The new Opel Astra OPC is already one of the most powerful front-wheel drive production cars ever, but you can never have enough and U.K.-based Superchips are happy to oblige.
The standard car produces 206 kW and 400 Nm of torque from its 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, which gives it a 0 – 100 km/h sprint time of 6.0 seconds and 250 km/h top speed. Superchips have worked with the car’s ECU program and have been able to extract two stages of additional performance.
The Superchips Stage 1 ECU remap adds a modest 17 kW and 61 Nm of torque. Peak power and torque are developed 400 r/min lower (at 5 100 r/min) in the rev range, which should be enough to bring the car’s benchmark 100 km/h sprint below 6.0 seconds. The Stage 1 upgrade can be removed or added via the company’s BlueFin plug-and-play device and costs £455 (or around R6 100).
The second stage performance upgrade involves the addition of a sports exhaust and catalyst. Combined with the same ECU remap, Superchips take the Asta OPC’s power to 229 kW and 475 Nm. Both ECu updates are covered by a 12-month and 48 000 km warranty.
The Astra OPC is equipped with a mechanical limited-slip differential and Opel’s HiPerStrut (High Performance Strut) front suspension design. Even so, with so much power driving the front wheels, the car is prone to torque steer and it’s likely the Superchips upgrade will add to any wayward antics. Still, we suspect more power could give the Astra OPC that little bit extra it arguably needs in order to be as fast as it looks.
Click here to see a lap of the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit on-board the Opel Astra OPC.
