Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong platform

[DK77]

Yeah... the other jap 90s cars were more bpu mod friendly, while the 3s was set up to have a good balance of all the parts at the stock power level with nothing too overbuilt. It also would have been way more expensive with 15Gs and 550s from the factory.

[R/T93]

Rly? like 50 dollars more expensive?

Buying 15g's and 550's right now is a lot different than mitsu designing and manufacturing them for the car in 1989

[DK77]

Well the fact that none of the Japanese cars were supposed to make more than 276 bhp was the reason why Mitsu made the 3S with that much HP... They wanted to make the car as cheaply as they could and still have all the tech in there. You have to realize that back then the car was not cheap and any "extra" capability it was designed to have over stock would hurt the bottom line since it would raise cost and price and in turn decrease total sales. What Mitsu did put in the 3S is very balanced for the amount of power they were allowed to make. If they would have spent an extra $1000 on each car to put in 15Gs, 550cc injectors, and bigger fuel pump, you multiply that times the 26000+ TT models produced... and you have to invest an extra $26 million with virtually no return because the car can't make any more power from the factory than it did with 9Bs and 360cc injectors.

[Jimvr4]

A 1.8t automatic doesnt have balls. I dont know what the hell you were on when you decided that. I just sold a 1.8t a4 auto and that thing could barely get out of its own way.

My son has an A4 1.8t manual and I can confirm there are no balls in stock form. That 50 hp gain is a Stage I upgrade which is boost level only. They have a Stage III upgrade with upgraded turbo and supporting mods for like $4500 that gets it to 280 bhp. That's alot of cost for the extra 80 hp though.

[n2nsanity]

I'm not sure what is and isn't stock on mine but everything looks stock to me, unless it was already chipped. It may not be ballsy to everyone, but was much quicker than I expected from a little 1.8.

I don't know how much it actually costs to do any real major upgrades. I just stumbled across this and was looking at their dyno chart and wondering if it could be true.
50hp and 100tq from nothing but an ecu flash is impressive to me if not to anyone else. Especially for only $400 or $500.

My son has an A4 1.8t manual and I can confirm there are no balls in stock form. That 50 hp gain is a Stage I upgrade which is boost level only. They have a Stage III upgrade with upgraded turbo and supporting mods for like $4500 that gets it to 280 bhp. That's alot of cost for the extra 80 hp though.