At SEMA Volkswagen had 3 spots in total to show off their cars. Two spots were taken by Volkswagen’s own R GTI and Thunder Bunny and they decided to give the third one up to a tuner worthy of the spot. Volkswagen handed out some GTIs to a number of tuners. Among them were ABD, APR, H&R and WRD, while Neuspeed got a Rabbit and attempted to recreate its original Thunder Bunny concept.

ABD Racing

Engine: 2.0 liter turbo FSI with VF-Engineering GT28RS upgrade, JE pistons, Carrillo rods, 8.5:1 compression from thick head gasket, tubular turbo manifold, GIAC software, air-bypass valve, ABD front-mount intercooler, stage 2 LAN pipe intake system, turbo outlet housing, carbon fiber engine covers, Techtonics Tuning 2.5" downpipe and exhaust, custom dual-exit exhaust

The fully-built motor with upgraded pistons, rodsand lowered compression featured a prototype of VF-Engineering's latest GT28RS turbo upgrade - one of the first Mk5 2.0T's to produce high horsepower.The motor has improved substantially from its state in Street Tuner Challenge (et 11/06) since the new internals and re-tuned software increased power from 282hp to 349.29hp.

H&R Special Springs

Engine: 2.0 liter turbo FSI with GIAC software, Supersprint turbo-back exhaust including high flow cat.

As the only DSG-equipped GTI, H&R Special Springs encountered technical difficulties running the car on the dyno. The transmission wouldn't allow proper acceleration because it would shift before maximum power. However, our experience with this software on our own Project Dub suggests the power is about right, but the torque should be slightly higher.

APR

Engine: 2.0 liter turbo FSI with APR stage 3 turbo kit on inconel cast exhaust manifold, GT2871R Garrett turbo, cast aluminum piping, silicone hoses, front-mount intercooler, 3" dual exhaust, software.

APR was the dyno champion. With its production stage 3 turbo kit, the GTI made five more horsepower than ABD after its third and final run. Even though the competition was over, the tuner made another run after uploading new software that made 386.93hp and 405.33 lb/ft of torque. It didn't run cleanly but once APR refines this software, we suspect they might have the most powerful off-the-shelf turbo kit for the 2.0T.

R GTI

Engine: 2.0 liter turbo FSI with APR GT2871R big-turbo upgrade, front-mount intercooler, bigger injectors, software, intake, exhaust with sports cats, single muffler, custom tail pipes.

The R GTI put down the most power on the day (if you ignore APR's final run). It's only fractionally higher than APR's official run, but that shouldn't be a surprise since it basically has the same engine modifications - using APR's big turbo, software, injectors and FMIC.

All magazines got to vote for the SEMA booth space. Motor Trend/Automobile picked APR, as did SCC and European Car. So the booth space went to APR after all that!