For the past few weeks, the world has been held in precarious suspense over the COVID-19 pandemic. This isn’t a situation to take lightly. Businesses have closed their doors, hundreds of thousands of people have been affected directly by contracting the virus, and millions have experienced anything from inconvenient to drastically life-life-changing impacts on their day-to-day. Despite all this, the pressure to maintain a sense of normalcy weighs equally, if not somewhat combatively, on everyone’s collective shoulders so we don’t lose any more than we have to while we deal with this global situation. We at ECS Tuning are no different. We have taken measures and precautions to ensure the health and safety of our customers and employees, but also have a responsibility to continue providing parts and accessories to the European car community. With that, we have also placed a high priority on continuing our new product development and release schedule so enthusiasts don’t have to wait for their next upgrades. We have managed to release a respectable number of new performance upgrades and modifications for every make. Here’s what we’ve been up to on the Volkswagen side of things.
MK7 Jetta 1.4T
The MK7 Jetta exploded in popularity almost immediately upon release. It’s more refined, bigger, more efficient, and stunningly attractive even fresh from the dealership lot. One of our designers picked his 1.4T up mere days after they became available, which you can read about in my road test and review of that car here. Since then, we have been hard at work putting our spin on the Jetta and designing parts to make it look and perform to our standards.
Carbon Fiber Rear Spoiler
Every European sedan deserves a bit of subtle flair to make it less sedate and more true to its heritage, even if it was never a production race car. Simple changes like an integrated ducktail spoiler offer that visual change that, with only a few minutes and a single product, can shift the entire attitude of your Jetta. Our Carbon Fiber Rear Spoiler (also available as a gloss-black plastic option) does just that. It distinguishes your MK7 Jetta as an enthusiast’s vehicle, not one of the common commuters.
Carbon Fiber Front Grille Accents
Like the spoiler, the new MK7 Jetta Carbon Fiber Front Grille Accents are fairly simple additions that disproportionately alter your Jetta’s demeanor. They offer a meaner, more aggressive, and boxier look to your front end while ultimately not detracting from the factory design elements. They’re like the right watch or shoes with a suit that helps take the outfit from off-the-rack businessman to dapper gentleman.
Carbon Fiber Quad-Tip Exhaust Diffuser
One place the MK7 Jetta 1.4T loses points is a tucked and hidden exhaust. Not only is it quiet, but it’s designed to tuck up under the car and not affect the smooth, almost electric vehicle look to the rear bumper that has become popular. We think the car should look (and sound) loud and proud as a sportier alternative to the standard sedan commuter car. This diffuser allows you to swap to a dual or quad-tip exhaust setup and draws visual attention to an otherwise simple and unimpressive part of the car’s visual design. It takes elements from its big-brother A4 and artfully pairs that aesthetic formula with the Jetta’s otherwise sporty style for a look that you could mistake for a factory option.
Quad-Tip Borla Cat-Back Exhaust
Ok, not our in-house exhaust, but we did partner with Borla to make this happen. To pair with your new diffuser, the Borla quad-tip exhaust provides the second part of the equation in making your Jetta look and sound like something more than it is. The quad-tip look is borrowed from the A4/S4 exhaust options and uses the ample space offered from the factory to fill out the rear end with beautiful exhaust tips that provide a hearty and impressive tone for more driving enjoyment.
MQB Gen3 2.0T
The latest iteration of Volkswagen’s highly adaptable four-cylinder turbo platform, the MQB Gen3 2.0T has found itself in nearly everything the company offers that has an affinity for performance. Namely, the GTI benefits from this competitive engine and can be improved greatly with minimal effort. We have a huge catalog of GTI upgrades that we are constantly expanding. Lately, we’ve made a few changes we think you’ll love to help your driving experience and give you more power.
Intercooler
For you MK7 GTI owners, improving power and performance is a fairly straightforward formula. With just a few upgrades and a software tune, you can dramatically increase the output from the highly tunable 2.0T platform. One step to that formula is our new MK7 Cast Aluminum Intercooler Kit. It increases the amount of air and decreases the temperatures of intake charge air, which supplies denser air at a higher volume. This upgrade is critical if you want to experience your 2.0T at its best. Off the bat, it offers an 24whp increase and up to 90 degrees cooler charge air and allows you to make other supporting upgrades without fear of heat soaking.
Exhaust
Again for the MK7 GTI, our new valved and non-valved exhaust options provide another key part of the performance formula. With our new exhaust, you can expect weight reductions up to about 9 pounds plus an additional 9 horsepower over stock. The valved option lets you control when you want the full volume from your four-cylinder turbo to be heard, while the non-valved is in party mode 24/7. With the new ECS exhaust and the intercooler combined, you stand to gain nearly 30whp without so much as a tune. Paired with our Luft-Technik intake, Turbo Muffler Delete, Turbo Inlet Pipe, and a tune, your GTI will sit in a new weight class while maintaining the same fit-and-finish a VW owner should expect from their high quality German hot hatchback.
MQB Tiguan Induction Package
We threw Tiguan owners some love here. The MQB Tiguan shares many elements with the other members of its platform family but often falls between the cracks when performance tuning companies develop upgrades. With the differences in the Tiguan layout in mind, we developed an improved induction system that improves power and gives you those sweet intake noises so you don’t have to feel sedated when driving a crossover. There’s nothing wrong with crossovers, but why be like everyone else when yours can have a bit more spunk?
MK5/MK6 Aluminum Radiator Upgrade
While it doesn’t add power, it is something that allows safe increases to performance capabilities. The radiator in your MK5 or MK6 isn’t lacking, it just isn’t designed to provide the necessary cooling that an upgraded engine would require. Our new Aluminum Radiator upgrade for your MK5 or MK6 gives you a larger volume with lighter weight for room to grow. With a 20% increase in capacity, your cooling system will be ready to handle higher output and higher temps more effectively to remain powerful and efficient.
