I drove a 210 mile round trip topday to APS who are located in Brackly to have the GruppeM fitted, along with a SS cat back Milltek exhaust, and a APS remap.
The guys at APS was very helpful and very knowledgeable in every thing VAG, so I actually felt safe in handing them my car (makes a change), they started of by changing all the spark plugs to Audi Issue NGKs (total of 8 ), then they fitted the GruppeM induction kit and Milltek exhaust, the Milltek is a SS cat back, Non resonated system that still retains the valves, I wanted these as it is linked to the sports mode and dramatically makes the car loud and alters its performance, but at times it is nice to have the choice of being a bit "covert" at times!
4 hours later the guys finished my car, and when fired up, I was rather shocked at how loud it was, it nearly shook the office to bits, Ed assured me it would not be this loud and was only the resonance caused by it being in a confined space!
(yea cant wait to start it up on a ice cold morning hehe)Ed the handed me the keys I was somewhat nervous as to how it would perform, I had a nice 110 mile trip back to Kent, so I was gagging to get going. When I started the car the engine fired into action, you could hear it sucking for a moment thought he GruppeM, then idled down to around 1100rmp while the choke compensated for the cold morning, then settled to around 850 rpm...WOW, what a noise, very deep and mature sound, it gets better, when driving in non sports mode its rather "Modest" to say the least, and I also noticed how responsive the car felt, I actually felt a difference. Then I drove onto the highway, I seized my opportunity and pushed the sports button...OH MY GOD, what a noise and the performance, this car actually feels like it has 440bhp (as suspected with the modifications), the Roar from the induction system is immense, the car now has the "snap you back in your seat" feeling again..even more than it already did!
Performance gains, Ok we all know that company's are a bit "excessive" about there performance gains, this is the brake down of gains, RS4 420bhp, GruppeM 7.4bhp, Exhaust 4bhp, Remap 20bhp, so this would put the car around 451bhp at the fly wheel, the RS4 has quattro system, these beasts do soak up a lot of power,so any thing up to 50bhp, so food for though, I will at some point put it on the rollers, so watch this space in the new year
So was it worth it...Yes, would I change any thing, Maybe replace the OEM air box as its a little too loud on full revs, however, I'M waiting for the system to bed in as the exhaust needs at least 2k! so we shall see. overall I am very pleased and impressed, especially with APS, they did a very good job, I recommend these guys to any one, very good price too.
I will take some photos of the GruppeM and Milltek tomorrow, and at some point will host a few sound clips via YouTube
P.S, Note that some of the above was written for non Audi enthusiasts for a performance forum, so no egg sucking here gents lol
