttle box to my wish list.

If only I used FB, I'd check that out. However, I did spend some considerable time on the website you sent a link too, and on the associated YT channel, so I managed to pick up some useful information there, but no real specifics as to where to go next.

With regards to dogbone mounts and your remarks around gear changes, do they only apply to the DSG box? I presume so.

I will not be looking at changing my turbo. However, what did you think about the remarks made above about coil packs and whatever a "GFB DV+diverter valve" is?

I had my car mapped at SLT Remapping; they're not a tuning outfit per se, so wouldn't be able to advise on mods etc.

Spacers are definitely just about aesthetics for me, nothing more. I feel the wheel arches would be better filled if the wheels were to stand a little prouder.

@travs Thank you following-up :) Just to clarify, the Forge 11mm spacers you have came with 5 bolts per spacer, is that right? Could I use these? I note you say you used 49mm bolts as opposed to the 50mm supplied, why was this?

5 minutes ago, netman82 said:

@OccyVRS

Thank you for your detailed reply, summarising and tying up some loose ends 🙂

I never knew that about that the kick down click, or even that it was there in the first place! I will probably add a throttle box to my wish list.

If only I used FB, I'd check that out. However, I did spend some considerable time on the website you sent a link too, and on the associated YT channel, so I managed to pick up some useful information there, but no real specifics as to where to go next.

With regards to dogbone mounts and your remarks around gear changes, do they only apply to the DSG box? I presume so.

I will not be looking at changing my turbo. However, what did you think about the remarks made above about coil packs and whatever a "GFB DV+diverter valve" is?

I had my car mapped at SLT Remapping; they're not a tuning outfit per se, so wouldn't be able to advise on mods etc.

Spacers are definitely just about aesthetics for me, nothing more. I feel the wheel arches would be better filled if the wheels were to stand a little prouder.

Yep - it's just a cost saving method really, although in my Leon I used to like clicking into full power mode!

Dogbone mounts will have an effect - they're used to reduce transmission movement during acceleration/deceleration. They have more of an impact on DSG cars, but small things add up.

Speaking of small things, the diverter valve they're on about is here. Truthfully, I think it is a total waste of time on your engine. A diverter valve works by diverting built up boost pressure when you lift off the throttle (similar to a BOV - blow off valve). An upgraded DV is useful for reducing spool time, thus increasing throttle response, and a BOV is useful for quickly dumping the insane amounts of boost your 110mm Garrett turbo is (not) making. For example, the GFB version opens 10% faster and shuts 50% faster than the factory bit, which helps you build up boost a tiny bit faster. It'll help with throttle response, but it's not really important on a Stage 2 RS3, let alone a remapped 1.4! If you're after throttle response, a pedal box will do far more.

It's the same story with fuelling, plugs and whatever else you can throw at it. These are all supporting mods to the elephant in the room - the turbo upgrade. You could very easily drop £7,000 by squeezing on some Racingline carbon ceramic discs and six piston monoblock calipers. Will they make any difference? No.

What tyres do you have? Did you just do the K&N box, or is it the cone style cold air intake? Putting some PS5s on, nicer pads, spacers and maybe a resonator delete will do far more for your driving experience than pointless unsupported engine parts!

2 hours ago, netman82 said:

@travs Thank you following-up :) Just to clarify, the Forge 11mm spacers you have came with 5 bolts per spacer, is that right? Could I use these? I note you say you used 49mm bolts as opposed to the 50mm supplied, why was this?

Think I worded that badly. What I meant was that I would need at least 49mm bolts (38mm original bolt length plus 11mm spacer) if I was to accommodate the entire spacer addition. The bolts I got were 50mm so were 1mm longer. They’re also black so more subtle.

I’ve also managed to get a set of black 50mm locking wheel nuts too.

It's worth saying that a few mm make no difference (as long as it goes the enture way through the thread) but you don't want them to be silly long - that can cause issues too.

Anything bolt wise, you want to get from Bimecc. McGard Black Edition are the lockers to go for. That said, I only used the lockers as I got them in a deal from wheelbase alloys. Were I paying full price, I'd just run five normal hex bolts. I've had a lock key round out on me. It was a nightmare, until I had/found the idea to whack on a blank socket. It took me literally ten seconds to remove the locking nut/bolt. This was a Focus with the scrappy Ford two-piece design, but you get me drift. I wouldn't remove the lockers from my car, but were I buying again, I wouldn't personally bother IMO.

Great advice above about the turbo modifications and whatnot. Heed!

I have seldom noticed that changes to the hardware actually increase the driveability and therefore contribute to the general "usability" of any given car.

Yes, you can increase performance, being faster off the line, or up above a certain speed, but in general, messing around with the turbo will result for sure in:

a) change in the boost threshold, generally moving upwards the baseline;

b) change in the lag response, with varyng results;

c) a general disruption to the general balance of the components.

All this is not negative per se, is a matter of personal choice when choosing to mess around with the car, your personal property after all.

But if you end up with something more enjoyable sometimes, and less enjoyable most of the time, then probably was not a good idea to start with ... ask me how I know 😁☠️

I think you could start work with software and take it from there 🙂