This thread will dig down on the 3.2 and help remove myths and BS from people who never owned the cars to first hand experience from those that do.
lets get started.
Recently a few friends and I started to realize that you can get very cheap 3.2L V6 Audi/VW’s. Looking for a good DD and wanting a good platform we started looking deeper into what is really going on. Turns out there seems to be a goldmine waiting for all of us
Lets start with this. The 3.2L is a bit of a sleeper when put in the A5 Q5 and A6. They’re quite detuned when you start to look at them. Just like every NA motor from Audi and VW you just need to know where to go. Who to look for and what’s available.
Tune wise there is a TON of power stored and waiting to be unlocked. Stock the cars are detuned like many Audis to keep them in their place. But Tuned see this CustomCode tuned A5 - My 2008 A5 3.2L project
Bottom line here is you can have a decent 13 second… or faster … Family car… That’s faster than a tuned 2.0T and you’re in line…ish with the 3.0T supercharged stock unit… The NA motor is Tq on demand decent respectable Tq too. More than a tune 2.0T and that’s saying something.
So the 3.2 is worth the buy with real jump in Tq and good fuel mileage available let talk about why the 32 things that need to be fixed are TOTALLY worth fixing.
What really is wrong with your 3.2 and why it’s nothing you should be scared of and why it’s totally the work. I’ll get to the things that are wrong but lets start first with what’s right.
THE WHAT’S RIGHT - The what’s wrong will be the second post.
1 The motor has a strong history and you’ll see many with high mileage.
2 While stock it’s held back quite a bit. There is a nice chunk of Tq and Hp to be unlocked with a tune.
3 The power band even stock is not bad. The power band tuned is actually very impressive.
4 The Audi Valve lift system is part of the untapped power ability.
5 In almost all configurations the motor is easy to work on and things are easy to get to.
6 it’s equipped with the duel stage oil pump control
7 the timing system on the motor now has roller chain drives
8 We got the 3.2l here in the US Eu got the 2.8l both upgrades from the last gen
9 The block is light weight aluminum.
10 The conrods are made from cracked C70 steel.
11 The high-quality steel (C38) forged steel crankshaft is mounted on four bearings
12 New conrods were designed specially for the 3.2l engine.
13 The crankcase ventilation system was redesigned From previous years
14 Aluminium cylinder head
15 Four-valve technology
16 Valve actuation via roller cam followers
17 Intake valve: solid-stem valve,
18 Exhaust valve: chrome-plated solid-stem valve
19 Steel spring retainer
20 Variable intake camshaft timing
21 Variable exhaust camshaft timing
22 oil cooler
23 Variable intake manifold design
24 3rd gen stage HPFP system
25 FSI injection
26 Wide ban primary 02 sensors for better fuel mileage and control
27 better sensor placement for more ability to log and gather data
28 usable high stage cats. This means the cats don’t suck like previous years
29 The OEM exhaust manifolds don’t do the mixed stream flow. They have their own runner
30 The cats are not integrated into the manifold
31 you can use both extraction or drain methods to change the oil
32 The motor requires a reasonable maintenance schedule for plugs oil etc.
Over all it seems the 3.2 is more misunderstood than anything. It’s actually one of the more sleeper motors but it’s so complicated many have been shy to jump on it. While in it’s full stock trim it has a bit to be desired once you get the power unlocked it’s something to enjoy.
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