ABT ECU tuning available in the US?!
 

Its a piggyback...

$2,500 for a piggyback is way more than I am willing to spend. Crazy thing is the extended warranties are priced separately.

Even if it is a piggyback, +76HP / +36 TQ are not unimpressive numbers, and the first I have personally seen published regarding a B9 3.0T tune (piggyback or otherwise). Especially considering that I have heard (via following the BMS unit's development) that the 3.0T in the B9 application is apparently heat-constrained.

It looks like ABT purports to specifically address and manage this, too:

"The additional power is available only if the engine is neither too cold nor too hot."

+76hp seems about right for my JB4... but how the hell would I know yet. The TQ number is not impressive at all, 36 tq is like nothing compared to other modern platforms and that is what is being heat limited by our very unimpressive IC.

My golf R was +97 tq stage 1 (no other mods) and that tune was 800 bucks ( and still is, 1200 with a warranty from APR)

​​​​​​Absolutely space, and there is one on the market already.

Integrated engineering (very good mfg) is for sale now.
Awe is making one and should have it soon.
im certain others will jump in too, the platform is very young. It took 1.5yrs for the mk7 golf r mod market to materialize on the supply side, I suspect longer for this car because the demand side is small.

You are correct. There is a significant difference between the generic sensor interrupt systems and the CAN-bus integrated system such as ABT and MTM (and Manhart may have one too). The "flyer" describes those difference pretty clearly under the Special features section. The benefits are that the car's protection systems, particularly thermal sensors, are integrated with the boost, fuel, and airflow parameters. So there is no change whatsoever in the driving characteristics of the car, something the sensor interrupt systems cannot achieve. How important that is, versus achieving a similar level of performance increase with the cheaper generic solutions should be an individual choice. But hopefully a fully considered one.

As you noted, the EA838 and 839 engines are thermally sensitive due to the short path length and hot Vee architecture. Add in the variable valve timing from the B-cycle as well, and it should encourage people to examine how likely it is that companies which are providing engine, exhaust, and transmission "enhancements" actually understand what they are doing. The VAG development team that created these engines consisted of 2,500 engineers, most of them from Audi. Of course there is latitude to lift power and torque. That isn't hard to do (although harder to lift power at a higher ratio than torque). What is harder is to do so in a manner that doesn't impact on drivability or durability.

I have the ABT Power system on one of my B9 S5 (the SB), and am very happy with it. It does require 98 RON (93.5 AKI), and is not going to reached its rated outputs using fuels with high levels of ethanol, or winter fuels with high levels of butane, iSo what seems to be called in the US top tier fuel only. It is also not recommended to fit the system until the car has reached around 5000km. The benefit with ABT, from my perspective, is that they have a close association with Audi Sport, a good understanding of technical requirements (where to push, and where to be conservative), and quite advanced development facilities.

My concern, if I was in North America, is that the warranty should be seamless with the Audi distributor, which may not be the case. Odd, given Audi of America is owned by Audi AG. It should also be an Audi dealer fitment. Secondly, these type of systems are expensive. North America has an unusual pricing structure for B9 models, resulting in a relatively small price differential between S and RS models. The difference is much higher everywhere else, including Germany. If I was in NA and found the performance of the S5 was inadequate, I'd buy an RS5 at closer to base spec than a loaded S5 and then put an expensive tune on it, myself. And there would be a large difference in depreciation between those two options.

I spoke with the US Abt rep as well as Jack Daniels Audi in NJ, an authorized Abt installer. Both confirmed that the engine and drivetrain new car warranties might be voided by this power unit, which Abt have in mind when they offer two and four year powertrain warranties of their own. But for $600 and $1200 respectively, these warranties carry deductibles and 6000 Euro caps. That is not a good deal as far as insurance policies go. It would be nice if Abt America and Audi USA got better aligned as in Europe, as Glisse points out.

My 2018 S5SB has 17K miles after a year, so 3 years/32K to go on the new vehicle warranty. Daniels noted that this Abt unit can be disconnected without a trace and would therefore be invisible to the Audi diagnostics, so that's a plus. The question for me becomes: is this $2500+ toy worth the 80hp bump? Still mulling it over but I might just say yes considering that this Audi dealer would work with me to ensure I could get powertrain warranty service should it be required. To trade in my car for a 2019 RS5 SB would require a cash outlay of around $35K, which is not reasonable for the incremental overall performance. If I had $85K and no car then yes I would get the RS5. But the Abt unit might just cure the performance ache!