Exhaust Downpipe And Software - Volkswagen CC 2.0T Tech - Eurotuner Magazine

When we first drove the VW CC it had success written all over it; a car that costs $26k but looks like it costs $50k can't help but do well. And VW reports sales are very encouraging.

The Passat-based Comfort Coupe has two power options - a lusty 3.6L VR6 or the trusty 2.0T. Inevitably, the four-cylinder turbo is more affordable, more economical and cheaper to tune, making it more popular.

Modifications to the 2.0TSI motor are pretty well documented, but we wanted to know whether the CC application might have a more restrictive intake or exhaust, to make the elegant four-door quieter than the GTI. We were also curious about whether the stock automatic transmission might cause any problems when the power was increased. As it turns out, the owner reports no detrimental long-term effects on the trans. In fact, its only obstacle was recording dyno numbers.

The CC we'd be testing belonged to Dave Kinkey, a friend and loyal customer of Raffi and Vic Kazanjian at Euro Sport Accessories in Anaheim, CA. They'd been eyeing the car for several months, eager to try some components on it to ascertain whether the CC would be a suitable tuning subject.

One of the problems with working on a car early in its development cycle is a shortage of available parts. In this instance, we'd been waiting months for an exhaust system but it failed to materialize. So we decided to press on with Euro Sport's 3" stainless steel downpipes and GIAC switchable software.

The downpipe is one of Euro Sport's own creations. Constructed from 3" T304 stainless it includes a 400-cell Magnaflow catalytic converter as well as a high-quality stainless flex joint to ensure it fits like stock. The cat was included to reduce noise levels and give a nod to emissions. In reality, Raffi concedes it's probably not fully street legal, but it should mean you don't get pulled over all the time, and it will pass a visual inspection at least.

The downpipe was designed to increase gas flow without being aggressively noisy, and on our dyno runs it seemed to meet that criteria nicely. With the downpipe on the car when we arrived, Vic strapped the CC to the dyno and did several runs to obtain power numbers for the downpipe and stock software.

For the test, the air temperature was around 87° and the humidity was at 26%. This certainly wasn't good for a car since it's both hot and dry, yet we recorded average numbers of 202.5hp at the wheels with 195.6 lb-ft.

We were pleased with the result since a stock VW Jetta GLI 2.0T DSG on the same dyno puts down around 188hp with different gearing. In testing, they were seeing 8-12hp with the downpipe and we estimated the CC improved by at least 12hp over stock. They also expect to see 15-20 lb/ft but our test appeared to give less.

The GIAC software was then uploaded from the Flashloader via the OBD port. It takes about 20min, after which we returned to the dyno.

Using the 91-octane program, the CC returned 217.2hp and 239.6 lb-ft. While the horsepower number is respectable, the 40 lb-ft of torque gained will give the car a great mid-range surge.

Considering the car still has the stock intake and exhaust, we're very happy with the results and the owner reports a very respectable performance gain without too much adverse effect on fuel consumption.

In the coming months we hope to try more parts on the car, including a K04 turbo upgrade from AWE Tuning.