GTI MkVI performance ECU upgrade

[GTI4fun]

Hey guys,

As i'm getting my new 2 door,6 speed man. GTI in Aug. i'm looking at getting the ECU performance upgrade at APR, question that i'm having has anyone done this already and whats the feedback so far??? I heard that DSG model's gear boxes dont hold witht this upgrade.
Also would this violate the warranty with the VW delaership???

[guest12345]

don't worry a bunch of people will come storming in to tell you their opinions and their preferred brand...

Anyways, for my apr upgrade, i've been told it doesn't void the warranty, unless they can prove that the flash caused a problem.

[GTI4fun]

True thanks den525, did u notice much of diffrence after the upgrade???

[guest12345]

True thanks den525, did u notice much of diffrence after the upgrade???

It all depends on your expectation... i had pretty high expectations after reading forums and wanting to do it for a few months... therefore i expected the golf to suddenly turn into a 911 or something... BUT yes you can tell the difference, for the APR ones i can fell higher torque throughout the range.

I've only had it for a few days, so i can't comprehensively tell you whether it was a good decision or not... but for the price, and from what i have experienced in the past day or 2. It is worth it, since it is only 1500.

And i'm sure from what you've read on the forum, people like it.

BUT since you are getting your car in august... PERSONALLY i wouldn't get stage 1 straight away, because you haven't enjoyed the stock enough, and getting stage 1 straight away you won't really be able to tell the difference...

But yeah it all depends what you want to do, if you are a person who is really into modding, than yeah go for it

[GTI4fun]

I can see where ur coming from, i wont be upgrading it straight away most likely at the end of the year where i'll be defintetely looking at modding it. I wont go with anyone apart from APR as they seem to put sufficient amount of research into their producst before making them available to the public. Another upgrade that i'm defintetely considering of getting is the exhaust from APR, i already had a closer look into it. I just love the sound of it i know it doesnt increase much in power but its just the sheer noise of the car is soooo nice, plus its not loud when just driving normally compared to nissans and what not which i had before never again!!!

[Jmac]

I can see where ur coming from, i wont be upgrading it straight away most likely at the end of the year where i'll be defintetely looking at modding it. I wont go with anyone apart from APR as they seem to put sufficient amount of research into their producst before making them available to the public. Another upgrade that i'm defintetely considering of getting is the exhaust from APR, i already had a closer look into it. I just love the sound of it i know it doesnt increase much in power but its just the sheer noise of the car is soooo nice, plus its not loud when just driving normally compared to nissans and what not which i had before never again!!!

Ok ill be one of the 1st " stormers" yawn. What you should have said was "trainspotters" now i that would make sense to me. Have you read the superchips website???? they are the only official tuner for VW racing UK and have doen plenty research before releasing it to the public. Its only that we havent had Superchips exposure here in Oz until now that is.
Check out www.superchips.com.au
Cheers
Jmac

[REXman]

Would also recommend that you enjoy the initial drive before any upgrades in performance.

Wait until a good 5000KM's to get a real feel for it. By then you'll know the rev range back to front and will appreciate the gains.

And yeah dont expect 911 performace and you'll be alright.

Side note: I remember getting a front mount on my Skyline. the day I got it, it was hot, and my fast and furious (before the movie was out, 2001 lol) expectations were dashed. But after about a week or so, I kept driving it and the difference became more and more pronounced. Eventually after about a month I was very content with the upgrade. Lot of factors in my story, and thats why I recommend racking up some kays before you can really compare..

Good luck!! And the gearbox can handle a flash only upgrade no worries..

[GTI4fun]

Thanks for your threads guys,

Jmac, so my question would be whats the difference between superchips and APR??? I checked out the website it seems that price is a bit lower on them, what about the warranty of the dealership and blue-fin and guarantees of the product??

