stock 1.8t. Recommended upgrades.

Im pretty new to audis. Im in the new england area and i was wondering if anyone has been to NEA- Northern European Automotive Concord, NH VW and Audi - Sales - Service - Performance - Parts - Tuning and if they are any good.
I would also like to get my car faster and more eye catching. And keeping a semi good budget. Any websites or other places where i could look to get parts and some recommended parts?
Thanks!
The first thing to do is make sure your engine is 100% healthy. No oil, coolant, boost, or vac leaks, check on the coil pack recall (call dealer with your VIN and they can tell you if it's been done on your car) nothing else about to fail on you, etc.
After that's done, probably your best performance upgrade on a budget is going to be either a basic stage 1 ECU upgrade (+35-40 HP at the clutch), or for a little bit more money, the stage 1+ big injector version with the 386cc injectors from the TT225. (More like +60 HP at the clutch.) APR, Revo, Unitronic, GIAC, and quite a few other tuners all have similar offerings in this range. The tune is usually in the neighborhood of $4-500, and the cheapest I've heard of a set of TT225 injectors is about $300.
With either of those, it's beneficial to upgrade the diverter valve, as the stock one is known to fail at the elevated boost levels those tunes call for. It's not unreasonable to use the 710N valve from the TT225, but a lot of people prefer to go to the APR R1 valve or the Forge 007 or 008. Personally, I'm curious about the Synchronic, as its design seems both good and novel, but it hasn't seen widespread use in the Audi/VW community, so it's hard to say how good it is for our platform. A 710N DV is $50-60 IIRC, and the other, nicer ones run $150-200.
So, based on the above, for about $1000 or a maybe little bit more, you can have slightly more power than the 3.0 V6 makes without the weight of the bigger engine. That's basically what I plan to do to my car when/if some money falls into my lap.
As far as appearance goes, you've got lots of options. Wheels, S4 door blades, Ultrasport or S4 bumpers, etc. I think on a black car, especially given that you have IMO one of the nicer looking stock wheel options, I'd start by painting the lowers to match the rest of the body. The unpainted gray really sticks out, whereas it's not terribly obvious on my dolphin gray car unless I've just washed it.
After that's done, probably your best performance upgrade on a budget is going to be either a basic stage 1 ECU upgrade (+35-40 HP at the clutch), or for a little bit more money, the stage 1+ big injector version with the 386cc injectors from the TT225. (More like +60 HP at the clutch.) APR, Revo, Unitronic, GIAC, and quite a few other tuners all have similar offerings in this range. The tune is usually in the neighborhood of $4-500, and the cheapest I've heard of a set of TT225 injectors is about $300.
With either of those, it's beneficial to upgrade the diverter valve, as the stock one is known to fail at the elevated boost levels those tunes call for. It's not unreasonable to use the 710N valve from the TT225, but a lot of people prefer to go to the APR R1 valve or the Forge 007 or 008. Personally, I'm curious about the Synchronic, as its design seems both good and novel, but it hasn't seen widespread use in the Audi/VW community, so it's hard to say how good it is for our platform. A 710N DV is $50-60 IIRC, and the other, nicer ones run $150-200.
So, based on the above, for about $1000 or a maybe little bit more, you can have slightly more power than the 3.0 V6 makes without the weight of the bigger engine. That's basically what I plan to do to my car when/if some money falls into my lap.
As far as appearance goes, you've got lots of options. Wheels, S4 door blades, Ultrasport or S4 bumpers, etc. I think on a black car, especially given that you have IMO one of the nicer looking stock wheel options, I'd start by painting the lowers to match the rest of the body. The unpainted gray really sticks out, whereas it's not terribly obvious on my dolphin gray car unless I've just washed it.
The first thing to do is make sure your engine is 100% healthy. No oil, coolant, boost, or vac leaks, check on the coil pack recall (call dealer with your VIN and they can tell you if it's been done on your car) nothing else about to fail on you, etc.
After that's done, probably your best performance upgrade on a budget is going to be either a basic stage 1 ECU upgrade (+35-40 HP at the clutch), or for a little bit more money, the stage 1+ big injector version with the 386cc injectors from the TT225. (More like +60 HP at the clutch.) APR, Revo, Unitronic, GIAC, and quite a few other tuners all have similar offerings in this range. The tune is usually in the neighborhood of $4-500, and the cheapest I've heard of a set of TT225 injectors is about $300.
