Octavia RS mk3/Golf GTI mk7, GIAC, DNA or Superchip?

[sillyboy]

Hi guys,

I have had my Occy RS MK3 for almost 6 months now, I am considering a stage 1 tune in the near future, I was considering APR the whole time, as there is a dealer near where I work, however due to the recent price hike of APR's, I am looking elsewhere for the stage 1 tune.

I am considering a tune that I can return back to stock when I want to, I guess both GIAC, DNA and Superchip can return to stock with the handheld unit, and my understanding of each one of them as follow,

GIAC - a Local dealer in my area (Exotic cars), which means I can have more support than the other 2, pretty aggresive tune.

DNA - Also pretty aggresive tune too, got a pretty good reputation on this forum.

Superchip - Lots of people are using them, their tune makes less improvement though, dealer located in NZ, it is cheaper than the other 2.

Please correct me if I am wrong, if you have experience with any of these brands, please chip in your opinions.

Much Appreciated.

[Lucas_R]

Im happy to recommend DNA - and have had 2x cars (Mk6 Golf R and Mk6 GTI) tuned by them. I know DNA can tune the Mk7 GTI (so im assuming the Mk3 vRS too) in Europe, but im not sure if the Aussie dealer has the updated tools/software to do them.

I had a crappy experience with Bluefin on my Golf R - good response time and support (faster than DNA) from their tech team but crappy tune despite multiple revisions. Car ran like a dog and used heaps of fuel. Changed to DNA and the car came alive again.

Another option to add to your shortlist would be SpecTune from Tarmac Engineering in QLD. They use the same hand controller (Alientech controller) that DNA use and i believe they have tuned a few Mk7's.

Im not 100%, but pretty certain that your ECU will need to be removed and physically opened up to read your stock file and upload the 1st tune. Once the ECU has been unlocked, then you can tune/remove tune with the hand controller. This was the case with my Mk6 GTI and i know ECU security is only getting better. I believe APR are the only ones who can get around this without removing the ECU, but you will have to sell your kidney to pay for it.

Another 2x options for you in Sydney to look into - ETuners and Recode/Port Hacking Automotive. Mark from Recode/Port Hacking Automotive has some of the fastest modern VW's in the country and does custom tunes (he is also a reseller for Bluefin for those wanting a cheaper tune). ETuners are only reasonably new here in Aust but have been around for a while in Europe etc.

[brad]

Recode at Caringbah/Miranda.

[sillyboy]

Hi Lucas,

Thank you for your feedback, I didn't know the ECU needs to be removed for the MQB cars, that can be a worry for me, as I would like to keep the car physically stock during the warranty period, I will shoot DNA an email to confirm with them anyway.

Hi Brad,

Thank you, I will shoot them an email, they seem a little too far for me though(about 2 hours drive).

[brad]

Even if you are at Hornsby it won't take 2 hours - around an hour most days

[sillyboy]

You are right brad, I think google map was showing 'current' traffic condition this morning, now it's showing 1h 7mins.

[brad]

You are right brad, I think google map was showing 'current' traffic condition this morning, now it's showing 1h 7mins.

I do the north/south (and east / west) quite a bit, so it starts to feel easy after a while.

Recode also do Superchips stuff as well as custom tunes. Considering his custom tunes also include dyno runs, etc they are reasonably priced.

When I got my Bluefin with 18months warranty remaining on the car, I thought the ability to remove the tune was pretty important. In retrospect, I think I've removed it twice in 130,000km so it's not something I'd look for in the future.

[jai]

Have you considered the Burger Motorsports JB1 box? It's removable and is user tuneable if you wish to table in boost per RPM increases across your revrange. They're fairly good value at $379USD. I'm going to get one for my RS too

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