My new car: 2021 Audi SQ5 Prestige.

[r0tor]

That's pretty spicy

[GoCougs]

Tuners that offer a TCU tune (which is everybody but APR, but APR says they're working on it) say a TCU tune is worth another 0.1-0.2 sec since it adjusts launch control shift points to match the new power bound (generally, shifts 500-600 RPM before red line). I'm not too obsessed with 0-60 and 1/4 mile times since it's not practical in everyday driving (i.e., drama of launch control setup) and I can shift manually when in M mode from a roll (which I do, when I want max acceleration). From 40-100 mph I went from 9.9 sec/1092 feet (stock) to 8.3 sec/916 feet (tuned) - yes, really, half a foot ball field ahead. If/when APR comes out with a TCU tune I'll probably opt for it (provided I still have the vehicle of course) but it's not so important to jump to another tuner, esp. since I'm still under the APR warranty. I might opt for an intake (worth maybe 0.1 sec) but for the SQ5 they're all carbon fiber at ~$1,000. APR says they're working on a PEX intake for ~$500 (same exact design as the carbon fiber intake) but they're notoriously glacial and haphazard with new product releases so not counting on it.

[GoCougs]

Try as I might - dry roads, warm tires, sun-warmed road - I'm still getting some wheel spin and can't do better than 4.0x seconds 0-60. I'll have to indeed wait till I get my snow ties off and probably a bit more temp.

[GoCougs]

Installed the just-released PEX intake from Integrated Engineering and dropped the 40-100 mph roll to 8.1 sec/886 feet. Good launch traction is still a lost cause. Even spinning a lot in first gear and short shifting into second (driver has no control over shift points during launch control) still running 12.45-12.50 sec in the 1/4 mile.

I'm not a fan of turbo woosh and whistle noises, especially that it is decoupled from throttle input (obviously). The decoupling adds to perceived turbo lag but I'm pretty sure lag is not actually more prominent. On the fence about keeping the intake TBH. Get my HP A/S tires on next week, and with a bit warmer temps, I'm hoping for 3.9 sec 0-60 and 12.3 sec in the 1/4 mile (and if so, I'll begrudgingly keep it on).

[r0tor]

You need Audi's new mountain bike now to compliment

[GoCougs]

Got the A/S tires on today but it's still cold (37 deg F). Now, when launching at full boost/RPM (4100), I loose traction a bit and then bog. With the snow tires I'd lose traction on launch but it would roll out of it without bogging. Anyway, I had to launch at way less than full boost at lower RPM (3500), and though 60' and 0-60 times are unchanged I picked up a bit in the 1/4 mile. Will have to wait for temps probably in the 50s deg F at least (at night  ) and that's going to be a number of weeks yet. My bet is there's another 0.10 sec to be had. Putting some estimates to it, taking into account typical turbo power band (less peaky than N/A), I'm guesstimating ~450-460 net crank HP. APR says  411 net crank HP but their graph I don't think takes into account a CAI or IC (both of which I have), plus I'm running E30. Oh, nelly!

[GoCougs]

Uff da. This is as good as I'm gonna get on A/S tires and stock TCU tuning. I'm soon to embark on a road trip to Arizona. When I'm back I'm gonna jump ship to a different tuner to get dat TCU tune. I'm most def missing out on 0.1-0.2 sec on both 0-60 and 1/4 mile due to the inability to launch at full boost. I also dumped the aftermarket intake - could suffer turbo noises and not sure it was giving me any performance advantage now that I've done a lot more testing. All told, still not bad:

[r0tor]

I'm always skeptical about aftermath intakes on turbo engines.  In the end the ECU is hitting it's boost target no matter what, and the intercooler probably doesn't care about the smidge more heat from the turbo having to work a smidge harder to pull in air.

[GoCougs]

The benefit is less flow restriction = better boost control = more boost (can play closer to the limit) = more power. This is (apparently) particularly important in lower bandwidth vacuum-controlled waste gate systems such as in Audis. There are a couple of independent B9/9.5 YouTube tuning channels I follow, and they report about 10 whp on stage 1 E85 with aftermarket intercooler (which is ~20% more boost vs. stage 1), so that's probably where the benefit begins. I rolled the dice and sure enough, I didn't detect a benefit, to the ability of the testing I could perform (i.e., acceleration vs. dyno). Just sold it on eBay for a better price than I expected, so all told worked out fine for me.

[GoCougs]

Sign me up! APR just released a stage 3 kit for the SQ5 and it's emissions legal (retains the stock cat) and doesn't need any add-ons like fuel pump, injectors, etc. Will be good for ~175 hp over stock, or IOW, 0-60 in ~3.5s and 1/4 mile in ~11.5s @ 117 mph, or thereaboots. Yes, there will be more lag but this turbo is a bit smaller than others' stage 3 kits, so I'm guessing/hoping there's no more lag than factory uber performance turbocharged cars (RS5, RS6, M3, etc.). Still a lot of lag, but I'll live. Still a bit of time yet before the kit (tune, esp. the transmission, which changed drastically from 2020) is available for my SQ5. It is hoped by the end of the year!

[giant_mtb]

Hell yeah.  Turbo lag is almost kinda fun to play with.  I remember very well dealing with it on my A4 (6-speed manual) very well...eyes ahead, dig into the go-pedal just a moment or two earlier than you would a N/A engine to make sure you're on full power out of a corner.  It was just an added little game to the driving experience.  Though it was pretty instant in spirited driving when you were holding lower gears/high revs and the turbo's already spinning away.

[GoCougs]

I'd pass on turbo lag if I had the option.

In comparing various dyno curves now, this system still has significant turbo lag - the likes of which you'll not find in a modern vehicle. Will be fast AF from a boosted launch or when anti lagging it from a roll, but neither methods are practical in day-to-day driving.

[Char]

Does this board still have an unhealthy relationship with Audi? Congrats on the car!