Exeo tuning

"The Ultimate sleeper?"

The Exeo is based on the A4 chassis and brings a good level or refinement and performance to Seat. Many of our Exeo owning members have uprated the handling of their cars as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car. Fit polyeurothane bushes and get some adjustable shocks from a reputable maker. Often you will find that Audi and VW performance parts will fit giving you a wider range to choose from. Drop the car by as much as 35mm and fit stiffer dampers, bigger drops than this will need other modifications in most instances especially if you have larger 17 inch alloy wheels.

Our aim in Exeo engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Seat Exeo Tuning modifications.

You can still perform the modifications we recommend to the 1.6 and 1.8 engines but you should only expect a modest power gain of 10-20%, for the same amount of money you could do an engine swap to the 1.8 Turbo and get an instant 100% power hike. TorqueCars would instead prefer to focus on improving the handling and braking of the smaller engined Exeo models.  This will create a fun car that is good in the corners.

The VAG 1.8 Turbo engines were stunning, a real favourite of ours, and a simple remap is all you need to raise the power from 150bhp to around 225 bhp. Fitting a larger turbo is a good option with many choosing to swap in a KO4 or KO3s which will  raise the potential as the standard KO3 runs out of puff quite early on (around 5500rpm). The KO3s is a straight swap but the KO4 requires a different manifold and needs a bit of work.

On the 1.8T engines it also pays to get a heavy duty recirculating diverter valve (atmospheric blow off valves have caused error codes to show) and we would also uprate the rather small intercooler. A large front mounted intercooler seems the most sensible option but a twin smaller intercooler will also have its merits. The 1.8 Turbo engine has been used in a number of powerful applications including the sporty Audi TT and can cope with power figures of upto 300bhp and even more on standard internals.

The main differences between the 1.8T 225bhp and 150bhp engines are in the head and intake. Swapping the head will help lift the performance potential of the 1.8T and a custom remap can squeeze out a little more of your other mods as well.

The diesel engines lend themselves very nicely to a remap and have another 30% power gain to give on standard internals. Uprate the intercooler and exhaust for further gains.

Seat Exeo Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. You need to unrestrict the airflow into the engine as much as possible and a cotton panel air filter will help this. A good sports exhaust is essential to balance your freer flowing air filter, just adding an induction kit on it's own will do little to increase your power.

Head work including a polish and port and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. Focus primarily on the 2 exhaust valves and exit ports, the effective bottle neck on the system. A properly flowed 1.8T head should handle power of up to around 400bhp if done right. (That power gain will need many other modifcations than just a flowed and ported head!)

 When you start tuning your Exeo you may well find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch especially if you are still on your original clutch and have done a lot of miles. NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give phenomenal power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block.

Seat Exeo Wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. The downside to large alloy wheels on your Exeo is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on acceleration and performance. For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 17 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Exeo options in more detail with our Exeo owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Seat tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.