Puzz1

We've had a Premium Plus with the base 3.0T engine for 2 years. Generally, we like the car but it is woefully underpowered. Whether it's around town or getting onto a highway, the car is sluggish and seems to lumber around. It's too heavy for an engine putting out less than 300HP which has become increasingly frustrating. The car is also missing two key features - lane change assist and the smart key.

So my question is this: Would you trade it for a 2014/2015 S-line prestige or perhaps a new 2017, or throw a chip into the existing car? And btw, I don't know the first thing about the latter. We have 47,000 miles on a 2013 that was put into service in 2012. It was 2 years old when we bought it in fall of '14.

What would you do?

flynavy

chip or not I don't think you will get more than 333 hp out of any current Q7 as there aren't any chip makers producing anything for the Q7. My 2012 prestige s-line has adequate power at 333 for 99% of my driving needs. That being said I am opting for an SQ7 (if they become available) the new suspension technology and advances in the car make it worth it to me to wait although my 2012 has been flawless and works great.

jetsfan101

there are chips available for the 3.0 SC engines. And they work wonders in terms of final power numbers. You can also get the chip box from Germany which will cost less. I know a few people that have gotten them, and love it

I would chip it, unless the OP is willing to fork out a substantial extra $$

flynavy

the only chips I have ever found for the 3.0 will only up the hp to 333, which is what mine has in stock configuration.

jetsfan101

boo

Actually i heard that in a couple of months Audi will start selling a 2017 Q7 with a 2.0T engine. Yes you heard it right. It will be tuned up to 252hp/273 ft lb torque

It will cost $6000 less than the 3.0t and surely you can tune that up to 300hp/350 ft lb

RON1X

Both APR and GIAC tune the 3.0T engine, and I've heard great things about both, albeit from 1 user of each platform. With both companies, when you upgrade the pulley it is considered "Stage 2" with peak gains of around 80-100hp over stock (whether that is over the S-line Prestige 333hp or non-S-line 300hp base I don't know).

I was quoted $1700 locally for labor for the pulley install and GIAC stage 2 flash. The only problem is finding more real information from more people that have either tune. It seems like very few people have tuned the 3.0T in the Q7, although there are plenty of people with the 3.0T in the A6 that have, so its not a really a good comparison.

My '13 S-line is decently powered for what I do, but I would really like to have another 75+hp if possible (especially for towing my boat in the summer). I've been debating on tuning mine (it's still in warranty...), but the thought of the SQ7 coming to the US has me wanting to wait for that...

flynavy

" when you upgrade the pulley it is considered "Stage 2" with peak gains of around 80-100hp over stock (whether that is over the S-line Prestige 333hp or non-S-line 300hp base I don't know)."

and upgrading the pulley involves making the pulley smaller which of course we all know makes the supercharger spin faster. lets say just for the sake of argument that the supercharger is designed to spin at no more than 40,000 rpm. will it stand the increase to 80 or 100,000 rpm that your reduced size pulley will run at say at 75 mph. I think there will be some really interesting sounds made.....just before your engine detonates, not to mention the strain put on the front/rear drive train power delivery bias unique to the Q7. Remember to have your go pro on when it lets go so you can have a youtube mega hit video!

jetsfan101

theoretically you are right, and i am against modifying important things like size of pulley. But:

1. I dont think the size decreases pulley diameter that would make it spin double. little bit more as far as i know

2. People have been doing this for a while and i have not heard of engines blowing up. Not under normal driving conditions anyway

cuatrokoop

They don't change the pulley size that much, let's use some common sense here. APR actually has a graph of supercharger rotational speed. The increase at max RPM, looks to be from 18k to around 19.5k.