Tuning isn’t always about dramatic widebody kits, bonkers engine swaps or ridiculous power outputs. Today we bring you news of a much more modest but far more real-world relevant upgrade – Abt Sportsline’s power pack for VW Group’s 1.4-litre TSI e plug-in hybrid powertrain.
The somewhat clunkily-named ‘Abt Power New Generation’ increases the output of the internal combustion part of the equation from 148bhp to 178, meaning the cars with the more powerful motor are good for a total system output of 272bhp.
This will offset the weight of the 13kWh battery used in these powertrains nicely, meaning something like a VW Golf GTE should just about match its lighter GTI cousin when sprinting to 62mph. Expect the 6.7sec factory 0-62mph time to drop to the low 6s. Nothing outrageous, but certainly a noticeable improvement.
The upgrade will be useful to many owners since this powertrain is so prolifically used. Along with the GTE, it’s found in the Cupra Leon, Cupra Formentor, Audi A3 TFSI-e, Skoda Octavia vRS among others, and a lower-powered version is fitted to bigger stuff like the VW Arteon and Passat GTE.
As the motors are less potent on the latter cars, the total system power once the upgrade is added isn’t quite as impressive, but still respectable at 231bhp. Although the nature of the tweaks isn’t specified, we can be all but certain they’ll be purely software related as per Abt’s first tuned hybrid – a 420bhp Audi Q5 55 TFSI e revealed last year.
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