With either of those, it's beneficial to upgrade the diverter valve, as the stock one is known to fail at the elevated boost levels those tunes call for. It's not unreasonable to use the 710N valve from the TT225, but a lot of people prefer to go to the APR R1 valve or the Forge 007 or 008. Personally, I'm curious about the Synchronic, as its design seems both good and novel, but it hasn't seen widespread use in the Audi/VW community, so it's hard to say how good it is for our platform. A 710N DV is $50-60 IIRC, and the other, nicer ones run $150-200.
So, based on the above, for about $1000 or a maybe little bit more, you can have slightly more power than the 3.0 V6 makes without the weight of the bigger engine. That's basically what I plan to do to my car when/if some money falls into my lap.
As far as appearance goes, you've got lots of options. Wheels, S4 door blades, Ultrasport or S4 bumpers, etc. I think on a black car, especially given that you have IMO one of the nicer looking stock wheel options, I'd start by painting the lowers to match the rest of the body. The unpainted gray really sticks out, whereas it's not terribly obvious on my dolphin gray car unless I've just washed it.
After that's done, probably your best performance upgrade on a budget is going to be either a basic stage 1 ECU upgrade (+35-40 HP at the clutch), or for a little bit more money, the stage 1+ big injector version with the 386cc injectors from the TT225. (More like +60 HP at the clutch.) APR, Revo, Unitronic, GIAC, and quite a few other tuners all have similar offerings in this range. The tune is usually in the neighborhood of $4-500, and the cheapest I've heard of a set of TT225 injectors is about $300.
With either of those, it's beneficial to upgrade the diverter valve, as the stock one is known to fail at the elevated boost levels those tunes call for. It's not unreasonable to use the 710N valve from the TT225, but a lot of people prefer to go to the APR R1 valve or the Forge 007 or 008. Personally, I'm curious about the Synchronic, as its design seems both good and novel, but it hasn't seen widespread use in the Audi/VW community, so it's hard to say how good it is for our platform. A 710N DV is $50-60 IIRC, and the other, nicer ones run $150-200.
So, based on the above, for about $1000 or a maybe little bit more, you can have slightly more power than the 3.0 V6 makes without the weight of the bigger engine. That's basically what I plan to do to my car when/if some money falls into my lap.
As far as appearance goes, you've got lots of options. Wheels, S4 door blades, Ultrasport or S4 bumpers, etc. I think on a black car, especially given that you have IMO one of the nicer looking stock wheel options, I'd start by painting the lowers to match the rest of the body. The unpainted gray really sticks out, whereas it's not terribly obvious on my dolphin gray car unless I've just washed it.

Parts:
OEM / Performance Parts for Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mini, Porsche & Volkswagen - ECS Tuning
genuinevwaudiparts.com
ECS is easier to search, GAP *usually* has better prices, but it's worth checking both
Tuning:
APR: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.
Revo: Revo | Welcome to Revo
Unitronic: Unitronic Chipped - Chip Tuning / performance Software for VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Opel and Porsche
GIAC: GIAC - Automotive Performance Software Tuning
Motoza: Motoza. LLC (relatively new player, but they've been getting good reviews, and their tuning packages come with a cable and software to do logging and read/clear codes, which seems really nice)
Nice block breather hose upgrade, tuning, lots of various performance goodies:
034 Motorsport: 034 MOTORSPORT
Cheapest source for TT225 injectors I've seen:
Bosch TT225 Injectors
OEM / Performance Parts for Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mini, Porsche & Volkswagen - ECS Tuning
genuinevwaudiparts.com
ECS is easier to search, GAP *usually* has better prices, but it's worth checking both
Tuning:
APR: APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.
Revo: Revo | Welcome to Revo
Unitronic: Unitronic Chipped - Chip Tuning / performance Software for VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Opel and Porsche
GIAC: GIAC - Automotive Performance Software Tuning
Motoza: Motoza. LLC (relatively new player, but they've been getting good reviews, and their tuning packages come with a cable and software to do logging and read/clear codes, which seems really nice)
Nice block breather hose upgrade, tuning, lots of various performance goodies:
034 Motorsport: 034 MOTORSPORT
Cheapest source for TT225 injectors I've seen:
Bosch TT225 Injectors
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