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

Spec:
Eibach Pro Kit
ST 12.5m Spacer Kit

APR software is proving very popular on the the EA888 Gen 3 engines and its not hard to see why. This S3 came to us totally stock and the owner looking for a remap only.

The car gained 61bhp and 107lb-ft of torque over the stock figures, no hardware required. With this serious increase in power the car will feel much faster on the road and not just when driving hard. The increase in midrange torque will make day to day driving effortless. The same APR upgrade is available for the Golf MK7 R and the Leon Cupra. Stage one is the best “bang for buck” modification you can make. If you are interested in an APR ECU or TCU upgrade for your car or need more information, please contact our sales team

sales@clpautomotive.co.uk
01142 701025