Audi Q3 Tuning

"Thanks for reading my Q3 tuning guide."

The Q3 is a very capable SUV and a great addition to the Audi portfolio. It offers great performance and handling plus many practicalities that the similarly sized A3 doesn't.

From a tuning point of view it is a great car to work from with some excellent engine options from Audi.

1.4L TFSI I4 (replaced with the later 1.5 TFSi), the very powerful 2.0L TFSI I4 and a couple of very refined clean burning diesels namely the 2.0L TDI diesel I4 and the larger 2.5L TFSI I5.

Let's take a look at engine mods and handling improvements for the Q3 in our tuning guide, we have also written some detailed engine specific guides for many Audi engines and are frantically adding more.

The only thing holding you back in your Q3 project is time, money and your imagination If you do your planning then you can create an awesome Q3 but don't be fooled there are lots of sports upgrades out there that will simply not suit it read our unbiased guides first.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for lots of DIY modders first priority in your Q3 tuning project.

If you set the toe out to around 1.5 degrees on the front, and add slight negative camber then cornering will greatly improve.

Drop the car by as much as 21mm - 31 mm and fit sports stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

The standard Q3 suspension setup is actually generally pretty good and well thought out, especially on the sline models.

Our aim in Q3 engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Engine Tuning.

Typically these tuning upgrades are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you start.

We have a detailed guide for the following engine

2.0 TFSI tuning guide

More will be added in due course.

Getting the correct grade of uprated mods for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 motor sport parts just don't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

Modifying to STAGE 1:

Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Remap, Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust.

Modifying to Stage 2:

Power/Sport clutch, hihg flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.

Modifying to Stage 3:

Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Sports gearbox.

Peak power is all well and good but for a daily driven car you need a long torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give your a good starting base to the best mods for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.One of the biggest mechanical tuning upgrades you can do to your NASP engine is to fit a fast road camshaft .

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap.

TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a competition cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to pay attention to the fuelling.

Using higher octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Audi project after fitting other sports kits. To get sufficient fuel you may need to uprate the injectors on your engine. If you've uprated your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for most Q3 engines you should just fit a sports panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

The S line suspension is a little harsh and there are many aftermarket suspension options that are superior.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can find this will slow the exhaust rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 2 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Getting the head ported and polished will allow you to get more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a professional with a flow bench.

A good fast road performance clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or think that your standard clutch to cope.

Turbo engines are just asking to be Reprogrammed. You will see impressive power gains on most modern turbo charged cars including diesels making a remap one of the most cost effective and impressive modifications for your money.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloys are less heavy they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. The downside to large alloy wheels on your Q3 is that you alter your effective final drive ratio so this will have a negative effect on performance.

Although some people have fitted larger wheels without problems we would stick to a 16 inch rim size as the maximum.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Q3 options in more detail with our Q3 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Audi tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below. We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Audi. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...