ECU Upgrade

[Martin]

I've done lots of mods to my VRS
With the next car the only thing I will do is an ECU tune and wheels (maybe shocks depending on the car).

The APR stage 1 was a nice boost,
and mostly certainly the best value for money modification you can do,
the mid range was good but it ran out of breath at high RPM (over 5,000rpm was worse than stock).
At the time I though "that's made it more peppy", drove home and parked the car in the driveway.

The stage 2 tune with a new down pipe and high flow cat was a significant step forward.
This provided yet more low and middle range and cleaned up the top end.
The engine pulls better from as low as ~1200rpm
When you reach ~2600rpm it's game on, pulling hard all the way to red line, simply awesome performance.
Picked the car up at 5pm, it was a real eye opener, decided to go for a drive, arrived home 3 hours later.
Open road overtaking is now effortless - it's very reassuring.
You can't use all this power from a standing start, you need to get her rolling and learn how much throttle to use.

Personally, having been through this experience,
I would just go directly to stage two, the result is far better and still exceptional value/benefit/outcome.

FYI - Stage2 took 40km off my tank range during the daily commute.
On Stage1 I was doing ~580km per tank, stage 2 reduced that to 540km.
However, on the open road (family trip, not gunning it), I can do 680km on a tank, easy.
(My Stage2 VRS uses less petrol than my wife's automatic Mazda3 SP23)

I must say, the SuperPro control arms and anti lift kit would be the second best modification
It eliminated axle tramp on hard starts, significant improvement in tracking and high speed stability.
I chose to use the adjustment to give the most negative camber - this made a significant improvement to turn in response
So much so that I can comfortably trail brake and turn deep into a corner, safely and controlled, it's very impressive.
I've done ~40k like this and only have a very slight increase in wear on the inner edge of my front tyres.
I'm planning to change the adjustment, get the front back to stock camber and go for max castor.
I want the front wheels more vertical to aid getting the power down off the mark - you use that much more often.
(Anyway, more castor will give more camber when the steering wheel is turned)

The third modification I absolutely love is the front BBK (big brake kit)
This is clearly outside the "cost/benefit effective" zone,
but once you've had a BBK everything else feels unsafe and crappy.
Yes I know you probably think the brake peddle feels over powered around town.
At low to medium speeds the stock setup was good for sure.
Once you start using the extra performance of an ECU tune you find out that the stock brakes can leave you wanting more (especially in the Octavia due to ~100kg more weight than the Golf GTI and more again in the wagon)
Never the less, my choice of BBK was clearly excessive but it puts a smile on my face every day
These are 6 piston calipers, 358mm two piece rotors, they are 1.4kg lighter per side than the original brakes!





Here is my VRS with the high pitched turbo scream at Marulan
(The scream went away when I upgraded the inter cooler)

[jfi2ee]

I've done lots of mods to my VRS
With the next car the only thing I will do is an ECU tune and wheels (maybe shocks depending on the car).

The APR stage 1 was a nice boost,
and mostly certainly the best value for money modification you can do,
the mid range was good but it ran out of breath at high RPM (over 5,000rpm was worse than stock).
At the time I though "that's made it more peppy", drove home and parked the car in the driveway.

The stage 2 tune with a new down pipe and high flow cat was a significant step forward.
This provided yet more low and middle range and cleaned up the top end.
The engine pulls better from as low as ~1200rpm
When you reach ~2600rpm it's game on, pulling hard all the way to red line, simply awesome performance.
Picked the car up at 5pm, it was a real eye opener, decided to go for a drive, arrived home 3 hours later.
Open road overtaking is now effortless - it's very reassuring.
You can't use all this power from a standing start, you need to get her rolling and learn how much throttle to use.

Personally, having been through this experience,
I would just go directly to stage two, the result is far better and still exceptional value/benefit/outcome.

