Octavia now at Stage II ...

[Martin]

So, today I picked up my car from the shop having had a fair amount of work done to it:
-Carbonio cold air intake box and intake tube
-APR 3" exhaust down pipe and high flow rate catalyst
-APR ECU Stage II firmware
-APR (VMR?) Roll bars
-VMR springs (20mm lower)
-Supaloy lower control arms

When I bought the car, I drove 39km from the dealer to the shop and had it flashed to Stage 1
This is probably all I would encourage most people to do - it gave great performance and value for money

But I wanted more and there are a few issues
The top end power was a little worse than stock and tapered off early,
as such I was short changing and driving on the big torque boost you get
I thought it would be really nice if the power went all the way to red line
Hence I went for the cold air intake and 3" exhaust for breathing + ECU Stage II
(The Stage II power/torque is only a bit more than Stage 1 - so why not?)
The throttle was very non linear (stock is a bit like that also)
Low throttle opennings were smooth - good for when wife & parents are passengers
But once you get past 40% it was like flicking a switch - instant change of power/aggression/noise/urgency

So after these latest engine changes, it's very different
(The guys at the shop commented on how quick it the car is)
The engine has more torque from lower down, it's got seemless pulling power everywhere
The engine now revs out to redline without any sense of a slowing accelleration rate (or asma)
The throttle is much more linear - but still very easy to drive normal and smooth
It does not have the alarming night and day performance change - it's much more progressive
The traction control used to be a bit harsh and counter productive (by design I guess)
The traction control is now smoother and unintrusive
I now keep my foot in the throttle and let the TC deal with the problem
Fast starts are easier - a chirp from the wheels and then we fly away at a surprising rate
I can only assume this because the torque is smoother and available at lower RPM
(Stage I used to come on power hard at 2500 and break traction)
Maybe the supaloy control arms are also making fast starts better?
I can break traction in 2nd gear - but no axel tramp as yet (early days)

The downside to going Stage II??? It clearly not for everybody
The rasping exhaust sound is louder and somewhat unpleasant
This is both from the rear and front due to the large exhaust downpipe
You can at times get engine resonsance from engine braking as you slow down
This can be avoided by manually changing down early - if you can be bothered
You now hear inlet air noises also - sucking and whistles
These are only an issue when actually using the power
although the engine idle may be a little louder due to the large exhaust downpipe

The Octavia fundamentally handles well and does not have much roll - until you really load it up
The wheels are bit thumpy/noisy over rough stuff
While the ride is pretty nice, it's not soft or smooth, pretty good compromised really
yet it's also not well connected until you have a decent/constant cornering load
So (given this is our second car - my useful fun thing) I decided to try new springs and roll bars
The car looks better with the guards 30mm above the tyres
So it's not obviously lowered and won't attract undue attention (sleeper!)
The handling is certainly better - really well connected to the road
The cornering is flatter and inspires confidence/trust
The damping seems better - no more thumps or bounces - although you do feel all undulations
(Less weight with the supaloy control arms? Wheels are much lighter than stock also)
Again, the downside, you feel most ripples in the road surface
Driving down poor roads may irratate after a bad day at the office
It's certainly imparted a firm edge to the ride that family folk may not warm to

The supaloy control arms have a bit more caster,
the car drives dead straight for ages with no steering guidance
Initial turn in is more crisp and direct - need more km to comment further

On the stock ECU mapping I get ~565km from a tank
On the APR Stage I ECU mapping I get ~515km from a tank (travelling to/from work wth a little fun)
That was great, happy to leave it in the APR fun mode all the time so the power is available all the time
So - what will happen to the fuel economy with the APR Stage II ECU mapping?
Let me get one "fun" tank out of the way before I test the fuel economy