They look down on my old 12v at the B5 forum. And I'm afraid I'm bothering people here with boring stuff. I have nothing fancy (like a homemade velocity stack) to talk about. :\

Apart from a K + N and a muffler I haven't done anything yet,mainly because I was also using the car to commute. Now I have another backup vehicle I might make some changes.

But the dealer yanked it out and damaged the rubber gasket. I also had a dirty MAF, so I went back to using a stock filter. I don't noctice any performance loss.

If I had time and money, I'd get a new car and tinker with my 12v every free minute. Alas, it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon...

Seriously I don't have a clue where 'stock' stops and 'modified' takes over.

If I use a TT gas cap (I do) on my A4 is that stock or modded? Synthetic oil? Are wheels mods? Tires? Air filters? Vac lines?

Webster defines modified thusly;

Modified: to make minor changes, to make basic or fundamental changes, to give a new orientation to or to serve a new end <the wing of a bird is an arm modified for flying>
intransitive senses
: to undergo change

Now who here among us is truly "unmodified?"

Next time (if the car still lives :-P ) I'll go for silicone. :)

I would say using a K&N filter or silicone hoses, etc, are upgrades. Physically altering an air intake, making your own velocity stack, or adding a supercharger, is what I'd call modifications.

Of course, it's a matter of semantics, and open to interpretation.

The rest ain't bad either.

at freeway speeds. Since Audis are fairly expensive to purchase and maintain, I would rather make the engine/driveline last a very long time than try and push the design margin to gain a few horses & ft-lbs of torque. If you want to race, buy a race car, not a over-the-road vehicle designed for every day driving.

I never found my 2.8 to be inadequate. It's not a race car, but if I had wanted a race car I would have bought a 911 turbo.

Okay, so I didn't have the money for the 911...

I simply want my 12v to improve the power to weight ratio and make our 12v's comparable in power to more modern vehicles. Our stock 172 hp engines pull approximately 20 lbs/hp. By increasing the hp modestly to 200 hp; you pull 17.5 lbs/hp. At 230 hp, you pull about 15 lbs/hp.

Most luxury sedans now have far better lb/hp ratios than they did 7 years ago.

It's not about top end speed in the USA, we almost never have the opportunity to hit the 130 mph governor during the life of the car.

It's about accelerating quickly in order to avoid problems: like the idiots who change into the right lane of the freeway just as you merge from the on-ramp or those other idiots who cut you off to get to the fast lane where they fail to flow at the speed of traffic, boxing you in, causing following distances to shrink, and leaving only brief opportunities to pass.

In short, acceleration can often become your best defense against idiotic drivers, because you generally remain liable for the accident if you remain behind them even when they do something unexpected or stupid, but they rightly become liable for their stupidity in an accident if they remain behind you.

Acceleration (quickness) is as much a safety feature as good brakes and firm handling, because the last thing I want is an unresponsive car when braking, turning, or accelerating in the face of potential or actual danger. For me, safety constitutes as important a reason for mods as enjoyment.

I smooth engine that's evenly torquey (is that a word?) across it's range is what I want. Swift acceleration is nice, and an A4 with the 2.8 engine is not a lame car. I've been driving so much in Europe, mostly in Germany, and I feel kind of sorry for them there. They got the Autobahn and not-too-crowded backroads, but most people have small engines in their cars. I mean, the 2.8 is a big engine over there. Most people can't or won't afford it. Here in the US, we get screwed, too. We generally got the more powerful cars, but we have to live with lousy roads and highways, lousy drivers, and consequently a lousy speed limit.


PS: I did go 130mph a few times in the US: on a piece of desert highway with nobody around. On the Bay Area highways I go rarely more than 75mph.
In Germany, I drove a Scirocco and also a Corrado routinely 120mph on the Autobahn.

And I don't see the need to remove it. I drive on the street. ;-)