MKVI GTI ECU Upgrade...Which is Best?

[Corey_R]

It is not about not having 2k to spend it is about cost/benefit. 1k for a little more power to play with that you will only get to use one in a while makes a lot more sense that 2k. That is a nice holiday! Priorities that is all.

lol.... you shouldn't post stuff like that. It makes it very obvious that you haven't done your homework.

'A little more power' would be the BIGGEST understatement EVER about what any of these companies ECU flashes do.

Trust me, once you've gone and tried one of these, either by driving someone elses car that has already been flashed, or taking up a 'trial flash' from a company like APR, you'll understand why 'The biggest performance improvement you could perform for only $2k' would still be an understatement.

The entire reason that APR offers a security lock out and the ability to switch back to factory tuning is that there is such night and day between a GTI stock and a GTI with the Stage I flash, that any dealer would realise it had been done simply by turning the car on to move it from the car park to the service bay! They are THAT impressive

[HereGoes]

They are THAT impressive

I Get the impressiveness and the sheer difference between the two, and i have done all the homework short of the actual test drive. (If anyone want to offer one i will take it =P)

But for me it come down to do i want to spend 2k on extra power that i really do not need (but want) and knowing me will cost me even more points or would i rather pay for a flight to some adventure in a far of country? Simple economics really, allocation of resources.

[elisiX]

If you're saying spend $2k on APR or $2k on a holiday. I say take the holiday.

Doesn't for a second take away from what coreying has stated about these performance tuners.

[Corey_R]

I Get the impressiveness and the sheer difference between the two, and i have done all the homework short of the actual test drive. (If anyone want to offer one i will take it =P)

But for me it come down to do i want to spend 2k on extra power that i really do not need (but want) and knowing me will cost me even more points or would i rather pay for a flight to some adventure in a far of country? Simple economics really, allocation of resources.

Having said that, you're spending $40k+ on a car which many would argue already gives you more power than you need! You could've saved $20k and bought a Hyundai
An additional $2k is nothing when looked at the overall purchase of the car - it's probably only 3.6% to 5% of the cost of the car (depending on the options you got). Compare this to the fact that it increases power by 22% and torque by 44% - it's awesome value!

BUT... although I doubt the quality of a holiday which only costs $2k, I'd be tempted to take elisiX's advice if that $2k meant the difference between being able to take a holiday or not...

[Guy_H]

It's only $1700 for 2 programs, not 2k for a single program!

Some of the others on the market have a lower price for a single program, but that doesn't help you if you need to go back to stock for any purpose (included in our product).

If you have a dealer reflash, your APR is re-installed (no cost from APR) - has been the same way for many years now.

Anyway HereGoes, since you are in Toowong, pop over & visit us & have a chat! We can show you all the ins & outs of the MKVI!

Logger is correct on the DSG torque monitoring, but there are several factors that also influence what information gets sent to the DSG box as well. The "overtorque" situation is something that is controlled by the fuzzy logic part of the DSG controller (or the adaptable part), if the transmission is "expecting" a certain torque, it's not a problem.

[HereGoes]

Having said that, you're spending $40k+ on a car which many would argue already gives you more power than you need! You could've saved $20k and bought a Hyundai
An additional $2k is nothing when looked at the overall purchase of the car - it's probably only 3.6% to 5% of the cost of the car (depending on the options you got). Compare this to the fact that it increases power by 22% and torque by 44% - it's awesome value!

BUT... although I doubt the quality of a holiday which only costs $2k, I'd be tempted to take elisiX's advice if that $2k meant the difference between being able to take a holiday or not...

I agree, it is a small amount to pay considering the power and the value of the car, but am i really going to get to use it to its full potential to justify paying that much for it... We will see... and if/when i do APR is at the top of the list.

And the holiday is definitely happening regardless, 5 week in South America (If it has not be natural disastrous away to nothing!) in august, $2k got me the flights

[HereGoes]

Anyway HereGoes, since you are in Toowong, pop over & visit us & have a chat! We can show you all the ins & outs of the MKVI!

Thanks mate i will, just not too soon though because i know as soon as i actually drive with it i am going to want it!

[Corey_R]

I agree, it is a small amount to pay considering the power and the value of the car, but am i really going to get to use it to its full potential to justify paying that much for it...

I think you will. It's not a situation where the additional 34 kw is only available beyond the revs of the stock 155kw etc - the additional power and torque is there ALL through the rev range. So it's always there. So you can use it all the time.... driving along in 6th gear at 60kph and need accelerate up to 80kph to overtake another car but can't be bothered changing gears - it's just so much easier with the ECU as you've got 44% more torque. I think it's really the torque which makes all the difference.

Anyway - as Guy has offered, go up and check it out when you're back from holidays. As you're last post says, I'm pretty sure the only regret you'll have when you finally take the jump, is that it took you so long to take the jump

[AdamD]

As far as I can see the DSG controller does not log torque...

Slightly OT: does anyone know whether the use of launch control is logged at all?

I'm not about to use it when I get my GTI (I'm a mechanical sympathist and suspect it puts too much load on the clutch pack, gearbox, driveline etc), but I am interested nonetheless.

[Corey_R]

I think that for anyone looking into a flash ECU upgrade, unless you ONLY drive in metro locations, it is a MUST to get an ECU upgrade which allows switching back to stock.

The Polo GTI and Golf GTI (MK6) allows the car to be run on 95 octane. Even the MK5 GTI you could get away with 95 octane if you really had to.

Why would you want to run 95 octane? Well, you wouldn't. But if, like me, you sometimes drive from one state to another, or have to visit a country town, sometimes you simply cannot get 98 octane fuel. If you have an ECU tune which doesn't allow switching, well ping baby ping.

So far I'd only seen people mention that the ability to switch back to stock is useful for servicing of the car. But I've unfortunately been in the situation where I've had to use it due to the available fuel - yet I've not seen anyone else mention that yet, so I thought I should let ya'all know