We wanted something that would improve the ride quality drastically. Lower ride height and improved handling and stability were wanted too, but the focus was actually on comfort. KW V3’s ticked all these boxes, allowing us to find a sweet spot between all 3.

Looking and driving much better, aesthetics improved, handling enhanced, but a vast improvement in ride quality making ti a much more pleasant car to drive. Next up, a couple of induction mods. Racingline Turbo Inlet and a Sprint Filters Panel Filter for a little extra airflow and some mild turbo wooshes.

Wheels. The standard wheels are a bit marmite, some people hate the diamond cut OEM look, others think they suit the car perfectly. We’re with the latter, but we do love a motorsport themed multispoke wheel too. Considering this cars commute can get a bit sketchy in the winter we figured we could scratch the itch for a different wheel by getting some winter wheels and tyres. In steps the MSW 85. A very affordable 16″ wheel in a matt gunmetal grey finish. They look the part and are surprisingly light, win win.

They look soo good that we are considering making the change permanent. Not pictured are some fresh brakes in the form of Vagbremtechnic hoocked discs and EBC red stuff pads. Redstuff was chosen for the low dust aspect and previous adequacy on another car. While the low dust feature is great and really does work, we would recommend something like Ferodo DS Performance if you intend to do some spirited driving.

Current Spec:
KW V3 Coilovers
Racingline Turbo Inlet
Sprint Filter
MSW 85 Winter Wheels
Vagbremtechnic Front Discs (not pictured)
EBC Redstuff Front Pads (not pictured)
ST Rear Spacers (not pictured)

A very capable little car, fitted with the same IS20 Equipped EA888.3 2.0T that you find in the MK7 GTI in a smaller 4wd package. With it being manual the limitations of the stock clutch were found pretty quickly and with plans for more power, an upgrade was required to prevent constant clutch slip/failure. The Sachs organic can take up to around 410lb-ft and whilst gives a heavier pedal, is quite easy to live with under normal driving circumstances.

A little breathing upgrade can go long way on these engines, with an enlarged turbo inlet yielding up to 10bhp more on tuned cars. So on went the Racingline Turbo elbow and CLP Intake Hose. The standard elbow on the S1 is the same as the Polo GTI (6C) and Ibiza Cupra 1.8TSI with the inlet for the breather hose round the other side and a slightly different breather hose, so to make the MQB based elbow work the “Golf R” breather hose was fitted too. The intake upgrades were finished off with a K&N high flow filter.

Suspension was a tough choice With the S1 having DDC/Adaptive dampers and being a bit of a unicorn when it comes to the stock set up, there isn’t a huge amount of choice on the market. The dream was KW V3’s, but these were out of reach budget wise. So springs it was! Again, not a huge choice but comes down to either H&R or Eibach. Each has slight pitfalls, H&R go lower and look great but are a bit harsh. Eibach are comfortable, even more so that the stock springs. But don’t give a huge drop. Given this was a daily driver, we went with Eibach for the comfort factor.

Wheels were an easy choice. A favourite, timeless wheel style – OZ Superturismo LM. 18×8 ET35 to fill out the arches without the need for spacers. A slightly larger than stock tyre profile was used to help negate the smaller drop from the Eibach Pro Kit. EBC Redstuff pads were chosen for their low dust perk in an effort to keep the OZ’s clean. They provided adequate performance on the road and lived up to their low dust feature (next to nothing at all!), but for spirited driving or light track use we would recommend something with more bite like Ferodo DS performance.

Final Spec –
APR Stage 1 ECU Tune – 326BHP 348lb-ft
Racingline Turbo Elbow
CLP Tuning Intake Hose
Golf R Breather Hose
K&N Panel Filter
Sachs Organic Clutch
Eibach Pro Kit lowering Springs
OZ Racing Superturismo LM – 18×8 ET35
225/40/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 Tyres
EBC Redstuff Brake Pads
Powerflex Front Arm Bushes
Powerflex Lower Torque Bush