‘ It was immediately lovable in a way that only the rarest V6s are’
The VR6 in the Audi and the W16 in the Chiron share DNA, but extremely different characters
that generated by its rear-wheel drive rivals.
The VR6’ s spinoffs that I have experienced – the W12 and W16 – are completely different. These turbocharged Goliaths are all about walloping thumps of speed. A twin-turbo W12 makes a Bentayga, even though it’ s a 2.5 ton SUV, rocket forward in a startling way and makes a Continental GT feel like it would ripple tarmac as it launches. But that’ s nothing compared to the shock that the 16-cylinder four-turbo version can do in a Bugatti Chiron – of which I have only witnessed from the passenger seat. It’ s hard to imagine how the human brain could compute with anything faster.
While the acceleration from each of these cars will forever live in my memory, most vividly from that
Chiron, I can only just recall the sound the engines made. Lots of turbo whooshes and a generic grumble, that’ s it. Quite the opposite of the tuneful baritone gargle of a VR6.
‘ It was immediately lovable in a way that only the rarest V6s are’
The quirks of the VR6’ s head don’ t help with keeping things cool, either.‘ For the air to pass through to the back cylinders, it’ s travelled a long way through a hot piece of aluminium, so actual air charge temperatures into the back cylinders tend to be a bit hotter. A lot of people will use water-meth. I would say from 800hp upwards, you’ d consider it.’
How these cars are used plays a major role in what modifications you need to invest in. Extended sessions of high revs on trackdays are where things really heat up.‘ If it were getting a lot of track use, then 600hp upwards, water-meth would be beneficial to you just to maintain temperatures. But most of these high-horsepower builds don’ t get track use. Most of them get just road use with the occasional blip. Maybe a little bit of drag use.
‘ We tend to tailor every build that we do to what the customer’ s looking for and what they’ re going to use the car for. We don’ t have one recipe. It just depends on what your outcome needs to be, what your budget is, and what the car usage is. The car usage is really important, because if you’ re going to be using it as a daily commuter with an occasional bit of fun on A and B roads, that’ s a very different build. Even at the same horsepower level, it’ s a very different build for somebody who’ s going to go and track it every weekend. Every build we do is different in price.
‘ They do offer a fairly budget-friendly tuning. If you had £ 10,000, you could build yourself something that was 650hp, and probably get it tuned for that. We’ re talking DIY here, we’ re not talking labour costs. You’ re gaining 400hp. Certainly, in the Volkswagen world of tuning, that’ s relatively good for the gains.’
Adding this much power and performance into what is, essentially, a front-wheel drive hatchback – even if it is equipped with four-wheel drive – means that you need to invest in the rest of the car, too.‘ When you start putting turbos on them, and you’ ve added an intercooler, you’ ve added a bloody great turbo, all your pipe work, additional cooling … you’ re adding a fair bit of weight to an already heavy engine. That becomes an issue, and you need to spend a lot on your handling and your chassis upgrades. You need a good suspension kit, you need good bushings and anti-roll bars to be able to make it handle the power. That being said, the Mk5 Golf platform, the chassis is an incredible bit of kit, and they just seem to suck it up and deal with it.’
The VR6 isn’ t just loved for its noise; it’ s become a darling of the aftermarket scene, too
Summer 2026 The Engine Rebuilder 31