In this article, we are going to be talking about the different models of the Audi Allroad. We are going to talk about the different engines, tuning engine options, and obviously we are going to touch on the different tuning aspects of each engine. We are going to also look into some things to be careful about, some warnings for when you are tuning your engines and then I am going to talk about my personal review of the first version Audi Allroad and then the new version of the Audi Allroad.
Alright, let’s get started. So, in 1999 all the way up to 2005 Audi released the first ever Allroad edition. It was intended to be an Audi Allroad action Audi station wagon 4-door sedan with a hatch very well equipped with all the latest technologies; xenon headlights, adjustable air suspension, bigger tires, it was really a car designed for multi-terrain usage so you can drive it in the city, you can drive it on the highway, and then you can take it off-road as well. It was one of the only sedans that was able to clear eight inches and go through the Land Rover challenge successfully. So definitely a great great off-road sedan city/vehicle combined together. Then in 2006 Audi decided to replace the Allroad with the Audi A4 or Audi station wagon A4 Avant, with a 2 Liter FSI engine. That Avant model went all the way to 2012-13 and then it was replaced with a new C7 Audi Allroad Quattro equipped with a 2 liter TFSI engine. There were other engine options that were available in these Allroads, like the 3.2 liter atmospheric engine and the v8, but we are not gonna talk about these because you really want to focus your energy on the best engines for tuning.
The two engines that are the best for tuning are the 2.7 twin turbo and the first C5 edition then we can look at the Audi A4 Avant 2 liter FSI which is very similar to the 2 liter TFSI in the C7 version.
Great! Let’s get started on the C5 platform with the 2.7 twin turbo engine. That platform of engine allows us for some tuning. Now, this is not the best option for tuning, even though there is a lot of potential power to be extracted from the engine. It does require a lot of maintenance and it does require a lot of work. Labor intensive modification. Now why am I saying this?
Now, you can go out and get yourself a stage 1 software which is going to be so-so safe for your engine, it’s gonna be just OK. The big problem with these engines is that turbos are so close to the engine and they are so compact in the engine bay that there is not a lot of breathing space. There is not a lot of place for the engine to cool down and there is not a lot of space for the turbos to cool off. So what happens is that the turbos keep the heat, if there is more heat there is more pressure being pushed on the turbo and then they heat up faster and have a hard time to cooling. In the long run the bearings on the turbo go off and then they start leaking and then you have to change the turbos.
Now, changing the turbos on a vehicle like the C5 with the 2.7 twin turbo you have to drop the engine on the floor or on the bench in order to be able to change the turbos, so it is a big 3 and a half to 4 thousand dollar job, and I know it by experience because I had one of these cars and I did blow the turbo without even having software on it. I know I have a heavy foot, so if you say OK well, I’m just gonna get the software anyway that’s fine just make sure that you maintain your car properly and you change your oil on a regular basis. One little tip I’m gonna give you is that you really want to make sure that whenever you drive your car and you push it, you wanna make sure that before you turn off the engine you let it and the turbos cool off and let the oil recirculate properly in the turbines, for it to cool off. Otherwise your bearings are gonna start to cease and then they are going to begin to break, and then leak. So maintenance and prevention, is very important when you are doing anything with a 2.7 twin turbo engine. If you want to go a step further, you can change your turbos and put in KO4 turbos, KO3 sport, or KO4 or GT25.I have even seen people putting GT28 turbos inside their 2.7 engine bay. These are the options but I these are very costly options, as soon as you are going to start to play around and changing turbos you have to consider that each turbo is about $1000 dollars. Then also keep in mind the labor and the fact that there are potentially some rods to change as well as some transmission work to do. So, you are looking at a couple thousand dollars, to be able to get that extra power.
By Nozilla (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
If you just go with the basics, the car stock already has 247 horsepower and 258 pounds of torque. If you just add the stage one software you are going to go all the way to about 290-295 horsepower and very close to 300 pounds of torque, 290-295 pounds, a little bit under 300 pounds of torque.