Rexman, i know what u mean by that, i'm definetely looking at driving it for a lil while get used to the vehicle and then do the chip, maybe wheels prior to that Expectations that i'm having are not huge, the main one would be quicker response or less of a lag??
Haha dont get me started on Skylines pls, or thou first car i bought when came from UK to AU was RX7 series 7 13B, it was a lil pocket rocket lol. Until it got totalled unfortunately, but we're not gonna go into details.
And then the nissan nightmare began, after getting the R32gtst i cooked the engine within 2 weeks could not believe it, turned out i had a lemon sold to me big time. So ended up buying a front cut of the RB26 and getting conversion done, even after all that it still had some issues every couple of months, it required so much attention that at times i thought i was spending more time on the car then my girl

[REXman]

Thanks for your threads guys,


Rexman, i know what u mean by that, i'm definetely looking at driving it for a lil while get used to the vehicle and then do the chip, maybe wheels prior to that Expectations that i'm having are not huge, the main one would be quicker response or less of a lag??
Haha dont get me started on Skylines pls, or thou first car i bought when came from UK to AU was RX7 series 7 13B, it was a lil pocket rocket lol. Until it got totalled unfortunately, but we're not gonna go into details.
And then the nissan nightmare began, after getting the R32gtst i cooked the engine within 2 weeks could not believe it, turned out i had a lemon sold to me big time. So ended up buying a front cut of the RB26 and getting conversion done, even after all that it still had some issues every couple of months, it required so much attention that at times i thought i was spending more time on the car then my girl

Hey,

just quietly the RX-7 series 6/7/8 have to be one of the best looking cars ever. I cant believe how well they have held that look for. Awesome car. And you had a Nissan I see! RB26 would have been beasty. Yeah they are a lot of work, and PITA to look after but thats half the fun when you own them. The performance is just awesome but I they are not the most well built things. Although good ones have great motors/gearboxes for the money.

And yeah every sunday, my girl, got to watch me polish, my skyline.

Maybe she can help me clean the GOLF now..

[Buller_Scott]

I can see where ur coming from, i wont be upgrading it straight away most likely at the end of the year where i'll be defintetely looking at modding it. I wont go with anyone apart from APR as they seem to put sufficient amount of research into their producst before making them available to the public.

hey man, i too have to sorta say something here.

i know that APR are a very VERY trusted brand, etc, but price doesnt = ''amount of research put in'' at all, with tuning. yes, you DO need a good tuner so that you know you're safe, but [and anyone please feel free to correct me if im wrong] in 2 years of membership on this site, i dont recall even ONE person saying that their car/ engine blew up, because of a tune.

i dont recall anyone saying that a tune wrecked their gearbox, or blew stock hoses, or anything like that. if there have been any problems, it's been VW's fault- like the gearbox issues in the polo gti etc.

so yeah- $$$$$ does not = ''quality'', with cheaper tunes being ''less reliable''. if it did, then everyone would be shelling out $2000 for an oettinger tune, which, to me, is just way too much.

when tuning your car for performance over standard, you're going to be stressing your engine no matter who you go with, and there's no such thing as "i can super power from brand X's tune, but the engine/ parts are just as safe as stock". in that respect, and if it's just going to be a humble stage 1 tune, you're not likely to do anything to your car with reputable brand X, that you wouldnt be doing with reputable brand Y anyway....

not to sway you one way or another, but here are the ''reliable'' ones that i know of:
oettinger
APR
GIAC
custom code
superchips/bluefin
revo technik
unitronic
chippeduk/viezu [conservative maps for petrol]

and no doubt i've forgotten some. oh, also, malone tuning in the US [malonetuning.com] is also supposed to be pretty ****ing good, from what i've read, as well as jabbasport in the uk, etc etc, but that might entail either shipping your ecu to them, or them shipping chips to you to have soldered.

so yeah. there's a lot out there, and just because APR has better brand exposure than others, and thus might afford to be able to charge more, doesnt mean the others havent put R&D into their tunes.... i mean, all the brands that i listed above are off-the-shelf anyway, they're THAT tried/ tested/ true. like i've said before, unless you're getting dyno tuned at a place like evolve technik in melbourne, then you're simply getting an off-the-shelf, generic, some-would-say conservative map that wont break your car by any means.

hope this helps.

p.s. i have a chippeduk track/race map on my polo tdi [chippeduk do pretty good/ aggressive diesel maps, apparently] and i've abused the crap outta my car for 30,000kms. nothing has busted. a tune is just a tune- your car isnt going to blow up just because you went with a tune that was $200 cheaper.

cheers,

scotty