APS, tuner of all things made by the VW Group, has announced that it has cooked up a storm for Audi A5 owners, specifically those of a
3.0-litre TDI quattro persuasion. Two upgrades are available, handily called Stage One and Stage Two, and to avoid confusion, Stage Two is more expensive than Stage One.
But weirdly, Stage Two doesn't seem to make the car any faster, unless APS's PR people forgot to mention it. Stage one comprises an ECU remap and the removal of the A5's speed limiter, resulting in a 55bhp power hike and a 60lb.ft torque increase, taking the car's outputs to 292bhp and 429lb.ft. Yet, impressively, fuel economy remains pegged at 40mpg average, says APS. There are no accompanying sprint times. It costs £599 including fitting.
Spend £1,300 and you'll also burble your merry way home sporting a brand new Milltek sports exhaust cat back system, which endows the TDI A5 with a 'subtle, deep, refined exhaust note, which perfectly compliments the nature of the APS conversion.' But no more power.
Thankfully, the work won't affect the remainder of your Audi warranty, and while you're waiting at reception for your A5 to come out of surgery, you might also want to check out the full range of APS suspension, braking, wheel and cosmetic upgrades.
Mark Nichol - 29 May 2009