FYI - Stage2 took 40km off my tank range during the daily commute.
On Stage1 I was doing ~580km per tank, stage 2 reduced that to 540km.
However, on the open road (family trip, not gunning it), I can do 680km on a tank, easy.
(My Stage2 VRS uses less petrol than my wife's automatic Mazda3 SP23)

Thanks for the info, I'm leaning towards the apr ECU stage 1 upgrade for now

Will see how it goes and then decided whether to continue. Is it worthwhile a dsg ECU upgrade or does the gearbox handle the extra torque well?

[Dzl_Dubba]

Thanks for the info, I'm leaning towards the apr ECU stage 1 upgrade for now

Will see how it goes and then decided whether to continue. Is it worthwhile a dsg ECU upgrade or does the gearbox handle the extra torque well?

I believe DSG tune isn't out just yet for Mk3 RS/Mk7 GTI, though i could be wrong. DSG tune is well worth it as the shift points are changed in D and S as well as quicker shifts. The gearbox shouldn't have issues with the extra torque as plenty of folks have tuned cars without complaint, though i wouldn't be doing LC every day.

[Martin]

My standard box is un-flustered by the extra power and torque.
The DSG tune is not needed and is not highly beneficial

I seriously doubt the faster changes claim.
VW have always advertised predicted changes at 8ms,
you won't notice or benefit from faster changes
(and I don't believe unexpected changes will be any faster).

The biggest claim to fame is more clutch clamping pressure.
The manual mode is a real real manual, if you stop in 6th it won't change to 1st for you.

If you were putting a LSD into the gearbox you would get the DSG tune.
If you were preparing a AWD R as a track car you would get the DSG tune.

The stock DSG programming is not perfect - but it's not hard to manage it when it's wrong

[jfi2ee]

Can any give their thoughts on the bluefin upgrade?

Seems too be half the price of the apr option

[h100vw]

My standard box is un-flustered by the extra power and torque.
The DSG tune is not needed and is not highly beneficial

I seriously doubt the faster changes claim.
VW have always advertised predicted changes at 8ms,
you won't notice or benefit from faster changes
(and I don't believe unexpected changes will be any faster).

The biggest claim to fame is more clutch clamping pressure.
The manual mode is a real real manual, if you stop in 6th it won't change to 1st for you.

If you were putting a LSD into the gearbox you would get the DSG tune.
If you were preparing a AWD R as a track car you would get the DSG tune.

The stock DSG programming is not perfect - but it's not hard to manage it when it's wrong

You should try a DSG tune Martin. It's honestly night and day from the stock one. Especially S mode which is truly rubbish from the factory.

Gavin

[donweather]

Can any give their thoughts on the bluefin upgrade?

Seems too be half the price of the apr option

I have the bluefin on my mk2 and yeah for the money I reckon it's worth it. Can't compare it to others as I haven't had any other tunes.

I do think it works better at half throttle. Full throttle seems to be less kick IMO.

[dArK5HaD0w]

You should try a DSG tune Martin. It's honestly night and day from the stock one. Especially S mode which is truly rubbish from the factory.

Gavin

+1
I couldn't agree more Gavin.

It is not overrated at all.

[Fireside]

I've done a bunch to my RS and it still goes really good. There was some problems with oxi-sensors after we installed the exhaust but these were easily fixed by my tuner (Evolve Technik).

My Mark III arrives in 4 weeks and I plan on driving it straight from the dealer to the tuner and bolting on more madness.

[brad]

Can any give their thoughts on the bluefin upgrade?

Seems too be half the price of the apr option

I've had a Bluefin on my 1.8tsi for the last 100,000km. It's been great value for money (was about $660 as a direct import from the UK) and transformed the car. You won't get the same peak figures as the APR but you will still get a sizable increase in the area under the torque & power curves.

I'm not the type of personality that likes to do the same thing again (eg: I don't understand DVD collections) so if I do it again I'll be looking at DNA Tuning, Custom Code or Revo (when they have a sale). They are all <$1k. APR have a lot of customers & spend a lot on marketing (and private jets, a race team, halo tunes on R8s, etc) so a fair proportion of your money is for advertising.