Now this is very very powerful, and very interesting, once again you have to be careful how you drive and how you maintain your car. You don’t want to end up spending 4 thousand dollars for turbo replacements. If you wanna go further like I said with a KO3 sport or KO4 I mean your just going in power but it requires a lot of work, extensive work. You can go all the way up, I personally have seen on the dino an S4 that reached 560 horsepower to the 4 wheels. A very, very powerful machine but it is costly to maintain that car. The transmission would always break and there was always something going wrong with that car. You have to keep in mind that the more you push these vehicles, the more you are going to have to fix things here and there because things are going to break. I wouldn’t go that route especially if it is an older car. If I would do anything to it I would just add a first stage software and maybe not even that.
The second engine we are going to look at is the 2 liter TFSI or the FSI. The first one was equipped with 200 horsepower and the second has 211 horsepower but they’re very very similar. One is belt driven the other one is chain driven, but anyways if we are looking at power we can just go with the basic software. That is going to yield us an extra 50 horsepower and about 45 pounds of torque. If we are still unhappy with the software, and this software is very safe, but if we are still unhappy and want to go further there is another step further, the one plus. That’s gonna give you an extra you know 7-10 horsepower depending on the manufacturer of the product.
If you are still unhappy you can go with the stage 2 but then you are going to have to purchase some hardware; downpipe, cold air intake, ideally and exhaust system, which combined with the software, is gonna give you an extra 60-65 horsepower maybe 70 horsepower. Some of the manufacturers claim about 60 pounds of torque or 65 pounds of torque, that is more or less what you are going to get. Still if you want to take it further, that’s the beauty of the 2 liter TFSI engine, that there are different stages, different levels to which you can go up to. If you take it up to the next stage, which is the 2 plus well then you are changing turbos. You are changing the one turbo from a KO3 to a KO4, then you are changing some gaskets, you’re changing DV’s, you’re changing a couple of things and you also have to change your rods. This is very, very important you have to change your rods. You don’t want to end up like those guys that knock at the door and say my engine is knocking there is something wrong. Then it costs them a whole engine, a whole block, to be able to start over again. That is a couple thousand dollars later! You don’t want to be that guy so you want to change the rods, it’s not a big investment and it’s definitely important to put them on. Especially if you are going towards the KO4 upgrade now with a KO4 upgrade. You can buy a whole kit together with the software for 3000 or 3500 dollars. Once the kit is installed on the car, it’s going all the way up to 360-365 horsepower. I mean this is insane! This is really, really fast for that kind of an engine going from 211 horsepower to 365. Wow! This is definitely an option that is available for the 2 liter TFSI for your Audi wagon. You can also do the same thing on the audi A4 and on the Audi A4 Avant or any Audi station wagon that has a 2 liter TFSI or FSI engine. You can use these stages of upgrade for tuning that vehicle, so basically any audi wagon that is a 2 liter FSI or TFSI you can do that.
Alright so we talked about the different engine options, we talked about the different tuning options, we talked about some of the warnings and things to be careful with so now my personal review.
I owned a 2001 Audi Allroad with a 2.7. I loved the car! Driveability was great, it’s not a racer, it’s not a curve master, it’s not a car for racing or for speeding or for curving or for lapping. It’s a car that is just over all amazing! It gets you out of ditches, out of snow, it goes on country roads, it goes through potholes in the city, you name it, it goes everywhere. It’s a great vehicle and I love it. If I had the opportunity to buy another one, I would. The only thing that was disappointing is that I blew up the turbos on that car, without even having a basic software installed but that’s because I have a heavy foot. I did change the oil, I did do my maintenance regularly, but still this is what happens with these cars, they have the tendency to blow the turbos. So I would maybe stay away from this and I would go more towards the 2 liter TFSI Audi Allroad or the A4 Avant. So these are my recommendations and this is the Audi Allroad review.