Laguna Tuning

"Laguna Tuning"

The Renault Laguna was a good attempt at creating an affordable and comfortable executive car.

It was clearly aimed at a wide audience with a massive array of engine options, even from its launch date.

Now as models are appearing in the used car market there are many people looking to add some modifications to maximise their cars performance.

Renault Laguna Tuning modifications.

The best engines for a Laguna Tuning project range from the 2.0T 16valve engine to the super smooth 3.0V6  engines. The former is easier to tune up with a simple remap and sports exhaust and induction kit offering a boost of around 40bhp. The 1.8 and 1.6 engines are fairly dull and do not make good candidates for tuning.

Many Laguna owners that TorqueCars have spoken do rate the 205bhp engine from 2005-2007 as the later 2.0 engines were only offered at 170 bhp, no doubt an economy compromise. This makes the MK2 the best model for the car tuner and it certainly has a fairly large range of extras on offer.

The Mk3 Turbo Diesel engines, the DCi have a lot to offer and are probably a little more tunable than the petrol engines from a cost per BHP point of view. A remap on these is the way to go.

Bear in mind the mantra that you want to keep as much low end power as you can and aim for a wide power band rather than a narrow top end power spike. Getting the right mods for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road.

Stage 1 mods: Exhaust, Panel air filter, Remap, lighter flywheel, alloy wheels

Stage 2 mods: Fast road cam, ported and polished head, fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades, 

Stage 3 mods: Engine balancing, forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), competition cam.

Fast road cams can really transform an engine and in most engines you make pretty good power gains but don't go too mad with the cam profile or it will be undrivable in heavy traffic.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. For fuelling upgrades you will generally need a set of uprated injectors and a higher capacity fuel pump.

Performance air intake and exhaust modifications.

Let's move on to the engine intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. For smaller engined Laguna projects go with a high flow sports panel air filter. On larger engined models and turbo vehicles where power gains of 40% or more have been achieved an induction kit will help increase the peak power providing you address the problem of it sucking in warm engine bay air by using a cold air.

Do not be tempted to go with the biggest exhaust you can find (this will actually slow up the exhaust flow rate) - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. See our article on performance exhausts for details of the issue around large bore exhausts and how to choose the right size for your engine.

Getting the head ported and polished will further help more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a professional with a flow bench. When you start tuning your Laguna you may well discover that your OEM clutch starts to complain so get a performance clutch.

Remaps offer significant power gains on all turbo charged cars and with diesel models you can usually expect to get better fuel economy. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful. However a remap on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods. Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Turbos are harder to add than supercharger. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed. Superchargers however will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is easier to map. You might be lucky and track down a supercharger kit which offers all the parts you'll need to pull off this upgrade. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection unelss you are prepared to run at low boost settings which should still give a decent power gain.

Renault Laguna wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the Laguna Big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this is due to the change in your effective final drive ratio. For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 16 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

The ride is very soft and comfortable on all the Laguna's we have seen so one of your first modifications would be lower and stiffer suspension.

Join us in our forum and meet up with other Laguna owners where you can chat and swap tuning ideas for your car. Also have a read of our tuning articles to see what the pros and cons are of the many tuning options open to you.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Renault. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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