Down Pipe and Tune Bro!

Every genre of automotive interest has that rare renaissance where something comes out that seems too good to be true. The impossible pyramid of fast, affordable, and reliable was assembled by VW when they came out with the third iteration of the EA888 engine. The aforementioned renaissance is extremely circumstantial. In 2015, if you wanted a GTI, it certainly wasn't cheap. Today though thanks to VW's country of origin its value has greatly decreased. Luckily, the engine and the cars it came in suffer from many fewer catches than its kinfolk. 

If you wanna go fast and you wanna get to it quickly, then any of the vehicles equipped with the turbo 2.0 coded ea888 may be what you want. Circumstantial success and ease of achievement are all the rage today. With the right turbo, some improved air flow, and a tune, you can be the fastest kid on the playground. 40 rolls, 80 rolls, and even digs depending on whether you shell out the cash for a haldex car. There were a few bad eggs, though, and picking through them is almost impossible until they crack your wallet open. The double-edged sword of this engine is its cylinder head. It's engineered with fuel economy in mind, which means maximum volumetric efficiency. You can tell because of their drama-free droning exhaust note, the sound of efficiency has no room for glory. But high efficiency means high power potential; ironically, VW’s handiwork can be retuned to go from saving gas to ensuring you can burn as much of it as possible. 

You may be able to live with the noise, but that's not the catch. Many people would say the water pump, or the crankcase pressurizing PCV, are the gotchas with this platform. The real catch with these things is their valvetrain. Not the springs, and not usually the cams, but the valve stem seals and valve guides. Thanks to an unexplainable war that occurs between valve stem, and valve guide the cylinder head gets trashed unless you're willing to bring your head to a machine shop. You may get lucky and never have to worry about this issue; it's not extremely common, just nearly impossible to sniff out when purchasing a car. This engine and everything it can do for better or worse represents the progress of German engineering and how it can make your life better or worse. The potential of the cars with this powerplant is already making them a cult classic. It's not like everyone hasn't always loved modifying their VWs. It's just that today, thanks to depreciation, and catless down pipes, a renaissance has occurred where everyone else wants to modify a VW. While it may not sound like a VR6 or possess the attrition of a TDI, this engine is keeping VW alive and well in the scene now and further into the future.